East German village sells for 140,000 euros

The only bidder at an unusual auction on Saturday put down 140,000 euros 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 real estate auctioneers Karhausen had given a starting price of 125,000 euros ($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.