Germans, Poles warily share their divided Baltic holiday island

AFP ^ | Mon Jul 5, 1:08 PM ET

[Grzegorz 246]

AHLBECK, Germany (AFP) - The German-Polish frontier slicing the Baltic island of Usedom has a whiff of the absurd, with border police perched on sand dunes, suspiciously surveying the sea grass where old Europe meets the new.

Here on this island divided by a national border, a relic of World War II hostilities, a wary curiosity has taken root between German and Polish neighbors after a long separation.

Since 1945, the German part of the island has been deprived of its main port and main town, Swinemuende, which became the Polish Swinoujscie. The border also cuts Usedom off from its twin isle Wolin.

Legend has it that the two islands were stones thrown by the Germanic god Wotan at a giant snake threatening to empty the sea to quench his thirst. The serpent became the river Oder, whose mouth opens before the two islands.

From a seaside hotel, tourism association chief Gerd Schulz can see Wolin's endless beach, which mirrors Usedom's own virgin sands and neighboring deep forest.

The resort Miedzyzdroje and lovely Belle Epoque villas on the Polish side hold their own against Bansin, Heringsdorf and Ahlbeck -- Usedom's "imperial baths" that drew well-heeled Berliners until the war's outbreak.

"We must try to unify again. Back then everything belonged to the same district. The tourists would have that much more to explore," Schulz said.

Last year, 1.2 million visitors came to Usedom, marking the latest annual increase since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

When the island belonged to communist East Germany and its citizens were sharply limited in their holiday options, Usedom was a pleasant get-away and ideal for families.

But since reunification, a whole new world has been opened to easterners, who have developed a taste for vacations in Spain, France and Northern Africa. The days of mass state-organized tourism are dead and buried.

As a result, Usedom has given itself a makeover as a high-end holiday destination, Ahlbeck Mayor Klaus Kottwittenborg said. Restaurants and hotels have spent millions renovating 19th century mansions and building thermal baths.

But on the other side of the border, the scene is radically different: the beach has the feeling of a circus with the cry of ice cream salesmen and the scent of fresh waffles.

The main attraction in Swinoujscie for the German tourists is its "Polish market" -- the Poles like to call it the "German market" -- offering bootleg DVDs, knockoff designer handbags and cheap cigarettes.

Schulz welcomed Poland joining the European Union (news - web sites) on May 1 as "an opportunity to seize". The opening of the border will allow the whole island to benefit from the deep-water port in Swinoujscie and attract ferries from Sweden and Denmark to Usedom, he said.

But not all the islanders share his optimism. The cultural and linguistic barrier is only the first obstacle. Beyond that, there is the age-old distrust between the two sides.

"There are some Poles who worry that rich Germans will try to buy up everything and the Germans are afraid of competition from the Poles or see them as thieves," he said.

Even since May Day and the EU's biggest ever enlargement, not much has changed, said Anna Kwieduk, a resident of Swinoujscie in her 30s.

"They promised us that the EU would open its doors to us. But we do not have the right to work in Germany," she said, referring to labor restrictions of up to seven years for residents of the new member states seeking work in many old EU countries.

As for the island's only border crossing, it is reserved to cyclists and pedestrians, Kwieduk complained.

Although there is often talk here of "healing the wounds of the past," the mayor of Ahlbeck is insistent that the border remain closed to cars so that Ahlbeck avoids becoming a "transit hub".

But links between the two sides are developing little by little nevertheless and a joint German-Polish bus line just opened. The only problem? The coaches themselves cannot cross the border. Only the passengers, on foot.

[Joe Boucher]

If I were a pole, i wouldn't care to vacation with the germans or the french.

[Malesherbes]

This problem will eventually solve itself: the Germans have ceased to have children and are dying out. The Poles continue to reproduce themselves. Already the Germans are importing Polish doctors and nurses along the Oder/Odra border, and soon they'll need more and more Poles.

[gd124]

The birthrates of Poland and Germany are exactly the same (1.38 children per woman). Whatever will happen to Germany will also happen to Poland.