Eastern Germany

Once Soviet-controlled region

Eastern Germany refers to the region that was the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1949 to 1990, a Soviet-aligned communist state separated from West Germany by the Iron Curtain.

After reunification, the term persists for the former East German states, often in discussions of economic disparity, political differences, or cultural identity: Unemployment remains higher in eastern Germany.

The region votes differently and still lags the west in wages and infrastructure.

Berlin WallCold War partition
border crossingTransit between sovereign territories
BrandenburgNortheastern German federal state
StasiEast German secret police
secret policeClandestine state security apparatus

Saxony · factory · Thuringia · Cold War · coal · Leipzig · Dresden · folk traditions · Soviet Union · brick · train · Potsdam · fall of the wall · reunification · manufacturing hubs · concrete blocks · panel · tram

Opposites

geographic/political division

Eastern GermanyWest Germany

Postwar democratic German state

Western Europe · Bavaria

Family

east, eastern, easterly, eastward, eastwards, easterners, easterner, Germany, German

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Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G