Germany has yet again been divided. The recent European Parliament election has shown that the Germans’ political preferences almost match the borders of the FRG and the GDR. A further factor contributing to the split is the East Germans’ nostalgic attitudes towards the Soviet era and the Prussian cultural traditions, the religious differences and the experience interacting with the Russians that has been passed down the generations.
Germany has been divided by a new Iron Curtain. ‘The country is still divided in two, but while the two parts used to be separated by a high wall, today’s wall is rather a thick one,’ a piece in El Mundo states. It goes on to claim that residents of the country’s eastern regions are still ‘bemoaning the love they lost’ for the GDR and fretting over the nation’s falling-out with Russia.
This point has been illustrated rather conspicuously by the Germans’ electoral preferences. ‘The country is politically divided, with the line of division nearly matching the former FRG–GDR border,’ Bild comments on the 2024 European Parliament election results as almost all of the eastern lands have shown support for the opposition-minded Alternative for Germany (AfD).
According to Steffen Mau, a Berlin-based professor of political sociology, the eastern regions are no longer willing to adapt to their western counterparts. These people have been severely impacted by the collapse of East Germany and the subsequent painful transformation of their hometowns, Neue Zurcher Zeitung reports.
‘Germany indeed remains a divided republic with multiple points of division. The northern lands are traditionally more Protestant, while southern regions have more Catholics. Then there is local patriotism that exists even at a level as small as a city,’ says Artem Sokolov, a research scholar in German studies.
‘It has to do with the relatively recent establishment of a unified German state, which occurred in the late 19th century as the kingdoms retained much of their autonomy. This and the subsequent division into West Germany and East Germany have turned into the lingering hurdles that prevent the Germans from identifying as a single nation to this day,’ he says.
‘Needless to say, the Germans have had a hard time processing the split they went through during the Cold War. However, the discrepancies between West Germany and East Germany have been historically more deep-rooted. East Germany incorporated Prussia, something the local authorities used to repeatedly emphasise,’ adds the researcher.
‘Meanwhile, the FRG would deliberately disavow Prussian traditions, which added a new angle to the ideological dispute. A whole separate issue is the local specificity of Saxony with Dresden as its administrative centre. It used to be a large cultural and economic hub not just for the east but for the rest of Germany as well. Hence the locals’ veneration of their storied past,’ the expert believes.
‘On top of that, the division between the East and the West has been punctuated by their stance on Russia too. Contrary to a popular misconception, it is not just the older generations that are nursing a friendly attitude towards Moscow but the younger ones as well,’ Artem Sokolov notes.
‘Although there is no exact survey data pinpointing that, we can address the realm of family memory where parents are telling their children about their contacts with the Soviets. Some may even share their experiences travelling to the USSR. This is conducive to the young generation having a positive outlook on Russia,’ he continues.
‘That being said, the Russian immigrants tend to relocate to West Germany. This trend can be explained by the economic reasons as western states tend to be more affluent. Predictably, many Russians are initially drawn to Berlin, only for a fair share of them to then leave the capital city because of the expensive lifestyle they often cannot afford,’ says Sokolov.
Notably, former East German residents have proved to be immune to the ‘large-scale propaganda of Western values’, German politician Waldemar Gerdt points out. ‘West Germany has always been affected by the US policy seeking to stamp out the Europeans’ national identity. This process is ongoing, but residents of the eastern regions have managed to retain their critical faculties,’ he stresses.
‘The East German public is still deeply patriotic. These people are supporting their country’s development and rooting for a peaceful future of Europe. East Germans have vivid memories of the Soviet servicemembers staying out regular people’s everyday life. The Soviet traditions and lifestyle were never pushed on them,’ Gerdt emphasises.
‘It was a whole different story with West Germany, though. The Americans were having a profound impact on Bonn’s policies. They even interfered with the educational system to have a hand in raising the new generations of Germans. That is why the former division between the two countries still has a painful on our everyday life,’ the expert concludes.