Fireworks are an integral part of the German New Year's Eve tradition. Strict regulations and high prices encourage many to do their firecracker shopping across the border in Poland. Unregulated "Polish fireworks" are a perennial problem -- but this year may be their last.Every year around this time, German firefighters and emergency room doctors look to the New Year holiday with dread. In cities and towns all across Germany, New Year's Eve is an occasion for uncontrolled exuberance -- which often takes the form of uncontrolled fireworks displays launched from street corners and balconies all over the country.
In Berlin, fire department officials triple-staff stations around the city on New Year's Eve to deal with the bang boom. Last year, firefighters in the capital tackled some 1,650 fires between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. on New Year's Eve. Fire departments around the country see a similar spike over the holiday.
It has become a New Year's ritual for German newspapers and authorities to issue dramatic warnings about "Polen Böller," or "Polish fireworks," German shorthand for fireworks illegally imported from eastern Europe. Foreign fireworks, the German press implies, are largely to blame for the thousands of injuries and fires set every New Year's Eve.
Read more:http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,669415,00.html
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