Are There Still Differences Between East and West Berlin?
- Matti Geyer
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
As a private tour guide in Berlin — and as someone who grew up in East Germany — I get this question constantly:“Are there still differences between East and West Berlin?”
My short answer: Yes and no. At least, not in the way people expect.
On the Streets: The Subtle Architectural Story
Many first-time visitors assume they can spot the old East by its gray concrete blocks or socialist architecture. But after more than three decades of reunification, the differences are far more subtle.
Some of Berlin’s most beautiful, expensive, and sought-after neighborhoods — Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte, Friedrichshain — were once part of East Berlin. The Plattenbau high-rises that still exist are mostly further out, in Marzahn or Hohenschönhausen, and even those have been renovated and brightened up.
Ironically, when we drive through parts of Charlottenburg or Schöneberg in the old West, I often hear people say, “Oh, this must be the East!” because they see an ugly 1960s block. But no — West Berlin built plenty of those, too. The difference is that the West had money to rebuild after WWII, and much of it went into modernist architecture that, in hindsight, wasn’t the most beautiful.
If you visit the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße, you can literally see it side by side: the East preserved its 19th-century buildings (now beautifully renovated), while the West replaced many with postwar social housing. It flips the old stereotypes completely.
Even the famous Ampelmännchen — the cheerful East German traffic light figure — is now a citywide icon. The East has quietly left its mark on all of Berlin.
Berlin Has Grown Together — But Germany Hasn’t Fully
Here’s what I always emphasize: Berlin as a city has grown together incredibly well. People move freely, live across the former border, and few even know where it once ran. The real differences show up on a national level — between urban and rural areas, East and West Germany as a whole.
Everywhere, people are leaving the countryside and moving into cities — but in eastern Germany, this happened tenfold after reunification, when the economy collapsed. Cities like Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden are thriving, while rural areas in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern struggle with population loss, aging, and fewer job opportunities.
Take Elections for Example
Election maps make the divide visible at a glance: much of eastern Germany now votes overwhelmingly for the far-right AfD, with the party topping 38 percent in Thuringia and dominating across the former GDR states. Yet it’s important to note that “the East” is not uniform.
Cities like Leipzig, Dresden, and especially Berlin tell a different story. Berlin’s political landscape has long leaned progressive and pluralistic, with coalitions shifting among Social Democrats, Greens, and the Left, and voter turnout levels resembling western cities rather than surrounding rural areas. While much of the countryside faces population loss, aging, and economic stagnation—conditions that feed alienation and populist sentiment—Berlin has absorbed people from both east and west, grown demographically diverse, and remains largely resistant to the AfD’s rise. In many ways, Berlin has already achieved what reunified Germany still struggles with: an urban East–West synthesis that feels, politically and socially, like one city.
The Numbers Behind the Divide
Even though Berlin’s skyline and lifestyle feel unified, many statistics still show broader East-West divides across Germany:
Income: Workers in East Germany earn on average 14% less than those in the West with the same qualifications. Lower union coverage (Tarifbindung) plays a big role.
Wealth: Of Germany’s long-term wealthy, 95% live in the West, only 5% in the East. Poverty rates are roughly the reverse.
Bonuses: About 55% of West Germans receive Christmas bonuses, compared to 43% in the East.
Equality: East Germany does better here — more women work full-time and the gender gap is smaller.
But — and this is important — these numbers reflect all of East Germany, not Berlin. Berlin’s economy and life satisfaction levels are now closer to other large German cities than to small eastern towns. The same goes for Leipzig and Dresden, which have reinvented themselves as vibrant cultural and economic centers.
Life Satisfaction and the “Feeling Left Behind”
According to the Deutschland-Monitor 2023, people across Germany — whether in East or West, city or countryside — report similar levels of life satisfaction. That’s a positive surprise.
Still, in eastern and structurally weaker rural regions, many residents feel their areas are “left behind.”
19% of East Germans feel politically and economically neglected, compared to 8% in the West.
Over half of East Germans (56%) say they’re dissatisfied with how democracy functions in practice, versus 40% in the West.
Researchers point out that this isn’t just about history. People in struggling rural regions — whether in East or West — feel more disconnected from politics than those in strong urban economies. But because many eastern areas remain less developed, that sense of frustration concentrates there. At the same time, 97% of Germans overall still support democracy — so it’s more about performance than principle.
Views on Europe, religion, and minority groups also diverge. Westerners are more pro-EU, more religious, and generally hold more positive views of Muslims and Jews, whereas easterners are more secular and more likely to support the far-right AfD, which is viewed favorably by about twice as many people in the East as in the West. Still, on many core issues—from social values to welfare expectations—attitudes have steadily converged, reflecting a slow but ongoing cultural unification even as political and economic gaps remain.
A Different Kind of Unity
Sociologists like Steffen Mau argue that when two societies merge, they don’t become identical — they stay different, but connected. That’s exactly how Germany looks today. The country is still “unequally united,” but also richer for its diversity.
East Germans have developed their own sense of identity — practical, resilient, sometimes skeptical of authority — but also proud of their history and transformation. West Germans, on the other hand, have gradually adopted more of the East’s social values, such as support for a strong welfare state and community cohesion.
Berlin’s Role Today
Berlin stands out as a bridge between both sides — a city that grew from division into diversity.Here, the old “border” has turned into a playground of creativity, innovation, and contrast.Walk through neighborhoods like Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, or Wedding, and you’ll find a mix of people and stories that could only exist in this once-divided city.
Yes, Germany still shows East-West differences — economically, politically, and demographically.But Berlin proves how quickly things can change when people mix, move, and rebuild together.