UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today (25 May) inscribed the Two plus Four Treaty on the Memory of the World Register. Besides the Treaty, fourteen other documents recording the building and fall of the Berlin Wall were inscribed.

The Two plus Four Treaty paved the way in 1990 for German unity. Considered a triumph of diplomacy, it was signed in Moscow on 12 September 1990 by the two German states and the four allied victors of World War II. Forty-five years after the War ended, the unresolved issues regarding Germany’s status under international law were settled by peaceful agreement. These related in particular to the definitive determination of Germany’s borders and the restoration of full sovereignty, including the country’s right to choose freely to what alliances it belongs.

Like all international treaties of the Federal Republic of Germany, the original of the Two plus Four Treaty is kept at the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office. The Archive houses some 27 shelf kilometres of international treaties and German Foreign Service records dating back to 1870. Under the Federal Records Act, anyone may access and use it.

The Two plus Four Treaty is one of the Political Archive’s most significant historical documents. The Federal Foreign Office welcomes UNESCO’s decision to spotlight the Treaty’s historical importance in this way.