Following the first free elections in the Communist east and the so-called Two Plus Four Agreement (when East and West Germany essentially received their full sovereignty back from the four Allied powers), the two halves of Germany, and Berlin, were reunited on 3 October 1990. The last foreign troops left the city in 1994, ending five decades of Allied occupation. The German parliament voted in 1991 to make Berlin the capital of the reunified country, but it took until 1999 to complete the move from Bonn. The transfer was a massive undertaking, taking years to organise and months to carry out. However, many ministry bureaucrats remain to this day in the small and sleepy Rhineland city, forcing them to shuttle back and forth to their bosses in Berlin.

In the new millennium, Berlin has only gained importance since taking on its new role as Germany’s leading city. Though economically still weak, Berlin now commands respect politically and culturally at home and abroad. It had a chance to show thousands of visitors just how far it has come while hosting the football World Cup finals in 2006, when the country demonstrated a clear pride and patriotism rarely seen since reunification.