Schrebergaerten Or Kleingaerten In Germany
Created | Updated Mar 26, 2002
If you want to have a deep insight into German culture and tradition, then have a look at the so-called "Schrebergaerten" or "Kleingaerten", at least one of which you can be sure to find in every German town with more than 5000 inhabitants.
They were invented quite a while ago in Leipzig (East Germany) by somebody called Schreber, who is now dead, a mystical figure, the godfather and hero of the whole movement. They are, as the name "Kleingaerten" suggests, small gardens, or, to describe them in a better way, small pieces of ground you can rent if you live in a flat or a house without an own backyard. Several of these gardens form a so-called colony of gardens, where mostly elderly people go at weekends or after work or for the whole of the summer to indulge in the sheer endless pleasures of planting vegetables, mowing the lawn or cutting the hedge so that it stays under the prescribed limit of, say, 120 cm.
The main characteristics of these gardens are neatly trimmed hedges and lawns, clean and nicely raked ways, and nice little huts or sheds in the middle of most of the gardens. Moreover, there are many festivities of all sorts taking place throughout the year in the community of hobby-gardeners, all of which, including the "Children's Day", are used to get as drunk as possible, ehhhmmm, errrr, no, sorry, to improve the relationships within the community, of course.
Fortunately, most of the "Schrebergaerten" are open to the public, which can lead to all sorts of interesting observations, or sometimes even, to conflicts, especially if you own a dog and take it with you. 50% of the colonies' inhabitants are notoriously well-known for their hate of everything that has four legs, a tail, looks like a dog and is capable of leaving something behind. That is not to say that the people there don't use their bushes as a toilet, but apparently there is a huge difference between human and animal exkrements. The other 50% of people own dogs themselves.
Occasionnally, the peace and quietness of these colonies can be destroyed. Known cases involve one man threatening to kill a dog with his spade after the latter had come to close to his garden. Others are to do with intruders, such as homeless people who try to find shelter by renting a garden with a small shed. These are understandably bullied out of the colony, often with the logical reasoning that they do not plant any vegetables and, therefore, do not abide by the regulations.
-igle
They were invented quite a while ago in Leipzig (East Germany) by somebody called Schreber, who is now dead, a mystical figure, the godfather and hero of the whole movement. They are, as the name "Kleingaerten" suggests, small gardens, or, to describe them in a better way, small pieces of ground you can rent if you live in a flat or a house without an own backyard. Several of these gardens form a so-called colony of gardens, where mostly elderly people go at weekends or after work or for the whole of the summer to indulge in the sheer endless pleasures of planting vegetables, mowing the lawn or cutting the hedge so that it stays under the prescribed limit of, say, 120 cm.
The main characteristics of these gardens are neatly trimmed hedges and lawns, clean and nicely raked ways, and nice little huts or sheds in the middle of most of the gardens. Moreover, there are many festivities of all sorts taking place throughout the year in the community of hobby-gardeners, all of which, including the "Children's Day", are used to get as drunk as possible, ehhhmmm, errrr, no, sorry, to improve the relationships within the community, of course.
Fortunately, most of the "Schrebergaerten" are open to the public, which can lead to all sorts of interesting observations, or sometimes even, to conflicts, especially if you own a dog and take it with you. 50% of the colonies' inhabitants are notoriously well-known for their hate of everything that has four legs, a tail, looks like a dog and is capable of leaving something behind. That is not to say that the people there don't use their bushes as a toilet, but apparently there is a huge difference between human and animal exkrements. The other 50% of people own dogs themselves.
Occasionnally, the peace and quietness of these colonies can be destroyed. Known cases involve one man threatening to kill a dog with his spade after the latter had come to close to his garden. Others are to do with intruders, such as homeless people who try to find shelter by renting a garden with a small shed. These are understandably bullied out of the colony, often with the logical reasoning that they do not plant any vegetables and, therefore, do not abide by the regulations.
-igle
