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Berlin Family Tests Life in Zwönitz as Erzgebirge Trial-Living Pilot Draws 270 Applicants

Organizers present the short stays as a way to showcase local livability and learn from participants’ experiences rather than to trigger rapid in-migration.

Overview

  • A three-person household from Berlin is spending about a month in the 11,300-resident town of Zwönitz to sample daily life and work there.
  • The parents work remotely from a coworking office while their 11-month-old daughter is looked after by a childminder.
  • Regionalmanagement Erzgebirge reports 270 applications for the pilot, with most interest coming from Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt.
  • Similar trial-residency offers exist in Guben and Eisenhüttenstadt, which provide furnished housing, regular meetups and optional company placements.
  • In Görlitz, a program running since 2008 has hosted roughly 270 trial residents, with about one in ten known to have settled permanently, according to researchers.