Having seen the effect of post WWII capitalist Bavaria, Berlin seemed to shine with the promise of contrast. I expected to see remnants of Walled West Berlin, surrounded by a uniform post-communist East city. However, travellers I'd met had advised me that there was almost no difference now between East and West, and that apart from the line of bricks marking the road, one couldn't recognise the divide.
Even my Berlin tour guide re-iterated this. Originally Welsh, she'd lived in West Berlin for two years. She told horror stories of friends' apartments in the East with shared toilets on the landing and shower in the kitchen, but this was really the only difference she knew of. Except for Ampelman, the communist traffic light symbol, different from the standard traffic warning image. And the fact that "There's nothing in West Berlin, really. East Berlin got all the cool stuff". But apart from THAT, East and West are exactly the same, she feels.
I stayed with friends in East Berlin, in a two room apartment. With a shower in the kitchen, and a shared toilet on the landing, quite normal in Europe, really. One of the couple works casually, while the other works 25 hours a week. Some of their neighbours are surprised that they have work at all, as 1 in 4 Berliners of working age are unemployed. Both of my friends earn far less than their counterparts working on the West side of town do. They advise that the best situation one can achieve in Berlin is to work in the West and live in the East, as food and rents are more expensive in the West. An East Berlin loaf of bread costing 1euro may cost 3euro in the West. Clearly the differences between the 'Two cities' are in existence if you look for them.
The fall of the wall clearly spelled a lot of changes for the socialist East Berlin. Conditions in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) had been difficult, with under supply of goods, lack of freedom of speech, and long, demanding working hours. An exhibition at the German History Museum on life in the GDR demonstrated the constant double speak (replicated in many East German jokes about the GDR), inequality and frustrations people lived with every day. So surely now that they'd joined their rich neighbours of the West in the land of Capitalism, all would be happy, right? The exhibition ended with a series of photographs and interviews with East Berliners directly after the fall, and in present day. Most of them found themselves worse off, rather than better. Their qualifications were not valid in the new world, their jobs unstable or non-existent, and their homes no longer a certainty. Most seemed diplomatic ("I was lucky to be allowed to work at all"), but some comments really resonate; "They could have left the wall standing and allowed greater travel allowances". For many, the move into the promised land has not been as expected.
Most of my time was spent in East Berlin, which comes across as an area fast becoming gentrified; but the spirit of many communities is still very friendly, a bit bohemian, creative. Market sellers happily barter the cost of their goods, and waiters will deliver complementary fruit as a dessert. Squats and communal kitchens, located in buildings emptied when their inhabitants departed for West Berlin, are identified by the colourful and socialist graffiti adorning the outer walls.
The inner city mixes remnants of the old city, replicas of old buildings and stunning modern architecture. And while Nazism is certainly not dead in Berlin, the city is determined to remember the tragedy of the Holocaust, in the hope it will not be replicated. Several controversial memorial dot the city: one features a mother cradling a dying boy, while beneath are buried a German soldier and a Holocaust victim, illustrating that War and Racism hurts everyone. Far more blatant is the Memorial for Murdered Jews, some 2700 concrete blocks erected to mark the deaths of millions of European Jews cover a large city block. While the interpretation of the striking memorial lies solely with the viewer, its main purpose is simply to be noticeable; the starkness, and the blocks which rise until they tower above you make the memorial difficult to ignore. Surely it stands as a reminder, and warning, that those things we turn a blind eye toward can come to overwhelm, and through apathy of bystanders become too powerful to counteract. Plans to erect a similar memorial for the other victims of the Holocaust (Roma, Sinta, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc) are underway.
Some people say there are still two cities, maybe even two countries. Others say this is ridiculous. Yet people still live who remember the division; who are still discriminated against in wages and jobs; who still find the shift to capitalism difficult and disillusioning. Thus surely these two cities MUST still exist. And as the whole reason for the division of Berlin was the notion that "whoever rules Berlin rules Germany", then it stands to reason that Germany is yet to become truly whole again.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
The hills are alive
I've never really been much of a mountain person; I like the beach. Mountains have snakes and steep inclines and other such unpleasantness. But I have discovered that I REALLY like the Bavarian and Austrian Alps. Part of this might be linked my childhood love of 'The Sound of Music', which I indulged yesterday.
