Generation Z

You are reading Red Baron's 1001st blog!

Yesterday, Red Baron read an article about Generation Z titled Entspannt in den Abgrund? (Relaxed into the Abyss?) by Florian Wichert.

Generation Z? I looked up the Internet and found the following graphic (click to enlarge):

They are running out of letters switching to the Greek alphabet (©Mglee/Wikipedia)

I learned Red Baron belongs to the Silent Generation, and indeed chocked by the war, my generation didn't say much but accepted what was coming.

Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2010, has various nicknames in Germany. They are derisively called "Generation Feierabend," "Generation Schneeflocke," "Generation Krankenschein," or even "Generation Pause." The three first features are based on a common prejudice.

"Feierabend" because the end of daily work must be particularly early with this generation. "Snowflake" because it melts at the slightest pressure.
"Health Insurance Certificate" because Generation Z takes sick leave for a week after a critical conversation at work.

"Break" because, according to official statistics, more than half a million young people in Germany do nothing. They are called NEETs in the US: Not in Education, Employment, or Training.

Generation Z is coming into focus in Germany because the economy continues to shrink compared to other industrialized nations. Among other things, it needs a new generation's motivation, impetus, and innovations.

Popular television host Markus Lanz described Generation Z as "an oatmeal society, a guava syrup troupe on the lookout for the ideal work-life balance all the time."

Are the preconceptions true that Generation Z embraces activism over innovation, prefers yoga to make money, shuns responsibility and work in general, drinks oat milk instead of cow's milk, and slows down their commitment even further when their work is criticized? Is this, as critics fear, a generation of beleidigter Leberwürste (a bunch of prima donnas) that is putting Germany's future at risk and, in the long term, will relax and plunge the country into the abyss?

In fact, many of Generation Z want success, but not at any price. They have a somewhat different attitude to work than previous generations because:

Today the promise of prosperity no longer applies. Homeownership is only realistic with wealthy parents, even more so in the big city. The retirement age is shifting backward. And above all: Why chase after prosperity when the climate crisis will end in disaster for the foreseeable future anyway?

Didn't their parents and grandparents miss out on climate change or even cause it? Generation Z has seen from them that drudgery can lead to burnout, illness, and quarrels.

Is Generation Z right? Are the prospects really that bleak? What do you think?
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Neuruppin

Caspar Merian Newen Ruppin 1652

During my recent trip to Havelland, our group visited Neuruppin. Walking in the city is easy.

Click to enlarge

After the great fire in 1787 that destroyed 90% of the buildings, the town was generously rebuilt in the classicist style, featuring a chessboard pattern. 

         The Old Gymnasium on School Square was dedicated as Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in 1790.
Its motto: Civibus avi futuri (to the citizens of the age to come)

In the spirit of the Enlightenment, the main square was no longer adorned by a church but by the Städtisches Gymnasium (municipal high school).

Here are the two great sons of Neuruppin: 

Karl Friedrich Schinkel 1883 by Max Wiese

Some of Schinkel's buildings in Berlin, as seen at the Neuruppin Museum:

1815: Alte Wache at Unter den Linden

1821: Schauspielhaus at Gendarmenmarkt

1830: Altes Museum on Museumsinsel

Theodor Fontane 1898 by Hanns Fechner at the Neuruppin Museum

And then there is Frederik the Great, who lived as crown prince in Neuruppin from 1732 to 1740, commanding the Regiment Cronprintz Friedrich.

We continue our visit with the King's Monument.

Das Königsdenkmal on School Square

The citizens of Neuruppin erected a bronze monument to King Frederick William II as a gesture of gratitude to the rebuilder following the great fire of 1787. The statue, slightly higher than life-size, is the work of Christian Friedrich Tieck. 

With the founding of the GDR, a sculpture of Karl Marx was placed on the pedestal. Later, when Soviet troops moved into the Neuruppin barracks, the pedestal, now crowned by a Lenin monument, was moved to a barracks area. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces, the pedestal returned to School Square. 

In 1998, citizens of Neuruppin had a copy of the statue of King Frederick William II made and placed it back on the original pedestal. 

On our way to the parish church, we passed Fontane's birthplace.

The pharmacy still exists, now located in the ennobled Fontanehaus. 

Classicist-styled parish church St. Mary. Note the leaning tower hood.

