Civil society in East and West: Committed but not invulnerable

Ulrike Hähnlein and Felicitas Gerull, the chairmen of Denkwerk Ost e.V., talk about the burdens of rural commitment, self-care and different experiences in East and West Germany. V., in the new episode of “Mauerecho – East meets West”. Dennis Chiponda will moderate the event. The conversation was part of the Überland Festival 2026 in Görlitz.

Dirk Neubauer's resignation shows how far the burden can go. The founder of Denkwerk Ost announced his resignation as district administrator of the Central Saxony district in 2024. Previously, a “diffuse threat from the right-wing corner” had spread into his private environment, Neubauer reported to the forward. However, hostility is only one possible burden. Added to this are time pressure, high expectations and the feeling of having to take on more and more responsibility. Anyone who makes a long-term commitment doesn't just need resilience and perseverance, says Gerull. It is just as important to recognize your own limitations and accept support.

“If someone is hanging on and says, ‘I can’t do it anymore,’ then there is always someone who has the strength to carry on,” says Gerull. The key is to network and share responsibility. Commitment can be stressful, but it can also give you strength.

The final report “Sense in Volunteering” from the German Foundation for Commitment and Volunteering, published in 2026, shows how important meaningful and suitable tasks are. For the study, 143 people were initially interviewed at the start of a new engagement, 104 of them again after three months. Afterwards, those involved reported, on average, a greater sense of purpose. At the same time, it was shown that if personal interests, motives and ideas of meaning match the task and the organization, those who are committed are more satisfied. Co-determination can also help ensure that an activity is experienced as meaningful.

Donations to the taz panter foundation provide financial support to independent and critical journalists on site and in exile as part of the projects “War and Peace Diary” and “Our Window to Russia, Belarus and other post-Soviet countries”. On the last day of every month our podcast “Free Speech” appears, in which voices from the foundation’s projects have their say.

If this fit is missing, the commitment can be psychologically stressful. Associations and initiatives should therefore not only ask which tasks need to be completed. You should also clarify what motivates those who are committed, what skills they bring with them and how much responsibility they can take on. However, the study does not provide a burnout rate.

The German Volunteer Survey 2024 shows how many people these questions affect: around 27 million people aged 14 and over volunteer in Germany. In rural areas the proportion is slightly higher at 38.4 percent than in cities at 35.8 percent. In the west the engagement rate is 37.3 percent, in the east including Berlin it is 34 percent.

The different historical conditions still have an impact. While free civil society organizations were able to develop in West Germany over decades, independent socio-political commitment was severely restricted in the GDR, explains the Federal Agency for Civic Education. This story shapes Hähnlein's biography: "For us in the GDR, volunteering meant: the Young Pioneers and the FDJ. For me, volunteering only began in 1990."

Gerull, on the other hand, comes from the Lüneburg Heath and became socially active at an early age. Despite their different experiences, both agree: Commitment not only requires conviction, but also structures that distribute responsibility and allow for breaks.

“Wall echo – East meets West” is a podcast from the taz panter foundation. It currently appears every week on taz.de/mauerecho and wherever podcasts are available. Special thanks go to our sound designer Sebastian Jautschus and our intern Kilian Hamidi.