"It was only natural that people were afraid beforehand," said Klaus Kottwettenborg, mayor of Germany's most north-eastern town just west of the border near Swinoujscie in Poland.
"But the fears are gone. The angst was of course terribly exaggerated."
Little has changed in Ahlbeck, a popular tourist destination since the 1800s.
Compared to the upheaval that hit the resort after the collapse of Communist East Germany in 1989 when unemployment rose from zero to 20 percent and half the population moved out as jobs disappeared - the impact of EU enlargement was negligible.
"At first I thought that Poland joining the EU would only cause problems for us," said Antje Zimpel, 24, an unemployed carpenter. "I was afraid the Poles would take away our jobs. But nothing's changed, really. Everything is basically the same."
Germans, with wages about four times higher than in Poland, were frightened that thousands of Poles would migrate west over one of the world's biggest prosperity gaps, raising competition for jobs and depressing pay.
Their worries were partly eased when Germany and Austria pushed through limits on Eastern European labourers working in the west for up to seven years after the EU welcomed 10 new member states.
Economists said that they have detected no change in the eastern German labour market, economy, wages or migration as a result of EU enlargement even though Germany is one of Europe's richest countries and Poland among the poorest.
"We've looked but didn't find any impact from enlargement," said Udo Ludwig, chief economist at the independent IWH research institute in Halle. "There was a lot of hysteria, fears Germany would be overrun with migrant workers. Nothing changed at all."
Ludwig said that although wages in Germany are way above levels in Poland, the productivity gap was much lower.
"The gap isn't large enough to trigger widespread migration," he said.
The only visible change has been that some German petrol stations near the border have shut as more motorists drive to Poland to take advantage of lower prices.
The remaining fears evaporated after May 1.
"There was so much ridiculous prejudice against Poles beforehand," said Dietmar Koester, 38, who sells souvenirs on Ahlbeck's promenade.
"People said the Poles were criminals and would steal everything," he said. "But the truth is I catch more Germans shoplifting here than anyone else.
A barbed-wire fence between Poland and Germany that runs into the surf is still there, although it will be gone in about five years when Poland joins the EU Schengen agreement, a pact abolishing border controls between EU member states.
German and Polish border guards still screen pedestrians crossing the frontier to go to a popular "Polish market" in Swinoujscie, which before 1945 was the German town of Swinemuende. Customs controls were removed in May.
The German border guards, using high-tech cameras, regularly intercept refugees from countries east of the EU such as Ukraine. Most are fined and sent straight back to Poland.
Norbert Danzig owns a small farm equipment business in Ahlbeck and said he wished the lone road leading to Swinoujscie would be opened to cars so he could expand his operations into the Polish market as well as buy parts there.
"Unfortunately enough hasn't changed since May 1," he said, pointing to the pedestrian crossing.
"I'd love to offer my services and make acquisitions in Poland but I'd have to drive 250 km (150 miles) to the nearest crossing just to get to Swinemuende, two km (one mile) from here," he added. "That's not facilitating free trade, that's not the EU spirit."