UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova inscribed the Two plus Four Treaty on the Memory of the World Register on May 25, 2011. 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 Sept. 12, 1990 by the two German states and the four allied victors of the World War II: 45 years after the end of the war, 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 the alliances it has. As with all international treaties of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Two plus Four Treaty is kept at the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

The Memory of the World Register holds valuable book collections, handwritten manuscripts, musical scores, one-of-a-kind documents, visual images, sound recordings and films from around the world. Other German contributions to the Register include the Gutenberg Bible, Goethe’s literary estate, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Fritz Lang’s silent film classic “Metropolis,” the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, the “Song of the Nibelungs” and the 1886 Benz patent for a three-wheeled vehicle with gas engine operation.