Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T00:17:39.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Revolutionary Constitutional Lawmaking in Germany—Rediscovering the German 1989 Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Today, the 1989 Revolution in East Germany is recognized and celebrated as the event that abolished the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and brought about German unification. What is mostly overlooked, however, is that these are not the Revolution's only and, from the perspective of constitutional law, not even its most important achievements. More important with respect to understanding constitutional lawmaking in Germany is that the 1989 Revolution did not lead to an unconditional adoption of West German constitutional law in the new East German states. Instead, the Revolution had its own constitutional agenda, which went beyond the West German Basic Law and was transferred to unified Germany where it then needed to be integrated into the existing West German constitutional order. The Article reinterprets the 1989 Revolution and shows how a revolutionary popular movement in the GDR developed its own constitutional agenda, which first found legal manifestation in GDR legislation, and then was transferred to unified Germany through the Unification Treaty and the new state constitutions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by German Law Journal, Inc 

References

1 German unification officially dates back to October 03, 1990.Google Scholar

2 For an analysis of how these transferred constitutional achievements changed unified Germany's constitutional law by being integrated into the existing West German constitutional order, see Jaggi, Stephan, The 1989 Revolution in East Germany and its Impact On Unified Germany's Constitutional Law 151 et seq. (Hart & Nomos, 2016).Google Scholar

3 See Wolfgang Schäuble, Der Einigungsvertrag: Vollendung der Einheit Deutschlands in Freiheit, in Bernd Guggenberger & Tine Stein (eds.), Die Verfassungsdiskussion im Jahr der deutschen Einheit 283, 293 (1991).Google Scholar

4 See id. Google Scholar

5 Claus Offe, Wohlstand, Nation, Republik, in Hans Joas & Martin Kohli (eds.), Der Zusammenbruch der ddr 282, 283 (1993).Google Scholar

6 Id. at 284.Google Scholar

7 See, e.g., Heckel, Martin, Die Legitimation des Grundgesetzes durch das deutsche Volk, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof, Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, VIII, § 197 para. 9 (1995), for authors in addition to those cited in the following.Google Scholar

8 See generally Jürgen Habermas, Die nachholende Revolution 181 (1990).Google Scholar

9 See id. Google Scholar

10 Sed stands for Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands; it was the ruling Communist party.Google Scholar

11 See Winkler, Heinrich August, Der lange Weg nach Westen, II, 520–21 (2000); Rolf Reißig, Das Scheitern der DDR und des realsozialistischen Systems: Einige Ursachen und Folgen, in Hans Joas & Martin Kohli (eds.), Der Zusammenbruch der DDR 49, 60–61 (1993). See generally Ash, Timothy Garton, The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ‘89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague 69 (1993); Bernhard Schlink, Deutsch-deutsche Verfassungsentwicklungen im Jahre 1990, in Bernd Guggenberger & Tine Stein (eds.), Die Verfassungsdiskussion im Jahr der Deutschen Einheit 19 (1991); Ehrhart Neubert, Unsere Revolution: Die Geschichte der Jahre 1989/90 324 (2008).Google Scholar

12 See generally Neubert, supra note 11, at 40–44; Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, Endspiel: Die Revolution von 1989 in der DDR 232 (2009). See generally Jan Wielgohs & Marianne Schulz, Von der “friedlichen Revolution” in die politische Normalität, in Hans Joas & Martin Kohli (eds.), Der Zusammenbruch der DDR 222 (1993), for an overview of the development of the citizens’ movements in the GDR since the 1980s with further references.Google Scholar

13 Winkler, supra note 11, at 491.Google Scholar

14 See id. Google Scholar

15 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 70, 193, for an overview of the most important opposition groups. See also id. at 74, for statements specifically on the IFM.Google Scholar

16 See Wielgohs & Schulz, supra note 12, at 233. See generally Kukutz, Irena, Chronik der Bürgerbewegung: neues forum 1989 - 1990 29 (2009).Google Scholar

17 That changed when it became clear that elections for a parliament would be held on Mar. 18, 1990. Preparing for these elections, many citizens’ movements became either parties or so -called “electable associations” (“wählbare Vereinigungen”). See Wielgohs & Schulz, supra note 12, at 237.Google Scholar

18 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 492–93.Google Scholar

19 See Kukutz, Irena, Gründungsaufruf des Neuen Forums, in Chronik der Bürgerbewegung: neues forum 1989–1990 57 (2009) (author translation).Google Scholar

