The regions, which were hard hit by the devastating July flood, are facing an enormous show of strength.
Roads, railways, factories, shops, schools, thousands of private apartments and houses have to be renovated or even completely rebuilt as quickly as possible.
Time is of the essence, it will soon be autumn.
It is all the more important to coordinate the reconstruction as efficiently as possible.
Pure burger
Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.
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The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) has won over an extremely experienced practitioner.
Fritz Jaeckel, born in Flensburg in 1963, worked in the control center for the reconstruction of the Saxon State Chancellery after the August flood of 2002 in Saxony.
After the June floods in 2013, he then heads the reconstruction team there.
“Because we knew our weaknesses from 2002, we had the chance not to make the same mistakes again,” recalls the lawyer.
The 90-page final report by the staff and Jaeckel's specialist article are now considered the gold standard in reconstruction.
The administration in Rhineland-Palatinate is now also based on the Dresden blueprint.
He was always deeply impressed by the Saxons' tackle, says Jaeckel.
Like all East Germans, the people in the Free State had to cope with enormous upheavals after the fall of the Wall.
“And with the two flood disasters of 2002 and 2013, many had to start over a second and third time.” During the flood of 2002, East and West moved closer together.
“And there was the basic understanding: We have to move the country forward.” Jaeckel now also wants this spirit for the deep west of the republic.
Long career in Saxony
Jaeckel is a "Wossi". After completing his doctorate in Münster, he began his professional career as a legal advisor at the State Insurance Institute of Saxony. This was followed by positions in the Leipzig regional council before he became an employee of the state government in 2002 - initially in the interior and environment ministries, and from 2007 onwards in the state chancellery. When Jaeckel managed the reconstruction after the flood in 2013, he had been State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment for a year. In November 2014, the then Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich (CDU) finally appointed him Minister for Federal and European Affairs and Head of the State Chancellery.
After Tillich's resignation at the end of 2017, Jaeckel left the state government and returned to the West. He lives with his wife and three children in Münster, where he has been Managing Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry since the beginning of 2018. In the coming months, however, Jaeckel will concentrate fully on his work as reconstruction coordinator in the Düsseldorf building ministry.