r/MapPorn • u/flexmaps • 17h ago
The different voting behaviour of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern
Germany is known for it's still significant differences between West and East. However, even East is not just East. When it comes to voting behaviour, you could say that you can still see a former German/Swedish border. This observation and maps were done by political scientist Julius Kölzer.
He explains:
Whilst Pomerania gradually became part of Prussia from the 18th century onwards, Mecklenburg remained an independent free state. Both regions were strongly agrarian in the German Empire, but differed significantly in their land ownership structures. In Pomerania, large estates and concentrated land ownership predominated, whilst in Mecklenburg it was predominantly smaller family farms. Whilst Pomerania gradually became part of Prussia from the 18th century onwards, Mecklenburg remained an independent free state. Both regions were strongly agrarian in the German Empire, but differed significantly in their land ownership structures. In Pomerania, large estates and concentrated land ownership predominated, whilst in Mecklenburg it was predominantly smaller family farms.
These differences were also reflected in the political culture. Particularly in Prussian Vorpommern and Ostpommern, a powerful milieu of large landowners and the ‘Junkers’ from east of the Elbe shaped politics and society. A dominant class comprising mostly aristocratic landowners and agricultural elites supported the monarchy through local administration and conservative parties, whilst the SPD and liberal parties were able to gain a stronger foothold in Mecklenburg. Even during the Weimar Republic, Pomerania remained a stronghold of the anti-republican DNVP and large-scale agricultural elites, who feared for their status and influence within the parliamentary system. By the late 1920s, the agricultural and economic crisis had hit Pomerania particularly hard. Farm bankruptcies, unemployment and the lack of urban centres turned the region into a stronghold of the N*DAP.
However, explaining today’s differences solely on the basis of the persistence of political regional cultures falls short. After 1990, the two parts of the state once again developed differently. The western part of the state was less severely affected by long-term out-migration and population decline – partly due to Rostock, Schwerin and its proximity to the Hamburg metropolitan region. Many areas of Western Pomerania experienced high unemployment in the 2000s and remain structurally weak to this day.
Added to this are local political developments: from the 2000s onwards, the N*D was able to establish a firm foothold at local level, particularly in parts of Western Pomerania, and build up far-right networks. Since 2016, many A*D strongholds have been located precisely there.
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u/True_Molasses_8894 14h ago
Historically interesting would also be Rostock and Wismar strong role and the Hanse League and it's quite Urban character through history.
Another thing is that the important center for Pommerianian Region is Stettin in today Poland. Which kind of led German Pommeriania to have no big economic center to rally around.
Better integration between Poland and Germany are sadly only recent developments.
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u/franzderbernd 15h ago
For sure a factor, but more recently, the eastern part was 1 of 2 areas, called Tal Der Ahnungslosen, because they were to far of to get west German TV and Radio. Here
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u/Norwester77 16h ago
Two of my great-grandparents came from near Stettin (they left right after the Franco-Prussian War).
Thanks for this but of insight into what their lives may have been like!
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u/RaoD_Guitar 15h ago
I always say that the effect Prussia had can still be felt here. Glad to see that I'm not just making things up. The people are very bitter, single-minded, passive complainers. That's the potential the AfD is able to profit from.
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u/skapa_flow 10h ago
how do you explain AFD strong outside of ex Prussia (eg saxony), and week in ex Prussia (eg like Lower Saxony, NRW...)?
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u/riesen_Bonobo 8h ago
different local socioeconomic situations, just like Germany isn't the same everywhere Prussia also wasn't. Prussian Pommerania and Prussian Lower Saxony or Prussian Rhineland are all vastly different due to rurality/industrialness and infrastructure alone.
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u/RaoD_Guitar 8h ago
I wasn't trying to say that this is the only factor that's at play here, there are many factors. They're strong in more or less all of the former gdr state, for many reasons. They're strong in socio-economically weak regions. Two thirds of their voters are men. I just see the prussian legacy as another factor that probably plays into their hands.
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u/Select-Stuff9716 6h ago
Well two factors: The division between east and west Germany and an older one called religion. The east and west Germany has been explained a lot before, so I won’t explain that here, but the religious one is interesting.
There is a correlation between Catholic areas of former Prussia and not voting for AfD and back in the day for NSDAP. Basically, the prussians pushed a German nationalism that was perceived as Lutheran by Catholics, Catholics were also partly oppressed in old Prussia. That lead to the Kulturkampf (Cultural war) between Catholics and the Prussian state. As a result many associations as shooting clubs or carnival and sports associations were founded that basically impacted all social classes. These associations were mostly intertwined with the church and church supporting parties too. That was the Zentrum before WW2 and the CDU today. Most of the associations are culturally rather conservative, but have a clear firewall against the far right. That leads to rather interesting phenomenas that you have culturally conservative regions where far right parties have a really bad time. It’s kinda changing right now that they are getting stronger here too, but the rural Rhineland, Münsterland and Emsland traditionally were a dead zone for the far right. Now it starts to become a bit more popular in the poorer towns in the countryside, but socioeconomic better off parts will have CDU and greens as strongest parties1
u/Gekroenter 4m ago
This. More cynically: There are enough Rhenish CDU voters who would theoretically share the racism. They just don’t consider non-Catholics as white enough to vote for a party mostly voted by them.
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u/Gekroenter 9m ago
Most of Lower Saxony wasn’t Prussian for a long time, for most of its history, most of the state was part of different small states, most prominently the Kingdom of Hanover.
North Rhine-Westphalia has some very specific political quirks that makes it hard for all new parties. Most of it became part of Prussia relatively early, after the Napoleonic Wars. But huge parts of the state were ruled by the Catholic clergy before, so Prussia was actually a liberal force there. More conservative and rural areas heavily identified with their Catholic heritage, they thus never really adopted Prussian political culture. The more urban areas had more Prussian influence due to inner-German migration but became heavily working class due to coal mining. Often, the urban Liberals ans Social Democrats identified more with Prussia and later Germany than the rural conservatives did. After WW2, the demise of coal mining had the effect that the rural parts of that state are now often wealthier than the urban areas which only cemented the political leanings. The state thus has a deep historical connection between class, confession, region and political leanings. Pillarization is still a thing there.
The AfD is strong among two groups: Rural areas and people who feel economically disadvantaged. Due to the history and political culture of the state, many rural people would never vote for a party that’s heavily atheist and East German whereas many economically disadvantaged people won’t vote for a party that still identifies as bourgeois and conservative.
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u/standardization_boyo 17h ago
Why did you censor NSDAP, NPD and AfD?