20 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 491; Wielgohs & Schulz, supra note 12, at 231.Google Scholar

21 Winkler, supra note 11, at 494.Google Scholar

22 See id. at 529; Neubert, supra note 11, at 199; Wielgohs & Schulz, supra note 12, at 232.Google Scholar

23 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 199; Wielgohs & Schulz, supra note 12, at 232.Google Scholar

24 See Charles Schüddekopf, Aufruf für eine eigenständige DDR, reprinted in Wir sind das Volk!: Flugschriften, Aufrufe und Texte einer deutschen Revolution 240–41. See generally Neubert, supra note 11, at 74, 193, for an account on the citizens’ movements and their programs.Google Scholar

25 See Schüddekopf, supra note 24, at 240 (author translation).Google Scholar

26 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution 130 (1963).Google Scholar

27 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 199.Google Scholar

28 See Ullmann, Wolfgang, Verfassung und Parlament 55 (1992).Google Scholar

29 See id. at 201.Google Scholar

30 Id. at 217 (emphasis added).Google Scholar

31 See id. Google Scholar

32 See infra 595 et seq. (Social Charter) and 596 et seq. (RTD).Google Scholar

33 Ullmann, supra note 28, at 75.Google Scholar

34 See id. at 75–76.Google Scholar

35 See id. 76–78.Google Scholar

36 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 79.Google Scholar

37 Id. at 87.Google Scholar

38 Id. at 84.Google Scholar

39 Representative in this respect is the program of “Democracy Now.” It wanted to establish a “reformed socialist society” as an alternative to the “western consumer society.” See id. at 85–86.Google Scholar

40 See Gert-Joachim Glaeßner, Am Ende des Sozialismus: Zu den Ursachen des Umbruchs in der DDR, in Hans Joas & Martin Kohli (eds.), Der Zusammenbruch der DDR 86 (1993).Google Scholar

41 See id. Google Scholar

42 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 43, 59–60. See also id. at 60, for the few exceptions.Google Scholar

43 Id. at 82.Google Scholar

44 See Kukutz, supra note 16, at 16 (citation omitted).Google Scholar

45 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 199.Google Scholar

46 See id. at 193.Google Scholar

47 See Karl-Dieter Opp, Zu den Ursachen einer spontanen Revolution, in Hans Joas & Martin Kohli (eds.), Der Zusammenbruch der DDR 194, 197 (1993).Google Scholar

48 See Tetzner, Reiner, Leipziger Ring: Aufzeichnungen eines Montagsdemonstraten 1989/90 51 (2004).Google Scholar

49 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 170.Google Scholar

50 Arendt, supra note 26, at 11.Google Scholar

51 In 1989, 343,854 GDR citizens had left the country for the FRG. See Tetzner, supra note 48, at 133.Google Scholar

52 Neubert, supra note 11, at 102; Winkler, supra note 11, at 491.Google Scholar

53 See Tetzner, supra note 48, at 179.Google Scholar

54 Id. at 102.Google Scholar

55 See generally id. at 104 et seq. Google Scholar

56 See id. at 105.Google Scholar

57 See id. at 106.Google Scholar

58 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 113.Google Scholar

59 See id. at 114.Google Scholar

60 See id. 136; Garton Ash, supra note 11, at 67–68.Google Scholar

61 Winkler, supra note 11, at 503.Google Scholar

62 See id. at 504.Google Scholar

63 See Ash, Garton, supra note 11, at 68.Google Scholar

64 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 165.Google Scholar

65 Carl Schmitt, Constitutional Theory 272 (J. Seitzer ed. & trans., Duke Univ. Press 2008) (1928).Google Scholar

66 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism 107 (1951).Google Scholar

67 See Schmitt, supra note 65, at 131, for the interpretive problem that Schmitt points out.Google Scholar

68 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 507; Neubert, supra note 11, at 161.Google Scholar

69 See Tetzner, supra note 48, at 155–56. See Neubert, supra note 11, at 107, for Neubert's statement that the 1989 revolutionaries, through their songs and chants, placed themselves within the tradition of the 1789 French Revolution, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the American Civil Rights Movement.Google Scholar

70 Neubert points out that in Dresden on Oct. 7, 1989, the Catholic Church distributed leaflets among the demonstrators informing them about the “Strategy of non-violence according to M.L. King.” See Neubert, supra note 11, at 152. See generally Bruce Ackerman, 3 We the People: The Civil Rights Revolution (2014), for a new analysis of the American Civil Rights Movement.Google Scholar

