Specific East German laws were extended to the West following reunification.
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
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Historical and reference sources show that during German reunification, East Germany adopted the laws and constitutional framework of West Germany rather than extending specific East German laws to the West.
The resultion must describe where the Bundeswehr is to go, and for who long the mission will last. Referendums and plebiscites
The Basic Law only allows referendums about changing borders of the Länder. There have been two referundums:
- Baden-Württemberg was created in 1952 after a referendum approved joining together three separate states (Württemberg-Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and Baden). - In 1996 the people who live in Berlin and Brandenburg decided not to join the two states. Development of the Basic Law since 1949
Important changes to the Basic Law were the re-introduction of conscription and the establishment of the Bundeswehr in 1956. During reunification East Germany and West Germany decided not to write a new constitution, but to keep the old one, which had worked so well in West Germany. The constitution was amended to allow East Germany to join, and then changed again to strengthen the claim that Germany wanted no more territory.
With effect from 1 January 1957 the Federal Republic regarded itself as including almost all of Western Germany such that the only "other parts of Germany" to which Article 23 might be extended were now to the east, hence relinquishing all claims to those western parts of the former German Reich that had been surrendered to France and Denmark. (cf. Little Reunification with the Saar). The towns of Elten, Selfkant, and Suderwick, which had been occupied and annexed by Netherlands in 1949, were reunited with the Federal Republic in 1963 by means of an international treaty without invoking Article 23.
The Communist regime in East Germany fell in 1990. Following free elections the parliament of the GDR (East Germany) declared the accession of the GDR according to Article 23 to the Federal Republic of Germany to come into effect on 3 October 1990, making unification an act unilaterally initiated by the last East German parliament.
East Germany's "declaration of accession" (Beitrittserklärung) envisaged states within East Germany being included into the field of application of the Basic Law, but subject to the Basic Law first being amended in accordance with both the previously negotiated Unification Treaty between East and West Germany, and also the Two-Plus-Four Treaty, under which the Allied Powers had relinquished their residual German sovereignty.
So, on the date of accession of East Germany to the Federal Republic of Germany Article 23 was repealed, representing an explicit commitment under Two-Plus-Four Treaty that, following the unification of East Germany, West Germany and Berlin, no "other parts of Germany" remained in east or west to which the Berlin Republic might validly be extended.
Strictly therefore, German reunification was effected by the Unification Treaty between two sovereign states, the GDR and the Federal Republic, and not by the GDR's prior declaration of accession under Article 23, although the former Article 23 was agreed by both parties to the Treaty as setting the constitutional model by which unification would be achieved. As part of the process, East Germany, which had been a unitary state since 1952, was re-divided into its initial five partially self-governing states (Bundesländer), being granted equal status as the already existing Länder, with East and West Berlin reuniting into a new city-state (like Bremen and Hamburg).
By these provisions they made clear, that any West German state was not a definite state for the German people, and that future German self-determination and the reunification of Germany was still on their agenda. The Ministerpräsidenten prevailed and the Western Powers gave in concerning this highly symbolic question. The draft was prepared at the preliminary Herrenchiemsee convention (10–23 August 1948) on the Herreninsel in the Chiemsee, a lake in southeastern Bavaria. The delegates at the convention were appointed by the leaders of the newly formed (or newly reconstituted) Länder (states).
In 1968, the 1949 constitution was replaced with a new constitution of an explicitly socialist ideological character, which asserted the GDR is the "socialist state of the German nation" and that West Germany was an illegitimate puppet state of the "imperialist" Western Allies. However, with the replacement of Walter Ulbricht by Erich Honecker as the leader of East Germany, the 1968 constitution was amended in 1974 to remove all references to a wider national German nation, and from that date the GDR maintained that from 1949 there had existed two entirely separate sovereign German states.
The Treaty was challenged in the Federal Constitutional court, as apparently contradicting the overriding aspirations of the Basic Law for a unified German state; but the Treaty's legality was upheld by the Court, heavily qualified by a reassertion of the claim that the German Reich continued to exist as an 'overall state' such that the duty to strive for future German unity could not be abandoned while East and West Germany remained disunited, albeit that without any institutional organs of itself the 'overall' Reich was currently not capable of action.
