This is a great story. My mother has worked on german trains as a waitress for the past 46 years (retired this year) and she has so many awesome stories about the cold war, east germany crossing and so on.
She is not a history nut at all so from her point of view these were just things that happened or that she did, not something bigger.
But she:
- shook the hand of three separate Bundeskanzlers
- smuggled Nylon Socks, Coca-Cola and Candy Bars to East Berlin
- served on a train that was driving completely in secret, on board were politicians and military personelle(they tipped well she said)
- served on a train on which German terrorists(RAF/Baader Meinhof, can't remember which ATM) were captured
Besides working on a train she:
- worked in the olympic town in Munich 1972 and served some of the Israeli athletes.
For my mother nothing of this is extrodinary and these bits seep out when she talks about "good tipping customers" or annoying workplace conditions. When I ask her for something exciting, she tells me stories of how the onboard cook made ad hoc dessert in 3 minutes for some poor Hungarian border patrol guard...
Talking to my mother is my very own german version of Forrest Gump. All of post-war German History is in there, I just have to ask the wrong questions. I'm so proud of her.
It's so nice to come across another person who is proud of their mother. Most people express their attachment as love, very few say they are proud of their parents.
She is not a history nut at all so from her point of view these were just things that happened or that she did, not something bigger. But she: - shook the hand of three separate Bundeskanzlers - smuggled Nylon Socks, Coca-Cola and Candy Bars to East Berlin - served on a train that was driving completely in secret, on board were politicians and military personelle(they tipped well she said) - served on a train on which German terrorists(RAF/Baader Meinhof, can't remember which ATM) were captured
Besides working on a train she: - worked in the olympic town in Munich 1972 and served some of the Israeli athletes.
For my mother nothing of this is extrodinary and these bits seep out when she talks about "good tipping customers" or annoying workplace conditions. When I ask her for something exciting, she tells me stories of how the onboard cook made ad hoc dessert in 3 minutes for some poor Hungarian border patrol guard...
Talking to my mother is my very own german version of Forrest Gump. All of post-war German History is in there, I just have to ask the wrong questions. I'm so proud of her.