Less than one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was officially dissolved, creating a sovereign unified German state.

However, for many the hope that reunification would bring western prosperity to the country's east turned into disappointment over the huge investment required and stubbornly high unemployment.

Did Germans expect too much from reunification? Is Germany still too divided? What has got better or worse since then? What are your experiences of reunification?

Do you have any pictures of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification? If so, you can send them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

The debt incurred by reunification will take at least two decades if not more to clear Styeve, Bettinghausen, Germany

Firstly as a serviceman and now as a civilian, in total over thirty years in Germany. The fall of the wall was the worst thing that could have happened in this country. The debt incurred by reunification will take at least two decades if not more to clear and will no doubt have an effect on the EU, although not that clear at present. There is no love lost between the east and west, although the politicians will deny this. My sister-in-law and her husband worked for fifteen years at the museum House (escape museum) on Checkpoint Charlie and I have personally met many escapees. Many East Germans have now returned home to the East, who can blame them. The celebrations were beyond belief, but then the truth came out, who was paying? Now we know the answer to that question. Governments since 1989 have thrown billions into a bottomless pit, its no wonder that there is ill feeling. It seems that the then chancellor was interested in only making a name for himself. Life will go on, but Europe may well end up paying the cost, Germany can't and probably will not try paying for both the rebuilding of the East and supporting the majority of the EU. The German government has blundered, and at what cost, to date the German Inland Revenue cost it as Euro 30 billion through unemployment. The cost of reunification, around Euro 750 billion. From a world leader to the biggest debt in its history is a big drop. Will Germany ever recover, or will it drag Europe down with it?
Styeve, Bettinghausen, Germany

I was 11 when the wall collapsed, me and my family visited my aunt's house. We watched the news on TV, and my happy uncle opened a bottle of vodka. All I knew about politics was that something great happened, couldn't exactly realize what was going on. After years I saw just shocking difference between Polish and German roads. That was enough to feel how much money was pumped by Ossies' western cousins. But maybe that was just illusion, I thought. Maybe DDR was little more undeveloped before reunification of Germany and "Ossies" didn't feel big differences afterwards? But years later, bewildering "Ghost towns" tendency took place and set me thinking: Germans leave East for West, complaining for high unemployment, misery etc. But surprisingly, many hungry for money unemployed Poles exile and replace Germans, setting their own business on foreign soil successfully! The problem over there, I think is that much of a huge amount of Deutsche Marks were eaten and still "homo-sovieticus" mentality of eastern Germans exists. But in the other hand, it's not their fault. Passive attitude grows very fast in the society fed by socialist nanny in Berlin.
Lukasz Z, Czestochowa, Poland

Germany is a much healthier country overall HS, German in USA

Despite some issues, Germany is a much healthier country overall. It isn't healthy to have a wall splitting it in the middle, and security forces to go from West Germany to West Berlin. The East Germans couldn't travel much at all. The ones that complain about economy should think a little more. There's no guarantee the employment problems would've not hit, and East Germans surely have improved their lives. Yes, it's one step at a time, but maybe it gives you an idea of how much it takes to build a country from scratch. This is just half a country! I was 13, and my uncle from Berlin woke us up in the early morning. My brother was taking a field trip there. It was a celebration. To many more years of a reunited Deutschland.
HS, German in USA

I went to Dresden in July and you would be hard pressed to know that it had had any association with the GDR apart from the odd communist mural on a wall or seeing an occasional Wartburg type car. Considering the financial burden placed on West Germany, the progress in 15 years is astounding. It's hard to think of a parallel comparative situation, but I wonder if Britain or France or even the US could have achieved this.
Keith, US/UK

The reunification of Germany will remain nothing more than a historical lie, so long as a quarter of the country remains cut off from the German state! The manner in which Kanzler Kohl let down the 15 million German displaced persons was a disgrace. I am sure the British or French would not have accepted such a sell out.
Kenneth Ingle, Bielefeld, Germany

Germany needs a Margaret Thatcher to sweep away all the cobwebs and get things moving David Ogilvie-Thomson, Baltic Coast, Germany

