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Proud and free

About the Bremer himself – and the Bremerhaven resident as such. From 1993 onwards, Eckhard Stengel reported for the FR from the north. In retirement he brings us his “Bremer Rundschau”.

The Bremer himself and the Bremen woman as such are considered open-minded and tolerant, but also a bit stiff – perhaps because a stiff breeze often blows on the Weser. Only at the Freimarkt, their Oktoberfest, do the Hanseatic people get sociable, shout “Ischa Freimaak!” (“It’s Freimarkt!”) And lift beer mugs in the “Bayernzelt”. The Freimarkt is not called “Bremen’s fifth season” for nothing. The other four are spring, fall, fall, and fall. It just rains a lot in the city of half a million, which is also known as the “village with trams” because of its manageability.

“Nonsense, it’s all just clichés,” protests a native. “The summer was great this time, and we’re not all that reserved. A man from Düsseldorf once said to me: ‘The people of Bremen are a bit introverted at first, but afterwards they get really clingy.’ “(…)

In any case, the Bremer himself and the Bremen woman as such have some comical customs:

– When it gets cold, they go on a “cabbage and pee tour”: In the typically dreary weather, they move into the countryside with handcarts and beer crates and break into country inns to eat kale and so-called pee sausage.

– If men are still bachelors on their 30th birthday, they have to sweep the cathedral stairs until they are kissed by a virgin. This takes a while.

– Single women have to clean various doorknobs at the age of 30 and wait for a male virgin. That takes even longer. If the festival guests have mercy, they accept the zodiac sign Virgo instead of real virgins.

The Bremer himself and the Bremer as such also exist in the “Bremerhaven” version. The harbor townspeople belong to the two-city state, but feel constantly disadvantaged. They don’t even allow the “Stadtbremern” the few ships that were stationed as tourist attractions on the Weser promenade. (…)

The people of Bremen are proud of themselves and the people of Bremen as such of the independence of their “oldest city republic in the world”. The land is flat, no castle towers over them – that’s why they don’t look up to anyone. Titles and medals are frowned upon. The mayor is greeted with a simple “Moin!” And the Protestant regional church does not have a “bishop”, but only a “secretary” without authority.

The Bremer himself and the Bremerhaven resident as such believe that they speak pretty much the best standard German. However, they emphasize words like, unlike the rest of the country: a church away they call Kirch away, and here the collapsed Vul kan -Werft is only “the Vul kan”.

Everything is a little different in Bremen. (2003)

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