There has been a lot of understandable anguish about the election results in the German Länder Thüringen and Sachsen on Sunday.
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There has been a lot of understandable anguish about the election results in the German Länder Thüringen and Sachsen on Sunday.
Thüringen I know less well, but I have been to Sachsen (and Brandenburg that holds elections later in September) a LOT in the past two years during my #CrossBorderRail project.
What strikes me overwhelmingly is NOT that these places are swamped with immigrants, as per the AfD rhetoric, but they are absent of life, lacking vibrancy.
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Many of these places depopulated since 1990, and young people continue to leave.
That leaves behind places where the physical infrastructure is sometimes passable, but life has gone.
When I have told west German friends I am going to these places they often react "Are you going to be OK there?"
I am a white man, so I’ll be OK - it might be different were I a woman from an ethnic minority.
This story I will tell in this thread - as a Berlin-dwelling, well travelled, Brit who became German.
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Wittenberge
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 16800
Visit: 17 Jul 2022Drone pic of the Elbe. Wittenberge is well connected (regular trains to Hamburg and Berlin) and has some interesting post-industrial architecture, and an old town centre. But it feels eerily quiet.
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Zittau
Land: Sachsen
Population: 24800
Visit: 3 Aug 2022 (visited many times)The border from Poland (Porajów) entering Zittau. All calm and tranquil. Zittau is incredibly preserved, has a charming old town, but it was very quiet every time I have been there.
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Guben
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 16400
Visit: 6 Aug 2022 and 23 May 2023 (2 visits)A vine creeps over an EU flag on an old building, and my bike at the border bridge. Guben has seen plenty of investment in the physical infrastructure, but all the life is in Gubin on the Polish side.
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Adorf (Vogtland)
Land: Sachsen
Population: 4700
Visit: 11 Aug 2022There is some industry in Adorf, but the demand for rail services is so low that tiny railbuses - seen bottom left in the drone picture - are used here.
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Zwickau
Land: Sachsen
Population: 87100
Visit: 16 Aug 2022120000 people lived here in 1986. Now it is below 90000. The train connection is good, but the town feels empty.
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Görlitz
Land: Sachsen
Population: 56600
Visit: 18 Aug 2022 and many more visits, inc. 26 Aug 2024 during election campaignThe picture of my #CrossBorderRail project - where electrification masts end in the middle of the bridge as Poland electrified and Germany did not. Görlitz station is charming but forgotten. And election posters in front of an abandoned building.
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Frankfurt (Oder)
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 58200
Visit: 31 Aug 2022 and a couple more visitsSat at a huge and largely abandoned multi storey car park at the station, observing German Bundespolizei illegally check passengers arriving from Poland. The town has infrastructure for twice the population.
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Ebersbach-Neugersdorf
Land: Sachsen
Population: 11400
Visit: 14 May 2023The quiet border road to Czechia, and the disproportionately large and quiet station.
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Bad Muskau
Land: Sachsen
Population: 3800
Visit: 18 May 2023The town square is impeccably restored, but there is no-one there. It is Łęknica - across the Neiße in Poland, and with the metal roofs of the Polenmarkt that can be seen in the 2nd picture, where all the life is.
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Horka
Land: Sachsen
Population: 1700
Visit: 18 May 2023Horka has the most modern railway line to Poland (pictured - double track electrified line), but the town does not benefit from this - the best it gets are small diesel trains to Görlitz and Cottbus.
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Forst (Lausitz)
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 17900
Visit: 23 May 2023You can see plenty of money has been invested in Forst in the physical infrastructure, but the streets and station are eerily quiet. There is a rail connection to Poland, but it has a poor service.
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Seifhennersdorf
Land: Sachsen
Population: 3600
Visit: 9 Jun 2023 (and 18 Aug 2022)The railway station was burned out in an arson attack (note burnt out roof in the drone pic) - but after 8 years of rail replacement buses the town got its trains back - and that led to a street party!
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Eibau
Land: Sachsen
Population: 4500
Visit: 9 Jun 2023The line from Eibau to Seifhennersdorf has been out of action for more than a decade - a bush grows through the tracks. Eibau is connected to Dresden still, but the station was very, very quiet when I was there.
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Fohrde
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 1400
Visit: 11 Mar 2024An impeccable modern train, a rebuilt and disabled-accessible station, but no people. And very little life along the route I cycled towards Brandenburg (Havel)
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Kodersdorf
Land: Sachsen
Population: 2300
Visited: 3 Aug 2024 (having visited previously in 2023)The old railway station is charming, but run down and up for sale, and demand so low it is now a request stop
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Hirschfelde
Land: Sachsen
Population: 1500
Visited: 3 Aug 2024The old power station at Hirschfelde, north of Zittau. This was once a museum, but even that closed due to low demand. The town square is eerily quiet, with many abandoned shops.
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Holzhau
Land: Sachsen
Population: 500
Visited: 4 Aug 2024The tiny railbus waits at the Holzhau terminus. Despite it running hourly there were so few people on a summer weekend the passenger numbers only just reached double figures when I took it.
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Wriezen
Land: Brandenburg
Population: 7200
Visited: 21 Aug 2024Despite it being a warm sunny evening, the town centre was deserted by 7pm. Many shops are empty. The railway line towards Berlin (Wriezener Bahn) stands derelict.