Speaking About The Past

Visited a Saturday morning flea market in the Altstadt last weekend, picked up some used books, including one out-of-print book titled "Man muß darüber reden" ("One Must Speak About It"), a collection of talks given by Nazi concentration camp survivors to classes of schoolchildren (high school age, one assumes, since the stories are pretty detailed) in the 1970s-80s. The book is really an interesting read, not only for the survivors' stories, but for the questions asked by the pupils — sometimes naive, sometimes incredibly direct, and often questions that an adult would not be able to bring him- or herself to ask out loud.
For me, there was something new in the stories of how they came home after the war — and I find this is a big hole in my knowledge of the holocaust. How did people get home, did they have any help. how were they treated by their neighbors, was anything said about the past? And, the biggest question for me, why did they return to their homes, and not emigrate to other coutries, like many others? Some of the speakers in the book were Jewish, some had been Communists or otherwise politically active somehow against the Nazis, some were simply unlucky. They all, each and every one, spoke of how it was luck that enabled them to survive — luck and solidarity among the inmates, although solidarity alone didn't help millions of others.
According to some accompanying words from a government minister at the back of the book, these talks are now a regular part of the school experience in Austria. I don't know if that's still true, given that the ages of survivors must be fairly advanced now. I need to ask some of my home-grown friends about it.
One often hears that Austrians have not come to terms with its Nazi past, and that may be true but it's not for lack of effort by liberal-thinking people. There have been steps, small steps, all along the way. They are not always easy to see, especially by us Ausländer who see the xenophobic side of society often enough. But it's most definitely part of The Discussion, and that offers hope.

Weekend Garden Blogging (belated)

The beau was here for the weekend and we got down to business on the terrace. I had two large containers of kitchen compost from the last 8 months, so we repotted and potted up several plants, and took a trip over to the garden center to fill a few empty spots (there weren't many but it's fun to buy new plants, and that's about all we're able to buy this spring, so we treated ourselves.)
Above, in the large white pot: on the left is lemon balm, on the right Peach-leaved Bellflower, an alpine native.
The Lilies Of The Valley decided to take over most of the pot this year, leaving the Phlox (center) and the evergreen bottom right to search out sunny positions. In the left pot (still above) is an Aster, a new Potentilla, a Kniphofia (Torch Lily) and a Lavender which has grown so tall it needed to be tied to the fence.
And of course, vegetables. Aside from a few herbs near the door, there are now tomatoes, broccoli, chili and onion plants. And a pretty strawberry, already blooming.

We had terrible Föhn winds that evening and all the next day, and we worried about losing some of the new arrivals, but everything survived. The straw fence is a big help, letting some wind through and reducing the strength of the gusts. This terrace practically cries out for some kind of arbor covering — gravevines, ivy or wisteria (which I tried for a few years), but the wind won't allow it.

Children's Crusade: Students Protest

There has been some disunity between the Education Ministry and the teacher's union regarding the standard of education in Austria and how to improve it. The teachers were presented with the option of adding two more hours (unpaid) to their workweek, which they refused. A compromise was found in which the teachers worked one hour more, and classes would be held on 5 days in the school year which are traditionally free days for students. Because of this, the students held a one-day strike, skipping school to convene in designated public squares in cities across the country. According to the Austrian news services the protests drew 60,000 pupils, with 25,000 in Vienna alone, 12,000 in Linz.
From what I gather, the protest in Innsbruck was either poorly organized or the organization was poorly followed. Passing through the crowd in front of the Landestheater, it seemed that 25% of the teenagers were there to actually demonstrate, 50% were just hanging around, and 25% were hanging around, drinking beer, and exercising their right to be obnoxious.
The police presence (not big, between 20 and 30 altogether) was patient, even when the kids wanted to (spontaneously) take off on a march. Someone in the crowd threw something at them but they didn't respond to it.
There is, sadly, litter all over the city center. I realize that large groups of people are going to leave behind trash, and that I am getting perilously close to that "you kids get off my lawn!" age. Still, I do view this theater as my home somehow, and it pains me to see the broken glass and trash left behind by people who had supposedly gathered there for their principles. I expected more from them.

So much for the Weather Forecast

OK, after that long warm dry stretch, it's now 15° C and wet.