71 See Ackerman, supra note 70, at 185–86.Google Scholar

72 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 107.Google Scholar

73 See Arendt, supra note 26, at 59 et seq.; Lorenz V. Stein, The History of The Social Movement in France, 1789–1850 111 (Kaethe Mengelberg ed. & trans., Bedminster Press 1964).Google Scholar

74 Winkler, supra note 11, at 499 (author translation).Google Scholar

75 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 145, 166 et seq. Google Scholar

76 See Tetzner, supra note 48, at 69 (referring to Bernd-Lutz Lange).Google Scholar

77 Neubert, supra note 11, at 147.Google Scholar

78 See Tetzner, supra note 48, at 51.Google Scholar

79 See Neubert, supra note 11, at 145 et seq.; Winkler, supra note 11, at 503–05.Google Scholar

80 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 505. See generally Neubert, supra note 11, at 145 et seq. Google Scholar

81 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 506.Google Scholar

82 See id.; Neubert, supra note 11, at 146.Google Scholar

83 See supra, at 588.Google Scholar

84 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 507–08.Google Scholar

85 See id. at 529; Neubert, supra note 11, at 262–63. The Chairman of the Council of State (Staatsratsvorsitzender) was like a President of the GDR. He was the state's highest representative.Google Scholar

86 Comparable with a Minister President.Google Scholar

87 See Walter Süß, Bilanz einer Gratwanderung: Die kurze Amtszeit des Hans Modrow, Deutschland Archiv 596 (1991); Winkler, supra note 11, at 521.Google Scholar

88 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 596.Google Scholar

89 See id. at 597 n.3 (referring to a Soviet diplomat).Google Scholar

90 See Süß, supra note 87, at 600.Google Scholar

91 Id. at 604; Neubert, supra note 11, at 330.Google Scholar

92 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 528; Thomas Würtenberger, Die Verfassung der DDR zwischen Revolution und Beitritt, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, VIII, § 187 para. 15 (1995).Google Scholar

93 See Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 17.Google Scholar

94 See id. at paras. 26–27.Google Scholar

95 See id. at para. 27.Google Scholar

96 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 557; Neubert, supra note 11, at 337; Klaus Michael Rogner, Der Verfassungsentwurf des Zentralen Runden Tisches Der DDR 39 para. 89 (1993).Google Scholar

97 Rogner, supra note 96, at 40.Google Scholar

99 Id.; Peter Quint, The Constitutional Guarantees of Social Welfare in the Process of German Unification, 47 Am. J. Comp. L. 303, 311 (1999). See generally Harris, David & Darcy, John, The European Social Charter (2d ed. 2001) (discussing the European Social Charter).Google Scholar

100 For this and the following content of the Social Charter, see Rogner, supra note 96, at 40 et seq.; Winkler, supra note 11, at 557; Markus Bremers, Soziale Staatsziele und soziale Grundrechte: Arbeit, Wohnen, soziale Sicherung, in Verfassungsdiskussion Und Verfassungsgebung 1990 bis 1994 in Deutschland, Band I 125, 139 et seq. (Erich Fischer & Werner Künzel hrsg. eds., 2005).Google Scholar

101 Winkler, supra note 11, at 557; Gerhard Ritter, Der Preis der deutschen Einheit: Die Wiedervereinigung und dieKrise des Sozialstaats 190 (2d ed. 2007).Google Scholar

102 A copy of the RTD of Apr. 4, 1990 is reprinted in Verfassungsdiskussion und Verfassungsgebung 1990 bis 1994 in Deutschland, Band II 20 et seq. (Erich Fischer & Werner Künzel hrsg. eds., 2005) [hereinafter RTD].Google Scholar

103 Id. at 1.Google Scholar

104 Erich Fischer, Vom Runden Tisch zum Grundgesetz, in Verfassungsdiskussion und Verfassungsgebung 1990 bis 1994 in Deutschland, Band 1 11 (Erich Fischer & Werner Künzel hrsg. eds., 2005).Google Scholar

105 Id. Google Scholar

106 See Arendt, supra note 26, at 223.Google Scholar

107 See RTD, Art. I.Google Scholar

108 All of the following listed provisions are from the RTD unless otherwise indicated.Google Scholar

109 See, e.g., Winkler, supra note 11, at 520; Garton Ash, supra note 11, at 69 et seq.; Schlink, supra note 11, at 19.Google Scholar