My sometimes travel buddy Dave (who I met in Berlin, and saw for drinks in Barcelona) managed to get to Salzburg the day before I was due to leave for Berlin, so I planned my daytrip to Salzburg to coincide, so that we could do the Sound of Music tour together. This is a cheesy bus trip, in which you visit a number of sites where filming took place, and where the real Von Trapp family live. There was also enforced group singing and tacky photo taking, and extremely funny jokes from our dead pan, liederhosen-clad tour guide, Gunter. It was SO MUCH FUN! Although I did scrape my legs climbing trees to pose for photos- those trees have grown a lot taller in the last forty years.
Salzburg itself was kind of whacky. Overlooked by the biggest fortress in Europe, it harbors weird gnome statues in its main gardens, and last night was hosting the Night of Milk, a festival displaying modern performance art. Entrance was free if you wore all white, so there were ghost people all over town, which was disconcerting until you learned the reason.
This whole area has kooky things going on. I think it's all the beer. Here are a few beer fuelled stories from Munich's past.
The opera house in Munich was made with a concave roof, with the intention to collect water to be used in case of fire. Unfortunately, the opera house caught fire in January, when the water was all frozen, so the people thought of the liquid they had in greatest abundance; beer. They dashed to the Hofbrauhaus, the nearest beer hall, and advised the drunken Bavarians within that they would form a chain of buckets from the Hofbrauhaus to the opera house. Strangely, the buckets, full at the brewery, were always half empty by the time they reached the opera house. One for the opera house, one for me. The opera house burned down.
Germany has a long history of maypoles, but there's also a history of maypole theft. Other towns would steal a rival town's pole and hold it for ransom- for beer, of course. In the 90s, the maypole at Munich airport was stolen in the middle of the night, a huge ten metre tale pole. Concerned about the implications of this theft for the quality of airport security, the airport decided to keep the issue on the quiet, and called the police to report the theft *hush hush*. The police, however, were laughing their heads off; it had actually been the Munch police force who had stolen the pole. As tradition demanded, they held the pole to ransom, and the airport security had to pay the Munich police force in beer.
Speaking of the police, crime is very low in Munich, so the police get bored and thus enforce a lot of odd rules. There are specific places dogs must be parked outside stores. There is a 50euro fine for spitting (but it's only 40 euroes if spitting out gum). It's an offence to vomit in the Hofbrauhaus. And there are a plethora of offences related to bikes, including a 10euro fine for not having a bell (yet you don't have to wear a helmet).
I can see why Munich wants to remember their traditional past, rather than their WWII history. Munich is a really friendly, interesting place, and I am excited to see how it compares with Berlin, my next stop.
My sometimes travel buddy Dave (who I met in Berlin, and saw for drinks in Barcelona) managed to get to Salzburg the day before I was due to leave for Berlin, so I planned my daytrip to Salzburg to coincide, so that we could do the Sound of Music tour together. This is a cheesy bus trip, in which you visit a number of sites where filming took place, and where the real Von Trapp family live. There was also enforced group singing and tacky photo taking, and extremely funny jokes from our dead pan, liederhosen-clad tour guide, Gunter. It was SO MUCH FUN! Although I did scrape my legs climbing trees to pose for photos- those trees have grown a lot taller in the last forty years.
Salzburg itself was kind of whacky. Overlooked by the biggest fortress in Europe, it harbors weird gnome statues in its main gardens, and last night was hosting the Night of Milk, a festival displaying modern performance art. Entrance was free if you wore all white, so there were ghost people all over town, which was disconcerting until you learned the reason.
This whole area has kooky things going on. I think it's all the beer. Here are a few beer fuelled stories from Munich's past.
The opera house in Munich was made with a concave roof, with the intention to collect water to be used in case of fire. Unfortunately, the opera house caught fire in January, when the water was all frozen, so the people thought of the liquid they had in greatest abundance; beer. They dashed to the Hofbrauhaus, the nearest beer hall, and advised the drunken Bavarians within that they would form a chain of buckets from the Hofbrauhaus to the opera house. Strangely, the buckets, full at the brewery, were always half empty by the time they reached the opera house. One for the opera house, one for me. The opera house burned down.
Germany has a long history of maypoles, but there's also a history of maypole theft. Other towns would steal a rival town's pole and hold it for ransom- for beer, of course. In the 90s, the maypole at Munich airport was stolen in the middle of the night, a huge ten metre tale pole. Concerned about the implications of this theft for the quality of airport security, the airport decided to keep the issue on the quiet, and called the police to report the theft *hush hush*. The police, however, were laughing their heads off; it had actually been the Munch police force who had stolen the pole. As tradition demanded, they held the pole to ransom, and the airport security had to pay the Munich police force in beer.
