Welche der folgenden Auflistungen enthält nur Bundesländer, die zum Gebiet der früheren DDR gehörten?

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen

Wie wurden die Bundesrepublik Deutschland und die DDR zu einem Staat?

Die heutigen fünf östlichen Bundesländer sind der Bundesrepublik Deutschland beigetreten.

Briefgeheimnis: Germany's Secrecy of Correspondence

What is Briefgeheimnis? This right protects your letters from being opened by others. Learn how Article 10 GG works and why it matters for the citizenship test.

Imagine you get a letter in your mailbox. It is not for you. It has your neighbor's name on it. Can you open it anyway, just to check? In Germany, the answer is clearly no. This right has a name: Briefgeheimnis, the secrecy of correspondence.

What Does Briefgeheimnis Mean?

Briefgeheimnis means "secrecy of letters." It protects every letter from being opened by the wrong person. Only the sender and the receiver may read it. Nobody else has that right. Not a neighbor, not a family member, and in most cases, not the state.

This right is old. It comes from a simple idea: private communication must stay private. People must trust the postal system. Without this trust, nobody would write honest letters.

The Legal Basis: Article 10 of the Basic Law

Briefgeheimnis is not just a habit. It is a basic right in Germany's constitution. Article 10 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz, Art. 10 GG) protects it directly.

Article 10 GG actually protects three things together:

Briefgeheimnis – secrecy of letters
Postgeheimnis – secrecy of postal packages
Fernmeldegeheimnis – secrecy of telecommunications, like phone calls and emails

The state may limit these rights only in special cases, for example during a criminal investigation. Any limit needs a clear legal basis. A police officer cannot simply open your mail without a legal reason.

German criminal law adds another layer. § 202 of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) makes it a crime to open someone else's sealed letter without permission. This is true even if you find the letter by accident.

Who Can Open Your Mail Legally?

In rare cases, the state can restrict Briefgeheimnis. This always needs a law and a good reason. Examples include serious criminal investigations or specific security checks at customs. Even then, strict rules apply. A judge often has to approve such a measure first. Without a legal basis, nobody may open your letters, not even the police.

Prisons are a special case. Staff may check letters to and from prisoners for safety reasons. This is allowed under separate laws for prisons, not under normal Briefgeheimnis rules. Outside such special situations, your mail stays private.

A Simple Example

Imagine you receive mail for your neighbor by mistake. You are curious. You open it and read it. This breaks the Briefgeheimnis. It may also be a crime under § 202 StGB.

What should you do instead? Do not open the letter. Write "wrong address" on the envelope. Put it back in the mailbox, or hand it to your neighbor unopened.

This exact example appears in the German citizenship test (Einbürgerungstest). Question 274 asks: "You deliberately opened a letter in Germany that was addressed to another person. What did you not respect?" The correct answer is: das Briefgeheimnis.

Why This Right Still Matters

Today, most communication happens by phone or email. Fernmeldegeheimnis protects these too. Your phone provider cannot share your call content without a legal reason. Your email provider cannot open your messages for anyone who asks.

This matters for trust. If people believe their letters and messages are private, they communicate openly. This trust supports a free and open society.

A Look Back: Life Without Briefgeheimnis

Not every German state protected private letters equally. Under the GDR (East Germany), during the Cold War, the Ministry for State Security, known as the Stasi, often opened private letters. There was no strong, independent right like today's Article 10 GG to stop this.

The GDR belonged to the Warsaw Pact, the military alliance led by the Soviet Union. Its economy was a Planwirtschaft, a planned economy controlled by the state. Five states formed the GDR's territory: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.

In 1990, Germany did not create a new country. Instead, these five eastern states joined the existing Federal Republic of Germany. From that point, Article 10 GG and its protection of Briefgeheimnis applied there too, just as it already did in the west.

This history shows why Briefgeheimnis matters. Without it, the state can control what people write and read. With it, private communication stays private.

Quick Overview

Right	What It Protects
Briefgeheimnis	Letters
Postgeheimnis	Postal packages
Fernmeldegeheimnis	Phone calls, emails, telecommunications