110 Neubert, supra note 11, at 324; Winkler, supra note 11, at 520–21 (emphasis added).Google Scholar

111 For a differentiated analysis of the process, see Reißig, supra note 11, at 60 et seq. Google Scholar

112 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 559.Google Scholar

113 See Schlink, supra note 11, at 19; Donald Hancock & Helga Welsh, Models of Unification: Integration Theory and Democratization, in German Unification, Process and Outcomes 1, 8 (Donald Hancock & Helga Welsh eds., 1994); Steffen Heitmann, Die mißbrauchte Einheit, Bemerkungen zur Verfassungsdiskussion im wiedervereinten Deutschland, in Festschrift für Herbert Helmrich zum 60. Geburtstag 217, 220 (1994).Google Scholar

114 Winkler, supra note 11, at 559–60.Google Scholar

115 Reißig, supra note 11, at 60.Google Scholar

116 Jürgen Habermas, Die andere Zerstörung der Vernunft, Die Zeit, May 10, 1991, at 63.Google Scholar

117 Reißig, supra note 11, at 62.Google Scholar

118 Peter Häberle, Der Entwurf der Arbeitsgruppe “Neue Verfassung der DDR” des Runden Tisches (1990), JöR 319–49, 325 (1990); Rupert Scholz, Aufgaben und Grenzen einer Reform des Grundgesetzes, in Festschrift für Peter Lerche zum 65. Geburtstag 65, 66 (1993); Heitmann, supra note 113, at 220.Google Scholar

119 See, e.g., Uwe Thaysen, Der Runde Tisch oder: Wo Blieb Das Volk? 199 (1990); Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 33; Peter Lerche, Der Beitritt der DDR — Voraussetzungen, Realisierung, Wirkungen, in Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland § 194, VIII para. 18 (Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof hrsg. eds., 1995); Heckel, supra note 7, at paras‥ 27, 28, 32, 37; Hans-Jochen Vogel, Aus dem Westen nichts Neues, Neue Justiz 145, 146 (1994); Id. at n.5; Heitmann, supra note 113, at 220.Google Scholar

120 Author translation. Article 23 GG was amended upon unification.Google Scholar

121 Vogel, supra note 119, at 146.Google Scholar

122 Hans Joachim Meyer, Deutschlands Aktuelle Verfassungslage, Berichte und Diskussionen auf der Sondertagung der Vereinigung der Deutschen Staatsrechtslehrer in Berlin am 27. April 1990, in Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung der deutschen Staatsrechtlehrer, Heft 49, 161–63 (1990) (author translation).Google Scholar

123 Id. at 164 (author translation).Google Scholar

124 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 560; Heckel, supra note 7, at paras. 26–27.Google Scholar

125 Heckel, supra note 7, at para. 26.Google Scholar

126 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 559; Neubert, supra note 11, at 367 (93.22%); Kowalczuk, supra note 12, at 529.Google Scholar

127 See Roth, Dieter, Die Wahlen zur Volkskammer in der DDR, Der Versuch einer Erklärung, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Vol. 31, No. 3, 369, 371, 382 et seq. (Sept. 1990); Karl Schmitt, Politische Landschaften im Umbruch: Das Gebiet der ehemaligen DDR 1928–1990, in Oskar Gabriel & Klaus Troitzsch (eds.), Wahlen in Zeiten des Umbruchs, 404, 433 et seq. (1993).Google Scholar

128 Jürgen Habermas, Die Zeit, Mar. 30, 1990, quoted in Winkler, supra note 11, 562; for similar interpretations, see Kowalczuk, supra note 12, at 530–31.Google Scholar

129 A poll taken by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen in May 1990 shows that the voters in the GDR did not consider the East CDU to be equal to the West CDU; see Jung, Matthias, Parteiensystem und Wahlen in der DDR, in Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B 27/90 3, 15 (1990). Neubert writes that de Maiziere “never became Kohl's puppet.” See Neubert, supra note 11, at 373. It is, moreover, undisputed that the East Germans, prior to the Mar. 18, 1990 elections, were highly interested in politics. See Roth, supra note 127, 388 et seq. They were also well informed about the parties’ agendas and their differences. See id. at 369, 390.Google Scholar

130 Winkler, supra note 11, at 559.Google Scholar

131 Id. at 559–60.Google Scholar

132 See, e.g., Thaysen, supra note 119, at 199; Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 33; Reißig, supra note 11, at 60; Heckel, supra note 7, at paras. 27–28, 32, 37.Google Scholar

