ROSTOCK, Germany -- Germany marked the 10th anniversary on Friday of a mob attack on a refugee home that stunned the newly reunified country, with politicians saying much had been learned but racism was still a threat.

With just a month until Germans go to the polls, groups representing foreigners have expressed relief that asylum and immigration have barely featured in the campaign so far, issues the far-right has exploited in other recent elections in Europe.

While some observers said Germans had developed a more positive approach to foreigners in the decade since the riots in the eastern city of Rostock, others said there was still a rich vein of Xenophobia in Germany that politicians could tap into.

Wolfgang Richter, Rostock's representative for foreigners' affairs, said great efforts had been made on integration in the city since then. Despite the damage done to Rostock's image, he said the number of foreigners living there, while still a tiny proportion of the population, had doubled to 5,000.

"I don't think what happened in Rostock in 1992 can be repeated but what could be repeated is manipulating people to stir up a hostile atmosphere towards foreigners that made this incident possible," he said.

In 1992, amid conflicts in the Balkans, the number of people seeking asylum in Germany surged to 438,000, many of whom were sent to cities in the former east, where foreigners became scapegoats for post-communist ills and social dislocation.

Mounting anger about asylum seekers camping on a patch of grass in the Rostock suburb of Lichtenhagen erupted into violence on August 22, 1992, as youths shouting Nazi slogans pelted the city's main refugee reception centre with stones.

The rioting escalated and two days later, hundreds of young East Germans goaded on by cheering parents and neighbors firebombed the tower block housing refugees, where some 120 cowering vietnamese men, women and children were trapped.

bad memories revived miraculously they all escaped the blaze, fleeing over rooftops. but the assault, broadcast live on television, stirred memories of germans applauding nazi persecution of jews.

only in june this year a court found three former skinheads guilty of attempted murder for the attack, handing down suspended jail sentences of 12 to 18 months.

nguyen do thinh, who was among those trapped in the burning building and helped set up multi-cultural centre in rostock after the attack, says while officials are doing more to fight racism, many ordinary people are still hostile to foreigners.

"what has changed has been the sensitivity of the authorities and politicians towards right-wing attacks and the integration work that didn't exist 10 years ago," do thinh, who has lived in germany for 20 years, told reuters.

"what has hardly improved at all is the atmosphere in the population. the acceptance of foreigners is still low," he said.

in lichtenhagen, the firebombed tower block has been repaired and repainted and locals say relations are good with the vietnamese community that lived in the area long before the influx of asylum seekers in the 1990s.

"we have nothing against the vietnamese. we drink your beer, don't we?" said frank schultz, 58, raising his bottle to the vietnamese woman behind the counter of the local noodle bar who smiled and nodded, but said she could speak no german.

while vietnamese and german children were seen playing happily together and residents looked forward to a multi- cultural festival on saturday, one window of the noodle bar was still boarded up after a new firebombing last month by youths.

several shaven-headed young men wearing the heavy lace-up boots and military attire favoured by german neo-nazis were also seen in the area. but roland use, 45, also enjoying a midday beer in the noodle bar, said not all locals were racist.

"we all feel tarnished with the same brush. of course there are a few far-right extremists but you get them all over the world. young people always misbehave," he said.

despite a rising need for immigrant workers as the population ages, yves bizeul, rostock university politics professor, said a lot still needing doing before ordinary germans welcomed foreigners.

"germany still has a great problem with immigration particularly because collective identity is still defined by culture and blood," he said.

he said even though germany introduced legislation in 2000 to make it easier for foreigners born in the country to become citizens, the principle had not yet been accepted by many.

"it is only on paper, not in hearts. there is still some way to go. these topics must be discussed more openly," he said.