GERMANY CLOSE AND DISTANT IN THE LIGHT OF MIGRATION EXPERIENCES OF INHABITANTS OF NORTH-EASTERN POLAND (Niemcy bliskie i dalekie w swietle doswiadczen emigracyjnych mieszkanców pólnocno-wschodniej Polski)

In my article I present characteristics of emigration to Germany in the light of biographical and autobiographical migration stories collected after the year 2004. The analysis of biographical materials is preceded by the review of press materials (including letters from readers about migration experiences in Germany) and statistical data concerning main emigration directions from Poland and from Podlaskie voivodeship. The aim of this article is a presentation of a specific character of German direction of labor migration through individual experiences of particular migrants, men and women. The analysis of those cases shows that emigration to Germany, although close in a geographical sense, is not always close in the sociological, psychological and cultural sense, because it demands substantial adaptation to the German society and a change of the lifestyle. Therefore, emigration to Germany more frequently (in comparison to other migration directions) represents the innovative type (according to William Petersen's classification).