Children’s Day: Why does Germany have two?

Germany has two of many things thanks to its modern history. What’s the difference between International Children’s Day and Weltkindertag, and how are they acknowledged in the federal republic today?

World Children’s Day and Kindertag: What’s the difference?

Children’s Day, World Children’s Day, International Children’s Day, Kindertag and Weltkindertag: all of these dates are harder to keep track of than the other glove of a six-year-old. Are these days all the same? Where did they all come from? And which of them are acknowledged in Germany today? We explain.

World Children’s Day across the globe

World Children’s Day, also known as Universal Children’s Day and International Day of Children’s Rights, falls on November 20 and is acknowledged, as you might guess, across the world.

Created by UNICEF, World Children’s Day marks the anniversary of the UN General Assembly adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1989.

Annually, the UN organisation uses World Children’s Day to highlight instances of children’s human rights under attack today. These include children living through war or how children’s right to an inhabitable Earth is under threat thanks to governments’ slow or non-existent climate policy.

International Children’s Day in eastern Germany

To confuse things a little more, International Children’s Day is acknowledged annually on June 1 and is different from the abovementioned World Children’s Day.

International Children’s Day, sometimes known as Children’s Day, predates UNICEF’s World Children’s Day. June 1 was first declared as International Children’s Day in 1925 during the World Conference on Child Welfare, but it wasn’t until 1949 that the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) successfully campaigned for the day to be actively acknowledged.

The WIDF was a women’s international, anti-fascist movement founded after WWII, which pushed for world peace, improving public healthcare -  particularly for children - and broadening women’s rights. The organisation was initially established in Paris but relocated to East Berlin after it was banned in France for criticising France’s massacres in Vietnam and calling on French women to stop their sons fighting in the French army. 

Once in Berlin, WIDF ties to the Soviet Union grew and western, capitalist countries criticised the organisation for holding communist sympathies during the Cold War era. Social aims shared by the WIDF and East German government meant International Children’s Day was eventually officially recognised in eastern German states from June 1, 1950 onwards. 

Annual traditions include giving children presents and planning outings, as well as protests. At International Children’s Day in 2024 trade unionists and members of Germany’s Kita Association demonstrated across German cities for an “education revolution” and 100 billion euros of extra government funding for Kitas and schools.

Weltkindertag in reunified Germany

Finally, to confuse things more, Weltkindertag (literally World Children's Day, but not the same as the UNICEF one) is celebrated every year in Germany and Austria on September 20. 

When Germany was reunified in 1990 and power was centralised in Bonn, the country acknowledged Weltkindertag on September 20, while the abovementioned International Children’s Day of the former East took a back seat.

While some people in the former East still choose to celebrate the June 1 date, Germany’s official day to celebrate children and acknowledge children’s rights is now September 20. Confusingly, September 20 is a public holiday (Feiertag) in only one federal state and it is a state of the former East. Since 2019, residents of Thuringia have a day off work while supermarkets and shops are closed on September 20.

That said, there are local events held all over Germany to acknowledge Weltkindertag on September 20. These can include street festivals, specialised exhibitions on children’s rights, and readings for children. Many of these are organised by the local authorities and are free for everyone to attend.

What can we learn from children on Weltkindertag 2024?

Children may often make you want to tear your hair out, but you never know what you might learn out of the mouths of babes and sucklings on Weltkindertag. “The soul is healed by being with children,” said Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who was apparently asleep while his wife Anna gave birth to their first child.

Thumb image credit: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock.com