Author Description

With German reunification on October 3, 1990, five new federal states in the east of the country joined the political, social and administrative structure of the Federal Republic of Germany. Saxony-Anhalt had some special features compared to the other new federal states. The re-establishment of the country, which had already existed between 1945 and 1952, was based on only weak traditions, so that no national consciousness could develop. In addition, the population of Saxony-Anhalt was more affected by immigration than anywhere else in the 20th century. The re-establishment of the federal state is the reason for this book, in which twenty women and men who were involved in the historical events in different positions report on their experiences, feelings and impressions at intervals of thirty years. These reports add up to a diverse picture of the early years of Saxony-Anhalt in its foundation phase and in important development stages. The starting point of the volume was an extremely successful series of events at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in the winter semester 2019/20, to which Prof. Mathias Tullner had also invited politicians as contemporary witnesses who, at first hand, about the background, formative moments and also Crises in the young federal state reported. The spectrum of eyewitnesses ranges from the personal assistant to the first prime minister, the state spokesman for Saxony-Anhalt, members of parliament from the very beginning, to ministers and three former prime ministers. With these personal reports on private matters as well as on parliamentary work, a form of the country's history is presented that results in a historical source of a special kind, in which one can look behind the scenes. In addition, the book offers a detailed and precisely researched introduction to the history of the development of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, which enables the reader to classify the memorabilia in the history of the special federal stat