I came over here just after the wall came down, and settled in the Bundesland Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast. One needed 60 attempts odd at telephoning through to Berlin, and driving on the motorways at that time was so bumpy that one could hardly manage 50 mph. Now the German government has thoroughly overhauled the infrastructure of East Germany, with the best telecommunications systems available, and brand new motorways and roads, thus paving the way for industry to settle and create jobs here. Unfortunately that has not happened, due to the unions and their petty regulations, and being shackled by onerous laws emanating from Brussels thus putting off all outside investors; Germany needs a Margaret Thatcher to sweep away all the cobwebs and get things moving. We have an unofficial rate of unemployment of around 40% in this region, with no prospect of it getting better - anyone with "get up and go" has got up and gone, to the west or abroad, where the job prospects can only be better. Yes, this country is sick, and the prospect of stalemate in the German parliament means things won't improve in the short term.
David Ogilvie-Thomson, Baltic Coast, Germany

One of the problems of re-unification was the perceived time pressure. Mr Kohl - and I'm not sure I could fault him for that - felt he had to act quickly or otherwise Glasnost may be gone in the USSR and his - and the country's - chance could have passed. This led to an annex of the DDR into the Bundesrepublik rather than to a reunification of sorts. West Germany's "Basic law" (note: not "Constitution") was imposed on an entirely different country. After all, East Germany's political elites tried to shape a different culture for 40 years! Not surprisingly, once the novelty wore off, some East Germans felt (and continue to do so) lost. The "Eastalgia" movement in Germany is a vivid sign of this. When we chose to move to a different country, we are aware that we have to adapt or at least get used to our hosts' ways, habits and quirks. The annex of East Germany sometimes looks like a forceful expatriation of an entire nation and not surprisingly this leads to problems. I firmly believe that 're-unification' was the right thing to do, I am not sure however it was done in the right way - a little bit more regard for the few good things that did exist in the East and the people's long-term feelings may not have gone amiss.
Christian, Austrian in London

I work and live on both sides of Germany and the divide between the Ossi's and Wessi's is very much still alive. But maybe if the Western side had taken some time to actually look at some of the Eastern ways then maybe the country could have unified. Clearly, not all the Western ways were the better. The social system, the kindergarten system, working mothers for example. A study was recently completed of 15 and 16-year-olds on two towns near the "border", it was incredible to read that kids on both sides still disliked or resented each other. But the German media continually churn out the "Wessi v Ossi" rubbish, so it's always in peoples minds. This suits the government here as people don't question them, but blame the "other side" for their problems.
Richard, Germany

I remember vividly crossing from Gottingen into East Germany in late October 1990, three weeks after reunification. I was with two West German friends on their first crossing. After crossing the border on a makeshift road across a grassy field, we visited Muhlhausen. They were struck by how the East looked like West Germany from many years' past. We were all surprised by the lack of shops and coffee shops and bars and everything else. We felt like explorers discovering a new continent, conscious of how important those days were in the lives of every German, and really every European as well. But there was no going back, reunification was definitely better than what was there before. I'd like to go back and see how much it has changed.
David Trotto, Yardley, PA, USA (UK ex-pat)

I was living in Germany when the wall came down: It was a fantastic time of rejoicing; the delight and bewilderment of people from the GDR tasting freedom to travel. I ran through the Brandenburg gate last Sunday at the end of the Berlin Marathon and thought of that wall, so hard, so dangerous and how marvellous it is, now it has gone .Rejoice !
Fi, Ilkley, UK

I am still dazzled at times about the sheer easiness with which a whole despotic regime was swept away Maria M, Leipzig

Having grown up on the wrong side of the border, ie the German "Democratic" Republic, I am still dazzled at times about the sheer easiness with which a whole despotic regime was swept away. Isn't it funny that a German people should be able to do such a thorough, bloodless coup d'etat? I think we should be dancing on the streets every 3 October, patting each other's backs and drinking to the future instead of wallowing in angst and self-pity. But then again, Germans will be Germans.
Maria M, Leipzig

