Germany – a new home? On a new form of migration in a border area

Abstract

The Polish accession to the European Union has created favorable opportunities for Poles to settle in many West-European countries. Though the possibilities for settling in Germany were rather limited until 2011, more and more Polish citizens became interested in living on the German side of the OderNeisse border already shortly after 2004 (upon Polish accession to the EU). Particularly attractive were areas relatively close to Szczecin. The analysis of interviews with inhabitants there – Germans citizens, Polish newcomers and local politicians – enables the article to discuss the current situation in the district Uckermark in Brandenburg. The author focuses her attention on three administrative units: the town of Gartz and the villages Tantow and Mescherin.

She presents elements in the social infrastructure redirected to the needs of newly arrived Polish families (for example kindergartens and schools), and subsequent efforts to ease their integration into German society. “I have one foot in Poland, and the other one in Germany, but I have to admit I’m quite satisfied that way.” – a phrase which expresses the pragmatic feelings of the many Poles who participated in the research conducted by the author in the years 2011–2013. The author’s presentation on this new form of coexistence and integration between Poles and Germans will be completed by an account of the opinions of native German residents about the current situation.