Germany

A German-American family in the USA

Julie is from the USA and Martin is from Germany. They met when Julie was on exchange student in Germany back in 1999 – as their blog says: “It all started when an American girl met a German boy”. I really like how they answered the interview questions from each of their perspectives. So read on to know more about their family’s multicultural life in the USA.

Julie and Martin shortly after they met in 2000

Memories of War – The German-Russian Museum in Berlin

I never was a soldier. Thankfully, I was in a position to forego my military service and opt for civilian service when it was my time to get conscripted with twenty. And with the paunch I developed these days any sergeant would happily refuse me for re-enlisting for even the reserve.

Not that I ever wanted to be a soldier. But coming from a family with military history, I always wonder what if must feel if your state sends you to fight against other humans in a strange country without giving you a choice, just because you are male and in a certain age group. Which is what happened to my grandfather, who served as a pioneer in the German army during the cold winters and intense summers of the Eastern front in World War II from 1941 on.

So, out of a strange coincidence, one freezing Berlin winter’s day with minus 21 degrees Celsius and the snow falling like a blanket, I trudged to the German-Russian Museum in Berlin-Karlshorst. The museum is located at the historic site of the surrender of the German Armed Forces on 8 May 1945 in Berlin, in a former officers’ mess of a pioneer school of the Wehrmacht that served as the seat of the Soviet military administration in Germany from 1945 to 1949.

After being used for various purposes by the Soviet military, a Soviet surrender museum opened in 1967 and existed until 1994, and the whole place is now run by German and Russian authorities as a bilateral institution. It’s the only museum in Germany with a permanent exhibition recalling the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union. And it’s fairly off the beaten track: the location in the Karlshorst suburb is a 45 minute train ride from the tourist sights of Berlin Mitte and only served by bus.

The building itself is not very impressive, the assortment of heavy Soviet ordinance in the park very much so. As I had expected from a former Soviet-army-run establishment, it had an air of pompousness with a T 34 tank on a pedestal, some war-graffiti of the former crew forever etched into its flank; and an array of artillery and bigger tanks lined up behind the building. I only spent a few minutes among the artillery – the Berlin frost drove me inside quite quickly.

The interior of the museum is a strange mixture of even more pompous Soviet murals depicting Stalin, a diorama of the storming of the Reichstag in 1945 and the main negotiation hall filled with commemorative plaques and red flags, and a sober main exhibition covering German-Soviet relations from 1917 on and the (ideological) origins of the conflict.

The part that concerns the war 1941 – 1945 mostly covers the war of the little man using the examples of single soldiers, displaying their war diaries or following their way through the fighting with photos and maps. Exhibits include many personal objects, such as a little sleigh that the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad used to transport food and fire wood. And their dead.

The exhibition also continues to the Soviet occupation of Eastern Germany and Soviet-German relations after 1945, both with the GDR (German Democratic Republic) and West Germany, displaying propaganda posters that look almost ironic sixty years later:

The Red Army comes to help, our gratitude is work and build-up.

When I trotted back from the museum to the bus that would take me to my apartment with Wi-Fi and a dishwasher I (still) wondered if somebody in 2012 could ever truly emulate the experiences of a World War 2 serviceman, but I saluted my grandfather for making it through that war alive so I can only learn about it in a museum and not first hand.

Read more

Berlin, here and there

Slow Travel’s Berlin chapter

The value of (European) art

A German/Mexican Couple and a English Baby Happily Living in the UK

Gabi and Till are a Mexican/German couple, living in London with their son Axel. Today, Gabi tells us all about her life in the UK, how different her life would be if she was in Mexico, and how wonderful the English labour laws are (one year maternity leaves!).

 Gabi, please tell us a bit about yourself and your family.

I am Mexican, married to a German and gave birth to an English baby Axel in 2011. I work in banking and at the moment I am off on maternity for…. a year – thanks to the English labour laws!!
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First blog roundup of the year

This is what some of our contributors have been up to in their personal blogs. Drop by and say hi!

Marcel, our contributor from Ireland and Berlin, describes how his move back to Berlin across Europe went.

“Crisscrossed Europe in a small and overloaded Japanese car, with the constant fear of getting crushed by my complete household whenever I brake too hard. Thankfully there was no snow and all ferries were running on schedule.”

Anu, our contributor from India, posted an interesting photo essay about images of the sky snapped from different means of transport.

“I am back at last from my trip – the last one of 2011 and also the first one of 2012. I was accompanied throughout by some wonderful weather, the cyclone Thane throwing no hurdles in my path, just a lot of clouds and some rain to enliven our travel! “

Carmen, our contributor from Romania, shows a display of Christmas lights in the city of Bucharest.

DeeBee, our contributor from France, shows a pretty collection of modern shop signs inspired by medieval ones.

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From our contributors: week of December 20
From our contributors: week of December 4
From our contributors: week of November 21

Meet Marcel from Germany, and learn about why he now calls Ireland “home”

Today, we speak with our regional contributor, Marcel Krueger. Marcel is from Germany, however currently lives in Dublin, Ireland. Read on to hear more about what it’s like to live in Dublin, and how Dublin is so different than what most tourists expect!

Where do you live? Where are you from? If those are different, can you tell us a little about what inspired your move?

I was born in Germany, in small town in the west called Solingen, and now live in in the capital of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin. What made me come here was a new job, quite simply. But I like it so much that I’m here for five years now, despite the rain.

If you would describe yourself as multi-cultural, tell us a bit about what culture you most identify with and why.

Tricky. I do consider myself being multi-cultural, especially as I work with the internet a lot and have friends and peers all over the world – so I’m in touch with different cultures and countries on a daily basis and really do enjoy discovering and learning new things. I do like islands and autumn though, so if I have to name a culture I’d identify with the most that would be Ireland and Iceland.

Why did you decide to become a Pocket Cultures contributor?

The concept of Pocketcultures very much appealed to me, especially as a inter-European expat. I do not consider myself being a traveller, I prefer to stay in a place for a while and learn as much as possible about the people, history, everyday life – things you cannot do when you travel through for two weeks or so. So I thought I could contribute an interesting article or two from time to time.

Can you describe a typical day for you?

I get up in the morning and board a yellow double-decker bus that takes me to the office, from 18th-century Mountjoy Square where I live to a new corporate park in the suburbs. I work mainly as a copywriter, so after eight hours of starring at a screen I take a similar bus home and would stare at another screen at home for another two hours, writing for Pocketcultures or one of my other writing gigs. If I’m not heading to a pub (we have quite a few here), I go to see a gig or to the movies.

What is the best part of living in your country? The worst?

The Irish. Both.

What books or films would you recommend someone who’d like to know more about your country?

Films: Once, Michael Collins, In Bruges

Books: A Star Called Henry, At Swim-Two-Birds and (ta-daa) Dubliners

What’s something that visitors are often surprised by when getting to know your country/culture?

Mostly that Dublin is not all sheep, sessions in the local pub and tweed-clad farmers. It’s your standard European metropole, one that comes with a drug problem and hundreds of ghost-estates.

Dance and Identity in Lower Silesia

The rainbow-striped skirts billowed like balloons around the women as they spun across the stage, a kaleidoscope of blurred colors. Between the swirling patterns, the dancers stopped to sing. My friend leaned over, translating into my ear. “These people probably moved to Poland after WWII, from the east, an area that’s now the Ukraine. The songs are about a new homeland, about acceptance, about keeping their traditions.”

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