Life between
Berlin and Dresden

The region offers excellent conditions for the compatibility of family and work: there are sufficient kindergarten places available. There are also sufficient after-school care places for primary school children. The care rate for pre-school children is above the national average; for children under 2 years of age, Brandenburg is even the leader in Germany.

Brandenburg has (after NRW) the second largest area of nature reserves in the whole of Germany - e.g. the Dahme Heath Lakes, the Elbe River Landscape or the Spreewald Biosphere Reserve. Especially Spreewald and Dahme-Seenland are becoming increasingly popular with holidaymakers. The Spreewald offers a labyrinth of almost 1000 kilometres of waterways - an original natural landscape, to be explored by canoe, traditional "Spreewaldkahn" or on one of the numerous developed cycle paths.

From Cottbus to Lemberg/West Ukraine it is about 800 km - by car and it takes 8-9 hours. From Schoenefeld there are very good connections to the Ukraine and many low cost flights. A flight to Lemberg takes about 1.5 hours, to central and eastern Ukraine about 2 hours.

Home away from home
Berlin and the surrounding area have numerous Ukrainian clubs and an active Ukrainian community. In the comparatively small town of Cottbus (population around 100,000), Ukrainians are one of the largest groups of migrants in terms of numbers, with more than 400 people (2017 statistics).

FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of Eastern European Film: In 2007, the trade journal Variety (USA) listed the FilmFestival Cottbus as a "must-attend global event" and one of 50 "unmissable film festivals" worldwide. With the Jugendstil-Filmtheater Weltspiegel Cottbus owns the second oldest purpose-built cinema in Germany.

Industrial monuments such as the F60 conveyor bridge bear witness to the tradition as a mining and energy region. Today, energy is still one of the defining industries for southern Brandenburg - with leading companies in traditional and regenerative energy sectors and innovative solutions such as the BigBattery Lausitz. Lausitz was selected as the "HyStarter" model region; the production and use of hydrogen is to become a technological and economic focal point of the region in the future. Key industries: Energy, Chemical and plastics, Metal products/mechanical engineering/electrical equipment, Transport and logistics, Food industry, Tourism

Ready for some real metropolitan life? South Brandenburg lies in the center between the vibrant cities of Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig and Wroclaw - each with its own unique mix of night life, cultural and tourist attractions and cosmopolitan people. Especially Wroclaw has become home to a large ukrainian community.