Two years after it was put on the auction block, the town of Amerika in eastern Germany is still for sale.
The trustee agency charged with privatizing former East German state holdings, Treuhandanstalt, has failed to find a buyer for the village 31 miles southeast of Leipzig. For $6.5 million, investors get the entire town, including two hydroelectric plants, a train station and a closed textile mill.The "Amerika for sale" sign was a great marketing ploy and was eagerly picked up by the German media, but serious investors were rare.
Last year, Amerika was presented at a Los Angeles fair as an ideal site for a "Wild West" theme park. Treuhandanstalt claimed 5 million potential visitors could be attracted to the town, which lost its only employer in 1992 when the spinning mill closed.
Meanwhile, young Amerikans continue to head for greener pastures. The town's population is down to 100 from 160 a year ago.
As Amerika's mayor laments, only "the old ones sit around and observe the drama" - the slow demise of Amerika.