Meh.

Happy Earth Day

Two things: the first is, no one seems to know about Earth Day in Austria. This is not cause for concern, because by American standards, every day is Earth Day in Austria. You don't have to tell your grocery checker to keep the bag, because you're not getting one (unless you buy one for 30 cents.) Recycling is easy, public transportation is good, there are bike paths everywhere. This isn't a green paradise, but there's a lot of good things to say about it.

Second: according to recent news reports this is the warmest April on record since... well, since they began recording the temperature here. The temperature this month has been 5 ° C ( 9°F) higher than the all-time average — and there is no forecast for cooler days ahead. It's also been an unusually dry month, with some areas getting little to no rain at all.
Weather does not equal climate, I realize. But some little part of me worries that this might be the beginning of things to come — nice mild off-seasons, then hotter, longer summers, until everything goes out of kilter.
If this trend continues, I predict that the Eisheiligen will pass us by in mid-May. Might as well start gardening now.

Mein Freund Der Baum Ist Tod

An enormous old tree across the street had been taken down early this morning. It had probably succumbed from the construction work on the underground garage, or maybe city life had just taken its toll on it. Telling my beau about it on the telephone, he was reminded of a 1960s pop song, one of his mother's favorites, the refrain being "My friend the tree is dead, it fell in the early morning dawn." The lyrics describe how a favorite tree has been felled to make room for a new modern building — sort of a German "Big Yellow Taxi".
So I looked up the song and the singer, Alexandra, and found she'd had quite an interesting, if short, life. Born in a German area of Lithuania, expelled with other Germans after the war, married briefly at 19 to a Russian 30 years her senior, also performed songs in French, English, Russian and Hebrew, had a love affair with a Cold War spy, died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 26. Here is her Wikipedia entry and the song clip.

Weekend Rooftop Blogging: Frühling

Gorgeous day. I really should get out and enjoy it!

Thoughts on the recent "big news story"

For the last several days I have been reading all the reactions to the recent "big singing sensation discovery" — it's not like you can get away from it if you watch television or spend any time at all of the internet. Now, I first off, I have to explain I have little patience for people who want to be stars, for whom the fame and attention overrides the fulfillment of doing what you love and working at your craft. Which is why I don't bother watching these talent shows. When the clip first appeared online, I didn't think too much about it, but when the extreme reactions started piling up — "This woman should sing opera", "It brought tears to my eyes", "I would pay to hear her sing!" — well, something is not quite right about this. For several days I mulled it over, concerned that anything I said about the matter would be taken as sour grapes, or envy, and that's not what this is about at all. To me, the prejudice about looks remains just as strong, only it's been taken in the opposite direction now.
A rather homely woman had the chutzpah to get up on stage at a talent competition and show them that she has a nice set of pipes and can sing pretty well. Good for her, and I'm happy for her. But when viewers (and journalists) begin saying that this woman is the next fabulous thing, I say, um, no. You have been manipulated into believing something which did not happen, but was staged for maximum media effect. Possibly the singer was not in on the game, but the production team knew exactly what they were doing. Still, good for her! She stuck it to the jury and won the round! But please, do not tell me she is the next great singer. If she were prettier and younger, you wouldn't have heard that clip anywhere.
If you want to hear a truly great voice, an amazing talent celebrated all over the world despite physical limitations, then I suggest you take a listen to this guy, here singing Schubert, and if classical music confuses you, a spiritual. This man can sing absolutely anything, and beautifully. If he were not handicapped, he'd still be famous.
Last night NBC Evening News ended with a segment about Our Time, a program which teaches stutterers to overcome their handicap by singing. All of the young singers were good, some of them were really good, one very young girl's voice actually made me sit up and take notice. Fortunately for them, CNN won't be camped in front of their houses, trying to get an interview.

Mountain blogging, airplane edition

I hadn't expected the plane to fly directly over the alpine peaks. It was quite impressive to see, all that snow and not a road or another sign of human civilization for miles. And this was all between Innsbruck and Munich, which lie not all that far from one another.
This was, I believe, New York State. A ski resort, dependent on its snow cannons to keep people on the slopes. We flew over several of these, and they reminded one of the Nazca Lines in Peru.

