The Czech writer Jaroslav Rudis thinks that the Czech Republic and Brandenburg have a lot in common.
Photo: dpa/Uwe Zucchi
“I can still remember very well that my parents packed my sister and I into the Trabi and we drove to Bohemia.” Brandenburg Finance Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) told about 70 guests. At an event organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation in the Potsdam Museum, she exchanged views with the Czech ambassador Tomas Kafka and the writer Jaroslav Rudiš.
“I first found out in Munich that we Czechs are supposed to be Eastern Europeans,” says writer Rudiš. He insists “that we have much more in common with Brandenburg” than with actual Eastern Europe. The Czech word for potato (“Brambor”) is almost certainly derived from “the Brandenburgische” because the potatoes imported from South America spread from Prussia to other countries. Rudiš says that Lusatia, part Brandenburg, part Saxon, “to which we feel close” is in the vicinity of Bohemia. The city arms of Görlitz, Löbau and Zittau in the Saxon part still show the Bohemian lion today. Potsdam, the state capital of Brandenburg, also has a Czech history, as it was Bohemian weavers and cloth makers who settled in the neighboring village of Nowawes, today’s Babelsberg district, who formed the backbone of the Prussian uniform industry.
But the current situation cannot be banned from the exchange of ideas. Germany’s voluntary renunciation of Russian oil “is viewed increasingly critically in Brandenburg,” says Finance Minister Lange. She recommends that when responding to the Russian attack on Ukraine, “think a minute more about one thing or another” and be aware of the consequences. In view of skyrocketing gas prices, Lange speaks of a “creeping expropriation”. The federal relief package only combats the symptoms, but does not solve the problem.
The Czech Republic is now taking over the EU Presidency from the French. “The French were more responsible for visions, we will face the present,” announces Ambassador Kafka. The EU must not only prove itself to be functional, but above all to be resilient. The “good old days of globalization” are over.
Expressions of opinion from the audience indicate concerns and doubts that the arms deliveries to Ukraine are correct. Ambassador Kafka backs this support for Ukraine without any ifs or buts. Russia is exporting chaos, brutality and confrontation and will not limit itself to Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin will not stop. “We had that with Hitler in the 1930s.” You have to act decisively. Anyone who seeks compromises in the current situation runs the risk of being “pressed against the wall” and then has the dubious way out of being “corrupted by China and protected by Russia”.
“I see with great astonishment that young people are much more eager for arms deliveries than other sections of the population,” remarks an elderly gentleman from the audience. Ambassador Kafka comforts: »Perhaps a miracle will happen and the war will be over in a few weeks.«
