A Paradise on the Oder? - Department of Scandinavian Studies

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City & Societyguage of most classes and students. Nevertheless, it is not uncommonfor conversations to be conducted in two or three languagessimultaneously, usually in some combination of Polish, German,and English, depending on the group’s composition and linguisticabilities (a practice that is similar to Shore’s (2000:188) observationsat the European Commission). Students have dubbed theunique combination of Polish and German spoken casually at theuniversity as (from German) Viadrinasprache. One example of thislanguage is the phrase “na Hof” meaning “on the courtyard of thedormitories,” which combines a Polish preposition and a Germannoun (minus the Polish declension).Despite the prevalence of multilingualism among the studentsin Słubice/Frankfurt(Oder), language continues to be an extremelycontentious issue for many individuals, and contributes to thepolarization of social groups. In social situations at the university,groups tend to fracture around language divisions-—a fact thatis lamented by some and accepted by others. Krzysztof, a Polishgraduate student, observed that he believes language deeply influencesindividual attitudes, and that given the two countries’ historyof conflict, a third language is often better for Polish-Germanrelations (usually English). Krzysztof expresses a common opinionamong EU elites, who view the ability to speak multiple languagesas a way for the next generation of transnational “Europeans“—arole the students at the university are explicitly being educatedto fulfill 14 —to supersede the ethnic and nationalist differences ofmonolingual individuals. Nevertheless, Krzysztof also emphasizedthe importance of maintaining an ethno-linguistic identity bycriticizing some of his fellow students for denying their Polishnessand becoming “more German than the Germans” when they moveacross the border to Frankfurt(Oder).Karl, a German living in Słubice told me (in a mix of Germanand English) of the double bind he experienced after moving toPoland saying, “[In Poland] I talk like normal. Some people say,‘you are in a foreign country, you shouldn’t speak German,’ butI don’t think it is foreign. I live here. Poles say I am kurwa (awhore) 15 for it. Germans say I am kurwa for living here.” By movingto Poland, Karl acts contrary to the colonized/colonizer positioningof Poland vis-à-vis Germany, and reverses the hierarchal flow ofindividuals from East to West. Likewise, by refusing to use Polish,he also embodies the colonizer arriving from the West to exploitthe East. In this manner, Karl is seen as a “whore” by both sides,even as he is ostensibly enacting the European principle of freemovement between countries.138
<strong>Paradise</strong> on theOder?In order to be accepted in a new community, it is often advantageousto strategically utilize the markers and characteristics of adifferent nationality or ethnicity, depending on the social situation.Within the transnational context of the EU, this “situationalethnicity” (A. Cohen 1974, R. Cohen 1978), is an especially usefultool for achieving social and political gains. In her analysis ofPolish immigrants in Berlin, Morawska observes that one of theprincipal distinctions between immigrant communities is theirlevel of engagement with the culture of their new communities(2003). Contrasting the “trudna polskość” (difficult Polishness) ofthose who fail to assimilate and thus become torn between Polandand Germany, with the “pragmatic Europeans” who engage withGerman language and culture, Morawska argues that these groupsexhibit generational, educational, and class differences, with the“Europeans” tending to be younger, better educated, and of ahigher socioeconomic class (2003:176,179). Similar distinctionsare typical of the processes of Europeanization in Frankfurt(Oder)/Słubice, 16 demonstrating the continued importance of ethnic andnational identifications even within a transnational “European”space.The EU CampaignsAs Poland’s EU accession referendum approached, it becamevirtually impossible to avoid the advertising of the “VoteYes” and “Vote No” campaigns while walking throughSłubice’s public spaces. New posters appeared almost every morning,as different groups battled for space on public notices columns,kiosks, boarded up buildings, and shop windows (Fig. 3).Although Frankfurt(Oder)’s public space remained unaffected bythese campaigns, for residents of Słubice the routine experienceof Frankfurt(Oder) itself is perhaps the most powerful example ofthe potential that the EU might provide. There is a qualitative differencein two cities’ appearances, especially in their commercialcenters, where Frankfurt(Oder) has had the advantage of post-1989 modernization projects, financed largely by West Germany.Frankfurt(Oder) thus appears less “socialist,” more affluent, moremodern, and more “colorful” (cf. Galbraith 2004:63) than Słubice,despite sharing endemic problems of high unemployment andeconomic stagnation. Because Frankfurt(Oder) shares a commonexperience of socialism with Słubice, but has had the advantageof a fourteen year head start within the EU as result of GermanUnification in 1990, the differences in appearance of the two cities139
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