As early as 1806, when the Transverse Hall Church was completed, it became apparent that it was too large for the congregation. Today, it serves as a place for meetings and congresses.

Wichmann Linden tree and church St. Trinitatis

The tree is named after Count Wichmann, who attended the famous "Luther Diet" of Worms in 1521 as part of the entourage of Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony. With the count's death in 1524, the Lindow-Ruppin noble family became extinct.

St. Trinitatis, near the lake, is the refurbished old Dominican monastery church. It is a Gothic-style brick building dating from around 1250 and was spared in the great fire.

Model of the former monastery complex

Initially, the church had no tower; it only had a ridge turret. 

Because of his flight from his father's brutal education, Crown Prince Frederick, accused of high treason, was almost executed in the fortress of Küstrin. At his father's order, Frederick spent a few years in Neuruppin undergoing military training. He also agreed to a marriage arranged by the Soldier King before the latter assigned Rheinsberg Palace as the young couple's home. 

In his Walks through the March of Brandenburg, Fontane writes about Frederick's stay in Neuruppin: 

All discord with his father seemed forgotten. "Obristlieutenant Fritz," over whose head the sword had hovered not so long ago, was again a "dear son," colonel and chief of a regiment. This regiment, which until then ... had been called the von der Goltz Regiment after its former leader, was now concentrated in Ruppin and Nauen for the greater convenience of the crown prince. It was named "Regiment Cronprintz." 

Before Frederick came to Neuruppin, the Soldier King issued a rescript in Potsdam on May 24, 1732: Full of fine feeling, he recognizes that what could remind of the November days of 1730 in Küstrin should be spared to the eyes of his son, "The gallows shall be taken out of the city; also the palisades shall be put on the wall, and all loopholes shall be closed. Everything must be ready by June 20. Additionally, the house near Obrist von Wreech's quarters, which the crown prince has chosen for his own quarters, is to be properly renovated. The ugly ornamentation of the Neuer Markt is to be removed." 

The city is to present itself in its best dress to the new citizen moving in. So it says in a second order of the following day, "Then the excrement is to be removed from the city immediately, and the houses that have not yet been plastered are to be plastered. The apartment the Cronprintz chooses for his quarters is to be adapted." Wreech's palace, which the crown prince moved into, was located near the city wall, separated from it only by a garden, and had been hastily constructed by joining two neighboring houses. 

Fontane continues: 

As early as 1732, the crown prince inhibited the demolition and thus conserved the remaining ramparts lying landward or northward from the Rheinsberg to the Berlin Gate, which are still standing and overgrown with old armor, oaks, beeches, hazels, etc.; the crown prince also had them planted with many kinds of trees and adorned at their end (at the Berlin Gate) with a beautiful garden, whereby the 'Wall' has become the most pleasant, shaded walk full of nightingales. Here he lives serene, leisurely hours, the forerunner of those famous days of Rheinsberg and Sanssouci. After the heaviness of duty, he is drawn out to his Amalthea* every evening.

*Amalthea, the nymph who fed Jupiter with goat's milk.

The way through the ugly streets of the old city is inconvenient for him, so he has taken care of a little wall gate that leads him directly from the courtyard of his palace to the rampart and, after a short walk under the old oaks, into the laughing grounds of his garden.

The Temple

There it blooms and smells; matthiolas and melons are cultivated, and on a slightly sloping elevation rises the Temple*, the unification point of the circle of friends, which the crown prince gathers here every evening around him. The basement contains a kitchen, but the Temple is one of those often depicted pavilions that support a flat-vaulted roof on six Corinthian columns. Temples were frequently favored as dining rooms in the parks and gardens of that era. 

*Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff visited Ruppin in 1735, laid out the garden, and built the Temple, which carried a statue of Apollo on a dome. 

Bronze model of the present public park (click to enlarge)

Frederick often longed for his "beloved" garrison. In June 1737, for example, he wrote to a friend, "On the 25th, I am going back to Amalthea, my garden in Ruppin. I burn impatiently to see my wine, cherries, and melons again."

Was there too much Frederick? Here is one more:

 

Have you noticed? This is my 1000th blog. 

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Zieten

Steuben Parade in New York in 1909, when the world was still in order (©Der Spiegel)

New Yorkers love their Steuben Parade, honoring a Prussian general.

