Last reviewed on October 4, 2026.
Which German States Were in East Germany?
Five of today's sixteen states were part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany): Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. East Berlin was also part of the GDR; since 1990 it has formed the reunited state of Berlin together with West Berlin. In German these five are still often called the neue Länder ("new states") or ostdeutsche Länder.
| State | Capital | Population (2025) | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandenburg | Potsdam | 2,551,889 | 29,654 |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Schwerin | 1,573,685 | 23,295 |
| Saxony | Dresden | 4,026,599 | 18,450 |
| Saxony-Anhalt | Magdeburg | 2,120,252 | 20,464 |
| Thuringia | Erfurt | 2,078,946 | 16,202 |
The other ten states — Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein — were in West Germany (Saarland only from 1957).
From States to Districts and Back: A Short Timeline
- 1945–47: In the Soviet occupation zone five states are set up: Mecklenburg (initially Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, including the part of Western Pomerania that stayed German), Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt (from the Prussian Province of Saxony and Anhalt) and Thuringia.
- 7 October 1949: the GDR is founded; the five states continue to exist at first.
- July 1952: an administrative reform transfers the states' functions to 14 new districts (Bezirke), named after their main cities — such as Rostock, Schwerin, Potsdam, Magdeburg, Halle, Erfurt, Leipzig and Dresden — with East Berlin as a separate unit. The states' upper chamber was formally dissolved in 1958.
- 22 July 1990: the freely elected GDR parliament passes a law to re-create the states.
- 3 October 1990: with German reunification the five states come into existence again and join the Federal Republic; first state elections follow on 14 October 1990.
The 1990 states largely follow the old boundaries, but a few districts chose a different state: Altenburg and Schmölln went to Thuringia instead of Saxony, Hoyerswerda and Weißwasser to Saxony, and Perleberg, Prenzlau and Templin to Brandenburg.
East and West Today
More than three decades after reunification, differences are still visible in statistics: the eastern states have older populations, lower average wages and lower population density than most western states, although Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Potsdam have grown strongly. For travellers the legacy is mostly visible in architecture — restored baroque and medieval centres next to GDR-era housing estates — and in memorial sites such as the Berlin Wall Memorial, Leipzig's Nikolaikirche and the former border at Point Alpha on the Hesse–Thuringia line.
Several of Germany's highlights are in the east: Dresden and Saxon Switzerland, Potsdam's palaces, the Baltic islands of Rügen and Usedom, Weimar and the Wartburg, Quedlinburg, Wittenberg and the Bauhaus in Dessau. See also our guide to Saxony vs Lower Saxony vs Saxony-Anhalt — only two of those three are eastern states.
Sources
- Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) — background on the 1952 district reform and the 1990 Ländereinführungsgesetz
- Destatis — population by federal state
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Saxony-Anhalt in East or West Germany?
East Germany. Saxony-Anhalt was one of the five GDR states abolished in 1952 and re-established in 1990.
Was Lower Saxony in East Germany?
No. Lower Saxony was in West Germany (British zone) and a founding state of the Federal Republic in 1949. It shared a long stretch of the inner-German border with the GDR.
Is Berlin an East German state?
Berlin was divided: East Berlin was the capital of the GDR, West Berlin was tied to the Federal Republic. Since 3 October 1990 the reunited city is a single state.
How many states did East Germany have?
Five (Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia) until 1952, then none — the GDR was divided into 14 districts plus East Berlin until 1990.