Angela Merkel is leading the celebrations in Bremen Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its reunification.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will lead the celebrations, hosted by the northern city of Bremen, where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to turn out.
Capitalist West and communist East Germany merged on 3 October 1990 following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Sunday is also the day Germany makes the last payment on debt stemming from reparations imposed after World War I.
Mrs Merkel will be joined by many of the country's other leading figures in Bremen to mark one of the 20th century's key historical turning points.
Angela Merkel“We have been able to rebuild so quickly and make Germany a country that is respected in the world”
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen are also expected to attend.
On the eve of the anniversary, US President Barack Obama passed on his congratulations and said Germany was "one of our closest allies and greatest friends".
He said the US honoured "the courage and conviction of the German people that brought down the Berlin Wall, ending decades of painful and artificial separation".
Mrs Merkel, who was brought up in the East, praised former East Germans for fighting for their freedom.
She added: "At the same time, there was a huge wave of solidarity from the people in West Germany. It is thanks to these joint efforts that we have been able to rebuild so quickly and make Germany a country that is respected in the world."
Angela Merkel on people still leaving Eastern Germany
Since the two countries became one, more than 1.5 million people have migrated west.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin says opinion polls show some unhappiness in the west about the so-called "solidarity tax" on incomes to pay for eastern reconstruction but on both sides of the country the polls indicate a big majority in favour of a united Germany.
However, not everyone has welcomed the reunification festivities.
Thousands of police were deployed in Bremen on Saturday as some 1,800 mainly left-wing activists marched through the city in protest. The demonstration passed off peacefully.
Sunday also marks the final day of German reparations for World War I.
A last payment of 70 million euros (£60m) will draw the debt to a close.
In 1919, the victorious allies wanted to ensure Germany would not be capable of war for many years and set reparations at the equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of gold.
But the plan backfired, with modern-day historians claiming the Versailles decision was a key factor in the lead-up to World War II.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Shannon Cianciotta Kassandra Townsell Raul Riser Lavone Durette
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