Gauck claimed 991 votes out of 1,232 from a special assembly of MPs and other dignitaries, parliamentary speaker Norbert Lammert said.
Prominent Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld, 73, nominated as a protest candidate by a far-left party, attracted 126 votes. A candidate for the extreme right drew three votes.
"What a beautiful Sunday," Gauck, 72, said to enthusiastic applause from the chamber of the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building in central Berlin after the vote.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also grew up under communism, hailed Gauck's victory as a sign of how Germany had transformed in the nearly 23 years since the Berlin Wall fell.
"The east Germans have arrived but there is still much to do in terms of German unity,'' she said.
Gauck helped drive the peaceful revolution that brought down communist East Germany and later fought to ensure that the public would be granted access to the vast stash of files left behind by the despised Stasi secret police after reunification in 1990. He oversaw the archive for the next decade.
"I accept this responsibility with the endless gratitude of a person, who after the long trail of mistakes through the political deserts of the 20th century, finally and unexpectedly found a home again, and who in the last 20 years, got to experience the happiness of helping to shape a democratic society,'' he said.
He noted that his victory fell on the 22nd anniversary of the first free elections in East Germany.
"I will never forget those elections - never,'' he said. "I knew then that I would never miss another election.''
It was the third presidential election in three years for Germany after the abrupt resignations of Gauck's two predecessors.
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