Speaking of the police, crime is very low in Munich, so the police get bored and thus enforce a lot of odd rules. There are specific places dogs must be parked outside stores. There is a 50euro fine for spitting (but it's only 40 euroes if spitting out gum). It's an offence to vomit in the Hofbrauhaus. And there are a plethora of offences related to bikes, including a 10euro fine for not having a bell (yet you don't have to wear a helmet).
I can see why Munich wants to remember their traditional past, rather than their WWII history. Munich is a really friendly, interesting place, and I am excited to see how it compares with Berlin, my next stop.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Munich's hidden past
When you think of Munich, you probably think of beer, and Oktoberfest. Or maybe, if you're a little more historically or geographically minded, you might think of Bavaria, and Munich being the seat of Bavarian rule. You probably don't immediately think of Hitler, or of the birth of the Nazi party. And that's exactly how Munich likes it.
Some cities chose to rebuild their cities in new styles after WWII bombing. Not Munich; it rebuilt everything exactly the same, to the point that it didn't even put up any new war memorials. That might remind people that Munich was somehow involved in the war; Munich prefers to evoke a happy, beer inspired time past.
Munich is definitely first and foremost about beer. There are numerous beer tours, ridiculous numbers of beer shops and the famous Hofbrauhaus (court brewery). Once upon a time, the Hofbrauhaus was a men only establishment, with a bottom level smelling of urine, as getting up to use the facilites might mean losing your seat or, even worse, your beer. These days the Hof is a noisy establishment, packed to the rafters with tourists and locals alike enjoying the oompah-pah music, the pretzels and of course, the beer in LITRE mahs jugs. Yup, you have to drink it by the litre. Sobriety is not an option.
In fact, it was on the top floor of the Hofbrauhaus that Hitler first began trying to sway Munich citizens to join the Munich political party of which he had become leader, the Nationals (or Nazis). It was in Munich that Hitler first attempted to overthrow a government, resulting in the deaths of 16 and the imprisonment of Hitler for eleven months; on FIVE charges, each of which carried a death sentence, he got a measly 5 months. Imagine how history could have been different if the judge had not been a Nazi sympathiser. It was in Munich that he perfected his 'charismatic' puplic speaking, filling the first five rows of any public presentation with planted Nazis, to create a mob mentality conducive to his cause.
Munich is a city that is steeped in proud history, but finds it hard to resign itself to its recent past. Except for tour companies, there isn't even mention of nearby Dachau, the concentration camp bearing the famous gate slogan, 'Arbeit Mach Frei' (Work will make you free). However, information for Neuschwanstein Castle, on which Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle is modelled, is all over. You can actually buy liederhosen in modern department stores. It's a lovely, friendly, interesting place... you just have to dig a little deep to scratch the most recent surface of Munich's history.
Some cities chose to rebuild their cities in new styles after WWII bombing. Not Munich; it rebuilt everything exactly the same, to the point that it didn't even put up any new war memorials. That might remind people that Munich was somehow involved in the war; Munich prefers to evoke a happy, beer inspired time past.
Munich is definitely first and foremost about beer. There are numerous beer tours, ridiculous numbers of beer shops and the famous Hofbrauhaus (court brewery). Once upon a time, the Hofbrauhaus was a men only establishment, with a bottom level smelling of urine, as getting up to use the facilites might mean losing your seat or, even worse, your beer. These days the Hof is a noisy establishment, packed to the rafters with tourists and locals alike enjoying the oompah-pah music, the pretzels and of course, the beer in LITRE mahs jugs. Yup, you have to drink it by the litre. Sobriety is not an option.
In fact, it was on the top floor of the Hofbrauhaus that Hitler first began trying to sway Munich citizens to join the Munich political party of which he had become leader, the Nationals (or Nazis). It was in Munich that Hitler first attempted to overthrow a government, resulting in the deaths of 16 and the imprisonment of Hitler for eleven months; on FIVE charges, each of which carried a death sentence, he got a measly 5 months. Imagine how history could have been different if the judge had not been a Nazi sympathiser. It was in Munich that he perfected his 'charismatic' puplic speaking, filling the first five rows of any public presentation with planted Nazis, to create a mob mentality conducive to his cause.
