General Witterings -
Serious Stuff - Eisenhüttenstadt

I guess that it is about time to say something about Eisenhüttenstadt, which is where we are spending the winter months.

Eisenhüttenstadt (hereinafter called EH) is a new town, built in the early 1950s as a steel-making centre.

In years gone by, brown coal was mined in the area, but in 1950 the Soviet planning authorities chose the place as the site of a new development.  Coal and iron ore were to be brought from the east, either by rail or water.  The passage on the River Oder is often a bit iffy as, despite improvements to the navigation, it suffers low levels in the summer, and floods in the winter.

EH was originally called Stalinstadt, but changed its name when Stalin was de-bunked.

Incidentally, eisen = coal, and hütte usually means hut or cottage, but eisenhütte = forge.

So, in the early 1950, the town and steel works at EH were built.  Over the years the size of the town increased until, at reunification, some 53,000 people were living here.

Keen addicts of Soviet style architecture can follow the stylistic changes that took place in town planning between the '50s and '80s.

The town is laid out on a rectilinear grid pattern.  Nearly all the housing is in low-rise (4 to 6 stories) rectangular blocks, often built around a central open space.  The early blocks are stark, featureless and uniformly grey.  Later versions have the end walls enlivened with murals depicting earnest looking people getting on with life.  The most recent buildings have some minor decorative features.

The cellars of the blocks housed communal wash-houses.  The central open areas had communal washing lines (and still have them, AND they are still in use!  I think that in UK any washing hung on a line in an open area would fairly rapidly disappear).  There are also play areas for children, complete with unvandalised play equipment.

It is difficult, now, to get a handle on how life was lived in those days.  First of all, everybody worked.  Unemployment was not an option.  The unwilling were collected off the streets.  Pay was in the order of DM 700 per month and, in theory, everyone was paid the same.  Women could take a year off per baby produced.

Housing was provided by the state, at about DM 60 per month (inclusive of heat and lighting) for an apartment in one of the blocks.

Food prices were set by the state.

There is still the shell of a beer palace, where much beer was consumed at the weekends.

The main shopping street was a typically broad, open, airy street, with a big theatre in it.

People yearned for a Trabant - the only car available to them.  The waiting list for one was about three years, though those near the top of the waiting list could indulge in a bit of entrepreneurial activity by selling their place on the list.

A garage for the car cost about DM 20 per month, and these were built in blocks within walking distance of the apartments.

It is difficult to quantify East German Marks.  The government considered them to be on par with the West German Mark, but the black market traded 7 East for 1 West.

Most people I have spoken to look back fondly to those days.  Holidays were available on the Black Sea and in other eastern countries, and radio and TV were provided.  The 2 BIG restrictions were a ban on travel to the west, and big problems if you orientated your TV antennae to pick up Western programmes.

I'm afraid that I wouldn't make a very good reporter, as I'm not brave enough to ask the key, difficult questions.  And I have two.

1.  If life was so good in Soviet times, then why did so many folk risk (and, often, lose) their lives in trying to escape to the West?

2.  What were all those STASI agents doing, and why were so many of them beaten up after reunification?

It is noticeable that English is not much known by the older generation.  Their main second language is Russian.  Younger people are much more likely to speak English.

Since reunification, EH has declined.  The steelworks have been modernised, and elsewhere, many of the bureaucratic jobs have been abandoned.  The population is now down to about 35,000, so many apartments are empty, and some of the original blocks are scheduled for demolition.

Throughout the east, there is still damage from WW2, and many old, disused, mouldering industrial sites all cry out for attention.

The financial cost of updating east Germany has been a heavy financial burden, and is causing some friction between the east and the west.  The west Germans have seen their wealth going eastwards to reinvigorate the east, and that has held back growth in the west.  Meanwhile, in the east, unemployment - unknown in Soviet times - is an added burden.  Overall unemployment in Germany is about 10%, but in the east it is 20% +.

You may have heard that in the new year, unemployment benefits are to be changed/reduced.  The Government has set a lower rate in the east to compensate for the reduced cost of living (their words, not mine) in the east.

