Beschreibung
In the old industrial regions of the Ruhr District
(Germany), Upper Silesia (Poland) and the Ostrava Region
(Czech Republic), coal as well as iron and steel have been
the economic basis for many decades. In the Ruhr District
important changes already started at the end of the 1950s.
In Upper Silesia and in the Ostrava Region, however, these
processes started at the end of the 1980s together with the
transformation of the economic and social system in these
countries. Because of high unemployment, steps are taken to
modernize the economy and to retrain employees. All three
regions cannot develop out of their own strength, but there
are programmes in order to support this process.
