coalition talks he had been unmasked as a longtime Stasi informer by the West German news magazine Der Spiegel. Though Böhme failed to acknowledge this, he agreed to suspend his party functions (he was later expelled from the party in 1992). On 8 April 1990, Meckel was chosen as the interim chairman, until an extraordinary meeting in Halle (Saale) on 9 June 1990 elected Wolfgang Thierse as the new party chairman. At the same time, Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of West Germany and honorary chairman of the West German SPD, was elected as honorary chairman of the East German SPD as well. Reunification With German reunification approaching on 3 October 1990, the East German SPD held a final party congress on 26 September 1990, and decided to merge with the West German SPD. The following day, Wolfgang Thierse joined the unified party's executive board and was also appointed deputy chairman. He resigned from the latter position in 2005 but remained a member of the party executive until 2009. Literature Wolfgang Grof: "In der frischen Tradition des Herbstes 1989". Die SDP/SPD in der DDR: Von der Gründung über die Volkskammerarbeit zur deutschen Einheit, Download: als PDF-Datei 308 KB Organizations of the Revolutions of 1989 Social Democratic Party of Germany Social democratic parties in Germany Political parties established in 1989 East German dissidents Political parties in East Germany 1989 establishments in East Germany Political parties disestablished in 1990 1990 disestablishments in East Germany Peaceful Revolution Defunct socialist parties in Germany