The Millions Who Left

The year 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the inner German border Millions of people have since left the East for West Germany in hopes of a better life. ZEIT ONLINE has evaluated data on each of the approximately 6 million moves that took place from 1991, the first full year German unification, to 2017. With the help of relocation data from the residents’ registration offices, it is now possible for the first time to show where these flows went. The data tells one of the least documented stories of German post-war history, showing that after reunification, nearly a quarter of the original population of East Germany moved to the West, triggering a demographic crisis. Nearly every district lost people to the West between 1991 and 2017. More than a quarter of the population between the ages of 18 and 30 migrated to the West. Not only did states in eastern Germany lose tax revenues as a result, but in many places the ‘social infrastructure’ also collapsed. However, the data analysis shows a historical break for 2017: for the first time, more people are moving from West to East than the other way around. A decades-long trend of migration has come to a halt – for now.

To view the project online, click here.

The map at the beginning of the article shows the 4,000 regions with the most net moves for all years counted. The migration flows were summarized by so-called ‘edge bundling’. Each dot that is visible corresponds to a single move. Some readers who had moved away from the East during this period reacted emotionally on Twitter and Facebook: ‘One of the small golden dots is me!’ The severity of emigration’s impact on the East is most apparent when one takes a closer look at the administrative districts and cities in the region. That is why readers can view the population development and relocation behaviour of their own region and are able to compare their very personal situation with others. They can view the demographic development for each county and city as if under a microscope.

The data were used to identify destinations for flanking reports. For example, the relocation data was used to find a municipality in East Germany where no West German has yet moved (articles written in German). The evaluations are based on data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, which encompass all moves between districts and cities in Germany between 1991 and 2017. The data in their raw form were not comparable because district borders have changed over time. As a workaround, we used the most recent demarcations from 2017 provided by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).

To view the project online, click here.

Projekt Spięcie

Projekt Spięcie – Editorial

By Jędrzej Malko

Talking doesn’t come easy to us in Poland. Talking about Poland comes even more difficult. The problem is not new, but it has grown even more acute lately. For many reasons, the common ground is being broken up into ever smaller plots, partitioned with ever taller walls. The public sphere is being replaced by communal bubbles, and inner monologues in individual circles supplant the dialogue between people of diverse views. These phenomena have been described many times already, and I doubt if I could say anything new on the subject. But these days, perhaps it is not so much a question of saying anything new, as of saying old things in novel ways.

“Spięcie” is such a project, an experiment in co-operation between editorial boards of five magazines which, although deeply divided, are united in their readiness to start this unusual conversation. Every few weeks, the Jagielloński24, Kontakt, Krytyka Polityczna, Kultura Liberalna and Nowa Konfederacja will select a fresh subject to discuss, and the five resultant texts will be published simultaneously on all five portals. The authors will no longer be able to write exclusively for their regular, long-converted audiences. Readers who return to their accustomed portals will be confronted with new authors and new points of view.

It will likely cost us all some effort to conduct this conversation, but the cost of not talking to one another is also significant. And the pain of conversing offers some hope, however fragile. A hope of livelier stirrings of thought, of learning something new, of rebuilding connective tissue, so depleted in society these days. It is not about discovering that, at the end of the day, we are in agreement and “the truth lies somewhere in the middle”. It is simply worthwhile cultivating a place where we can disagree while remaining members of one community, a place where we can attempt to trust that, even though our perceptions of the common good may differ, we care for it equally sincerely on all sides.

Statements by participants of Projekt Spięcie

“In recent years mainstream media are going downhill. Many media outlets are enlisting on this or that side of the political debate and add fuel to the fire of partisan disputes. Political opponents are perceived not as rivals, but as enemies, or traitors. Spięcie is an answer to that problem.”

– Jarema Piekutowski, Nowa Konfederacja.

“I think that at a time when the government is often seen as dismantling democratic standards, creating a space for a rational dialogue between diverse groups with different political affiliations is of crucial importance for the future of democracy in our country.”

– Łukasz Pawłowski, Kultura Liberalna

“Other magazines often are represented by men and we didn’t want the project to become an all male panel, therefore Spięcie motivated us to invite more female authors to write for Krytyka Polityczna.”

– Agnieszka Wiśniewska, Krytyka Polityczna

“Spięcie is all about bursting social media bubbles. Readers are confronted with new vatange points and new arguments. That’s what we’re trying to do, create a media space in which people can exchange opinions and in which different points of view are validated – instead of having a space in which one indisputable truth about something is transmitted to the viewers or readers. Sometimes we also discover that we agree on some issues and this can become a point of departure for designing new public policies.”

– Szymon Rębowski, Magazyn Kontakt

All people involved in Projekt Spięcie

Editors in chief from all involved magazines:

Editors and coordinators of the project at each magazine:

Project coordinator:

Authors: