East Germany
Country in Central Europe
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| 2025 | In the federal election, AfD emerged as the largest party in all five former East German states. |
| 2025 | By the 2025 federal election, BSW sees a drop in support, narrowly falling short of the 5% threshold necessary to gain seats in the Bundestag, with support of 9.9% in the East and 3.8% in the West. |
| 2024 | AfD became the biggest party in all five former East German states in the European Parliament election. |
| 2024 | In the Thuringian state election, AfD became the first far-right party since the Nazi Party to win a plurality of seats, marking its best-ever performance and first-place finish in a state election. |
| 2024 | A faction led by Sahra Wagenknecht splits from The Left party, forming the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a new political party with more populist, nationalist, and cultural conservative tendencies. |
| 2024 | In the 2024 state elections, the newly formed BSW dominates over The Left, achieving 15.8% in Thuringia, 13.5% in Brandenburg, and 11.8% in Saxony. |
| 2024 | BSW (a splinter group) emerges, further diversifying the political representation in the new states of Germany. |
| 2023 | A poll revealed that among Germans living in the former East Germany, 40% identified as 'East Germans' and 52% identified as 'Germans', indicating ongoing identity complexities post-reunification. |
| December 17 2023 | The AfD candidate wins the mayoral election in Pirna, Saxony, marking the first time the party has won a mayoral seat in a city with over 20,000 inhabitants. |
| June 5 2023 | The Alternative for Germany (AfD) wins its first district election in Sonneberg, Thuringia, despite opposition from other parties. |
| 2022 | Scholz delivers Zeitenwende speech signaling a foreign policy shift in Germany, committing billions of dollars to military investments and approving direct military and economic aid to Ukraine in response to Russia's invasion. |
| 2021 |
AfD emerged as the largest party in the states of Saxony and Thuringia, with a strong performance in eastern Germany.
Germany: Thuringia and Saxony elections propel far-right AfD – DW – 09/02/2024
www.dw.com
Germany: AfD extremists win elections in Thuringia, come in second in Saxony, Chancellor Scholz says they are destroying the country's reputation and dividing society - Romea.cz - Everything about Roma in one place
romea.cz
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| December 8 2021 | Olaf Scholz is sworn in as chancellor, forming a traffic-light coalition government with the Greens and the FDP after the SPD won a plurality in the federal election. |
| December 8 2021 | Merkel officially steps down as Chancellor, with Olaf Scholz succeeding her after 16 years in power, marking the end of her long political leadership. |
| 2018 | A German-language film about the escape, titled 'Balloon', was produced, which both the Strelzyk and Wetzel families welcomed. |
| 2018 | Merkel publicly announced that she would not seek another term in the next elections and would retire from political leadership. |
| March 2018 | After months of negotiations, Merkel forms her fourth government, continuing the grand coalition between CDU/CSU and SPD. |
| 2017 | The balloon used in the escape was put on permanent display at the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte: Museum in Regensburg. |
| 2017 | Peter Strelzyk died at age 74 after a long illness. |
| 2017 | Angela Merkel was elected to her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany, with the FDP returning to the Bundestag and the right-wing populist AfD entering parliament for the first time. |
| 2017 | In the federal election, AfD received approximately 22% of votes in East Germany compared to 11% in West Germany. |
| December 2017 | Scheduled completion of the Leipzig-Nuremberg railway line (part of the Munich-Berlin route), nearly three decades after German reunification. |
| 2016 | The Alternative for Germany (AfD) reached at least 17% support in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Berlin. |
| 2015 | Germany was significantly impacted by the European migrant crisis, taking in over a million refugees and migrants. Merkel authorized unrestricted entry, which led to considerable political criticism both domestically and across Europe. |
| 2014 | The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was first elected to various Landtag mandates. |
| December 2014 | A TNS Emnid survey revealed 53% of East Germans sympathized with PEGIDA demonstrators. |
| 2013 | Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) political party was formed, transforming the East German political landscape from a three-party to a four-party system. |
| 2013 | New states were eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% as Objective 1 development regions within the European Union until this year. |
| December 2013 | Merkel secures a third term as Chancellor, returning to a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party after the FDP failed to enter parliament. |
| April 2010 | Unemployment rate in the East reached 12.7% in April. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles History of Germany (1990–present), East Germany balloon escape, New states of Germany & East Germany, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.