Germans in the Tyrol
Sir: I should like to say a few words about Patrick Cosgrave's impressions of his Tyrolean trip
(January 6). I have been in Austria several times a year for at least a decade (last for a fortnight's skiing holiday at Christmas), but I never felt I was detested for my nationality. On the contrary, I came to have a lot of friends in Austria who would have been frank enough to tell me the truth when I discussed the article in question with them: they were all highly astonished and even more annoyed than I was. I also asked friends who frequently spend their holidays in Austria but none of them had ever experienced that said detestation on part of the Austrians. With a sort of satisfaction, as it seems to me, does Cosgrave state that this imaginary detestation depends on the German's behaviour.
Here I would like to make a few comments on the non-German's dining-room behaviour. All over the world, Christmas is an occasion to celebrate peace. Singing war songs instead of Christmas carols seems to me contradictory to that idea. Neither do I think it is very fitting or a sign of good conduct to go to midnight mass tipsy (" not wholly sober," as
Cosgrave euphemistically expresses it) and " for some kind of laugh," as Cosgrave almost boasts to say his party did.
Concerning terms like "Herrenyolk," Cosgrave seems to enjoy dwelling on them and I must not deprive him of that pleasure. But I can assure him that this sort of vocabulary is quite out of use in this country now. Perhaps it might be better to practise everyday German, for the striking discoveries he made in Austria might be due to a lack of understanding each other's language, after all!
Renate Achelius 8 Muenchen 2, Unterer Anger 2
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