Dresden:
He’s still here, somehow. Erich Kästner, one of the most important writers (and a journalist also) of the 20th century, lived here as a young boy. The Outer newtown (Äußere Neustadt), together with another part of Dresden the largest contiguous preserved residential area from the Gründerzeit in Europe (1870 – 1914), has her own, special beauty. Many young people came here in the last years of GDR and lived together with the “natives”. The streets were often paved, many houses in very bad condition. Empty flats were occupied (like I did, when I came here). Restaurants without any license were created. If You need a label: The “Äußere Neustadt” was an alternative quarter, and I loved it, to live there.
Before I arrived, they founded their own state: “Bunte Republik Neustadt” (Colorful Republic of Neustadt, BRN). It was, to say it in short, a celebration of “Neudstadt-Lebensgefühl” (feeling of life here…). (Sure, it was irony also).
In the course of the years more and more tourists dropped by, wanting to have a look at the famous quarter. This caused anger: Are we monkeys in a Zoo? In the following years there were some riots at the BRN-celebration. People from outside had stress with the police, they weren’t prepared.
The decisive question: Would it be possible, to save the special character? Imagine: The pretty houses were interesting for speculators, to earn Millions of DM. The outer Neustadt became a formally defined remediation area. It is a tool for rebuilding and renovation with a lot of funding from the state.
I went away, when I got married and my son was born. My love for historic places and architecture was fed in the Outer Neustadt. It wasn’t far to the city center and the Elbe river. The Dresdner Heide (Dresden Heath) is five minutes away. It is a big forest (50 square kilometers). I loved, to visit the “Café Kästner” (It doesn’t exist any more). When I would come back, I have to visit his Museum…
It is a warm summer night. The door of the house I live in is locked and I have no key. And I have no people to go to so far. Let’s walk into the rose garden near the River Elbe. I sit down on a bench, try to sleep. The streetcars howling through the night. Nobody is here.
I am meeting Fanny the other year: In her flat on the backyard. I take – kind of sleepy my bicycle the next morning and ride to my work in the City hall. Fanny, who took my hand saying: She is tense. Why? So much unfilled wishes? We walk through the streets. Shortly after that I am walking alone to the forest. A bridge of the Autobahn guides very high over the valley. I am shouting, screaming, a verse of a song: “Seit Du mir schweigst, bin ich von allem Leben leer” (Since you have kept silent from me, I am empty of all life”). This keeping silent, I don’t get rid of it.
The best possible life is divided in stubborn silence. It is so beautiful here despite of that – should I have stayed?
I love my quarter, the old, plastered streets, the houses from last century, the people. I smoke the old cigarettes (“Karo”). I make new friends – or believe I do. I don’t know so far, that I will fail with the next story I am beginning here in Dresden. This colorful bunch of flowers, with thorny roses, pale tulips and a few sunflowers. This nice girl, ancient Grandma, lovely kid. And the streetcars are howling through the night.