East Elbia

East Elbia (German: Ostelbien) was an informal denotation for those parts of the German Reich until World War II that lay east of the river Elbe.

The region comprised the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, the eastern parts of Saxony (Jerichower Land) and the Kingdom of Saxony (Upper Lusatia), Pomerania, Silesia, East Prussia, West Prussia and Posen (from 1922 Posen-West Prussia) as well as the free states of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein were not included, even if located East and North, respectively of the Elbe.

East Elbia was noted for its historic manorialism and serfdom, as well as for political conservatism, combined with the predominantly Protestant confession of the local population. During the German Empire (1871–1918), the "East Elbian Junker" formed the monarchy's reactionary backbone. Later, in Weimar Republic (1918–1933), it became a politically charged term used especially by the leftist parties to denote the rich civil servants of the conservative, right-wing German National People's Party (DNVP) who fit the stereotype.