133 See Winkler, supra note 11, at 5, 59.Google Scholar

134 For these election results, see Winkler, supra note 11, at 559.Google Scholar

135 Winkler, supra note 11, at 532.Google Scholar

136 Id. See generally Wolfgang Jäger & Michael Walter, Die Allianz Für Deutschland, CDU, Demokratischer Aufbruch Und Deutsche Soziale Union 1989/90 1 (1998).Google Scholar

137 Lothar de Maiziere, Anwalt der Einheit, 60, 61 (1996); Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 17 et seq. Google Scholar

138 For this and the following, see Winkler, supra note 11, at 533; Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 21 et seq. Google Scholar

139 Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 22.Google Scholar

140 Id. at 29.Google Scholar

141 Id. Google Scholar

142 Lothar de Maiziere, quoted in Horst Teltschik, “De Bärn is g'schält,” Helmut Kohls Weg zur deutschen Einheit (I): Der Zehn-Punkte Plan, Der Spiegel, Sept. 23, 1991, at 96, 114.Google Scholar

143 Winkler, supra note 11, at 533.Google Scholar

144 Id. Google Scholar

145 Winkler, supra note 11, at 533 (citation omitted).Google Scholar

146 Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 24 et seq. Google Scholar

147 Id. at 29.Google Scholar

148 De Maiziere, supra note 137, at 73–74. For earlier contacts between the East CDU and the West CDU at lower levels, see Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 25 et seq. Google Scholar

149 Opinion polls taken in early February 1990 showed 54% for the SPD, followed by the PDS with 12% and the CDU with 11%. See Manfred Görtemaker, Der Weg zur deutschen Einheit, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Deutsche Teilung — Deutsche Einheit, https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/deutsche-einheit/deutsche-teilung-deutsche-einheit/43745/der-weg-zur-einheit (last visited July 26, 2016). De Maiziere basically confirms this, saying that the polls predicted 53% for the SPD. See Maiziere, De, supra note 137, at 75.Google Scholar

150 Id. at 67.Google Scholar

151 Id. at 68.Google Scholar

152 Id. at 67.Google Scholar

153 Thaysen, supra note 119, at 86 (quoting de Maiziere); see Maiziere, De, supra note 137, at 73.Google Scholar

154 Lothar de Maiziere, Thomas de Maiziere & Lutz Wicke, öko-Soziale Marktwirtschaft für Ost und West (1990).Google Scholar

155 De Maiziere, supra note 137, at 110.Google Scholar

156 De Maiziere et al., supra note 154, at I. et seq. (preface) (author translation).Google Scholar

157 Id. Google Scholar

158 De Maiziere, supra note 137, at 72.Google Scholar

159 De Maiziere Et Al., supra note 154, at 4. Part A. of the book (pages 1-167) is written by Lutz Wicke and Thomas de Maiziere, and Part B (pages 169–79) by Lothar de Maiziere. The authors emphasize in the book's preface, however, that all three authors stand behind the basic arguments of the entire book.Google Scholar

160 Id. at 5.Google Scholar

161 Id. at 72–73.Google Scholar

162 Id. at 83.Google Scholar

163 Id. at 87.Google Scholar

164 For political statements like de Maiziere's by other leading members of the East CDU, see Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 20. Voices within the East CDU that wanted the party to be closer to the West CDU's party line were mostly represented by Martin Kirchner, the East CDU's new Secretary General, see Jäger & Walter, supra note 136, at 49 et seq., 53. These voices did not prevail. See id., at 49 et seq. Google Scholar

165 Id. at 33.Google Scholar

166 Id. at 42.Google Scholar

167 De Maiziere, supra note 137, at 111 (author translation).Google Scholar

168 See the coalition agreement, “Grundsätze der Koalitionsvereinbarung zwischen den Fraktionen der CDU, der DSU, dem DA, den Liberalen, DFP, BFD, FDP und der SPD” of Apr. 12, 1990, [hereinafter Coalition Agreement] reprinted in Ingo von Münch (ed.), Dokumente der Wiedevereinigung Deutschlands, Quellentexte zum Prozeß der Wiedervereinigung von der Ausreisewelle aus der DDR über Ungarn, die CSSR und Polen im Spätsommer 1989 bis zum Beitritt der DDR zum Geltungsbereich des Grundgesetzes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Oktober 1990, 163 et seq. (1991).Google Scholar

169 Id. at 169 (author translation).Google Scholar

170 See Fischer, supra note 104, at 31.Google Scholar

171 Coalition Agreement, supra note 168, at 169 (author translation).Google Scholar

172 Id. at 163 (emphasis added) (author translation).Google Scholar

173 See Lothar de Maizière's Government Program (Apr. 19, 1990), http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=242.Google Scholar

