Stemming the tide of eastern exodus

BERLIN - Nifty fridge magnets recalling the splendour of Magdeburg and Dresden and jars of gherkins pickled east of the river Elbe are the latest attempt to stem a mass exodus of youngsters from the country's impoverished and increasingly depopulated east.

The bizarre project is the brainchild of Wolfgang Tiefensee, Germany's minister for rebuilding the east, who will next week order the distribution of so-called "Homeland packets" to hundreds of young east Germans who have either left for the west or are planning to do so.

The packets, containing gift samples of local east German food products, free subscriptions to eastern newspapers, drink coupons for eastern bars, are an attempt to "arouse positive memories" among east Germans to lure them back.

The project comes amid dire warnings that Germany's birth rate had sunk to its lowest level since World War II and was now bottom of the European league table with only 8.5 births per 1000 inhabitants in 2005.

Equally alarming were official predictions that eastern parts of the country could turn into wastelands because of an unstoppable haemorrhage of young people from the region.

Since reunification in 1990, more than 1.5 million East Germans have "gone west" in search of jobs. With unemployment in the region at around 20 per cent, the problem is worsening.

Demographic study author Rainer Klingholz said: "The reason for the gaping emptiness in many regions is the fact that young people are emigrating en masse. Worst hit are the structurally weak areas in eastern Germany - we can expect whole towns and villages to become depopulated in the long term."

Eisenhuettenstadt, on Germany's border with Poland, has been hit hard. The town, which once had a population of 50,000, has lost 20,000 inhabitants over the past 15 years.

Its suburbs are full of bulldozers demolishing vacant high-rise homes built during the Communist era.

Villages in the East German countryside have suffered on a different scale, with schools and post offices closing and doctors moving away.

The "Homeland package" programme seems destined to be viewed sceptically by experts on the regions' economic problems.

"When it comes to rebuilding the east, there is nothing but collective helplessness in Germany's main parties," said Joachim Ragnitz, of the Institute of Economic Research.

A PARLOUS STATE

* What was East Germany has a 20 per cent unemployment rate.

* More than 1.5 million youngsters have crossed into old West Germany from the east since reunification in 1990.

* The eastern town of Eisenhuettenstadt has lost 20,000 of its 50,000 population in those years.

* Germany has the lowest birth rate in Europe - 8.5 births per 1000 inhabitants in 2005.

- INDEPENDENT