I've just realised that today is "Tag der Deutschen Einheit", German Unity Day, when Germans commemorate the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, so that for the first time since 1945 there exists a single German state.
And it all began with the fall of the 27-mile-long Berlin Wall!
"Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles, über alles in der Welt!"
The "Deutschlandlied" is well known for its refrain "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all"), which was never meant to imply German superiority over and domination of other countries. It originally meant that the most important aim of 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (Kleinstaaterei) of then-fragmented Germany.
