Prof.-Thomas-Krauss-St.-Andrews
There is hardly any place where you can’t hear them from a distance: The Bagpipers in Edinburgh surrounded by a cluster of tourists. Most of them are Germans. About 300,000 tourists from Germany visit Scotland throughout the year. German is the second biggest group after the Americans and therefore the most spoken foreign language among the tourists. That’s if you don´t regard the English tourists as foreign visitors as some Scottish current statistics actually do.
For the Germans who live in the country the Consulate is something like a town hall. “All inquiries that are directed at a town hall in Germany, the Consulate is in charge of here, the German Consul General Wolfgang Mössinger insures. He has lived in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, with his family for the past three and a half years responsible for German affairs. “It`s a very beautiful city and also a very beautiful country, apart from the weather” the Consul General smiles. You quickly feel very comfortable as the Scottish are very open, sociable and hospitable. And it`s busy all the time and always exciting.”
The Germans blend in
It’s hard to tell exactly how many Germans are living in Scotland as they are not obliged to register there. The German Consulate in Edinburgh estimates it must be about 40,000. Only in countries where they may be at risk with wars, civil wars or natural disasters people are concerned enough to get themselves registered. This means the Embassy is informed and can intervene in an emergency.
German Expats don’t stick to their own way of life when they come to live in Scotland. They are different from other foreign residents such as Italians, Americans or Polish people, whose nationality can easily be recognized. Germans blend in with the customs and way of life of the Scots. Everywhere they go in the world it is the same, they integrate with the native population wherever they go. The Consul General confirmed this was the case in Finland, Russia or Senegal, where he had also served. “Basically this is very positive. Because if you have decided to settle in another country it requires that you accommodate yourself wholeheartedly to the country”.
A researcher from Euskirchen in high position at St. Andrews
One German Academic who has made his home in Scotland is Professor Thomas Krauss of St. Andrews University. He waits for me sitting at his desk and smiling very brightly because I’ve come from the home country. With sandals and woolen socks he doesn’t give the impression that he is the chief responsible for about 120 staff. Thomas Krauss from Euskirchen near Cologne is a Professor of Optoelectronics at the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews. He is doing research with light.
“You need in each CD-Player particles which read the information from your disk. And they`re also in each internet connection because the signals will be transmitted through optical fibers”, Professor Krauss explains, absolutely fascinated by this technology and from it how you can make things very small indeed.
For 22 years he and his family have been living in Scotland. His wife comes from England, and they have three boys. When he first came to Scotland he spent 11 years at the University of Glasgow. A man who loves nature and the great outdoors, he’s found Scotland to be absolutely great country for him. Each day he cycles 10 miles from his home in Cupar to the University and back. „At the weekend I like to go into the mountains. In one hour you can be in the Highlands and there it is very quiet. You are really alone or with friends or your family – there is genuine wilderness. It’s beautiful. I like this solitude, this wilderness so much and find it here very easily”.
Thomas Krauss is well integrated into Scottish life. He even wears a kilt when he goes to some festivity like the celebration parties at the University of St. Andrews, because he loves parties, and especially enjoys Ceilidh dancing in his kilt. “You always have implemented the ventilation” he jokes very funnily. And now he will have plenty of chances to go dancing because the University is celebrating its 600th anniversary for three years from now up to 2013. “Why three years”? I asked him. “Because the horseman back then from 1411-1413 needed that much time to take the papal bull to Rome and bring it back again”, he laughed.
The Germans – Offspring from war prisoners and war refugees
Many German people have been here for decades and for many different reasons. “That’s very individual“, the Consul General says. Increasingly more and more young families come to Scotland because they have found a job, like Prof. Krauss once did. Many students remain after their studies. Occasionally some pensioners retire in Scotland. But most of the older Germans living in Scotland were once prisoners of war who settled here after the war and their offspring. There are also refugees from the war and their children. For instance German Jewish refugees remained in Scotland. And British soldiers married German women and brought them to live here.
A big slice of black-forest-gateau and you will make people happy
A great number of the customers in the German bakery are these Germans who live in Edinburgh and the surrounding area. Students, bankers, traders, doctors or engineers and their families who are based in Edinburgh but work for example on the oil platforms, and of course the tourists from Germany. Anna-Maria Völk grew up in a little village in the south of Germany called Dillishausen in the Ost-Allgäu. For one year she has been working as the manager in the bakery. “I love this job. I`ve done lots of different jobs. This is the one that makes people happy“. Indeed it does! You just have to get a big
Anna-Maria-Völk-Manager-Euan-Hunt-Waiter
slice of black-forest-gateau and you will feel as if you are at home.
The spicy flavour from the typical German bread
In the shop window stands a rack with loaves of whole meal bread! It’s quite a rarity in Scotland. „Falko Konditormeister“ stands out in big white letters at the window in Bruntsfield Place in the south-west of Edinburgh. The spicy aroma from the typical German bread and coffee wafts into your nose. Anyone who comes for breakfast on a Sunday morning and wants a table here should make sure not to be late. The German Café is crawling with guests. And it`s not common to sit oneself down at a table which already is occupied even if it is only by one person. At the bread-counter eight people who are waiting for a table are standing in line.
