August 23, 1990

German reunification

East German Volkskammer fixes accession to West Germany for 3 October

The parliament entered the chamber without an agreed date and settled on 3 October during the debate itself — voting shortly before three in the morning, while most Germans were asleep.

A vote just before 3 a.m.

The freely elected East German Volkskammer met in overnight special session at the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin and voted for the GDR to accede to the territory governed by West Germany's Basic Law. The sitting had begun on the evening of 22 August; the vote came shortly before 3 a.m. on 23 August 1990.

The resolution invoked Article 23 of the Basic Law and fixed the accession's effective date as 3 October 1990. Of the 363 votes cast, 294 were in favour, 62 against and seven abstentions.

The date was settled in the room

Deputies arrived without an agreed date. Rival factions had proposed immediate accession, 15 September or 14 October, while the GDR government was breaking apart and the state's economic deterioration accelerated.

The text that passed was a joint amendment agreed during the session by the CDU/DA, DSU, FDP and SPD parliamentary groups. Günther Krause, the CDU parliamentary leader and GDR negotiator, signalled during the debate that 3 October was the earliest workable date.

Gregor Gysi, the PDS parliamentary leader, opposed the method and characterised the result as a decision for the GDR's demise.

What the resolution assumed

The resolution assumed that the Unification Treaty negotiations, the Two Plus Four security settlement and preparations for elections in the re-established Länder would be sufficiently complete by the chosen date. The treaty had not yet been signed, and accession itself would not occur until 3 October.

Later that day Chancellor Helmut Kohl welcomed the resolution before the West German Bundestag, repeating its conditions and its date. Negotiators finished and signed the detailed Unification Treaty on 31 August, eight days later.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The special sitting began on the evening of 22 August, but the vote occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on 23 August; 23 August is therefore the correct event date.
One Bundestag calendar page mistakenly prints 363 affirmative votes. The Federal Government chronicle, other Bundestag histories and the parliamentary record give 294 in favor; 294 + 62 + 7 equals the 363 votes cast.