An old state name can have a changing history.
In 1920, a state of Thuringia was formed from several previously separate states. Its territory changed again after the Second World War. It then belonged to the Soviet occupation zone and later to the GDR. The name Thuringia therefore predates German division.
In 1952, separate state administration was abandoned in favour of GDR districts. The transformation of 1989–90 opened the way back to a state with a freely elected parliament. Someone reading “District of Gera” in a GDR source is therefore encountering another administrative level in the same regional history.
The other three answers
The other three states already belonged to the West German Federal Republic.
Hesse
Hesse belonged to the Federal Republic of 1949. Thuringia therefore fits the historical classification sought here, even though both states are now part of the same federal republic.
Bavaria
Bavaria was also a state of the early Federal Republic. It must not be grouped with Thuringia as former GDR territory.
Bremen
Bremen belonged to the Federal Republic, not to the GDR. What matters is its state affiliation at the time, not the size of a state or the sound of its name.
Region, state and district are different concepts.
The answer concerns the territory of present-day Thuringia. It does not claim that Thuringia had today’s institutions and boundaries throughout the GDR period. Administrative reforms and boundary adjustments are part of its history.
“New states” is a term from the Federal Republic’s perspective after 1990. It does not mean that the regions only came into existence then or that everyone living there had the same experiences.
Thuringia’s constitution · Thuringian State Parliament ↗Thuringia: Erfurt, Gera and Suhl recall the GDR districts.
The names help establish the historical context. The correct present-day state answer remains Thuringia.
Three words for this question
- wiedergründento re-establish
- To establish something again as a distinct entity.
- die Regionregion
- A geographical or historical area, not necessarily a particular administrative unit.
- die Landesverwaltungstate administration
- Administration at the level of a federal state.