Eisenhüttenstadt, once a socialist vision but now at risk of becoming a ghost town, seeks to ditch its far-right image
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f you’re considering moving to a German ex-communist model city that is trying to lure new residents with a range of perks, including free accommodation and rounds of drinks with locals, take it from Tom Hanks: Eisenhüttenstadt has many charms.
While filming outside Berlin in 2011, the Hollywood actor and history buff took a mini field trip 60 miles east to what he called Iron Hut City and was instantly smitten. “An amazing architectural place,” he said, pronouncing it “fascinating”. He returned sprinkling stardust again three years later, even acquiring a vintage Trabant car he shipped back to Los Angeles. “People still live there – it’s actually a gorgeous place,” Hanks said.
People do still live in Eisenhüttenstadt, perhaps better translated as Ironworks City – just not enough, say the city’s administrators. The population is now less than half the 53,000 it counted before the fall of the Berlin Wall. An early 2000s guidebook described it as a Truman Show version of the GDR.
