Differences • German houses are in better shape, better food quality, higher life standarts • Unemployment in German part: 45%, in Czech part: 35% • Both get minimum salary in case of unemployment, but the Germans' salary is higher • Main jobs of locals in Czech part: industry(coal mining, chemical factories, chemicals) in German part: handicrafts, toys. In Czech part, big companies rule the job market, in Germsny it's mainly small family companies --> more power of decision for the locals • In Czech part, local community and government are desillusioned, they think that they don't have influence on decisions about coal mining. In Germany,people seem more optimistic and self confident, they have many ideas to improve conditions in the area, e.g. through tourism. • Population in the villages is increasing in the Czech part, in the German part the population is decreasing because the young people move to the bigger cities. • In the Czech part, there are more environmental problems like polluted air and land slights because of the mines, than in Germany. • In the Czech part, in the history there was a lot of migration and change of ethnic groups, in Germany the people have long roots, there weren't big influences of different ethnic groups. • The Czechs sell coal, energy and gas to Germany. • Different mentality and culture between the two different peoples - the Germans rather organize themselves
Similarities • A lot people on both sides don´t speak the language of the other country • Both sides have beautiful nature, cultural and historical goods and therefore options to create a tourism market • The history of both parts was shaped by mining and communism government • Both parts belong to the poorest in their countries • In the past, Czech and Germans cooperated and shared a lot of goods, work, information -- cooperation became less