It served as the selection meeting for Germany at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics.

It marked the resumption of an all-Germany national competition for athletes from East Germany and West Germany, following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[1] The merged competition programme followed that of the 1990 West German Athletics Championships, with the only amendment being the inclusion of a women's team aspect to the mountain running championship.

As usual, due to time or organizational reasons, various competitions were not held as part of the main event in Hannover.

The annual national championships in Germany held separately from the main track and field competition comprised the following:[2]