East German cities offer free stays to fight depopulation | Hacker News Reader

East German cities offer free stays to fight depopulation

dw.com

34 pointstoomuchtodo29 comments

> Successful applicants will be housed in newly renovated apartments for a contribution of just €100 ($115).

so it's not free

Free as in €100

Liberated East was really nice, because there was no urban sprawl. People lived in multistory houses in middle of nowhere. I bicycled around and camped wherever. Place is probably much worse nowadays with too many cars and parking lots.

I totally forgot: I was not bicycling, I was roller-skating (& camping) in East Germany: https://youtu.be/EJISUjbk46E?si=8rFkUf9FdaY60O8c

In case someone feels like inspired by this: beware that by default, camping outside camp grounds is generally prohibited almost anywhere in Germany.

In case someone doesn't know: everything is generally prohibited everywhere in Germany.

But you should still buy an insurance for it.

For the record, Cannabis is now legalised.

Not in Brandenburg (around Berlin)! Overnight, non-motorised wild camping is allowed, but it certainly isn't widespread.

There are a bunch of "news sources" online all with very similar articles, and not one lists where you can sign up.

This one for Guben is at https://www.guben.de/de/leben-wohnen/probewohnen/item/719-pr... . Applications were due 25 May 2025.

The article mentions Eisenhüttenstadt. That's at https://www.xn--jetzt-plne-schmieden-izb.de/probewohnen/ . Applications due 5 July. Still time!

I also mentions Frankfurt (Oder). The link I found at https://www.frankfurt-slubice.eu/de/arbeiten-leben/probewohn... says it was September 2021 to December 2022.

I think https://stadt-auf-probe.ioer.eu/wohnen/ is another, in Görlitz. I found no date.

The town of Görlitz is truly charming. I visited after discovering that many scenes from my favorite movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, were filmed there (https://www.discovergoerlitz.com/grandbudapest/)

The Eisenhüttenstadt one is so delightfully German. There are only two units, available for 14 days. The application window ends 3 months in advance. You are explicitly required to participate in some local project during that time and not merely vacation there.

I wonder how many people were involved in creating the project, the website and the forms, then selecting candidates.

The article doesn't mention that the cost for "Probewohnen" is 100 Euro per week and you are obliged to do an internship at one of the "partner companies".

https://www.guben.de/de/leben-wohnen/probewohnen/item/719-pr...

> Guben made headlines in 1999 when an Algerian asylum-seeker, Farid Guendoul, bled to death after being hounded by neo-Nazis.

Passive voice strikes again!

Passive boice generally requires using the words "is"/"was", which are absent there.

It would help more to get rid if their fascists. Eastern germany is not a nice place to visit or live outside cities.

Not just the open skinheads, but everyday racism is rampant.

The article talks about this as if it's not a problem. "only" 42% of the population are right-wing facists! Oh boy! Can't wait to go there!

And the remaining 58% just need a bit of time to connect with you because they're not used to much diversity, she says!

I don't see that eastern germany is not a place to visit. Yes, there are areas and cities or villages with a lot of neo-na*is and there are areas where the AfD has 50% in eastern germany. But this are a few areas. And i am not saying that AfD voters are per se facists. On the other hand, you will find fascist all over the place in germany. Also in Bavaria and BW or NRW. For example: The AfD meetup to remigrate germans was in NRW and was organised by NRW AfD members and followers. Or the Waldorf / alternative medicine fascist people are mostly located in BW.

Ah yes the usual political propaganda directly from the government on the "no politics" site

> the "no politics" site

Where did you get the impression that HN is a "no politics" site? The guidelines say that most stories about politics are considered off-topic.

„Deutsche Welle“ (dw) is a public funded station. It‘s like VOA of Germany, at least from the flow of money perspective.

What propaganda are you referring to, specifically?

Nice try to get people banned for answering a question

Are you actually going to answer the question?

No because that bait has been used multiple times to ban people, I was serious.

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