German-Polish border buzzes with commerce and distrust

For Poles and Germans, coming together in the European Unionoffers powerful new hope of healing one of Europe's deepest faultlines. Yet as they ready for the big day, suspicion and prejudice areoften just below the surface.

Against the momentous backdrop of eight former communist countriesjoining the prosperous, democratic European Union on May 1, Poland'sarrival stands out. It's the largest of the newcomers, with 38.2million people, and the country whose invasion by Hitler startedWorld War II.

Yet for all the historic symbolism, it's bread and butter and oldgrievances and stereotypes that often set the tone for now -- Germansfearful Poles will take their jobs for lower pay; Poles worried aboutbeing engulfed by their western neighbor's economic power; Germansstirring Polish suspicions by talking about recovering property theylost when their families were expelled or fled after the war.

Political leaders in Warsaw and Berlin and local officials on bothsides of the border have made big strides in reconciliation sincePoland and the eastern part of Germany shook off communism 15 yearsago. But the troubled relationship dating back centuries makes thenew fears and old resentments hard to overcome.

The figures alone are striking: Germany's per capita GDP is morethan four times bigger than Poland's and its unemployment rate isnearly half of Poland's.

Still, Slubice and its German neighbor, Frankfurt an der Oder,radiate a surface harmony.

Young Germans and Poles study side by side at the ViadrinaEuropean University in Frankfurt, opened in 1991, and at a college inSlubice. Germans stream across the bridge for cheap gas, groceriesand haircuts. Poles go the other way for electronics and fashion.

But whether commerce builds friendship is another question.

"The two groups stand with their backs to each other," said CezaryTrosiak, a professor of Polish studies at the Collegium Polonicum,launched by the EU and run by Polish and German universities."Although thousands of Germans come every day to the Polish side toshop, this doesn't lead to a common community."

It doesn't help that Poland borders east Germany, formerly itsforced ally in the Soviet bloc and now a blighted area of joblessnessand abandoned communist-era factories.

Here the stereotypes fly thick and fast.

"They steal everything, and it's just going to get worse," MaikReimann, an 18-year-old German electronics trainee, said of hisneighbors across the Oder River.

On the other side of the Oder, polls find Germans are viewed morenegatively than people from any other current EU nation.