Germany the odious. Germany the wealthy leper. The country that is shunned and ridiculed but has the money, the means to support the community. At least that’s what some people think. The way the German government has handled the current euro crisis certainly isn’t helpful, nor is the portrayal of countries such as Spain and Portugal in the German media remotely accurate or correct. Spain is as much a victim of the euro as Germany is a winner. Not that Germany actually wanted it, it was ultimately another one of France’s hare-brained schemes that they have subtly managed to avoid taking blame for. (How, but how, do the French always manage to cause so many problems and escape the blame so consistently? For that matter the Italians as well) Portugal is as much a victim as Spain, but more quiet, smaller, somewhere floating on the edge of the continent.
Where does that leave us? I say “us” as we are mostly all going to see the effects of whatever comes out of this. Life is always difficult in Germany. It’s not often reported, but life has grown difficult for many, if not most, people in Germany. It’s virtually impossible for an average German to buy groceries for a family of four for under €100.
That is only the main go, not the smaller trips throughout the week for bread, fruits, vegetables, etc. For some that might not seem too much of a burden, but understand that Germans in general receive much less pay than many think. Bavarians and residents of Baden-Württemberg tend to earn higher wages, in no small part a result of higher costs of living, but there is more to Germany than just that. In fact, it’s rarely reported that the German state depends on the surpluses of 4 of Germany’s 16 Bundesländer to stay viable.
(Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, and Hesse for those interested) East Germany is still not nearly at the same level as the West. The infrastructure might be much better, but the money for that had to come form the West as the former DDR was not especially preoccupied with maintenance or improvements. Naturally this left the West without necessary funding making our infrastructure suffer as a consequence.
What is left to say but that Germany, much like the wealthy leper, is still hindered by its own severe problems? Most Germans are not doing that well. My family are all struggling. All generally employed, but the wages are not what one would think.
My former boss told me that her aunt, a septuagenarian pensioner, is being forced to make due without the winter heating benefit she formerly received in order to help pay for these bail-outs, this tail-chasing. Millions of people scrape by on Hartz-4 or “€400 Jobs”. Long-term unemployment, especially in the former DDR, and small jobs paying no more than €400 monthly. This sum being the maximum allowed before employers and employees are obliged to pay taxes. (Some will pay cash off the books, others will oblige workers to work without extra payment) Yet Germany is the odious country. We are the ones who are supposed to take the entire burden of the continent on our shoulders.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Christopher, German folk get a bad rep here because they ‘invade’ the resorts in the summer. Inevitably a fraction of the sum of all German tourists is a big number on the Danish scale! So nobody here thinks about the real Germany they come from.
Janus: yes, that can be a bit of a problem. My mate and I often engage in good-natured banter
about German-Danish relations. He complains about Germans flooding across the border laying siege
to and occupying Danish resorts and holiday cabins. I respond by complaining about the number of Danes taking up valuble spaces at out car parks when they drive across the border in order to purchase vastly cheaper groceries and alcohol in Germany.
Yes, quite! we live very close to a 45-min. ferry service to Germany, which is extremely popular.
Dear boy nobody has been able to feed a family of 4 for a hundred anything for years!! How long since you did the family shopping?
For two of us, sans booze and fags. Say $170 or so a week. Plus all my free fruit and veg!!
4 years ago in the UK for 4 about £200 per week including wine. I used to stock up in Düsseldorf before homecomings on wine, it was SO much cheaper than the UK too.
The bleeding frogs have been getting away with that trick for a 1000 years!
With any luck the EU will collapse reasonably soon and we can all go back to looking after our own and not all the other undeserving buggers too! (Highly ecumenical , not, wot!!)
Interesting post, Christopher.
Number One daughter has just returned from Munich, via Berlin, and various other destinations and she loved Germany. Have only spoken with her briefly, and maybe some of this euphoria is due to returning with a rather splendid engagement ring!
I may get some sense out of her when she’s had a few days to settle down.
Araminta, is your daughter engaged to an actual German? If so, snap!
Hi Bravo, no, she went on a holiday tour with her partner and another couple and he proposed. He’s British but born in South Africa.
Just wondering 🙂
No problem. 🙂
CO: food prices in Germany have generally been much lower than in the UK or US.
The prices have gone up a lot in a very short amount of time. As such, people are struggling to
adjust to the prices. The comment came from my aunt who has always done the shopping, not from me. I simply inserted it.
Minters: Germany is clean, relatively affordable, well-managed, and the trains generally run on time.
It’s a wonderful country to visit and be from. Not that I’d want to live there on more than a mid-term basis…
During our stay in Gottingen last week I did not do any shopping, but we had an excellent meal at a very reasonable price, better quality than much of the restaurant stuff produced in France. Even French people admit that the standard of French restaurants has declined considerably.
I was horrified to see Spain and Italy, pushed from behind by France, ganging up on Merkel recently. I think this time France may actually get its come-uppance in the euromess.
Sheona: German restaurants are not as expensive as others, but groceries have gone up quite a bit.
When I was last in Germany I went to a small restaurant facing Trier’s main market. German food can actually be quite good, Trierer specialties especially. It’s not just bias, the food is German in the sense that it’s simple, honest, and full of flavour — but it has a Latin influence in the flavour, in the preparation that is not as common elsewhere in the country. A road with salad, chips, and a coffee came to €15.00.
French restaurants have truly declined, haven’t they? I found it telling that so many young French prefer McDonald’s.
I was shocked to see Spain ganging up on Merkel. Spain is a very proud country which values its honour and saving face. It did not shock me to see Italy ganging up on her; however. Italy and France are like brothers. The only thing that made Italy less prominent to this point was its inability to form a long-term functional government. I suppose it’s fair to say that I don’t hate France as much as I loathe its reckless drive for dominance at everyone else’s expense, literally and not.
“Simple, honest and full of flavour” exactly describes our meal, Christopher. I had ordered the Damengedeck and it came with a complimentary glass of Prosecco.
If I had been Merkel, I would have been tempted to remind Monti just how he got his current job! Bring back Berlusconi!
Ah, now we’re into my territory – food, and good food too. In the last decade of the 20th century I was a frequent business visitor to Nordrhein-Westphalen, Düsseldorf in particular. A winter favourite was schweinhaxe (sp), a hock of pork braised to within a succulent, tender and delicious inch of overdone.
And let us not forget Cologne’s Früh beer – small, straight-sided glasses of angels’ tears.
OZ