Discussing racism, back in the 1920s

My grandfather died before I was born, and my grandmother then married a widower in town who had been lucky enough to have married a woman with family money the first time around. This means that my grandmother, having been born in working-class immigrant circumstances, spent the last 50 years of her life (she almost made it to 92) in a lovely woodland cottage with very nice antique furniture and heirloom jewelry.
The cottage had once been part of a private club, started in 1920 when a group of people bought up several acres of woodland and built summer bungalows there, presumably to drink in peace (during Prohibition) as well as enjoy the country air. The club had disbanded for good some 30 years ago, and the lots were divided up and claimed by their current occupants. When my grandmother died and we took possession of her papers, we found quite a bit pertaining to the club, some of it quite old.
One of the most interesting from this archive is a letter dated August 11, 1926 and written by a club member to one of its officers. I quote the body of the letter in its entirety:

Dear Bob: Because of important business engagements Tues. the 11th I shall be unable to attend a meeting of [ ] Club. Since my talk with you I realize that most items to be discussed at the meeting have to do with actions of mine I regret that I cannot be present. Shall try to make my position clear therefore in this letter.

I am now aware of the animosity towards me since I moved to [ ] and brought Percy over to the unoccupied house because I wanted to make it easy for him to take care of the horses and the work about the bungalow. When I mentioned the fact that I wanted to fix up the house for him I certainly did not try in any way to mislead anyone as to his color — that evidently being the main objection to him. Am only sorry that I did not get to the Club meetings to as to bring it before all the members.

It became my unpleasant duty on the strength of the objections made to him going in swimming with some of his friends to ask him to keep from doing it in the future. He assured me he would not give any case for complaint in the future.

Perhaps I am prejudiced in Percy's favor, but I feel I have done him an unintentional wrong — stirred up in him a feeling of bitterness because of this evident dislike to his color. We have appreciated him so much and have noted the whiteness of his character — that it has really spoiled our desire to stay here.

As soon as we can dispose of the horses which we are now trying to do Percy intends moving back to town and when necessary repairs are made to our home in town we shall also be going over. This will possibly be the end of August.

Would appreciate having a statement of what I owe the Club so that prompt settlement may be made.

Cordially yours,


I find this letter a fascinating glimpse into the prevailing attitudes about race in the 1920s, including the well-meaning racism of the writer — he seems to have had his heart in the right place, yet he refers to his employee only by his first name, and refers to the "whiteness of his character". I do not hold this against him — this was, after all, 1926. It's just interesting to me. What do you think? — Comments are welcome.

CSI Innsbruck Part 3

They work fast here. The David Caruso stalker got 7 months prison time, to be followed by admission into a psychiatric institution. The end.

Karwoche Hiatus

Posting will resume after the Easter holiday.

Interesting

The excellent blog A Fistful of Euros has this post up about the (ignored) predictions of one Durnovo, a Russian statesman who, in 1914, felt compelled to voice his opinion of what would happen should war break out in Europe. The sections quoted in the post are enlightening and eerily accurate.
I never had a European or World History class when I was in school, although it may have been offered as an elective (I began filling my class schedule with music and arts-related classes as soon as I was allowed to do so.) Everything I know about the World Wars came from films, books, and television (The World At War was on every afternoon for a while, and I have to say it taught me a lot.) But here's the thing: everything about WWII seems to lead back to the Treaty of Versailles, and stops there. Germany lost the war, was forced to pay heavily for it, which enabled the growth of nazism. What happened before that, indeed how the European powers got themselves into a Great War to begin with and why countries ended up on the side they did remains murky ( and I know, a book like The Guns of August will explain a lot of that but I am speaking of what we learn from conventional wisdom and the media, without turning to history books about that specific period.) Indeed, it seems so complicated because history never leads back to a single event, there are always dozens of layers to get through and then you find dozens more.

And yet, as uninformed as I feel, at the same time I wonder what the results would be if one were to go out and poll the average college graduate on, say, the Treaty of Versailles. A few years ago the local Philadelphia news team went out to the Atlantic City boardwalk on July 4th to ask a few teens and twenty-somethings what happened on that day to warrant a national holiday. Most claimed to have no idea — "Didn't we win a war or something?"