Posted on 02 October 2020
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of German reunification. On this occasion, the Archives Unit and the Directorate for the Library and Knowledge services of the European Parliament jointly organised a digital and multilingual exhibition entitled 'It was 30 years ago. The European Parliament, the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification’.
The course of European integration was profoundly changed by the German unification achieved on 3 October 1990. Available on the Europeana platform in 24 languages, the digital exhibition aims to shed light on the important role played by the European Parliament and its increasing involvement in the process.
For several months, the European Parliament provided a forum for the European leaders tasked with preparing the reunification of Germany. Concerned with the political, economic and institutional implications of this historic moment for the European Community, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) supported German reunification, increasingly calling for democratisation and respect for human rights in Central and Eastern Europe.
The exhibition was curated by Étienne Deschamps from the EP’s DG for Parliamentary Research Services, while the project was coordinated by Sonja Meyrl from the EP’s Archives Unit. The Archives Unit manages the official records of the European Parliament, assists researchers and publishes studies. Once the historical archives become public after 30 years, the Unit deposits these archives at the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence for long-term preservation and public access.
Click here to visualize the exhibition.