In July 1945, the town was included in the Soviet occupation zone along with the rest of Thuringia, and thus later became part of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). To accommodate workers for a microelectronics plant, the "Robotron Meiningen", the new district of Jerusalem (Meiningen) was created from 1967 to 1983 in the north between Helba and Welkershausen, eventually housing around 6,000 inhabitants. Meiningen was an important center of "Die Wende" in southern Thuringia in 1989. Among the many events were a total of 25 demonstrations with 1,000-25,000 participants.