Polaroid from Ben
Eisenhüttenstadt, 21 November 2009,
I went to Eisenhüttenstadt once again this weekend but didn’t get a chance to see more than the incredibly vast reaches of the brand new paper mill that flanks the railroad from Frankfurt an der Oder. However, there was another interesting perception unintentionally resuming a thought that arose Thursday night in a Berlin-Friedrichshain café. A young woman, aged 24, and me discussed whether there is a particular East-German (maybe: Post East) condition, still differing from a general western way of perception, values and behavior. (more…)
Eisenhüttenstadt 21 October 2009
If I would be a serious deltiologist (i.e. someone who collects postcards) the topic of urban renewal would be one of my favorites. Cards are as rare as exciting as they record a development which is very momentary and dynamic. Yesterday I found this piece in a small stationary shop here in Eisenhüttenstadt. (more…)
Eisenhüttenstadt, 28 September 2009
So I took a Sunday train, filled with hikers and bikers on their way to the calm lakes east of Berlin, and arrived in a placidly sunlit Eisenhüttenstadt around noon. The trees already wore the seasonal style of leaves, starting to undress and drop leaf after leaf into this mild wind to blow them somewhere, e.g. at those serene folks which walk to the polls. And – as we heard later that night – they deselected the mayor who was in duty since 1993. (more…)
Urban Dream Management presents a new series of postcard-based blogging.
In this series, German blogger Ben Kaden depicts moments and changing scenes from places that used to belong to East German territory, and which 20 years ago shifted from the socialist East block to the Western market economy – yet at the same time dismissing its main aspects of culture and society for one that is in many angles diametrically opposed. This change led to a condition of being in-between, of permanent departure and rare arrival. Large parts of the east are still framed by transition.
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