Munich is a city that is steeped in proud history, but finds it hard to resign itself to its recent past. Except for tour companies, there isn't even mention of nearby Dachau, the concentration camp bearing the famous gate slogan, 'Arbeit Mach Frei' (Work will make you free). However, information for Neuschwanstein Castle, on which Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle is modelled, is all over. You can actually buy liederhosen in modern department stores. It's a lovely, friendly, interesting place... you just have to dig a little deep to scratch the most recent surface of Munich's history.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
A nation divided
While post WWII Germany displayed a very tangible country division, Austria has also long been a nation divided. At some point in time, Austria's Hapsburg family have been rulers of mosy parts of Western Europe, so it always comes as shock when they lose ground; either through wars (Prussian), invasions (Napoleon), uprisings (Hungary's insistence on equality, creating the Austro-Hunagrian Empire, rather than the Austrian Empire) or diplomatic decision (Austria's most dramatic division following WWI, in which the empire was carved into independant countries and Austria became the tiny country we know today).
Austria was declared by Stalin the first 'victim' of Germany's atrocities, and thus for many years felt itself clear of any blame for war crimes, but in the 80s questions began to surface about how deeply involved Austria was in anti-semitic behaviour. Their actions in the past cast further doubt onto Austria's claims of innocence. Austria has had a Jewish population for a thousand years, and never really had an enforced ghetto as some European cities did (such as Venice, the original ghetto). But in the 14th century the Emporer herded most of the Jewish community into boats on the Danube, without oars, and let them float downstream.They landed in Hungary, beginning the large Hungarian Jewish population. The remaining Jews in Vienna, for fear of forced conversion, committed a mass suicide in the synagogue, which was burned down. When Jews were allowed to live in Vienna again (along with Protestants, and non Roman Catholic- Christians), they had to live by strict rules, including not presenting any aspect of their religion to the street.
When Hitler invaded Vienna, a referendum heralded a 98.5% vote in favour of him. However, if you see pictures of the referendum, it's quite clear that there was little choice but to vote yes. A picture of Hitler looks down on voters, and burly guards stand on either side, watching your vote. The yes box is huge, while the no box is tiny, and the 'how to vote' example is clearly marked yes. Apparently anyone who voted no was marched off in chains. However, recent investigation has found that probably 50% of the Austrian public genuinely supported being annexed to Germany; Austria having been such a dominant empire for so long, they simply didn't believe in it's ability to thrive as a tiny state.
Interestingly, one of the post WWII conditions was that Austria could not enter into any organisation of which Germany was a part. This means that, although Austria has been a demontsrably neutral country for fifty years, and is a successful member of the European community, they could not join the European Union until the Soviet Union collapsed, as this heralded the dissolution of the conditions.
Vienna is often described as a classical or old fashioned city; the Hapsburgs' support of the arts meant that creative types, especially musicians, flocked to Vienna (you may have heard of a few... Mozart, Strauss, Brahms). Yet despite the touts strolling the streets in get up of Mozart's times, Vienna is often devastatingly modern. 30% of Vienna was hit by bombing in WWII and had to be rebuilt. Otto Wagner and Hunderwasser erected buildings of controversially striking style, and Gustav Klimt redefined modern art standards, shocking people with his idealied female nudes.
I've seen modern art museums, and Mozart concerts in the Golden Hall (where the Vienna New Year's concert is performed each year). I've drunk far more coffee than is good for me, and I've listened to the most amazing choir perform in a church. And I'm loving it all :)
Austria was declared by Stalin the first 'victim' of Germany's atrocities, and thus for many years felt itself clear of any blame for war crimes, but in the 80s questions began to surface about how deeply involved Austria was in anti-semitic behaviour. Their actions in the past cast further doubt onto Austria's claims of innocence. Austria has had a Jewish population for a thousand years, and never really had an enforced ghetto as some European cities did (such as Venice, the original ghetto). But in the 14th century the Emporer herded most of the Jewish community into boats on the Danube, without oars, and let them float downstream.They landed in Hungary, beginning the large Hungarian Jewish population. The remaining Jews in Vienna, for fear of forced conversion, committed a mass suicide in the synagogue, which was burned down. When Jews were allowed to live in Vienna again (along with Protestants, and non Roman Catholic- Christians), they had to live by strict rules, including not presenting any aspect of their religion to the street.
