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German Unity Day in Bavaria

We plan to be heading from Munich to Fussen via car on October 3rd and I understand this is a German holiday. Are there any events in the area that would be fun to see? Our tentative plans are to stop at Andech's Monastery on the way for lunch.

Posted by
2274 posts

While Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day) is wildly celebrated in Berlin, my experience has been that it is nothing much more than or similar to a bank holiday, in the rest of the country.

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German Unity Day, is just a nasty reminder to the former West German residents of the Solidarity Surcharge imposed in 1991, by the unified government, to pay for the costs of reunification and to help raise the former East German economy/infrastructure to the level of the West.

Posted by
19052 posts

Oktoberfest normally ends on the first Sunday in October. However, if the first Sunday comes before the Day of German Unity, Oktoberfest ends on that day instead.

Posted by
2308 posts

Are there any events in the area that would be fun to see?

Not at all. Some politicians will gather somewhere and repeat the same phrases as every year, but this will go largely unnoticed by the public. No more traffic in Andechs than on an ordinary Sunday.

Posted by
8934 posts

In Frankfurt, they have "Jazz on the Römer" which is the old town square every year, with tables and benches set up. It is a nice party, like a fest.
Of course this is not in Bavaria, but wanted to counter the comments that nothing happens in Germany.

Posted by
2274 posts

"wanted to counter the comments that nothing happens in Germany"

Well, there is a difference between holding a jazz festival where Unity Day might be mentioned and an actual Unity Day celebration where jazz might be played.

Posted by
8934 posts

It is not a jazz festival. It is a festival to celebrate Unification Day, and am sure there will be some speeches.
We have Jazz festivals at other times.

Posted by
292 posts

Germans are a bit allergic to patriotism.

For example: If I see too many German flags in a neighbourhood or village, and it is not time for a national Football match, I am slightly concerned.

Oct. 3rd is recognised in official, formal contexts, and sometimes with cultural or so events, but not so much beyond that--there aren't lots of informal family gatherings or so, as in many other countries on equivalent national holidays. It is a bank holiday, though.

A brief postscript that contextualises our discomfort with patriotism: The most natural choice for a commemoration day for German reunification would be November 9th, as that was the day the Berlin Wall fell. However, since that day (a fateful day in German history) marks among other things some of the worst pogroms in 1938 -- the November pogroms -- we obviously do not celebrate reunification on this day. Further sidenote, while looking up the word for these Pogroms in English, I was somewhat shocked to learn that the word "Kristallnacht" is still used in English-speaking contexts to describe this event. It is viewed as an outdated and fully unacceptable euphemism here.

Posted by
2274 posts

"Germans are a bit allergic to patriotism"

I remember several years back, hiking in the beautiful Rüdesheim area with my Hessen friends, and passing by the massive Niederwald Monument, erected to commemorate the 1871 unification of Germany, he was embarrassed by it all.