The irrationality of a dream - #brexit from a (East)German expats' point of view

It took me quite some time to get something on paper about the imminent vote of leaving or remaining in the European Union. The reason for that is that I found it very difficult to make up my mind. One day it was all pro-remain and then a big question mark was added behind it when doubts crept in. Even though I am not even a British national but a German living in the UK for over 7 years. Facts and non-facts as well as opinions amounting to yelling and screaming have been splattered in our faces 24/7. Now is the time where I think enough is enough. Hence, I am only going to tell you a little story here. After Jo Cox’ vicious murder it hit me what is at stake this Thursday. A dream. It is one of a Europe without hate, nationalism and subsequently without wars. However, a dream has inherent problems. It is intangible and also irrational. Things that possess the aforementioned properties can fade over time or become stale. Just like an idea one can have and if not set in motion, it can vanish into nothingness. This is what is currently happening to the dream of Europe. In the hope to inspire people to keep dreaming, here’s my little story…

My family history is quite diverse. My relatives migrated from Bohemia to Saxonia in the middle of the 19th century. After three great wars and much dismay, half of the then distant family lived in west Germany whilst the other was stuck on the wrong side of the iron curtain. I belonged to the latter. Life in the DDR (GDR) was okay as a child despite the constant indoctrination to aspire to Socialism as the only possible way. But we always had food people. Then everything changed in Autumn 1989,within the space of a few weeks.  For many enough it was enough. Leipzig, my birth town was the first to be subdued to the revolutionary spirit inspired by Solidarno?? in Poland. My dad, whom I shall forever be thankful to was amongst the first who started voicing his opinion openly and demonstrating for the freedom of speech, the right to choose your leaders freely and fairly as well as free travel beyond the wall that was dividing Germany and the whole of Europe. He got detained twice but came back out on the streets. It was the voice of a unified people that was shouting ‘Wir sind das Volk!’ (we are the people!). In the course of the protests with hundreds of thousands nobody (!) got killed or seriously injured. Eventually, it led to the fall of the wall and arguably to a whole new set of problems with the unification process and many losing their jobs unfortunately. But from the point of view of a then young teen and adolescent the feeling of freedom was dominant. 

Years later, it was on a rainy day in October 2009, full of anxiety and hope I felt entitled to be able to move to the United Kingdom. Bar 500 crisp British pounds and my little dog I left almost all my worldly possessions behind and moved to London, in a van. I had a tiny flat paid in advance for two months in questionable Streatham. There I was, moving to this melting pot of cultures, where I would undoubtedly be overrun by cars driving on the wrong side of the road, starve to death huddled in a thin see-through blanket under a bridge. What a prospect! After arriving in the UK, I almost immediately found a job which just required two key skills - Excel and German as a first language. Deal! What kept me travelling and getting up in the morning at a very unreasonable time was the sheer drive of a city and a whole country for new things. It differentiated the UK from the mentality of other countries and it still does. When asked whether I would be proud to be a German, my answer always was that I still love my country but that I am foremost proud to be a European. What is pride to be of a certain nationality even?

With my background in marketing, branding and digital I eventually found a role that asked more of me than just my language and computer skills in Maidenhead (sigh!). A few years later I found my way in an integrated agency in West London. In the years I have lived in the UK, my underlying feeling always has been that this is only possible because of the freedom to choose my country of residence within the EU, a place of work and a free mind being able to explore alternative routes or change course at its desire. Something people in the DDR only had a very limited right to do. 

We are now building walls again in and around Europe. Driven by nationalism, fear of the unknown and isolation. Walls my dad and many others helped to tear down over 25 years ago. Borders that hinder people from travelling freely or delivering aid are imposed once again. Isolation is driven by fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to violence and violence to death and despair. In the spirit of my dad and all those people in Europe that helped to unify rather than divide all I ask of the British people is to consider their decision if you want to vote leave and to defend a dream. A dream that doesn’t have a use by date but needs nurturing, now more than ever. I ask of you to maintain a legacy of freedom and unity and not commit the most cardinal sin of the 21st century so far and start the process of splitting up of Europe as we know it.