Odrębność Niemiec Wschodnich w świetle koncepcji długiego trwania
Streszczenie
The reunification of Germany in 1990 revealed a clear difference between
the two parts of the country. This is visible, for example, in the political sympathies
revealed during the elections. These differences are most often explained by the
45-year period of the country’s division and the functioning of two different political
and socio-economic systems. Nevertheless, the differences between the East and West
of Germany were noticed even before 1945. The East later became part of Germany
and was initially inhabited by Slavic peoples. The local German society was created by
mixing the settlers from the west with the local Slavic people. The relics of this process
are linguistic differences (toponymy, anthroponymy, borrowings in local dialects) that
persist to this day, as well as different features revealed in genetic research. As a result of
the interaction between local conditions and ideas flowing from the West, a completely
new settlement, economic and legal system was also created. It can be assumed that
the emergence of these conditions also influenced the later development of the socio-
-economic and political system in this area. Large unified principalities (Brandenburg,
Saxony, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Prussia) were established in the east, so there was
no room for political and systemic pluralism as in the west (free cities, free nobility
of the Reich). The local princes gained a dominant position, basing their power on
subordinated vassal nobility. There was a weakness of the cities and the bourgeoisie.
In these conditions, in the process of the so-called secondary feudalization, formed the
separateness of the so-called Ostelbien, associated with the dominant role of the nobility
and the manorial serf economy. The liquidation of the feudal system also took a specific
form here due to the so-called the Prussian road to capitalism in agriculture. It maintained
the privileged position of the nobility (Junkers) in the socio-economic and political life
of East Germany. Initially, autocracy was associated with conservative tendencies. Later,
above-average sympathies for left-wing movements developed here. The conservatism
of the nobility and the rich peasantry coexisted with the leftism of a large number of hired
workers in agriculture. The influence of the authoritarian socialist system overlapped
with these earlier conditions, partially in harmony with them, further strengthening the
separateness of East Germany from the West.
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