A ceremony in the Elbphilharmonie is the highlight of the German Unity Day celebrations in Hamburg today. A service takes place in the Michel. In addition, the community festival in the city center is entering its second day.
Aerial view of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Around 1,300 guests are expected at the ceremony in the Elbphilharmonie, including the entire head of state and the state prime ministers. In addition to Hamburg’s mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD), the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Stephan Harbarth, will give a speech. Before that, there will be an ecumenical service in the main church of St. Michaelis. Both events will be broadcast live on television, the service in Michel from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Erste and the ceremony from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on ZDF. The ARD information waves report live on the radio.
Over 300,000 people have already attended the community festival
The celebrations started on Monday with a big community festival. According to Hamburg Tourism, more than 300,000 people came to the festival around the town hall and the Binnenalster on Monday. The city wants to present itself there on Tuesday with around 400 partners and actors in a colorful program as a diverse, sustainable, cosmopolitan and open-to-the-future metropolis.
State mile, blue light mile, water stage and more: A map of the city provides orientation.
Around the town hall, visitors can find out about the constitutional bodies, for example. The Federal Government, Bundestag and Bundesrat as well as the Federal Constitutional Court will present themselves there. The police, fire brigade and the Bundeswehr are represented on the so-called blue light mile. Mönckebergstrasse becomes a state mile with information tents from the 15 other federal states.
At Jungfernstieg there is music and entertainment on the NDR Alsterbühne. There will be a highlight for football fans there today at around 1.30 p.m.: Former world champion Philipp Lahm will be handing out 24 balls that have codes on them that will make it easier to get tickets for next year’s European Football Championship.
Photo gallery
The most beautiful pictures of the unity celebration – day 1
Hamburg is followed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
The unity celebration is the final and highlight of Hamburg’s Federal Council Presidency. In the afternoon, Tschentscher symbolically handed over the baton to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD). She will officially take over the position on November 1st.
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NDR 90.3 | NDR 90.3 Current | Oct 3, 2023 | 10:00 a.m