© dpa/picture alliance
January 1990, Plauen: East Germans want a United Germany.
Dnevnik Express
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They continue to feel more “East German” and less simply “German”. A recent study in Germany gives a real insight into the division among Germans more than 30 years after reunification.
A full 30 years after German reunification, almost half of East Germans still feel like second-class citizens. This is according to a recent survey by the sociological institute “Infratest Dimap” for the public television ARD. In it, 43 percent of those surveyed say that they perceive themselves exactly the same way – as second-class citizens. 49 percent are of the opposite opinion.
In the new (East German) states, four out of ten Germans identified themselves explicitly as “East German”, and only 52 percent as “German”. In the old (western) provinces, 76 percent perceive themselves as “Germans” and 18 percent as “West Germans”, according to the ARD.
The East sees Germany as less cohesive than the West
When asked how much East and West have converged in the meantime, 62% of East Germans answered “less or not at all” and 35% “very strongly or strongly”.
Another interesting result is regarding the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany: more than half (54%) of East Germans see it as a threat to democracy, compared to 67% in West Germany.
For the representative survey of “Infratest Dimap”, conducted between August 28 and 30, 1,310 people were interviewed – 410 respondents from East Germany and 900 from West Germany. The report for which the survey is intended was broadcast on the public television ARD
