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.
After the Second World War a number of friendship ties were established between towns in Europe. Citizens, council-officials and church representatives were looking for peace and prosperity in a still fragmented Europe. After a visit of the Royal Mens Choir Schiedam to Esslingen in 1963, representatives of Esslingen asked Schiedam to take part in friendly exchanges involving citizens and officials. The connections expanded and in 1970, in Esslingen, a circle of friends was established tying the towns Esslingen, Schiedam, Udine (IT) Velenje (SL) Vienne (F) and Neath together. Each town of this so called “Verbund der Ringpartnerstädte” had to keep in touch with at least 2 towns within the wider network. Friends in a Cold Climate looks primarily through the eyes the citizen-participant. Their motivation for taking part may vary. For example, is there a certain engagement with the European project? Did parents instil in their children a a message of fraternisation stemming from their experiences in WWII? Or did the participants only see youth exchange only as an opportunity for a trip to a foreign country? This latter motivation of taking part for other than Euro-idealistic reasons should however not be regarded as tourist or consumer-led behaviour. Following Michel de Certeau, Friends in a Cold Climate regards citizen-participants as a producers rather than as a consumers. A participant may "put to use" the Town Twinning facilities of travel and activities in his or her own way, regardless of the programme.
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.