Everything the heart could wish for – all senses at the flick of a switch active
The waiting indeed is worth it. All senses at the flick of a switch are alert as you enter the bakery with its café. All the baking and cake moulds along the walls and on the shelves are a delight to see. Baker Falko Burkert collected them in Germany and Scotland. Here are Stollen and Pralinen and a huge assortment of gateaux which you normally only dream of before you discover Falko. The properly made Blackforest gateau with real Kirschwasser is not so sweet or artificial. Schweizer nut gateaux or cheese cake whatever the heart and the taste-buds long for are in the German bakery in Bruntsfield. Also you will find a typical Schwäbische Brezel there.
Anna-Maria is 34 and has seen a lot of countries around the world. The trained Hotel-manageress always wanted different things in her life. She worked at Walt Disney in Florida, on a farm in Australia, in Canada, Ireland or Fuerteventura. Because she is a whisky fan once she went on a “Single Malt Whisky Trip” to Scotland. “I fell in love with Edinburgh. It`s such a beautiful place”. She later returned to Scotland and lives with a friend in the capital. As she walked past the bakery-shop she went in and bought a Brezel. She started to send an email to her future boss. And then he called her and said “come straight to the farmers market on Saturday and we can have an interview while you are having your first trial shift”. One day later she was told she had the job. “I love living here in Edinburgh because it has everything; a great history, but at the same time, it is young because you have the students. It`s traditional and it’s vibrant. In all the other countries it was beautiful and new but she missed the roots there, she said.
German bakery can`t get ingredients and young people for an apprenticeship
The big problem is that there is no basis for apprenticeship for trade-jobs in Scotland. So it`s very difficult to get young people motivated enough to spend 3 years training for their job. “Everybody can say that he is a baker”, Anna-Maria explains. And also it is difficult to get the ingredients for the bread and the cakes. Most are imported from Germany like ryeflower, whole meal flower or Kirschwasser, marzipan or Quark. Anna-Maria from the Ostallgäu feels more at home in Scotland than in all the other countries, she told me. “There is a saying that the people from Swabia were originally Scottish but got banished for being too mean. May be that is the reason that I feel happy here”, the young woman from Swabia is laughing very openly.
Scotland beating the imagination
Consul General Mössinger also feels very much at home in Scotland: “Here it has been most beautiful, I`m bound to say”. He had never been in Scotland before coming to live here. „I had perceptions about the country especially about the scenery, but they were beating my imagination”, he said. What he likes best are the historic buildings in Edinburgh even the castle. He likes to go hiking and he confessed, that he enjoys playing golf. We talked about the University town St. Andrews usually named as the home of golf. “There are some doubts if the golf rules were discovered in St. Andrews how it is claimed not only Scottish people query”, he said. “But it is generally agreed that the golf rules like they are known today defined in the little University town.”
Tourists are Highland travelers, nature lovers ore Bohemians
A lot of Germans come to Scotland for a whisky trail or to play golf. The Consulate identified three groups of German tourists; they come to Scotland to hike, ride a bike, sail or go canoeing. They like the nature and activities out of doors and avoid the cities especially the crowds of people and the traffic. Some go as far as the Highlands and Islands. Others come mainly because they are interested in cultural events, like the Bohemian atmosphere, the many festivals in Edinburgh in summer and many others things. They spend hours in museums and galleries. The third group visits another country every year and then they come to Scotland. They start with the festival and spend one week in the Highlands.
Glasgow – Scottish San Francisco
“In Edinburgh you have to go to the castle. And also to the Holyrood Palace, you have to walk quietly down the Royal Mile, and anyone who fancies a bit of an adventure should hike up Arthur’s Seat because from there you will have a wonderful view”, the Consul General recommends. “But besides the capital, I would always say: go to Glasgow.” It`s not the beauty but the vitality of the city which is fascinating and that it is so completely different from the capital of Scotland although it is only 60 km away. “It´s very American also in its architecture. If there was an electric tram you could compare it sometimes with San Francisco, although not quite as hilly.”
If somebody is interested in old castles, Stirling Castle may be much more interesting than the castle in Edinburgh, because it`s smaller and recently renovated.
Like Professor Thomas Krauss the Consul General likes nature. “If you drive to Oban on the West coast, it`s wonderful, he enthuses. Then you have little fishing villages along the East coast if you like places like that. The old Border monasteries in the South are well worth a visit: Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso. And if you have enough time you should go to the islands: to Mull, Islay and the Outer Hebrides, or further north to Orkney and Shetland, all wonderful islands.”
“I must say this is the most beautiful of all the places around the world I’ve been to” Wolfgang Mössinger reflected with mixed feelings because he has to leave Scotland with his family for a new assignment as a German Consul General within the next six months.
words and photographs by Monika Weiß
Falko Konditorei
German Bakery
www.falko.co.uk
185 Bruntsfield Place
Edinburgh EH10 4DG
Open: Wednesday – Sunday
Phone: 0131 656 0763
Generalkonsulat der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
www.edinburgh.diplo.de
16 Eglington Crescent
Edinburgh EH12 5DG
Phone 0131 – 337 2323
School of Physics & Astronomy
University of St Andrews
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~photocryst/
North Haugh, Fife Scotland
St Andrews KY16 9SS
Phone: 01334 463107
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