The “Merchant Ants” of Zoo Station
On History on the Sidelines and Forgotten Europeans
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
There is no historical zero second. All of that talk about the break with Communism in 1989 coming “out of the clear blue sky” only says something about the limited horizons of contemporaries. The year 1989 was not made by “great men” either. The fall of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a long phase of attrition. It is connected with the movement of the East-West Express and the “merchant ants” from Europe’s east, for whom Berlin became their point of transfer. These people are the heroes of this break with Communism. Together with the bridge engineers, budget airlines, and bus companies, they created the new Europe. Give Eurolines the Charlemagne Prize!
(Osteuropa 2-3/2009, pp. 53–60)