They call it "Public Viewing": Masses of Germans gathering to watch a football match.
I used to be somewhat left-liberal politically with a whiff of rebellion in my mind which was the case because there were plenty of reasons for me to question authority in a practical manner. The reason for that was that I was growing up in a very conservative household with a lot of fun-free features and I always had my own mind. But it is also not unusual for young people to be something left, so my rebellious attitude and behavior was quite Mainstream, I guess.
It is now a about a decade ago that I finished school and moved out to attend university (far away from home). I tried to only bother my parents with a visit when it really had to be. My intention was to grow up and become fully independent.
Anyway, on one of my home visits after moving out, I walked through the inner city of my old home town. It is a decently wealthy, but unimportant small town in South-Western Germany. It was early afternoon when I went for the walk and since I had plenty of time, I could extensively look at the scenery that I used to be living in.
There, I was surprised how many Turkish/Arab/Muslim people I saw. It didn't bother me, I found it just very striking, because I didn't expect it. Accustomed to the more blondish and blue-eyed type of population, I suddenly almost exclusively saw Middle Eastern looking people and most women were wearing a headscarf. Very untypical for what I was used to and it was really not what I was expecting. I walked around for at least an hour and that was the consistent picture I got of the town. It was really surprising to me.
My conclusion from this episode was not in any way hostile and it didn't get angry about it or anything. I only thought to myself: "Well, that's now as it is. Doesn't mean anything bad. They are just people as everyone else, too" and didn't give it any more thought and soon forgot about it. My life was about studying and getting my new adult life going which was centered around university. There, I usually had a lot to do with students from all over the world including some of the mentioned ethnics. Therefore, my image of changing populations and different colors only got reaffirmed on that day.
Some time later in Summer 2006, the Football World Cup tournament was held in Germany. It was a huge event and the entire country was in the mood of celebrating. After all, it is something very big (at least in countries where football is a thing) and it doesn't happen too often and pretty much never in your country. Long story short: Everyone wanted to celebrate and there were huge public gatherings with big screens where people would watch the matches together. Especially when Germany played, the places were fully crowded.
Anatolia? Nope, Germany.
Personally, I'm not much of a group watcher, I am too invested in what is going on during the match. Cheering crowds and flags covering the screen are just a distraction that I really don't need. That's why I watched most of the matches alone at home. But there was one exception with a Germany match. I'm not sure which one it was, but it was during the day and I was somewhere else and so I watched it on a big public screen with a lot of people around me.
There it struck me again. I found myself in a huge crowd of Germans and they looked just like I thought them to be looking like. I wondered, where did all these Germans come from? Where are they hiding normally? I honestly thought, the country was filled up with people from all over the world to a degree that there were only a few ethnic Germans left. Especially that most of them were young Germans was a total surprise to me because of the birth rate differences by ethnicity. But on that match day and just in the one city area where I was watching the match, there were several big squares with screens and after the won match in their enthusiasm people were pouring out of everywhere. It didn't end and I was honestly surprised that there were so many Germans in that place (which wasn't anything special or central at all).
When I saw this, I remembered the other episode in my home town and wondered: What are Germans doing during the day that you don't see a single one of them in public and it seems like there are almost only Turkish/Arab/Muslim people left? Seriously, how can there be such an imbalance? After all, their population share is just about 5-10%.
Then I thought about what I do during the day when there is nothing special like vacations or a football Wold Cup. Well, I am either at work, or in school, or in the library, or learning, or relaxing, or pursuing a hobby or getting my life done.
And then I thought about what all the other Germans do when there is nothing special like vacations or a football Wold Cup. Well, they are either at work, or in school, or in the library, or learning, or relaxing, or pursuing a hobby or getting their life done.
And then I thought about the conditions it needs that you can hang out on the street on a normal day without being on vacation or without something like the World Cup:
- You need to be unemployed.
- You don't get an education.
- You are not interested in learning something.
- You have no hobbies.
- You don't have the need to relax.
- You are not interested in getting your life done.
There it was. All the prejudices compressed in one thought and terrifyingly to me, it was absolutely consistent and still is.