Sunday are the parliamentary elections in Germany. Important elections that determine which political wind will blow in the coming years at our eastern neighbors in a time of unrest, radical sound and border controls. It ensures that slumbering voters, who no longer live there, dust their dual nationality. Also in Brabant.
“I really feel a Dutch,” says Nadia Hagen (44) with a certain fertilizer in her voice. She has been living in Eindhoven for years, studied in Nijmegen, has been married, tennis, photographs and works here with a Dutchman. “Here I feel at home. People are a bit happier, more positive. Lolly and easier. There is a finer atmosphere. That is a Germany a lot stiffer.”
She mentions some examples of differences between the Brabander and the German. That you are really king there in the supermarket as a customer, but that Germans also grumble a lot. That you just say ‘hi’ in Eindhoven, if you meet the neighbor. And ‘sorry’, if you bump into someone in the supermarket. But that you can’t speak for the entire population either.
“People have fear.”
Nadia has a rusty love, with the land of Schnaps, Bratwurst und Beer. She hardly followed news about her native country anymore, but in recent years so much has happened that she could not ignore it. “People are fear. There are protests with hundreds, even one hundred thousand people in Berlin,” says journalist Christa Koeyvoets about that. She is Dutch, but lives in Hamburg. “In the Netherlands, a coalition is quite often apart. But that this happened in Germany last year is quite unique.”
The asylum debate in particular causes a lot of tension in the country. After fatal attacks by (former) asylum seekers in Magdenburg, Hanau and the recent drama in Munich, the knives were sharpened in the public debate. “There is a split into society,” Nadia notes. “It seems as if people can no longer talk to each other. You miss the reasonableness. People seem to be more on their own and less to give their fellow man.”
She was shocked when she saw how Germany was like. “Especially because of the border controls and the plans to close the boundaries,” she says. It wened something with her.
“It was as if I had forgotten a secret super power.”
Since she came to live in the Netherlands, she hadn’t really thought about votes in Germany. She didn’t think that was that important: she didn’t live there anymore. “It was as if I had forgotten a secret super power. I didn’t even know if it was allowed. But within a few days I had my ballot.”
It is a drop on a glowing plate, she knows that. “But I hope that there are more people who think like me. That we are stronger together, we would rather be a bit for each other. And may be more open to real conversations with each other. Only I will not make the difference, but Jede Stimme Zählt. “