This is how you can watch the celebrations of German Unity Day live on the Internet
On Monday you can watch the ceremony and the ecumenical service on the Day of German Unity live on ARD and ZDF.
Germany should sing and sound on October 3rd
32 years of German unity – a celebration would actually have been announced on October 3rd. But the day has proven to be a difficult national holiday so far, and not just because of the sometimes inclement autumnal weather.
“In most towns and cities, there has not yet been a public celebration tradition among the population – the meaning of October 3rd as a national holiday is hardly recognized by the younger generation,” criticizes a nationwide initiative led by the Federal Music Association for Choirs & Orchestras and Protestants music associations. For the third time, she calls on choirs, communities, music groups, bands, clubs, music schools and citizens nationwide to “celebrate the miracle of the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Wall” on the day of German unity – with singing and candles together.
The celebrations take place across the country
On Monday from 7:00 p.m. there will be open singing and music-making in market places throughout Germany. More than 200 choirs and orchestras have registered so far, as the organizers announced in Berlin on Wednesday. According to the initiator of the project, Bernd Oettinghaus, they want to commemorate the peaceful revolution of 1989/1990 as a sign of solidarity and democracy.
This year, the initiative is under the patronage of the current President of the Federal Council and Prime Minister of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow. In the state capital of Erfurt, where the federal government’s central public festival takes place on the day of German unity, the initiative is accompanied by the MDR symphony orchestra.
In 2022, a special focus of the nationwide campaign will be on the war in Ukraine and the topic “No Violence”: “It honors all the peaceful civil rights activists and, with a view to the current military developments, says thank you for the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Wall”, according to the organizers.
The songs of the program are already fixed
Only a few cornerstones of the program have been set: The plan is to sing ten “well-known and connecting songs” simultaneously across the country on October 3rd from 7 p.m., including “Tell me where the flowers are”, “Freedom”, “We shall
overcome” and “Of good powers”, as well as the national anthem and the European anthem.
There will also be songs in Ukrainian and Hebrew. “This is a conscious sign against anti-Semitism and against the war in Ukraine,” said the organizers. The participants should also hold candles in their hands – in memory of the peaceful revolution of 1989. Otherwise, all organizers are free to expand the event.