I remember doing a border patrol when I was in the Royal Air Force. If was a one-off week long patrol. Two years ago I returned to the area to find it sanitised of traces of the wall. I found a privately run Border Guard Museum and met the guards who were on the far side of the fence. It brought a good sense of closure to a period of my life.
Alan Wilson, Cary NC, USA (UK ex-pat)

The Germans from the West didn't realize what was wrong system in the East. Other mentality, other economy, other philosophy and misery. Destruction the wall was too short an act in order to change the standard of living. Germans from DDR were accustomed to protective policy of state. They get lost in the free market in the West.
Bart, Nowy Sacz, Poland

East Germany has put an enormous burden to Germany's economy which was strong and booming at the time when the wall came down. Most people in the West now wish the wall never came down and I must admit, I feel the same. Definitely one reason not to return back to Germany.
Anne, German living in London

Many Western Europeans didn't know how good they had it in the West Chris, Los Angeles, USA

My father was stationed in Berlin during the height of the Cold War and had to patrol "Checkpoint Charlie". He often wondered why Americans were still in Berlin putting their lives on the line for the Germans who would spit on him in the streets and not serve him in pubs or restaurants. Many Western Europeans didn't know how good they had it in the West and took for granted the freedoms afforded them by military forces keeping the Soviets in line.
Chris, Los Angeles, USA

I was only nine when the wall came down, and most of what it meant completely escaped me then. I only really started to realize a couple years later when a summer camp friend from Liepzig told me the first thing his family did was drive into the West to buy a Porsche. That's when I started to figured how important it was for Germany.
Jim, Toronto, Canada

While not German myself, I grew up in Germany and was a 12-year-old living in Western Germany at that time. What I recall is that I was glued to the TV watching the scenes from Berlin. It was clear to me that these were truly historic moments. It happens that 3 October is also my birthday, which has been a public holiday in Germany ever since.
NP, Paris/New York

I was a senior in High School and dating an exchange student from Germany. We were both shocked. I never thought I would see a unified Germany in my lifetime. It was also a little scary considering that past history of the war like Germans.
Tristan Ashworth, Dayton, USA

It will take at least a couple of generations before Germany will be truly reunified Nicola Tustain, Bury St Edmunds, England

I lived in Berlin before the wall came down and going through Checkpoint Charlie was just like stepping back in time. I feel that the former East Germans felt that the West was the promised land and all their dreams would come true sadly this was not the case I feel it will take at least a couple of generations before Germany will be truly reunified.
Nicola Tustain, Bury St Edmunds, England

I worked and lived in Germany from 2002-2004. The reunification of Germany has brought more opportunities to those from the East, but it has also left many things to be desired. Not enough development money has been spent developing the East and they don't have the same opportunities as those from the West. The fall of the DDR has also polarised Germany and turned it into nothing more than another country hit by globalisation, where they are expected to learn English and embrace the British-American consumer culture.
JP, Coventry

The year after the wall came down, as a member of the TA I was on exercise in Germany. The change in German society and the German people was already abundantly clear. In Dortmund, for the first time ever, I saw litter and rubbish in German streets and beggars in German shop doorways. The people we met and spoke to in bars, were openly dismissive of the need for NATO forces to remain on German soil - the Red Menace had gone. They said all foreign - NATO forces should leave immediately. We pointed out that tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Germans citizens were employed either directly or indirectly by these forces on the bases. We were told that Germany would provide work for everyone in the rebuilding of what had been East Germany. When we questioned the cost, we were told that the German economy was the strongest in Europe and could cope. 15 years on, I would like to speak to those same Germans again and ask if they believe their aspirations had been fulfilled.
Dan Tanzey, England

It's the politicians who want to divide Germany by paying different amounts of dole money to different sides of Germany Daniel M, Berlin, Hellersdorf

I am 22-years-old and people in my generation don't have any of those "Look, a Wessi (Westler)" thoughts at all. In fact, it really just doesn't matter at all anymore. But it's still in the head of a majority of old Western folks and politicians at all, who never give way on the pedestrian ways, let their dogs poo on it as well. Also you can see differences in the art of driving a car. Besides all those things, it's the politicians who want to divide Germany by paying different amounts of dole money to different sides of Germany is just one thing.
Daniel M, Berlin, Hellersdorf (East zone)