174 Id. at 3.Google Scholar

175 Id. at 9 (author translation).Google Scholar

176 Id. Google Scholar

177 Id. at 10.Google Scholar

178 Id. at 3.Google Scholar

179 Id. at 26 (author translation).Google Scholar

180 Id. at 11.Google Scholar

181 Id. at 8, 11.Google Scholar

182 Id. at 8 (“[D]ie Gewährleistung einer lebenswerten und lebensfähigen Umwelt.”).Google Scholar

183 Id. at 17.Google Scholar

184 Id. at 19.Google Scholar

185 Id. Google Scholar

186 Id. Google Scholar

187 Id. at 20.Google Scholar

188 Id. Google Scholar

189 Kukutz, supra note 16, at 164.Google Scholar

190 Gesetzblatt Der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik [GBI DDR] 1990, I, at S. 299 et seq. Google Scholar

191 Id. at S. 255 et seq. Google Scholar

192 Id. at S. 955 et seq. Google Scholar

193 Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 30.Google Scholar

194 Id. Google Scholar

195 Gesetzblatt Der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik [GBI DDR] 1990, I, at S. 299 et seq. Google Scholar

196 Id. Google Scholar

197 Id. Google Scholar

198 See Art. 1 Sec. 2 VGG and Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 32.Google Scholar

199 For a similar conclusion, see Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 31 and Ritter, supra note 101, at 88.Google Scholar

200 Würtenberger, supra note 92, at paras. 34 et seq. Google Scholar

201 Id. at para. 23.Google Scholar

202 Id. at para. 37; see Quint, Peter, The Imperfect Union, Constitutional Structures of German Unification 105 (1997).Google Scholar

203 See, e.g., Hans Hugo Klein, Kontinuität des Grundgesetzes und seine Änderung im Zuge der Wiedervereinigung, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, VIII, § 198 paras. 14 et seq. (1995); Lerche, supra note 119, at paras. 55 et seq.; Heckel, supra note 7, at para. 4; Josef Isensee, Rechtsstaat—Vorgabe und Aufgabe der Einigung Deutschlands, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, IX, § 202 paras. 16 et seq. (1997).Google Scholar

204 See Heckel, supra note 7, at para. 38; Görg Haverkate, Rechtseinheit als Aufgabe, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, IX, § 209 paras. 1 et seq., 6 et seq., 9 et seq., 21 et seq. (1997); Klein, supra note 203, at paras. 23 et seq.; Dietmar Willoweit, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, Vom Frankenreich bis zur Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands, 425 (3. Auflage 1997); Heitmann, supra note 113, at 220 et seq. See generally sources ci ted supra note 203.Google Scholar

205 See Hermann von Mangold & Friedrich Klein, Das Bonner Grundgesetz, Band I 654 (2. Auflage 1966); Peter Badura, Die innerdeutschen Verträge, insbesondere der Einigungsvertrag, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, VIII, § 189 para. 1 (1995); Lerche, supra note 119, at paras. 27, 32.Google Scholar

206 See V. Mangold & Klein, supra note 205, at 654.Google Scholar

207 Quint, supra note 202, at 103.Google Scholar

208 Badura, supra note 205, at para. 15; Lerche, supra note 119, at paras. 40 et seq.; Willoweit, supra note 204, at 425.Google Scholar

209 Badura, supra note 205, at paras. 1, 2, 21; Lerche, supra note 119, at para. 27.Google Scholar

210 See generally Wolfgang Schäuble, Der Vertrag. Wie ich über die deutsche Einheit verhandelte (1991).Google Scholar

211 Id. at 37, 38; see also Neubert, supra note 11, at 410 et seq. Google Scholar

212 Schäuble, supra note 210, at 14.Google Scholar

213 Id. at 35 (author translation) (emphasis added).Google Scholar

214 Quint, supra note 202, at 103.Google Scholar

215 Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 82, 316, juris-version para. 11; Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 84, 90, juris-version paras. 108, 118.Google Scholar

216 See Scholz, supra note 118, at 66.Google Scholar

217 See Schäuble, supra note 3, at 289.Google Scholar

218 Id. Google Scholar

219 See Quint, supra note 202, at 104.Google Scholar

220 For an overview of the controversy with respect to the Soviet Union's position on German unification, see Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 94, 12, juris-version paras. 7 et seq., 94 et seq. Google Scholar

