Friends in a Cold Climate: Esslingen-1

The integration of Western Europe after the Second World War was driven by a broad movement aimed at peace, security and prosperity. Organized youth exchange between European cities formed an important part of that movement. This research focuses on young people who, from the 1960s onwards, participated in international exchanges organised by twinned towns, also called jumelage. Friends in a Cold Climate asks about the interactions between young people while taking into account the organisational structures on a municipal level. Friends in a Cold Climate investigates the role of the ideology of a united West-Europe, individual desires for travel and freedom, the upcoming discourse about the Second World War and the influence of the prevalent “counterculture” of that period, thus shedding a light on the formative years of European integration. RICHARD KRAMARTSCHIK. The family Kramartschik lived in Slovakia. Richard’s mother was Hungarian and his father, a policeman, was registered as a German during the war. After the war the father was treated badly. The family, Richard, a three-year-old, with his older brother, a younger sister and the parents, were finally deported from Czechoslovakia 1947. They arrived in Esslingen, in a barracks camp where they had to live in a room with strangers. The local population did not greet the “Heimatvertriebene” very warmly, but with open hostility. The displaced persons were a foreign body in Swabia an were called “Rucksack Germans” and other swear words. "The German Expellees or Heimatvertriebene are 12-16 million German citizens (regardless of ethnicity) and ethnic Germans (regardless of citizenship) who fled or were expelled after World War II from parts of Germany annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union and from other countries (the so-called einheitliches Vertreibungsgebiet, i.e. uniform territory of expulsion, who found refuge in both West and East Germany, and Austria." (Wikipedia) Richard persisted, went to high school in Esslingen and made it to class representative, and later, to student representative of the whole school. As this student representative, he took part in the district youth group of Otto Weinmann. in 1965, Otto Weinmann, the charismatic leader and initiator of town-twinnings and youth exchanges, invited Richard to take part in the International Youth Exchange programme as a group leader. Richard travelled by train with a group to Schiedam in Holland and was very surprised when a man with a microphone ran up to him and asked what he felt as a German in a country that Germany had invaded. Richard had wanted the young people who traveled with him to understand that they were ambassadors of Germany. The question at the train station took Richard totally by surprise because he didn't feel like a guilty German. He was just over 20 years old at the time and knew as good as nothing about the war. Richard didn’t feel burdened by his parents in any way and didn't perceive the reporter's question as that he was personally to blame, but rather as an accusation of the guilt of Germany as a nation. When Richard became a teacher, he tried to always report on the war, so that his students would at least know what had happened in the world in the German name. He later ran for the local council in Essingen and became the headmaster of a Realschule. The displaced people were proud that a ‘Heimatvertriebene” had become a city councilor in Essingen and the Swabians were satisfied with a successful headmaster who stood up for young people, for students.

二战后西欧一体化进程，由一场以和平、安全与繁荣为核心目标的广泛运动所驱动。欧洲各城市间的有组织青年交流，正是这场运动的重要组成部分。本研究聚焦于20世纪60年代起，参与由友好城市（twinned towns，又称jumelage）组织的国际交流活动的青年群体。《冷战时代的挚友》（Friends in a Cold Climate）旨在探讨青年群体间的互动，并兼顾市政层面的组织架构。该研究同时考察了西欧联合意识形态、个体对旅行与自由的渴望、战后关于二战的新兴叙事，以及当时盛行的反主流文化（counterculture）所产生的影响，借此揭示欧洲一体化进程的奠基阶段。

作者理查德·克拉马奇克（Richard Kramartschik）的生平如下：克拉马奇克一家曾定居斯洛伐克。理查德的母亲为匈牙利人，其父身为警察，战时被登记为德国籍。战后，其父遭受了不公对待。1947年，包括时年3岁的理查德、其兄长、幼妹与父母在内的全家最终被逐出捷克斯洛伐克，抵达埃斯林根（Esslingen），住进一处军营营地，与陌生人共居一室。当地民众对这些“返乡流离者（Heimatvertriebene）”并未表现出欢迎，反而充满敌意。这些流离失所者在施瓦本地区被视为外来群体，被冠以“背包德国人（Rucksack Germans）”及其他辱骂性称呼。

维基百科对此的定义为："德国流亡者或返乡流离者（Heimatvertriebene）指的是二战后从被波兰与苏联吞并的德国原领土及其他国家逃离或被驱逐的1200万至1600万德国公民（无论族裔）与德意志族裔（无论国籍），他们在东西德与奥地利境内寻求庇护。上述区域被统称为‘统一驱逐领地（einheitliches Vertreibungsgebiet）’。"

理查德并未被困境打倒：他在埃斯林根完成高中学业，先后当选班级代表与全校学生代表。以学生代表的身份，他加入了奥托·温曼（Otto Weinmann）领导的地区青年团体。1965年，魅力非凡的城市友好结对与青年交流发起人奥托·温曼邀请理查德作为领队参与国际青年交流项目。理查德带领团队乘火车前往荷兰斯希丹（Schiedam），一名手持麦克风的男子突然上前询问他：作为一名德国人，在曾被德国入侵的国家有何感受，这让他大为错愕。理查德原本希望同行的青年能够意识到，他们是德国的文化使者。火车站的这一问题完全出乎他的意料——彼时他年方二十出头，几乎对战争一无所知。他并未因父母的经历背负任何心理负担，也并未将记者的提问视为对个人的指责，而是将其视作对德国作为一个民族所负罪责的指控。

后来理查德成为一名教师，他始终坚持向学生讲述二战历史，以期让学生们至少了解以德国之名发生在世界上的那些事件。此后他参选埃辛根（Essingen）市议会并成功当选，还出任了一所实科中学（Realschule）的校长。流亡者群体为一名“返乡流离者”当选埃辛根市议员感到自豪，而施瓦本民众也对这位挺身而出维护青年与学生权益的优秀校长深感满意。