A Prussian general better known here in Germany is Hans Joachim von Zieten, born in Wustrau in 1699. He was an intrepid cavalry general during the reign of Frederick the Great, commanding the red-uniform Hussar Regiment No. 2, the Zieten Hussars. He is also known as Zieten aus dem Busch (from the bush).

©Gleimhaus/Halberstadt Ulrich Schrader

Here is a portrait of Hans Joachim von Zieten; you will find it at Gleimhaus, which Red Baron visited in 2015.

In Sinngedichte Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleims, there is a French-hating poem, "On the portrait of General von Zieten": 

Das ist das ehrliche Gesichte, Das unsre Feinde zittern machte, Das Deutsche, welches uns den Sieg bey Torgau brachte, Für ein französisches lög' es der Teufel nicht.

This is the honest face. That made our enemies tremble, The German who brought us the victory at Torgau, For a French one, the devil wouldn't lie.

The Prussian eagle above the entrance

On my recent trip to Havelland, we visited the Brandenburg-Preußen Museum* in Wustrau, with particular emphasis on Hans Joachim von Zieten.
*Sponsored by the Ehrhardt Bödecker Foundation

Zieten in bronze by Johann Gottfried Schadow in the park of the museum

Hans Joachim Zieten demonstrated his expertise as a cavalry commander and earned a reputation as a fearless fighter. At the Battles of Hohenfriedberg (June 4, 1745) and Leuthen (December 5, 1757), he played decisive roles and contributed significantly to the success of the Prussian forces. His ability to lead lightning-fast cavalry charges and skillfully use the geography of the battlefield was invaluable.

Der Zieten immer erster, wenn Preußen avancirt, Hingegen immer letzter, wenn Preußen retirirt.

Zieten is always first when Prussia advances, But always last when Prussia retires.

This was particularly true at the Battle of Torgau (November 3, 1760), the Seven Years War's last great and bloodiest battle. Once again, the Austrians outnumber the Prussians.

In his painting, Christian Bernhard Rode shows Frederick leaning against a tree at nightfall before the battle. Next to him sits his general of cavalry, Hans Joachim von Zieten.

©James Steackley/Wikipedia

Thoughtfully, the king watches a girl preparing potatoes, the Prussian miracle tuber, in a pot on an open fire.

Has the old general eaten from it? When Frederick thought the battle lost, Zieten came with his cavalry from the bush, conquered the main Austrian battery, and had their cannons turned against them.

 That brought the decision, but also exhaustion on both sides, because the Prussians paid for their victory with the loss of 16,750 men, while the Austrians lost only 15,200.

Theodor Fontane commemorated Hussar General Zieten in a ballad:

Dem Feind die Stirne bieten er tat’s wohl hundertmal. Sie haben’s all’ erfahren, wie er die Pelze wusch Mit seinen Leibhusaren, der „Zieten aus dem Busch“. Wie den Feind sie bläuten bei Hennersdorf und Prag, Bei Liegnitz und bei Leuthen und weiter Schlag auf Schlag; Bei Torgau, Tag der Ehre, ritt selbst der Fritz nach Haus, doch Zieten sprach: „Ich kehr' erst noch mein Schlachtfeld aus.“

He offered the enemy his forehead a hundred times. They have all experienced how he washed the furs, With his body hussars, the "Zieten from the bush." How they beat up the enemy at Hennersdorf and Prague, At Liegnitz and at Leuthen and further, blow after blow; At Torgau, the day of honor, even Fritz rode home, But Zieten said, "I'll sweep out my battlefield first."

Zieten sits before his king. Etching by Daniel Chodowiecki (©Jens-Heiner Bauer/Wikipedia)

At a reception at Sans Souci, Frederick noticed his 85-year-old general had difficulty standing, so an armchair was brought in. "Setz' Er sich, alter Vater!" Setz' Er sich, sonst gehe ich fort, denn ich will Ihm durchaus nicht zur Last fallen (Sit down, old father! Sit down, or I'll leave, because I don't want to be a burden to him)."

The Turkish saber dedicated by the king

"My dear Major General von Zieten, I wanted to give you the pleasure of presenting you with an enclosed Turkish saber in the persuasion that this will not be unpleasant to you and that I will have placed it in good hands. I am your well-affected king. " 

Potsdam, 23. August 1746.

After engaging in a reputed 74 duels and fighting four wars, Hans Joachim von Zieten died peacefully in his bed at 86. 

