Abstract
This Comment will consider the prospects of a German reunification in the context of the current tide of events in Eastern Europe and its legal significance under international law. Section II will give a brief background of the origins and development of the two Germanies with an emphasis on the postwar era. Section III will analyze the political structure of the Federal Republic of Germany and its constitution, the Basic Law. Section IV will examine the origins and growth of the German Democratic Republic and the events leading to and occurring after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Section V explores the judiciary of the Federal Republic of Germany and evaluates the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the dispute over the Basic Treaty of 1972 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Section VI provides an overview of the major forms of opposition that have plagued the German Democratic Republic under the Honecker era (1971- 1989). Finally, Sections VII and VIII will examine the recent mass exodus out of East Germany after Hungary opened its borders to the West and the future of the German Democratic Republic.
Recommended Citation
John A. Zohlman III, The German Question of Reunification: An Historical and Legal Analysis of the Division of Germany and the 1989 Reform Movement in the German Democratic Republic, 8 Penn St. Int'l L. Rev. 291 (1990).