On August 7, 2024, the article by Raj Kollmorgen and Jan Schaller "Von der Exklusion zur Entfremdung? Realities and consequences of the underrepresentation of East Germans in the elites since 1990" was published in the current issue of Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (APuZ) of the Federal Agency for Civic Education under the keyword Focus on East Germany. The authors draw on findings from the completed research project 'Social integration without elites?' and the 'Elitenmonitor', which will run until July 2025.

The article deals with the thesis that Dirk Oschmann recently took up in his book 'Der Osten: eine westdeutsche Erfindung' (The East: a West German invention), according to which the electoral success of the right-wing populist AfD and the alienation of (some) East Germans from the democratic system can be explained by the exclusion of East Germans, which can be seen in their underrepresentation in central leadership positions, among other things. Kollmorgen and Schaller discuss this thesis by summarizing the underrepresentation of East Germans since 1990, discussing a number of possible causes for this and then critically questioning the explanatory power of the thesis and rejecting it in part.

Finally, the authors formulate three condensed conclusions and suggestions for the future debate on this topic. They argue for a differentiated discussion that does justice to the complexity of the issues, point to further research potential as well as to possibilities of influence through political measures in order to counteract both the underrepresentation of minorities and the mistrust of democratic institutions - by no means just an East German phenomenon.