Leipzig Pub Guide Leipzig Pub Guide Leipzig hasn't had a the happiest of times since German reunification, the heavy industry which was the main employer having been graatly reduced in size. After 40 years of perpetual labour shortages, mass unemployment was an unpleasant and unexpected phenomenon. Things haven't developped as hoped since reunification and economic uncertainty has left its mark on the city. The hardship and helplessness unemployment has engendered has left many looking for a scapegoat.
Foreigners are an all too predictable choice.
If you'reoverheard conversing in English on the tram, the looks of your fellow passengers are more likely to be hostile than curious. Which is all rather odd, when there appear to be no more than a handful of very nervous-looking Africans and Vietnamese resident in the city. For anyone from western Europe what is striking is the almost total absence of foreigners. The widely-held belief that they are being overwhelmed and empoverished by a flood of immigrants would be quite amusing, if it didn't have such unsettling political implications. Now there is something being done to improve the lamentable housing the city has inherited, but it hasn't necessarily helped the ordinary citizen.