You may also have heard about the Polish problem.  At the end of the war, the peace settlement included shifting Germany's eastern border westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, hence shifting a chunk of land (that had been German for a few hundred years) from Germany to Poland.  The Germans in that area (some of whose families had been domiciled there for several hundred years) had visitations from Polish people inviting them to leave their houses and lands within the next half hour (or, in some cases, 10 minutes).

Today, there are two legal battles being waged/threatened/considered in the courts.  Poles are suing Germany for damage done to their country during WW2, whilst Germans and suing Poland for the loss of their lands, houses and possessions. 

EH today is therefore a strange mixture.  The steel works still operate, though not at anywhere near full capacity.  I'm told that they concentrate on producing high quality steel.

In some areas, the older, boarded-up apartment blocks look a bit desolate, but the Soviet style murals and art works, together with the application of some paint, soften the drabness of the apartment blocks.

The main shopping street is quite lively, but this is somewhat masked by the broad street.  There are 3 newish shopping centres, each with the regulation supermarket, d-i-y store and chemist, one with a bit more and another with a LOT more.  There is one rather seedy open-air market, and a large building for asylum seekers.

We are moored in an old, rectangular basin, with some of the older buildings still intact.  The basin is now a boat club.  We are the only boats on the water - the boats of the club members have been taken out of the water, and most are now under cover in a big shed, though one or two are propped up on the land, and wrapped in plastic sheeting.

It is noticeable that folk here (especially the older folk) are still very formal with each other.  Even close friends still call each other Herr Schmidt or Frau Schultz.  None of this first name lark.

HELP WANTED

I'm in need of some advice and some practical assistance.

BLACKBERRY:  It has been suggested to me that my e-mail problems could be solved by a Blackberry.  At first sight this looks a distinct possibility, but cutting through the gloss and spin on web sites in an attempt to find the real story is exceedingly difficult.  If anyone is running a Blackberry (perhaps through Vodafone), would you please drop me a plain-text e-mail so that I can pose some questions.

SATELLITE TV:  I would like to watch BBC TV programs on my satellite TV system.  To do this, I need the help of some kind person who has a BBC TV licence.  Again, please drop me an e-mail, and I will then explain the problem.

SEXUAL IDENTITY

One or two folk are concerned that Fanny has not had much of a mention recently.  She is still here, but, truth to tell, our relationship seems to be at a bit of a cross-roads, in that during the last few weeks she has made one or two determined attempts to shag my leg - from behind!!! My instinctive reaction, each time, was to give the leg a severe shake, giving Fanny a free 10ft flight through the air, ending in a reasonably hard landing.  In retrospect, I guess that I should have been a touch more restrained, and entered into counselling mode with her, as she must now be at about that age when sexual identity issues are uppermost in her thoughts.

I thought things were going along OK, in that she has made friends with a poodly looking tyke, who has the essential attribute (from Fanny's point of view) in that he does what she tells him to do.  However, I'm not going to put up with the leg-shagging for very much longer.

SOME MILITARY HUMOUR

Number 1.

A conversation between the Colonel's Dear Lady Wife (CDLW) and the NAAFI Shop Manager (NSM)

CDLW: … and a pair of kippers please.

NSM: Ah! Sorry.  We have no kippers.

CDLW: I did not enquire as to whether you have any kippers or not.  I said that I want a pair of kippers.

NSM: Madam! Kippers … spelt, incidentally, K I P F ….

CDLW: Excuse me! There is no F in kippers!!

NSM: Quite!!!

Number 2.

An aging, and straight laced Major, out for a stroll, meets a young Captain's wife riding a heavily sweating horse.

Aged Major: That horse has got quite a sweat on it.

Captain's wife: I can pretty much guarantee that you would have a good sweat on if I'd been riding you for an hour!

Number 3.

A crusty, gallant Captain of his politically astute and 'rising star' Colonel: "I usually have to try very hard to dislike someone - but with him it comes easy."

That's all Folks!!!