New states of Germany
The new states, which were dissolved by the GDR government in 1952 and re-established in 1990, are Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former East German states experienced high rates of depopulation until around 2008.
The local Landtag held several inquiries on population trends after the opposition requested an annual report on the topic.
[9] Dresden and Leipzig are among the fastest-growing cities in Germany, both raising their population to over half a million inhabitants again.
[22] Another explanation could be the secularizing trend (the "Kulturkampf") dating back to the second half of the 19th century in Prussia and through the Weimar Republic which was strongest in the states of Thuringia and Saxony as well as the late arrival of Christianity to the region as opposed to southern Europe where it was the state religion from late antiquity.
[23] Ossis (Easties) are stereotyped as racist, poor and largely influenced by Russian culture,[24] while Wessis (Westies) are usually considered snobbish, dishonest, wealthy, and selfish.
[28] Brands revived in this manner include Rotkäppchen, which holds about 40% of the German sparkling wine market, and Zeha, the sports shoe maker that supplied most of East Germany's sports teams as well as the Soviet Union national football team.
[28] The economic reconstruction of eastern Germany (German: Aufbau Ost) proved to be longer-term than originally foreseen.
[29] As of 2005, the standard of living and average annual income remained significantly lower in the new states.
[30] The federal government spent €2 trillion to reunify[29] and privatise 8,500 state-owned east German enterprises.
[2] A €156 billion economic plan, Solidarity Pact II, was enforced in 2005 and provided the financial basis for the advancement and special promotion of the economy of the new states until 2019.
[35] Women in the eastern Germany are more likely to be employed full-time and reach higher positions in their career, and work longer hours.
[36][37] During the division of Germany, East German women were encouraged to seek full-time employment, housewives were derided as "parasites" (Schmarotzer); in contrast to West Germany, where tax and benefits system discouraged dual-earner families, so working mothers were seen in a negative light and derided as "raven mothers" (Rabenmutter).
In addition, East German mothers tend to have children earlier in life and return to work after taking just one year of maternity leave (as was the standard in the former East Germany), whilst women from the Western states usually stay on maternity leave for the full 3 years until job protection ends.
[38][39][40] All the new states qualify as Objective 1 development regions within the European Union and were eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013.
Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH, (English: German Unity Road Construction Company; DEGES) is the state-owned project management institution responsible for the construction of approximately 1,360 km of federal roads within the VDE with a total budget of €10.2 billion.
[58] Der Spiegel also points out that these people are primarily single men and that there may also be socio-demographic reasons.
[59][60][61][62] The far-right party German People's Union (DVU) formed in 1998 in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg since 1999.
[63] The far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was represented in the Saxon State Parliament from 2004 to 2014.
[66] In 2009, Junge Landsmannschaft Ostdeutschland, supported by the NPD, organized a march on the anniversary of the Bombing of Dresden in World War II.
[69] A survey by TNS Emnid reports that in mid-December 2014, 53% of East Germans in each case sympathised with the PEGIDA demonstrators.
[72] In 2016, AfD reached at least 17% in Saxony-Anhalt,[73] Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (where the NPD lost all seats)[74] and Berlin.
[79] In the 2021 federal election, the AFD emerged as the largest in the states of Saxony and Thuringia, and saw a strong performance in eastern Germany.
In 1991, the PDS demanded the right for Thuringia to leave the united Germany in its draft of the constitution, which ultimately did not pass.
[91][92] Tatjana Festerling was a leader in the Dresden Pegida demonstrations from February 2015 to mid-April 2016 after Kathrin Oertel withdrew.
