EN
The last ten years were a period of deep economic transformations both in Poland and in the former GDR. Privatisation, restructuring and the disappearance of many enterprises or even whole branches of industry taking place in Eastern Germany and in the majority of regions in Poland, contributed to the fact that the model of spatial organisation originated during the period of socialist economy is no longer valid. Towns - traditional industrial regions, mining centres, rural areas with predominance of great state-owned farms fell into decay. Economic recession affecting those areas contributed to impoverishment of the local population and to the intensification of migration processes. The article aims at the presentation of the processes mentioned above. It also indicates social and economic phenomena leading to the revival of production activities, in spite of unfavourable economic circumstances. Endogenic and exogenic forces are involved in the process, but their corresponding importance is different in Eastern Germany and in the northeastern and eastern regions of Poland, selected for the study. While the state is a very important factor in the processes of economic restructuring in Eastern Germany, in Poland, in the first half of the 90ties, the role of state in the processes mentioned is very limited. Spatial consequences of the processes in course are only partially similar. They seem to have greater impact in the former DDR, where people «escape» and «seek refuge» in the western part of the country. In Poland, the local private enterpreneurship contributing to the local economic development seems to be a much more signiftcant factor leading to the economic recovery of some towns and regions, after years of crisis. If we adopt the hypothesis that in the case of Poland, the first years