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Ribbeck

Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland, Ein Birnbaum in seinem Garten stand, Und kam die goldene Herbsteszeit Und die Birnen leuchteten weit und breit, Da stopfte, wenn's Mittag vom Turme scholl, Der von Ribbeck sich beide Taschen voll, Und kam in Pantinen ein Junge daher, So rief er: „Junge, wiste 'ne Beer?” Und kam ein Mädel, so rief er: „Lütt Dirn, Kumm man röwer, ick hebb 'ne Birn.”

Squire von Ribbeck at Ribbeck in Havelland, In his garden, there stood a pear tree grand, And when autumn came round, the golden tide, And pears were glowing far and wide, Squire von Ribbeck, when noon rang out, would first Fill both his pockets full to burst. And then, when a boy in his clogs came there, He called," My lad, do you want a pear?" He would hail a girl that chanced to pass: "Come over; I have a pear, little lass!"

©Friedrich-Carl von Ribbeck

Read more of the ballad text on Friedrich-Carl von Ribbeck's international website.

 

©Friedrich-Carl von Ribbeck

Here, Friedrich-Carl reads the complete ballad in German to children.

The poet and novelist Theodor Fontane wrote the popular ballad Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland in 1889. To date, it has been published in German anthologies and taught in schools. Red Baron doesn't know whether it's still the case, but we learned Fontane's ballad by heart in school.

The text refers to a member of the Prussian lower nobility, Squire von Ribbeck. The family residing at Ribbeck Manor in the Havelland region has been attested since 1237, and the Ribbeck estates are mentioned in the 1375 register of Emperor Charles IV.

The back of the Ribbeck Manor in 1893

The legend of kind-hearted Hans-Georg von Ribbeck (1689–1759) and his pear tree first appeared in a collection of fairy tales published in 1887. Fontane used this text as a base for his ballad, which he wrote in the summer of 1889.

Touring the site, there are pears everywhere. We opened our visit, typically German mit Kaffee und Kuchen - a pear (!) pie - and continued with a special guide in the park around the Ribbeck Manor, looking first at the German pear garden. 

In the park, our local guide stands under the pear tree from Lower Saxony.

In honor of Theodor Fontane, each of the 16 German states donated a pear tree planted in the park of the Ribbeck Manor.

The city-state of Hamburg's Conference Pear bears fruit a hundredfold.

The backside of the Ribbeck Manor. The East German regime expropriated the von Ribbeck family in 1946.

The pear tree of plenty stood in this place, made famous by Theodor Fontane. A storm broke it down on February 20, 1911, and a new tree was planted in 2000. Our excellent tour guide is looking for the text to recite the ballad. This recital was included in the travel service booked.

The new pear tree near the Ribbeck church in the background, and the ceramic sculpture "Pear of Ribbeck" by Juliane E. Gansen.

Pears continue to fill the museum inside the Ribbeck Manor. 

A pear to climb into from the other side ...

… different pear varieties are on display ...

… and a weathered sandstone torso of King Frederick William I of Prussia. It's a classical pear shape.

Look at Friedrich Wilhelm I., the Soldier King, in a painting by Konstantin Cretius. Here, he received the Salzburg exiles in Berlin on April 30, 1732. The old man with a hat and a cane, lifting his arm, could have been my great-great-great...grandfather. Read more in German.

The Friedrich-Carl mentioned above, von Ribbeck, is the grandson of Hans-Georg Karl Anton von Ribbeck. He was a cavalry captain in the First World War and, during the Weimar Republic, a member of the "Stahlhelm," the association of front-line soldiers. After the Nazi seizure of power, Hans-Georg von Ribbeck refused to join the SA. Although he did not belong to any resistance movement, his opposition led to his arrest in May 1944 as "an enemy of the people."

©Axel Auruszat/Wikipedia

Hans-Georg Karl Anton von Ribbeck was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp at the age of 64, where he was murdered in February 1945, as evidenced by a stumbling stone in front of the Ribbeck Manor.

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Fontane

On Traces in the Garden of Poets in the Mark Brandenburg was the title of a trip organized by the Badische Zeitung.

 

Well, they meant one poet: Theodor Fontane and his book Walks through the March of Brandenburg.

And Ottmar Hörl did it once more: Theodor Fontane, Wanderer zwischen den Welten at the Neuruppin Museum.

