Back in Neubrandenburg after 20 years: Where is the feeling of home?

Back in Neubrandenburg after 20 years: Where is the feeling of home?

Returning to Neubrandenburg can sometimes seem more like a homecoming into the unknown. After 20 years in western Germany, a family recently took the step of returning to their old hometown. The author of this story describes the challenges and hurdles that come with this new beginning. How nnn.de reports that after seven months the family still didn't feel like they had really arrived. The initial price shock reminded them of the differences between the two parts of Germany, but was not the main reason for their uncertainty.

Social contacts are apparently more difficult to make in Neubrandenburg than expected. Compared to lively cities like Cologne, everyday life in this small town is highly structured. While you can quickly make new acquaintances in the Rhine metropolis, the northeast Germans seem to have a completely different mentality. “There’s a certain seriousness in the air here,” you might think. Relationship development takes time, and spontaneous meetings are rare. The old badminton club, where the author used to be active, has not yet been visited. A friend who has also returned to the city also has little time on his hands.

Feelings of home and identity

The question of identity and homeland is not only raised by the author, but also by many others who have returned to East Germany in recent years for various reasons. As in an article by Deutschlandfunk culture can be read, the theater maker Rika Weniger has found her way back to Neubrandenburg after 20 years in the West. Unlike the author, however, she felt little homesickness. Their concept of home is not tied to a geographical location, but to a specific period of time, especially the 1990s, which was marked by fears.

These different perspectives on sense of home and identity are also part of a larger cultural context. 30 years after reunification, many East Germans are asking themselves how they define themselves. Loud bpb.de East German identity was only shaped with reunification and has since developed in an area of ​​tension between experiences of disadvantage and appreciation. To this day, many East Germans feel that they are marginalized and not fully integrated into their identity.

The path to integration

The author of the return story now has to deal with the consequences of his decision. Aside from the difficulty of establishing contact, everyday family life also plays a role - despite being close to your own parents, who never moved from Neubrandenburg, you have long since established your own structures. You always meet neighbors and sometimes an old friend, but the challenge remains to permanently integrate into the community.

From all of these experiences and observations it becomes clear: returning to your home city not only brings with it nostalgia, but also the need to reorient yourself in a changed society. The author still has a lot to do, as he describes in his next column a deeper sense of his surroundings and the new challenges that home brings with it.