Hanns Hanagarth, Senior Student, ZAWiW, Ulm

Walking through the streets of Lahr 60 years ago, one must have felt as in a French garrison city. Alright – this may be a little far fetched, especially since I was only 5 years old then and may thus not be the perfect judge. Lahr, a small town in the south German Baden between Freiburg and Strasbourg, was the domicile of the General Officer Commanding of the French air force and the first French air force Division and thus (temporary) ”home“ to 7000 French soldiers. Having been occupying forces in 1945, they were, naturally, enemies for us Germans in the beginning. For us children, contact with French children was forbidden by our parents and vice versa. However, the communication of children follows its own rules and the parental prohibition made it even more exciting. First encounters led to legendary “international“ football  matches between the German and French kids on the school playground. Apart from the scratches, we often brought home from those occasions also new friendships. French was our first foreign language at school which led to a new understanding for the foreign culture. In 1955, an important breakthrough in the development from foe to friend could be observed: Germany became a member of the NATO and suddenly, both states were partners. Soon, there were invitations to official events and a German-French Partnership association was founded, whose chairman I should later become. We, the youth, did quickly learn to appreciate the French sparkling wine and the black cigarettes and soon, a vivid exchange on a personal level arose. But what we, the young men, did not appreciate too much was the high popularity of the French soldiers among the girls. A considerable number of the German „Frauleins“ went to France as „Madames“ to stay there for ever…

The foundation of a city partnership with the city of Dole in 1962 was the starting point for numerous pupil exchange programmes and I was one of the first pupils to participate. I still remember my first confrontation with the French cuisine. On the very first day, my host family served a dish with black olives. Mme de Taddéo, my host mother for three weeks, gave me only few olives at first, probably anticipating that the taste would be too strong for me. Without trying first, I asked her in my poor French to give me more of them since I thought they were pickled plums that I loved as a child. The shock came quick and hard and until today, my relationship to black olives is rather distanced. But nevertheless, I was brave and ate the whole plate with a straight face.
For me and many of my friends, these years of intense encounters with French people and the French way of living were formative and inspiring. Apart from the personal relationships it also enriched us linguistically and my language skills proved to be helpful in my profession later on.  But not only for us, but also for the French soldiers, this time was a special experience that made their image of post-war Germany change into a positive one. This was the basis in which the top-down implied political reconciliation was backed up bottom-up by our personal experiences.