I'm at home

When Jaroslaw Kuczynski greets us, it's immediately clear: this man is happy. The 43-year-old has been working in quality assurance at BIRKENSTOCK in Görlitz for three weeks. "My very first application was successful," says the former basketball player. He had applied from Manchester. In April 2005, Kuczynski and his wife first left Warsaw for Great Britain. Initially for three months. The trained engineer and marketing professional wanted to learn English. "It was my wife's idea," he says with a twinkle in his eye. A second stay followed. This time, they planned for six months. Jaroslaw found a good job at a German company, and his wife worked as a nutritionist in a hospital. The Kuczynskis stayed.

But now home is calling. "Our daughter is six years old now. Before she starts school, we thought about where we wanted to live in the future," says the cheerful giant. Were there any other reasons? "Oh yes! The weather, the food, and Brexit." The cliché of rainy England seems to apply to Manchester, at least. And Brexit had been noticeable since February 2019. "Orders plummeted, morale soured, and the uncertainty was palpable every day." Jaroslaw Kuczynski specifically searched online for jobs in Görlitz to be closer to his family. When BIRKENSTOCK was looking for reinforcements in quality assurance, he applied and didn't have to wait long for a response. "I was on home leave in Poland when the HR department called me. It was a nice, short path to the interview." They came to an agreement, and at the beginning of September 2019, the cheerful bald man started, taking care of quality in footbed production at Germany's largest shoe manufacturer.

Privately, Jaroslaw is now a cross-border commuter. The small family has bought an apartment in Zgorzelec. His wife is taking care of furnishing it, taking a short break from her job to do so. Their daughter attends kindergarten on the Polish side of the European city. Jaroslaw commutes 15 minutes to his workplace just outside Görlitz. How has he summed up his first few weeks in his old, new home? "Good weather. Good work. Good pay. My colleagues are very nice and patient with me. Everything is great. I feel at home."

Living in Görlitz     Working in Görlitz     Visiting Görlitz