ABSTRACT
The excitement over the fall of the Beilin Wall was short-lived, and subsequent celebrations on the day of unification on 3 October are mostly orchestrated, official acts with little semblance to national holidays in other nation states. In retrospect, unification was and is an act born out of political and economic necessity and, to some extent, solidarity—not one guided by national euphoria. This is fitting, considering the legacies of German history and the anxieties German unification has raised among many European neighbors.
