In this project, nexus prepared a study on the return migration of entrepreneurs to East Germany on behalf of the Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States (Iris Gleicke, MdB, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy). Biographical interviews were used to record very different stories of departure and return. They ranged from young people who went to study in the West in the 1990s or even later and are now starting a business in their old home country, to entrepreneurial families who were expropriated after the end of the war, had rebuilt the business in the West and whose grandchildren are now returning to the old location following the family tradition. Based on the biographical portraits, which also took into account a wide range of industries, company sizes and regions, the project team analysed the economic and social impulses of the entrepreneurial personalities for their “new” homeland, the promotion of regional identity and social commitment as well as a mediating role between East and West. The study not only focused on a group of returnees that has received little attention up to now. Individual life achievements were also honoured as examples of good practice and future-oriented conditions were examined under which return migration and the founding of companies succeed.

Duration: 11/2013 – 09/2014
Team: Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für die neuen Bundesländer
Team: Dr. Christine von Blanckenburg, Ansgar Düben, Daphne Reim