Red Baron always wanted to explore Havelland, so the trip fitted perfectly into my plans.

The travel group, which included 22 people, was ideal for excursions and guided tours. Our lodging was the Hotel zur Insel am Markt in Werder, a small town on an island in the meandering Havel River.

Immediately upon arrival, I noticed two imposing, typically German trees in the market square: an oak and a linden. Werder's citizens planted the oak in 1871, celebrating German unity under Prussian rule.

In the background, the Hotel zur Insel

The Linden tree dates from 1920 and is dedicated to Queen Luise, the universally beloved wife of King Frederick William III. During the Napoleonic period, he came along as a weak ruler, but Luise courageously stood up to the usurper.

Queen Luise. Painting at Paretz Castle.

When, at a meeting in Berlin after the Prussian defeat at Jena and Auerstedt, the emperor wanted to steer the conversation to the innocuous topics of fashion and jewelry, "You've got a lovely robe on there! Where might it have been made?" the queen replied, "Shall we talk of such insignificant things at such an important moment? And later, "Sire, the fame of Frederick the Great has deceived us about our means." Thus, Luise received the honorary name Joan of Arc of Germany.

Here are some highlights photographed while walking through Werder:

We passed the Werder town hall on our way to the highest point on the island ...

 .

... that is crowned by a Bockwindmühle. The dictionary translates this word into post mill, the earliest type of European windmill.

Werder's Holy Ghost Church was built in 1858 in a neo-Gothic style. It is nothing spectacular, but inside hangs a treasure. However, the door was locked.

©Bautsch/Wikipedia

I took the picture above from Wikipedia: "Christ as a Pharmacist." According to Matthew 9: "The strong don't need a doctor, but the sick do." Jesus mixes faith, hope, and love, but adds resistance, help, and peace as remedies.

No, this is not Fontane's pear tree but rather a 300-year-old crooked specimen of Red Bergamot. The sign reads: This natural monument reminds us of Werder's tradition of growing fruit.

Here are two other examples of fruits from the Havelland. 

The hotel greeted us for dinner with a glass of fruit wine (blackcurrant) on the right. But what is in the middle? It is a Müller-Thurgau from Wachtelberg, a wine from the quail hill on the mainland above Werder. It's climate change, stupid!

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Art of Being...Delicious

The invitation from the Carl-Schurz-Haus to a conversation performance and dinner last night was tempting:

Nuts rolling after hazelnuts. Amber, love sweat ... (Michel Serres) - Anyone who goes on like Michel Serres about a bottle of dessert wine belongs to the giants of taste, the titans at the plate. For these giants, questions such as those raised by Brillat-Savarin, namely, which partridge leg tastes better, are by no means petitessen. David Sedaris, on the other hand, is tempted by the sting of raw fish being served in chocolate puddles in New York. Similarly significant may be the problems of Yuri Rychëu's Siberian Chukchi on their first encounter with a melon. The hero of the Brazilian connoisseur João Ubaldo Ribeiro prefers to eat Dutchman. The international literary feast and gourmet will be served by authors Jürgen Reuß and Stephan Kuß, along with theater actors and native speakers of English and French. Gourmet chef José Lavor will spoil the literary performance with culinary delights, serving two antipasti creations from his street food truck to accompany the reading performance, as well as the subsequent summery dinner main course in the open air. In case of inclement weather, the dinner will take place indoors. There will be live music by John Schu and Karsten Kramer, as well as background information on the dishes.

In particular, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg's wisdom found all my attention:

One often hears that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Still, Lichtenberg's remark* has a more dramatic dimension and caught my attention: Food probably has a great influence on people's condition. Who knows if we don't often have a well-cooked soup to thank for the air pump and a bad one for the war. 

*Below the banner in red

After eating Poutine, did Putin have an upset stomach and, therefore, subsequently invade Ukraine? 

Red Baron went to the conversation performance and dinner and didn't regret it.

In the background, John Schu on bass and Karsten Kramer
at the keys, playing Red Baron's kind of music.

When I arrived, I felt thirsty and had my first drink, re-tasting Carl Schurz's Democratic beer.

The literary performer on stage. They read with great dedication … 

... and the applause was well deserved.

A reflective, cheerful conclusion with a Caribbean ragout in the cool of the twilight.

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