Public holidays (Feirertage) in Germany vary from one federal state to another with some states having more public holidays than others. Generally businesses and schools close on these days – excluding hospitals and police stations.

Should a public holiday fall on a weekend, the following Monday or previous Friday is not taken off as is sometimes the case in other countries.

Berlin Public Holidays 2010 – 2011

Labour Day

Unlike other parts of the world that celebrate this day, Labour or May Day, as it’s known, has been a day of conflict between the parties of the left and the parties of the right. During the post war period, throughout Berlin (east and west) May Day was a day of peaceful marching – until 1987. In Kreuzberg, which during this time was home to masses of Turkish immigrants, draft-dodging youth and the largest concentration of punks anywhere in Europe, marchers vocalised through protest about the highly-politicised squatting movement. What followed was anarchy as heavy-handed police clashed with protestors.

There have been periodic attempts to ban the event in recent years, however this has always been unsuccessful. Since ’87, fascist groups have instigated marches in Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg.

Since 2002 the authorities have taken proactive measures to manage and minimise the violence that previously accompanied the event. These strategies appear to be working as now-a-days, live music and food and drink vendors fill the day.

This is not an event for the faint-hearted.

Day of Germany Unity

This holiday represents the day The Wall came down. Unlike what you may think, this is a relatively low key day.

This, in fact, isn’t the actually date for unification. The wall come down on Nov 9, 1989 and while this is a significant date as it was the anniversary of the first real German Republic in 1918 and the defeat of Hitler’s first coup in 1923, this was also the same day in 1938 when the Nazis commenced their large scale anti-Jewish program. It was therefore determined inappropriate as a national holiday and October 3, 1990 was chosen as the day of formal reunion.