Update: Versöhnung. Essen has changed its mind about this.
The MOZ reports:
Fußball-Zweitligist Rot-Weiß Essen will beim Heimspiel gegen den FC Energie Cottbus am 19. September jenen Fans den Zutritt zum Stadion verweigern, die T-Shirts oder Schals mit DDR-Symbolen tragen.
Why, you ask? Because the Cottbus fans are "increasingly using GDR symbols to provoke western fans." Holy moley. What's more,
Zudem spiele die "teilweise provokant von den ostdeutschen Fans vorgetragene DDR-Nostalgie" eine nicht unerhebliche Rolle beim "gegenwärtigen Ost-/Westkonflikt, was die Verteilung staatlicher Ressourcen angehe."
Soccer is to blame for the discrepancy in German standards of living! Aha! Glad we've cleared that up.
Obviously they're just worried about playing Cottbus. Wimps.
[This isn't entirely funny; there's an increasingly obvious division of cultures in Germany...]
Posted by Heather at September 14, 2004 07:28 PM
Comments
"there's an increasingly obvious division of cultures in Germany"
i wonder if there's been a common culture at any time.
Posted by: vasili at September 15, 2004 11:14 PM
Yeah, you know, that was a sort a throw-away remark. I don't think I've ever believed that unification would be comprehensive, but it does seem that the split culture in Germany is taking more explicit forms lately.
Posted by: Heather at September 16, 2004 08:16 AM
yes, that's what i think, too. the cracks between the east and the west are getting deeper, although it should be the other way around.
Posted by: vasili at September 16, 2004 10:43 AM
But why?
Random: I was just thinking of something Tom wrote recently, about money then and now:
http://www.ostblog.nullserver.net/2004_08_08_archiv.php#109210850004995973
(have to fix my comment html)
Posted by: Heather at September 16, 2004 11:01 AM
I am to chime in ... there never was unity, the split just becomes more obvious these days.
Posted by: Melli at September 16, 2004 03:56 PM
...so any notion of now? Why not 7 years ago or something?
Posted by: Heather at September 16, 2004 04:19 PM
maybe it's because 7 years ago there hasn't been any discussion about this. as long as money transfers covered up all the problems, everything was fine. the costs, effects and problems of the acquisition of the GDR are becoming evident only now, because german economy can't afford to fill this bottomless pit (a.k.a. blühende landschaften) as it could in the past.
Posted by: vasili at September 17, 2004 02:09 AM