221 Badura, supra note 205, at para. 4.Google Scholar

222 Treaty of Unification [Eingangsformel], East Germany – West Germany, Aug. 31, 1990, [hereinafter Unification Treaty] (author translation).Google Scholar

223 See Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 82, 316, juris-version para. 5.Google Scholar

224 See Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 94, 12, juris-version para. 85.Google Scholar

225 Id. Google Scholar

226 Schäuble, supra note 210, at 123, 125.Google Scholar

227 Id. at 125 (author translation) (emphasis added).Google Scholar

228 Id. at 125–26.Google Scholar

229 Id. at 139.Google Scholar

230 See Lothar de Maiziere, Anwalt der Einheit, in Joachim Heise, Helma Kreysig, Marianne Regensburger (eds.), Über Deutschland und die Deutschen 90, 97 (2. Auflage 2003).Google Scholar

231 Gesetzblatt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik [GBI DDR] 1990, 955.Google Scholar

232 Unification Treaty, Art. 3.Google Scholar

233 (Author translation).Google Scholar

234 Grundgesetz [GG] [Basic Law] Art. 143(1), translation at http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/index.html (author translation).Google Scholar

235 See Treaty, Unification, Art. 4(5)(1).Google Scholar

236 See Klein, supra note 203, at para. 38; Georg Brunner, Fortgeltung des Rechts der bisherigen DDR, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, IX, § 210 para. 9 (1997); Rupert Scholz, in Theodor Maunz & Günther Dürig, Grundgesetz, Art. 143 GG paras. 11 et seq. (62. Auflage 2011).Google Scholar

237 See Ullmann, Wolfgang, supra note 28, at 50.Google Scholar

238 Id. Google Scholar

239 See Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], Feb. 25, 1975, Neue Juristiche Wochenshrift [njw] 1 BvF 1-6/74, NJW 1975, 573 et seq.; Brunner, supra note 236, at paras. 9 et seq. Google Scholar

240 Unification Treaty, Art. 31(4)(1) (author translation).Google Scholar

241 Scholz, supra note 236, at para. 12.Google Scholar

242 Brunner, supra note 236, at paras. 9 et seq.; Scholz, supra note 236, at para. 12.Google Scholar

243 Klein, supra note 203, at para. 38; Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfGE 88, 203.Google Scholar

244 See Brunner, supra note 236, at paras. 9 et seq.; Klaus Stern, Der verfassungsändernde Charakter des Einigungsvertrages, Deutsch-Deutsche Rechts-Zeitschrift 289, 291 et seq. (1990); Klein, supra note 203, at para. 38.Google Scholar

245 See Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfG] [Federal Constitutional Court], Neue Juristische Wochenshrift [njw] 1975, 573, 575; see also Stern, supra note 244, at 291, para. 11.Google Scholar

246 For the integration of the revolutionary achievement regarding abortion into unified Germany's constitutional order, see Jaggi, Stephan, The 1989 Revolution in East Germany and its Impact on Unified Germany's Constitutional Law 202 et seq. (Hart & Nomos, 2016).Google Scholar

247 See Memoire, Aide, On Art. 31 in Fischer & Künzel, supra note 102, at Bd. II, 223 et seq., 240 (showing that UT's Aide Memoire states that the goal is to further develop equal rights of the sexes in “all areas of society and life”) (author translation).Google Scholar

248 Unification Treaty, Art. 34(1).Google Scholar

249 Id. Art. 5.Google Scholar

250 See Heitmann, supra note 113, at 220–21 (showing that Heitmann denies this and asserts that Art. 5 was only added to the UT because the western SPD and Die Grünen had insisted on it in pursuance of their own political agenda and both parties’ votes were necessary for the 2/3 majority to adopt the UT, a view that contradicts everything Schäuble and de Maiziere have said about the UT).Google Scholar

251 For an overview of the new state constitutions, see e.g., Hans von Mangoldt, Die Verfassungen der neuen Bundesländer (1993).Google Scholar

252 Grundgesetz [GG], Art. 31.Google Scholar

253 Id. Art. 142.; see also Pieroth, Bodo & Schlink, Bernhard, Staatsrecht II, Grundrechte, para. 64 (26. Auflage 2010).Google Scholar

254 See id. Google Scholar

255 See Quint, supra note 202, at 83, 88, 89 (showing that the constitutions of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, and Thuringia were adopted by plebiscites); see id. at 79 et seq. (showing that the constitutions of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were adopted by a 2/3 majority in the respective state parliament after extensive public hearings and discussions); Bremers, supra note 100, 160; For a different view, see Heitmann, supra note 113, at 226.Google Scholar

