Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

Impressions- page 2

#3 Post-war conditions here were almost as severe as those of the war itself. Thousands of people pired in from bombed out cities or from lands controlled by the Russians- poured into small villages like Beutelsbach where bomb damage was not severe. But Beutelsbach was already overcrowded by people who had come from Stuttgart earily in the war and where could a tow] of 2000 find room for 30 people every day? (they came in truckloads on an hours notice). There was a housing commission which, with police aid made people give up rooms for new arrivals, until several families would be sleeping together, often on the floor. There no clothes, very little to eat, and there were no goods in the stores to be bought. Three stoves would come from Waibligen as aid gifts and 50 families would beg to have them. One very dramatic incident marks a turning point for these people: The Marshall Plan gave (on April 29, 1946- and every German knows the date by heart) to every man, woman, and child in Germany a gift of $10.00! This money acted apparently as a catalyst for the recovery of the economy and soon goods became available and the long road for recovery and rebuilding began.

#4- One very important factor in understanding political life in modern Europe is the realization that present national boundaries as very recent. We think of America as a young nation but most of Europe (Italy and Germany is younger). Thus this area of Baden (Wurttenberg) was a kingdom (several small ones actually) even after World War I. Many people here are far more "Schwabisch" (the folk culture of the area) than they are "German". And many remember in their own lives the whole history of the modern state of Germany. Consequently local areas are very important and each of these sections is quite different than the others. This may help explain some of the lack of deep interest which observers see in German National politics.

#5- One of my first observations here was that Germans rarely talk politics, show no particular sign of interest in political matters. Naturally this was very disturbing because it would seem to be just such disinterest that made Hitler possible. I raised the question with the Mayor and he provided a somewhat different picture: First of all, as a matter of information, virtually every home in Beutelsbach takes a daily newspaper, many two. Every family also has a radio and this often runs a good part of the day. A fact that will probably shock you- in Beutelsbach, population 3100- there are only 180-200 television sets- virtually all bought in the last 2-3 years. As to the political significance of this, they Mayor says that people read the paper carefully and thoroughly and that they get a large amount of news on radio or TV. He says that all citizens, peasant farmers included, are well informed on political matters. How all I don't know, but he himself certainly is. So apparenyl [apparently] people are interested and informed about political matters. Why then so little talk and activity?? One important answer is that many people don't want to be identified with a party. There are two reasons given for this: 1- People remember well the Nazi party experience- what it produced, and what a shadow it could leave on one's postwar record to belong. They distruct open membership in parties-fearing later consequences of this sort. 2- In the small towns especially, it is economically unwise to be an enthusiastic supporter of one party or the other. If a shopkeeper is a rabid supporter og [of] the S.P.D. (Social Democratic Party) conservative peasants who favor almost always the C.D.U. (Christian Democratic Union- Adenauer's party) may supposedly boycott his store. So why should he speak out and lose business? Such "radicalism" is viewed unfavorably and people would rather go silently to the elections, cast their vote, and otherwise remain cautiously silent.

destroyed resistance.

#3 Post war conditions here were almost as severe as those of the war itself. Thousands of people poured in from bombed out cities or from lands controlled by the Russians, poured into the small villages like Beutelsbach where bomb damage was not severe. But Beutelsbach was already overcrowded by people who had come from Stuttgart early in the war, and where could a town of 2000 find room for 30 people every day (who came in truckloads or an hour's notice)? There was housing commission which, with police aid, made people give up rooms to new arrivals, until several families would be sleeping together, often on the floor. There were no clothes, very little to eat, and there were no goods in the store to be bought. Three stoves would come from Waiblingen as aid gifts, and 50 families would beg to have them. One very dramatic incident marks a turning point for these people - the Marshall plan gave (on April 29, 1946 and every German knows the date by heart) to every man, woman and child in Germany a gift of DM40 ($10). This money acted apparently as a catalyst for the recovery of the economy and soon goods became available and the long road to recovery and rebuilding began.

#4 One very important factor in understanding political life in modern Europe is the realization that present national boundaries are very recent. We think of America as a young nation - but most of Europe (Italy and Germany being particularly important!) is younger. Thus this area of Baden-Württemberg was a kingdom (several small ones actually) even after World War I. Many people here are far more Schwäbisch (the folk culture of the area) than they are "German", and many remember in their own lives the whole history of the modern state of Germany. Consequently local areas are very important and some of the lack of deep interest which observers see in German national politics.

