Guben-Gubin

Countries: Germany , Poland

Overview

The towns of Guben (19,000 inhabitants) and Gubin (17 000 inhabitants) are separated only by the Neisse, which marks the border between Germany and Poland. Until 1945, the two towns formed a single German town, whose old centre Guben was located on the east bank of the Neisse. Despite the existence of links between the two cities during the Communist period, it was not until 1990 that cooperation became a permanent fixture allowing the sharing of certain services (treatment of household waste, wastewater treatment, public transport ...).
In 1991, the two towns signed a political agreement on cooperation, proclaiming themselves the Eurocity Guben/Gubin. They are involved in the Euroregion Spree-Neisse-Bober, which coordinates projects at the Euroregional level in fields such as the economy, tourism, the environment, culture and communication.
The removal of customs controls in 2007 following Poland’s entry into the Schengen Area represented another big step forward for cross-border cooperation.

History

The towns of Guben (19,000 inhabitants) and Gubin (17,000 inhabitants) are separated by the river Neisse which marks the border between Germany and Poland. Guben is the oldest town in the Land of Brandenburg. In 1945, the town had a population of 40,000. The end of the second world war coincided with the division of the town into two parts on either side of the Oder-Neisse line. The eastern portion of the town, which included the historic town centre was allocated to Poland and renamed “Gubin.” The construction of a chemical plant in the region in the 1960s brought about a significant growth in population.

In the period of visa exemption between Poland and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), between 1972 and 1980, contact between citizens of the two towns was re-established, and many workers found employment on the other side of the border. However, in 1980, with the advent of martial law in Poland, the border was closed again, putting an end to an already close cooperation.

More than ten years after German reunification, Guben registered a loss of over 10,000 inhabitants. This phenomenon is linked to deindustrialisation and the town’s peripheral location on the eastern border of the EU. During the same period, the inhabitants of Gubin experienced a fall in their (previously high) purchasing power as a result of the closure of a shoe factory with 2,300 employees.

Therefore, with the need to respond to the economic and social challenges of the territory, the two towns resumed their cooperation in the 1990s and implemented numerous cross-border projects. The entry of Poland into the European Union has allowed the towns to intensify their cooperation and promote their common cultural heritage.