256 See Pieroth & Schlink, supra note 253, at paras. 62, 63.Google Scholar

257 See Quint, supra note 202, at 74.Google Scholar

258 See Starck, Christian, Die Verfassungen der neuen Länder, in Josef Isensee & Paul Kirchhof (eds.), Handbuch des Staatsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, IX, § 208 para. 3 (1997) (showing that the first draft constitutions were presented in Saxony in late March 1990, in Saxony-Anhalt on June 29, 1990, and in Thuringia on Aug. 30, 1990); Würtenberger, supra note 92, at para. 37.Google Scholar

259 See Starck, supra note 258, at para. 3.Google Scholar

260 Quint, supra note 202, at 76.Google Scholar

261 Id. at 77.Google Scholar

262 Id. at 86–87.Google Scholar

263 Quint, supra note 99, at 311.Google Scholar

264 Const. of Saxony, Art. 14–38; Const. of Brandenburg, Art. 7–24; Const. of Saxony-Anhalt, Art. 4–23; Const. of Thuringia, Art. 1–16, 34, 35, 39.Google Scholar

265 Const. of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Art. 5, III.Google Scholar

266 Starck, supra note 258, at paras. 56 et seq. Google Scholar

267 Const. of Saxony, Art. 7, I (emphasis added); Const. of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Art. 17, I–II; Const. of Berlin, Art. 20, I.Google Scholar

268 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 48, I; Const. of Saxony-Anhalt Art. 39, I; Const. of Thuringia Art. 36.Google Scholar

269 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 47, I; Const. Saxony-Anhalt Art. 40; Const. of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Art. 17, II; Const. of Thuringia Art. 15.Google Scholar

270 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 45, I.Google Scholar

271 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 29, II.Google Scholar

272 Const. of Saxony-Anhalt Art. 27, I; Const. of Brandenburg Art. 28; Const. of Saxony Art. 101, I.Google Scholar

273 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 47, II.Google Scholar

274 Const. of Saxony-Anhalt Art. 39, II.Google Scholar

275 Const. of Saxony Art. 8.Google Scholar

276 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 12, III. For similar provisions, see the Const. of Saxony-Anhalt, Art. 34; Mecklenburgwest Pomerania, Art. 13; Thuringia, Art. 2 II; and Berlin Art. 10 III.Google Scholar

277 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 48, III.Google Scholar

278 Const. of Thuringia Art. 19, III.Google Scholar

279 Const. of Berlin Art. 12, VII.Google Scholar

280 Starck, supra note 258, at paras. 58 et seq.; Bremers, supra note 100, at 153 et seq. Google Scholar

281 Supra, at 595, 596.Google Scholar

282 See, e.g., Konrad Hesse, Grundzüge des Verfassungsrechts der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, para. 208 (20. Aufllage 1999).Google Scholar

283 Const. of Saxony Art. 7, I (emphasis added); Const. of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Art. 17, I-II; Const. of Berlin Art. 20, I.Google Scholar

284 Starck, supra note 258, at paras. 58 et seq.; Bremers, supra note 100, at 153 et seq. Google Scholar

285 See, e.g., Const. of Saxony Art. 10, I; Const. of Brandenburg Art. 39, I; Const. of Saxony-Anhalt, Art. 2, I; Const. of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Art. 12.Google Scholar

286 Const. of Saxony Art. 10 II; Const. of Brandenburg Art. 39, VIII (containing provisions that go back to Art. 33 (3) of the RTD).Google Scholar

287 Const. of Brandenburg Art. 39, VII; Const. of Saxony-Anhalt Art. 6, II; Const. Saxony Art. 34; Const. of Thuringia Art. 33.Google Scholar

288 See Arendt, supra note 26, at 25 (stating that “facts … do not disappear when historians or sociologists refuse to learn from them, though they may when everybody has forgotten them”).Google Scholar

289 For Arendt's concepts of truth and meaning, see Arendt, Hannah, The Life of The Mind, Part One/Thinking, Part Two/Willing, 53 et seq., 57 et seq. (1978).Google Scholar

290 For an analysis of the 1989 Revolution's impact on unified Germany's constitutional law, see Jaggi, Stephan, The 1989 Revolution in East Germany and its Impact on Unified Germany'S Constitutional Law (Hart & Nomos, 2016).Google Scholar