While politicians raised concerns over granting amnesty to perpetrators who committed or abetted murderous policies under the Nazis, the Bundestag ended up approving Article 103, including an extension of a statute of limitations for Nazi-related murders. When the Basic Law extended its scope into East German regions upon reunification in 1990, concerns regarding Article 103 were enlivened. At the time, courts in the new unified state dealt with the legal dilemma of liability of border guards from the GDR who killed escaping refugees between the former East-West border.
internal organisation must conform to democratic principles", which precludes any party using the Führerprinzip, even internally). == Other stipulations == === Role of the military === From the outset, the Basic Law guaranteed the right of conscientious objection to war service (Article 4), and
With nearly 80% urbanization, South America faces critical challenges in managing municipal solid waste, particularly the continued reliance on landfilling and the prevalence of open dumps. The region's rapid population growth, high organic waste content and inadequate infrastructure further exacerbate health and environmental risks. In response to increasing international attention on dumpsite closure, this study examines the potential for system transitions by drawing lessons from the evolution of waste management in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV), a rural and less industrialized state in Germany. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, eastern states, such as MV, were required to adopt national waste regulations that had already been implemented in the west. The transition from dumping and informal practices such as feeding biowaste to pigs, to the establishment of source separation, composting and energy recovery offers relevant insights for mid-sized cities in Latin America seeking sustainable alternatives to open dumping. Using a comparative approach, the study reviews trends in waste dumping across 12 South American countries, alongside a historical and regulatory analysis of Germany's transformation. Key findings transition was driven by policy and regulatory reforms, political will at the national level, harmonization of standards across federal states and a national strategy to reduce methane emissions from landfills. Additional pillars of success included the introduction of a compost quality assurance system, cost-recovery financing mechanisms and differentiated user fees to incentivize source separation.
Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, eastern states, such as MV, were required to adopt national waste regulations that had already been implemented in the west. The transition from dumping and informal practices such as feeding biowaste to pigs, to the establishment of source separation, composting and energy recovery offers relevant insights for mid-sized cities in Latin America seeking sustainable alternatives to open dumping. Using a comparative approach, the study reviews trends in waste dumping across 12 South American countries, alongside a historical and regulatory analysis of Germany’s transformation.
Although most countries in the region have legislation regulating final solid waste disposal and are committed to international agreements such as the Paris Agreement to reduce methane emissions from waste disposal ( Cohen, 2017 ), ineffective policies and weak regulatory frameworks continue to hinder the development of integrated and sustainable waste management systems ( Hettiarachchi et al., 2018 ; UNEP, 2021b ). This study seeks to address these challenges by drawing on the experience of an eastern German province that transitioned from widespread waste dumping to modern waste management systems following reunification.
Selected province in Germany Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV), covering 23,174 km², is Germany’s sixth-largest state but among the least populated, with around 1,628,680 residents and an average population density of 70 people per km² ( Figure 1 ), compared to Germany’s 235 people per km ( Statistical Office of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 2023 ). The state is predominantly rural, with its largest city, Rostock, having about 209,839 residents, followed by Schwerin (~98,546). Historically, MV was one of the five provinces that became part of East Germany (GDR) after World War II and remained under socialist rule for over 40 years until German reunification in 1990.
With the reunification in 1990, the national framework of former West Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), was adopted by all government districts of former East Germany, the German Democratic Republic (GDR). When discussing the national framework or Germany’s waste management system in this section, the focus is on the developments in the FRG as the system that provided the framework for MV, the federal state formed with the reunification of Germany. Information on the waste system of the GDR is included in the description of waste management in MV as far as necessary.
This tiered and incentive-based financing model ensures both environmental compliance and economic efficiency. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Waste management and disposal Following the Second World War and the subsequent division of Germany into the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the region of MV became part of East Germany (GDR). Between the 1950s and 1989, the GDR adopted a distinctive approach to waste management, driven largely by a shortage of raw materials and limited access to foreign currency, which made waste recycling an economic necessity. Recyclable waste was managed
However, leachate rich in inorganic salts posed significant risks to soil and water systems ( Lale, 2000 ). Figure 7. Waste disposal in a landfill in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern during the GDR era ( Schulze, 2013 ). A white truck is on an uneven ground, possibly a landfill with piles of trash and debris. Following German reunification in 1990, West German waste management regulations were extended to all federal states. Small and unregulated landfills were promptly closed, and usually, risk assessments were conducted to determine the closure requirements, for example, for surface sealing.
In the former East Germany (GDR), although waste was generally collected, limited transportation capacity hindered centralized disposal, leading to the proliferation of small, local dumpsites – over 1,300 in MV alone. Similarly, in South America, many countries still face logistical and financial constraints, which prevent the provision of universal collection services and safe final disposal. Following reunification in 1990, MV benefited from financial support, but it was the implementation of comprehensive policy reforms and regulatory measures that enabled transformation of its waste management system.
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