#5 One of first observation here was that Germans rarely talk politics, show no particulart sign of interest in political matters. Naturally this was disturbing, because it would seem to be just such disinterest that made Hitler possible. I raised the question with the mayor, and he provided a somewhat different picture. First of all, as a matter of information - virtually every home in Beutelsbach takes a daily newspaper, many two; every family also has a radio, and this often runs a good part of the day. A fact that will probably shock you, as it did me - Beutelsbach (population 3100) there are 180-200 television sets!, virtually all bought in the last 2-3 years! As to the political significance of this: the mayor says that people read the paper carefully, thoroughly, and that they get a large amount of news on radio or T.V. He says that all citizens - "peasant" farmers included - are well informed on political matters - how well I don't know, but he himself certainly is. So apparently people are interested and informed about political matters - why then so little talk and activity? One important answer is that many people don't

After the morning in Uffize and a good lunch (spagetti, roast beef, potatoes, salad, fruit, bread, wine - 65c) we spent the afternoon out of doors window shopping, walking back up to Piazzale Michelangelo for a look at the city by sunlight, then over to the huge Boboli Gardens behind Pitti Palace. We spent about 1 1/2 hours here, sitting on the lawn to rest our feet and gaze out over the gardens to the city beyond, the walking along tree covered paths, through open areas where boys played soccer or families walked and let their little children play, overlooked from the shadows by sculptured figures watching silently, past ponds with fountains in their center and swans swimming around. It was a beautiful, peaceful place to spend the afternoon. From here we went back across the Arno to get to St Lorenz church just at dusk, where we heard the organ play and watched the light fade as the 6pm mass was about to begin at one of the small side altars.

Both night in Florence we four met (Bridger and Mary Jeanette Erdman, Mary Ann Campbell and I) for a leisurely supper of pizza and red wine, enough to make us good and sleepy. Then straight back to the hotel and early to bed.

Sunday morning we were up at 5:30 to pack and catch a train for Milan. The ride there was pretty bad because the train had come from Sicily and by the time it reached Florence it was filled to overflowing. So we sat on our suitcases or stood, first on one foot, then the other, for most of the 4 hour trip. We had sat first in a 1st class compartment, but of course were kicked out when the conductor arrived after 1/2 hour to check tickets. From then on it was in the aisles with us. On arrival we checked our baggage at the station and set out to do as much as possible in the 3 hours we planned between trains. Mary Ann and I went immediately to the address given me by Marcia Fisher, since I had written that we would be coming to Italy that week. We were immediately received at welcomed to a real American breakfast - grapefruit juice, bacon and eggs, oranges, sweet rolls, coffee, which was delicious and doubly appreciated after so many mornings of cold rolls and coffee. We ate and talked for about an hour or more, then were driven back to the station, by way of the Milan cathedral and La Scala opera house, in time to reclaim our baggage and get a comfortable compartment.

We had decided while in Florence to spend our last night in Lugano, Switzerland instead of Milan, so this was our destination on the afternoon train. This way departure the following morning was at 8:07 instead of 6:30, and besides Lugano is indescribably more beautiful than Milan, which is mainly an industrial city. We arrived at 3:30 pm and after a 45 minute walk (suitcases and all) to the youth hostel only to find it closed for the winter, we returned by bus to a small hotel right across from the train station. The lady was very nice, gave us the rooms for $1.25 each and told us of an inexpensive restaurant a few blocks away. We had a marvelous and filling dinner for only 25c, and afterwards walked through the lightly falling snow (very uncommon for Lugano they said) down to the lake shore. The town is situated on several hills at one side of Lake Lugano, in the gorgeous southern Swiss lake country which Hemmingway uses for his "Farewell to Arms" (a scene from this occurs at Stresa and Locano, a few kilometers from Lugano, on another lake). We could look across the lake at the lights of homes on the hill opposite, which were also reflected in the water below. It was a beautiful thing to see, and the setting would be equally lovely on a summer's day, as it was on a quiet winter's night. We were in bed that night by 8:30 for almost 10 hours sleep (the girls found hot water bottles in their beds, as a courtesy of the family who runs the hotel). The next day was again beautiful and a perfect one to be traveling through the magnificent Swiss Alps - Bellinzona, Arth Goldau, Zurich, Scheffhauser, etc. back to Stuttgart. The mountains rise suddenly from valley floors, without foothills. They were quite beautiful and proud in their fresh coats of snow, more sheer and rugged than the Sierras are. We'll see them more closely on a coming trip to the Lucerne area (Mary Ann and I, on a 4 day weekend Feb 26-29, I think). We got back on the good old Burg just in time for a good dinner and a good night's sleep.