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Thierse welcomes Swabians after hate mail
Published: 13 Jan 13 13:14 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130113-47299.html
Former Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse welcomed Swabians to Berlin in a newspaper article on Sunday after being shocked by the incensed reaction to his comments on the city's newcomers - he received over 3,000 hate emails.
Thierse said he was fed up with being at the centre of what he called a “staged” outrage, being demonized for offhand comments taken out of context and exaggerated in skewed newspaper reports.
All he had done, was “mention two little observations about everyday misunderstandings between locals and newcomers,” when his interviewer had asked him about his constituency in the gentrified East Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg.
Some 90 percent of his neighbours arrived in Prenzlauer Berg after 1990. It’s gotten so bad, he told the journalist, that as one of the last indigenous species in the neighbourhood he should be declared an endangered species.
He had also happened to mention that in the bakery he would like to continue to order Schrippe - the Berlin slang for a bread roll - and not a Weckle, the word used by Swabians.
But the Social Democrat politician and long-time Berlin resident had never dreamed these “flippant” comments would prompt such a “torrent of indignation.” “Oh no!” wrote Thierse sarcastically. “How narrow-minded of me to play the role of the defender of Berlin dialect!”
The reaction has been particularly harsh in Swabia he said, where newspapers “are filled with rage and scorn” about him, he said.
“I would never have expected such a lack of humour,” wrote Thierse, who was surprised and offended by comments in the press asking why he had not taken Turkish immigrants to task, or suggesting that people as scruffy-looking as him should “kindly keep their mouths shut!”
Given how he had been misunderstood, wrote Thierse, he felt he should reaffirm he has nothing against the Swabians - has Swabian colleagues and friends, has visited Swabia on holiday and even eats Swabian food in the Bundestag canteen.
Although he remained a Berliner through and through, Thierse hoped “that Berlin's language and style will also become home for the many newcomers, also those from Swabia.”
“You're all welcome!” he added.
The Local/jlb
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Your comments about this article:
¦quot;How narrow-minded of me to play the role of the defender of Berlin dialect!¦quot; good one Thierse. :-)
'... nothing against the Swabians - has Swabian colleagues and friends, has visited Swabia on holiday and even eats Swabian food in the Bundestag canteen...'
I lived for 10 years in West Germany, (70's). Lived dreamed Swabian German.
When I traveled north, south or to Berlin. I found that speaking with a Swabian dialect marked me as a 'Hick'.
A redneck in Texas terms..................ah well.....get over yourself.
Thierse is quiet right in what he is stating and is entitled to his views and they should be respected; Even if it means the truth hurts to so many in what he did state. The only point against him is ; I agree with is that he should have included the Turks as well. People who come to Berlin should adapt and not Berliners adapting to other who choose to live there!!! Amen
It's also clear that Thierse looks down at the Swabians. His apology was hardly one.