Try it for yourself
201Checking a complete list

These five states belong together: the new Länder of 1990.

A partly correct list is not enough. Check every name, paying particular attention to Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.

About 4 min readReviewed: 20 October 2026
AI-generated group of five differently coloured closed notebooks on a wooden table.
Unification TreatyFive states, 1990
Five objects as a learning symbol; not a map or official state colours.
The short answer

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

The correct list contains exactly the five states named in the Unification Treaty for accession on 3 October 1990. Every other list mixes in states from the former Federal Republic.

Try it for yourselfExam question · No. 201
Which of the following lists contains only federal states that belonged to the former GDR?

Choose one answer. Your result stays on this page only.

The decisive word is “only”.

The task does not ask whether a correct state appears somewhere. All five names must fit. Brandenburg at the end of an otherwise wrong list therefore does not make that list correct.

Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are two different states, both belonging to the required group. Lower Saxony is a third state with a similar name and does not belong to it. Reading the full name matters more than merely recognising “Saxony”.

Three fictional adults with short silver hair, long dark curls and short black hair study together.
AI-generated present-day study group; appearance does not establish where the people come from.

The other three answers

Look for the names that do not belong in each incorrect list.

Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg

Only Brandenburg belongs to the five new states here. Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein make the overall answer wrong.

Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, Saxony

Thuringia and Saxony fit, but Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate do not belong to the required group of five.

Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg

Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg fit; Hesse and Lower Saxony do not. “Only” requires that no incorrect name be included.

Keep Berlin and the historical administrative system separate.

Berlin is also a present-day federal state. The Unification Treaty deals separately with the unification of its parts; it is not a sixth state in the list of five tested here.

The question associates present-day state names with former GDR territory. It does not establish that the GDR remained divided into these five states throughout its existence. This task requires the five names, not a claim of permanently identical administrative boundaries.

Five states, 1990 · Unification Treaty ↗
Your memory cue

Two M/B names, two Saxony names and Thuringia.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg; Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt; Thuringia. Say the full names aloud.

Three words for this question

ausschließlichexclusively
Without any entry outside the specified group.
die Auflistunglist
Several individual entries that are checked together.
das Bundeslandfederal state
A constituent state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Einigungsvertrag · Artikel 1 ↗

The list also explains the number and accession.

218How many federal states were added to the Federal Republic of Germany at reunification in 1990?
Catalogue answer

5

The required number of new states is five.

204How did the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR become one state?
Catalogue answer

Today's five eastern federal states joined the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Unification Treaty regulates accession to the Federal Republic.

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Sources & context

An independently written study guide, not an official BAMF publication or advice for an individual case. The sources below were reviewed on 20 October 2026 for the claims explained here; the test question comes from the existing question bank.

The two editorial pictures are AI-generated illustrations. They do not document real events or official proceedings.