Our columnist likes to go to Christmas markets. Even in the rain. And he doesn’t think the prices there are “obscenely expensive” for good reason. Unlike Jan Böhmermann, who just complained about it.
I still remember that one December 24th clearly. My sister still lived at home. I was maybe eight. And we drove the square E-Class station wagon to the Christmas market in Nuremberg. My parents, my sister and me. There is 20 centimeters of snow in Wiesenttal. The river evaporated, it was so cold outside. And when we bit into the first bratwurst roll in Nuremberg, it started to snow. And I turned the wish ring on that fountain. And I thought to myself, that's how it always has to be.
But today it's three degrees Celsius in Erlangen and it's ruling. The man at the Rudolph Railway is still building. We buy roasted almonds for four euros. Then some wax stars, which my daughter cranks up in a large vat using a crank elevator. By purchasing the stars we support the local children's palliative care unit.
At another stand there are pieces of paper with wishes from children whose parents don't have that much money. The children want completely normal things. A “Barbie Winter Sports with Sleigh”, a voucher for the local bookstore, a football. We take two of the pieces of paper with us. And buy the things you want. We will pack them. Add chocolate and a card to each. The fact that there are quite a few families who can't give their children Barbie or a book always makes me sad.
For the first Advent, content creators Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz, who identify as “cringy boomers,” recorded a podcast in which they talk about prices at Christmas markets. 7.50 euros for a raclette baguette, 5 euros for grapes in chocolate and 15 euros for a “cheap baked roll with a bit of iceberg lettuce, crème fraîche and a small scoop of salmon,” says Jan Böhmermann. He calls it “absolute madness” and “obscenely expensive.”
Well, the reality is that, according to research by WELT AM SONNTAG, Jan Böhmermann earns 713,000 euros a year at ZDF. The podcast comes on top of that. I begrudge him. Honestly. But the people who sell the raclette baguette and the salmon probably don't make that much.
When Markus Söder banned Christmas markets two days before opening in the second year of the corona pandemic, I interviewed the people who had to dismantle their stalls and throw away the goods they had bought. They were angry, sad and desperate. The first chairman of the North Bavarian Showmen's Association, Raimund Krug, said to me at the time: “We showmen have been banned from working since 2020.” You can't imagine what it feels like to get up in the morning and have no reason to shave .”
I like going to Christmas markets. Even in the rain. And I don’t think it’s “absolute madness” that the showmen get paid for it. It's a given.
Our author Frédéric Schwilden In his “Notes from the Province” he regularly reports on life there – from the pumpkin festival in Muggendorf to the potato kebab bratwurst in Schleswig-Holstein.
