It is boom time in Löcknitz, a small town in one of the poorest regions of eastern Germany. The many houses that fell empty after German reunification in 1990 when the young and educated from what had been Communist East Germany moved out have found new owners. The kindergartens are full. New schools are being built. Placards hanging on streetlights have big, bold print that is hard to miss: Property Wanted!
The reason for this boom is the Poles.
In a surprising twist of the Polish-German relationship, which for centuries had been dominated by war, conquest and ethnic cleansing, some Poles have now come to settle among their less-well-off German neighbors.
Lothar Meistring, the town's mayor, said nearly a fifth of new births each year are to Poles, who already make up 13 percent of the town's 3,200 inhabitants.
nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/europe/28iht-letter28.html
The reason for this boom is the Poles.
In a surprising twist of the Polish-German relationship, which for centuries had been dominated by war, conquest and ethnic cleansing, some Poles have now come to settle among their less-well-off German neighbors.
Lothar Meistring, the town's mayor, said nearly a fifth of new births each year are to Poles, who already make up 13 percent of the town's 3,200 inhabitants.
nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/europe/28iht-letter28.html