When Hitler invaded Vienna, a referendum heralded a 98.5% vote in favour of him. However, if you see pictures of the referendum, it's quite clear that there was little choice but to vote yes. A picture of Hitler looks down on voters, and burly guards stand on either side, watching your vote. The yes box is huge, while the no box is tiny, and the 'how to vote' example is clearly marked yes. Apparently anyone who voted no was marched off in chains. However, recent investigation has found that probably 50% of the Austrian public genuinely supported being annexed to Germany; Austria having been such a dominant empire for so long, they simply didn't believe in it's ability to thrive as a tiny state.
Interestingly, one of the post WWII conditions was that Austria could not enter into any organisation of which Germany was a part. This means that, although Austria has been a demontsrably neutral country for fifty years, and is a successful member of the European community, they could not join the European Union until the Soviet Union collapsed, as this heralded the dissolution of the conditions.
Vienna is often described as a classical or old fashioned city; the Hapsburgs' support of the arts meant that creative types, especially musicians, flocked to Vienna (you may have heard of a few... Mozart, Strauss, Brahms). Yet despite the touts strolling the streets in get up of Mozart's times, Vienna is often devastatingly modern. 30% of Vienna was hit by bombing in WWII and had to be rebuilt. Otto Wagner and Hunderwasser erected buildings of controversially striking style, and Gustav Klimt redefined modern art standards, shocking people with his idealied female nudes.
I've seen modern art museums, and Mozart concerts in the Golden Hall (where the Vienna New Year's concert is performed each year). I've drunk far more coffee than is good for me, and I've listened to the most amazing choir perform in a church. And I'm loving it all :)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Finding my roots
I was a late bloomer in the whole 'dreaming of overseas' stakes. I never really knew where I wanted to go, except for Vienna. I've always been drawn to Vienna: partially due to an interest in classical music; partially because I thought I was Austrian. Not in a 'maybe I'm secretly a Hapsburg princess' kind of way, but that my father's background might have been Austrian.
My ancestry is complicated. I have multiple families, as my biological dad didn't hang around for long. I know the background of my mum's family, and my other dad's family, but the non-existent dad has been harder to trace, especially as my mum never spoke about him. I knew of a grandmother in Berlin, and a vague memory of being told my dad was Austrian. Then I got my full birth certificate, which stated he was born in Cheb, Czechoslavakia (now Czech Republic). Research (ok, Google) advised that Cheb was a very German town, despite being within Czech borders, so I decided I must have misremembered the whole Austrian lineage thing and let it go. Until today.
Today I took a walking tour, and as I was the only person on the tour, I got chatting with the guide. Turns out that Czech was all part of the Austro- Hungarian Empire pre WW1, and that the area of Cheb was Austrian. So the town was a German speaking town, not a German town. However, when Czechoslovakia was granted independence, the German speaking people were ostracised by the Czechs.presented the chance of becoming part of Germany during WWII, they supported the Germans, thus the impression that Cheb is a German town.
So anyway, I'm probably Austrian, not German (as well as Spanish, French, English, Irish and Scottish). Which makes me like Vienna even more.Not that I need much encouragement, it's such a nice place. With such good food. And such good coffee (oh, Vienna coffee. Coffee should ALWAYS come with cream on top).
Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to see the Spanish Riding School tomorrow, and to log off this blog post before my computer times out.
My ancestry is complicated. I have multiple families, as my biological dad didn't hang around for long. I know the background of my mum's family, and my other dad's family, but the non-existent dad has been harder to trace, especially as my mum never spoke about him. I knew of a grandmother in Berlin, and a vague memory of being told my dad was Austrian. Then I got my full birth certificate, which stated he was born in Cheb, Czechoslavakia (now Czech Republic). Research (ok, Google) advised that Cheb was a very German town, despite being within Czech borders, so I decided I must have misremembered the whole Austrian lineage thing and let it go. Until today.
Today I took a walking tour, and as I was the only person on the tour, I got chatting with the guide. Turns out that Czech was all part of the Austro- Hungarian Empire pre WW1, and that the area of Cheb was Austrian. So the town was a German speaking town, not a German town. However, when Czechoslovakia was granted independence, the German speaking people were ostracised by the Czechs.presented the chance of becoming part of Germany during WWII, they supported the Germans, thus the impression that Cheb is a German town.
So anyway, I'm probably Austrian, not German (as well as Spanish, French, English, Irish and Scottish). Which makes me like Vienna even more.Not that I need much encouragement, it's such a nice place. With such good food. And such good coffee (oh, Vienna coffee. Coffee should ALWAYS come with cream on top).
Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to see the Spanish Riding School tomorrow, and to log off this blog post before my computer times out.
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