Many Junkers lived in in the Eastern provinces that after World War II were annexed by either poland or the solviet union. Junkers fled or were expelled alongside other German-speaking population by the incoming Polish and Soviet administrations, and their lands were confiscated.
In western and southern Germany, the land was often owned by small independent farmers or a mixture of small farmers and estate owners, and this system was often contrasted with the dominance of the large estate owners of the east.
The Junkers were members of the landed nobility in Prussia. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights.
Description:
Junker is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German Juncherre, ... or Catholic states like Bavaria, in which the "Junker class" of Prussia was often treated with contempt.
