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Historical Eastern Germany or Former German Eastern Territories are terms which can be used to describe collectively those provinces or regions east of the Oder–Neisse line which were parts of Germany after its unification in 1871 and were internationally recognised as such at the time. Germany lost part of the territories after World War I in Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the rest at the end of World War II in 1945, when international recognition that Germany had any right to jurisdiction over any of these territories was withdrawn. Germany officially recognised its present Eastern border at the time of its reunification in 1990. The term Historic Eastern Germany is not being used in this article to describe East Germany - the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).

History

In 1871 those provinces or regions east of the Oder–Neisse line as part of the Prussian state were incorporated into the German Empire created by Otto von Bismarck. But unlike the regions in what is today Germany, although there were large settled German communities in the territories east of the Oder–Neisse line - since the beginning of the 13th century (East Colonisation) -, Germans did not make up all of the population, and in some regions they did not even make up a majority.

The territories to the east of the Oder–Neisse line which in 1871 were included in the German Empire were East Brandenburg, Silesia, East Prussia, West Prussia, Pomerania and Posen.

At the end of World War I the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles included the loss of German colonies and loss of German territories. East of the Oder–Neisse line these territories were:

With the defeat of Poland in 1939, at the start of World War II, many of the regions Germany lost after World War I were annexed by Germany along with some other areas which had never been a part of a unified Germany. These annexations were not recognised by the Allied governments, that after the 1942 Declaration by the United Nations where also known as the United Nations.

After World War II, as agreed at the Potsdam Conference all the areas under German jurisdiction east of the Oder–Neisse line, whether recognised by the international community as part of Germany since 1871 or annexed by Germany during World War II, were placed under the jurisdiction of other countries. Most of the German-speaking population which lived east of the Oder–Neisse line that had not already been evacuated by German authorities or fled from the advancing Red Army in the winter of 1944–1945 was expelled without compensation, including those whose families had lived in the region for generations. According to the Federation of Expellees (Bund der Vertriebenen in German), 15 million Germans were displaced from their homes and over 2 million people were killed or died during the process. The exact numbers, however, are disputed, but undoubtedly the death toll was more than 500.000.

Post World War II politics

Since 1945, referring to lands over which there was a transfer of jurisdiction as "east Germany" has had political connotations, which means that any article which discusses this issue is likely to be contentious. The contention has been somewhat dissipated over the last twenty years by three related phenomena:

  • The passage of time means that there are fewer and fewer people alive who have firsthand experience of these regions under German jurisdiction.
  • Until the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany, the official German government position on the status of areas vacated by settled German communities east of the Oder–Neisse rivers was that the areas were "temporarily under Polish Soviet administration." To facilitate wide international acceptance of German re-unification in 1990, the German political establishment recognised the "facts on the ground" and accepted clauses in the Treaty on the Final Settlement whereby Germany renounced all claims to territory east of the Oder–Neisse line. This allowed the treaty to be negotiated quickly and for German unification to go ahead quickly, which was seen as a priority by most of the German political establishment of the time.
  • The eastern expansion of the European Union (EU) which occurred on May 1st, 2004 means that any German who wishes to live and work in Poland, and thus east of the Oder–Neisse rivers, may do so, without requiring a permit. Some restrictions on the purchase of land and real estate will be in place for a period of a few years. Around October, 2007 Poland is likely to enter the Schengen Area and all border controls on its border with Germany will be eliminated, making movement across the border even easier.

The problem with the status of those territories recognised as German by the international community between 1920 and 1945 east of the Oder–Neisse rivers was that in 1945 the concluding document of the Potsdam Conference was not a legally binding treaty, but a memorandum. It regulated the issue of the eastern German border, which was to be the Oder–Neisse line, but the final article of the memorandum said that the final regulations concerning Germany were subject to a separate peace treaty. This treaty was signed in 1990, with the "Treaty on the Final Settlement". This meant that for 45 years, people on both sides of the border (and the issue) could not be sure that the settlement reached in 1945 would not be changed at some future date.

In the course of the German reunification process, Chancellor Helmut Kohl accepted the territorial changes made after WWII. This caused some outrage (and possibly cost some votes), especially among the Expellees who had hoped to get the land back. Some Poles were concerned about a possible revival of their 1939 trauma through a second German invasion, this time with the Germans buying all their land, which was cheaply available at the time. This happened on a smaller scale than many expected, and since the Baltic Sea coast in Poland has become popular with German tourists, Germans are now often welcome guests. The so-called "homesickness-tourism" which was often perceived as quite aggressive well into the 1990s has now the tendency to be viewed as a good-natured nostalgia tour rather than a source of anger and desire for reconquest of the lost territories.

Usage

The news media in the non-German speaking world have continued to use the term "(former) East Germany" to describe the five states that make up the old GDR region of the reunited Germany. They have done this because of the need to have a short label which their viewers and readers understand when describing the economic and social problem which have beset the region since 1990.

Some Germans, often from families expelled from eastern territories of Germany, use the term "eastern Germany" or "east Germany" to refer the area east of Berlin which had large settled German-speaking communities before World War II including those east of the Oder-Neisse rivers. The same people refer to the area from Berlin to the Elbe river, or possibly slightly further west, as "middle Germany" (Mitteldeutschland). Some governmental institutions in Germany, like the state of Saxony, still use the term middle Germany when referring to their territory. This can cause confusion when translated into English because, in English since 1945, "East Germany" has referred exclusively the area of Germany of the former GDR and the 5 states which make up the same region today.

See also

References

Further reading

History of Germany | Polish borders | Polish historical regions

Ostgebiete | Voormalige gebieden van het Duitse Rijk in het Oosten | Ziemie Odzyskane

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Historical Eastern Germany".

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