Fraternisierungsbesessen

14. May 2010 — cohu

Ein New-Yorker-Artikel über Bayern aus dem Juni 1945 beginnt mit diesem Satz:

“When the American Army of Occupation takes over in Bavaria, it will find itself confronted with handling eight million cagy and hardheaded peasants who have already sat out military occupation by the Romans, Bohemians, Hungarians, Huns, Austrians and French, and who, between invasions, have kept their hand in by nicking tourists.”

Darauf folgen einige zutreffende Sätze über den bayrischen Nationalcharakter, etwa:

“What we know as Bronx Cheer is known in Europe as the Bavarian Salute. Another Bavarian institution is the Saalschlacht, or beer-hall-battle, in which steins, chair legs, and so on are used to drive home political arguments. (…)

Aber auch nicht (mehr) zutreffende:

“Bavaria has never produced a great poet, musician, or statesman.”

Die wirkliche “Gefahr” für den amerikanischen Besatzer wird hier identifiziert:

“One military-government problem may be the Bavarian girls, blowzy, good-natured wenches, who are so hell-bent on fraternization that Munich, even before Hitler started encouraging that sort of thing, had the largest proportion of bastards of any city in the world.”