Village in eastern Germany sold at auction for €140,000

The only bidder at an unusual auction on Saturday put down €140,000 and walked away the new owner of a small slice of German history: the village of Alwine, population 20.

Its empty homes and ageing residents mirror the wider fate of the ex-communist east German hinterlands since the country’s reunification 27 years ago.

The anonymous buyer, who bid by telephone, scooped up the community that property auctioneers Karhausen had given a starting price of €125,000 (US$148,000).

In 2000, the hamlet was sold to private investors for one “symbolic Deutschmark”, the pre-euro German currency.

The two brothers who were the original buyers of its dozen buildings, plus sheds and garages, did not manage to stop its slide into neglect.