I'm an East German living in Scotland and funnily enough I'm travelling back home for a weekend today. The area where I come from is the one with the highest unemployment in Germany and it's depressing, to say the least. It's easy to say that the East Germans should just get off their backsides but I guess that's not how it works. Most of the young and qualified people have already left to find work in the West or even abroad. What's left in East Germany are ghost towns, empty shopping malls and pubs, old people and the unemployed that simply refuse to leave their homes and families for the sake of finding a job. The wall is higher than ever before - in people's minds. The 'wind of change' has certainly blown away the hope that people had 15 years ago.
Nicole, Fife, Scotland

There's a human side to the reunification that we in the UK can barely begin to imagine. I was in Berlin on a school trip the month before the wall came down. Whilst walking along the wall (on the Western side) we met a man from the East who'd waited years to get permission to come over for a weekend and visit relatives that he sincerely thought he'd never see again in his lifetime. When I saw the news just one month later it brought tears to my eyes to think what it meant to him and thousands more.
John F, Oxford, UK

It is up to us young people to work hard and make both parts of Germany prosperous Julia, Minamata, Japan

I was 9-years-old, when the Berlin wall came down on November 9th 1989. It has been the first day, when i was allowed to stay up late until midnight because, as my parents pointed out - it is a once in a lifetime chance to witness a historical moment (I am from West Germany). Now more than a decade has passed and I still feel happy that the Cold War came to an end peacefully. Yes, there are many social problems and the unemployment rate in the East is at a hideously high level. But as a young person I tend to have an optimistic view. It is up to us young people to work hard and make both parts of Germany prosperous.
Julia, Minamata, Japan

I was lucky enough to travel through the former East German state shortly after it fell. It really brought it home how lucky we are to have grown up knowing freedom and democracy. There may still be economic and social problems in the East, but this should not detract from Germany's enormous achievement of reuniting East and West. I doubt any other European country could have managed it so successfully.
Tim, London, UK

Hopes were very high among Germans when news of re-unification had arrived 15 years ago, however, despite the hardship some Germans experiences for the last 15 years after the reunification of the country, Germans have not completely lost hope in terms of economy in the country, still people are looking confidence and hopeful for prosperity of economy all over Germany. Some people think that disunity among Germans remains practically, of course this should be true because there has been no willing from other side of rotating the leadership in the country. Why isn't any leader from the East of the country since the reunification of the Germany? The country needs a leader from East that would demonstrate strong unity among all Germany, and that would indicate all the two parties were serious about unity in their country.
Peter Tuach, Minnesota, USA

When Germany reunified, West Germany was a strong economy which stood to take quite a battering from the absorption of poverty stricken East Germany. Without the debilitating effect of the Euro being introduced, the West German economy would have been able to absorb the battering. As it is, much more time will be needed. But never let it be said that the move was not a courageous one and one which wont benefit the German nation in the long term.
Mr A F Wright, Truro England

East Germany has been swallowed but the new wall is being built by NATO on the NATO-Russia border everywhere. This new wall separates families and brings fear and disgust. Nothing has changed. Things got worse, only the border moved eastwards.
Andrey, Russia

It will take a couple of generations for real unity to occur. Perhaps real unity will come when a leader is elected from the Eastern side.
Heinz, Berlin

Six months before the wall came down I was in West Berlin visiting a good friend who was an Army lawyer (JAG). We did all the normal tourist things like passing through Check Point Charlie to see the tourist-traps in East Berlin including goose-stepping East German soldiers, little crosses marking where refugees had been shot, and the ugly wall. Always the wall. Now that has been gone for 15 years. It is almost like a dream. I am very glad I saw it when I did, as it still reminds me how wonderful it is to be free. The former East Germans will either learn to get off their backsides and compete or they will remain a backwater. It really is up to them.
Michael, California, USA

One point that is usually overlooked is that this was a unification, not an absorption of East Germany by the Western counterpart. It was a momentous occasion where the wishes of both sides were filled. Even though there are social problems in the beloved east, things will normalize over time.
Dieter Muller, Toronto Canada