Ahen sports reporter legend Heinz Florian Oertel died in March, it was a big deal for many East Germans. However, many West Germans – if they even noticed – asked themselves: Heinz who? And because the German media has a West German influence, the reporting was correspondingly narrow. Bad luck for the East Germans, once again. With this observation, the Federal Government’s Eastern Commissioner, Carsten Schneider of the SPD, illustrated on Wednesday what can mean in everyday life when East Germans do not find their interests sufficiently taken into account. Often it’s little things, but they add up. The underlying problem is large and structural: East Germans are still severely underrepresented in the German elite.
More precisely: Last year, 12.2 percent of the highest management positions in important state and social institutions were held by East Germans – out of a population share of 20 percent. This was the result of the “Elite Monitor”, a research project at several East German universities, whose latest findings were presented by the Eastern Commissioner, supported by researchers, in the Federal Chancellery.
It’s about “political self-efficacy”
Schneider said he sees light in view of the fact that the proportion of East Germans in the elite has recently increased slightly; In 2018 it was 10.9 percent. But there is still a lot to do. It’s about “political self-efficacy”: not just being led, but leading yourself. Although Schneider avoided formulating direct conclusions regarding the success of the AfD, especially in the eastern German states, he did say that “the mood” was also a result of the lack of representation.
In the political sector, the underrepresentation has been overcome purely statistically – but only because the state level was also included, the researchers emphasize. At the top, at the federal level, things look worse. Overall, 20.9 percent of the political elite are made up of Germans who come from the East. East Germans are underrepresented in all other areas: in the media they make up 8.1 percent of top management, in culture eight percent, and in business and employers’ associations only 4.3 percent. Even among the scientific elite, the proportion of East Germans, at 8.2 percent, is not even half as high as in the population. In the judiciary it is negligible at 2.1 percent.
Lack of role models at the top
The scientists find it striking that more than half of all top positions in the elite have been filled since 2018 – but East Germans are also underrepresented in the new appointments. “So it’s not growing out,” concluded Lars Vogel, one of the project’s leaders. It is also too early to speak of a trend given the slight increase in representation.
The “Elite Monitor” not only shows the extent of underrepresentation, but also describes the causes and initial options for action. The scientists include the long-term effects of the system change among the causes, for example the fact that many GDR training courses were not recognized in the Federal Republic after reunification; High leadership positions in the military, for example, are still held exclusively by West Germans.
The fact that West Germans recruited successors from the West, are formally more educated and have larger networks also plays a role. The networks include the connections that come with scholarships, but also membership in parties or unions. This in turn means that it is more difficult to find suitable East German candidates for top positions. But a lack of role models at the top has an inhibiting effect on motivation. The interpretation that anyone who gets stuck is their own fault is therefore too short-sighted.
The scientists’ recommendations for action are low-threshold: universities should emphasize more strongly that scholarships not only bring money, but are also useful for careers in other ways, and federal institutions in the East should employ more East Germans. The Eastern Commissioner was optimistic: He had noticed a “high sensitivity” among the federal government ministers to bring more East Germans into leadership positions in the authorities under their authority.
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