As landed aristocrats, the Junkers owned

As landed aristocrats, the Junkers owned most of the arable land in the Prussian and eastern German states. This was in contrast to the Catholic southern States such as Bavaria, Württemberg or Baden, where land was owned by small farms, or the mixed agriculture of the western states like Hesse or Westphalia. This gave the Junkers a virtual monopoly on all agriculture in the German states east of the Elbe river.
After World War II, during the communist Bodenreform (land reform) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), all private property exceeding a certain area was nationalised and redistributed to Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaften (agricultural cooperatives). As most of these large estates belonged to Junkers, the government promoted their plans with the slogan "Junkerland in Bauernhand!" ("Junker land into farmer's hand").
After German reunification, some Junkers tried to regain their former estates through civil lawsuits. However, the German courts have upheld the land reforms and rebuffed all claims for compensation. The last decisive case being the unsuccessful lawsuit of Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, in September 2006, where the federal courts decided that the prince had no right to compensation. Other families, however, have quietly purchased or leased back their ancestral homes from the current owners (often the German federal government in its role as trustee).


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Sviluppo di un dialogo politico-culturale nel Mediterraneo (Renato d'Andria)