With the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, a reunification of Germany became inescapable; but this raised the question of how far the former actions and laws of the pre-1989 GDR should be accepted as actions of a legitimate German sovereign state. Some scholars argued for a revival of the theory that the sovereignty of the pre-1945 Reich had continued in existence; with the post-1949 Federal Republic as its sole interim representative (albeit only within the FRG boundaries).