To understand Europe, you should travel the Danube

Without the claim to explore and understand the Danube region, the whole of Europe will never be understood either. With the narrative of a “Europe on the Danube”, a multi-day expedition to the probably most famous river of the continent starts, which wants to answer the question of what constitutes this “other Europe” on the Danube. We want to understand how people think, see, feel and taste there. We are in search of the characteristics of the Danube European and in the process get to know concrete places, events, people and stories.

Our route from Linz to Novi Sad and Timişoara reveals a “liquid space” in constant change. It has been moving between Occident and Orient for many centuries. The aftermath of the recent political upheavals of the Wende era can still be felt here. The wounds and traces of fascism and communism continue to have an effect on societies and urban architecture. On the other hand, surprising technological innovations and artistic creativity form a sharp contrast to the fluid history. The rich cultural diversity makes Danube Europe a unique region in the world.

For centuries, the middle Danube Region has “moved” back and forth like a pendulum or ferry between the powers and influences of the Occident (e.g. Christianity, Euro-Atlantic cooperation) and the Orient (e.g. Ottoman Empire, Soviet Union), thus forming a fluid transition, a “liquid space” between East and West.

Around 1989, the directional decision for the Western democratic world order was clear, and today, with the exception of Serbia, all countries in our route are members of the EU. This affiliation cannot be shaken, even if in recent years there has been much discussion about Europe as a value system or, currently, about Russia’s influence. To better understand these discourses, one must first understand the centuries-long pendulum movement between Orient and Occident.

The metaphor of the pendulum can also be applied to the movement of people: they have moved voluntarily and involuntarily for centuries (land seizures, settlement, flight, expulsion, emigration, guest labour). These transfers also took place sometimes from West to East (e.g. Danube Swabians, Saxons), sometimes vice versa (e.g. guest workers from the former Yugoslavia, refugees from the Balkans or currently from Ukraine). In the last two-three decades, these movements have also been associated with the terms “brain drain” (from East to West), as well as technology transfer and investment (from West to East).

Danube Europe means ongoing urban and social change: one quickly gets the impression that neither societies nor cities ever come to rest. Everything is being restructured, reorganised and rebuilt. Cities like Linz, Bratislava, Győr or Novi Sad cannot be compared at all with the conditions of 30 years ago. A particularly vivid example of systematic social-urban change is provided by a Danube city located far from the former Iron Curtain: Linz.

The Danube is the river on which Europe’s fate has always been decided. In other words: If these events had taken place differently, Europe would be a different continent today. The history of this area has always moved between great strokes of fate and glorious moments in European history that still have an impact today. Despite all the heroic deeds and the love of freedom, however, the overriding impression is of an altogether tragic history that has left behind some trauma and many cemeteries. This tragedy is often successfully resolved in the cultures of the Danube region through humour, wit, (self-)irony and sarcasm.

The events of the 20th century in particular have left deep traces and wounds that societies and peoples along the Danube have not always been able to deal with. Revolutions, wars, fascism and communism have unhappily blurred the lines between perpetrators and victims, too many people are personally affected to this day, while some political parties try to make their political capital out of the issues of history.

On our journey of discovery through Danube Europe, we will also find many places of 20th century horrors. Whether Mauthausen near Linz or the lesser-known Star Fortress in Komárom, Hungary, which served as a collection camp for deportees from the Hungarian Roma population at the end of 1944. Coming to terms with history objectively is still a challenge in most countries of the Danube region. The transformation was too rapid, too many are still directly affected, but party-political interests are also too strong. A little tip: Monuments and memorials reveal a lot about how the culture of remembrance is dealt with – a glance at the many different monuments in Budapest is enough to understand many a controversy.

The Danube is the only river in the world where the river kilometres are not counted from the source but from the mouth. That is why the zero-kilometre stone is not somewhere in the Black Forest, but on the Black Sea coast. The reason for this is that it was not possible to agree on a point in the headwaters. So they simply turned the Danube around. One always finds a solution: Is that the “Danubian” philosophy of life? The source of creativity and innovation in Danube Europe? Our expedition will show that this spirit of renewal can no longer mean a clichéd folklore of the smart and inventive Eastern European. The region is now a thriving land of cutting-edge technologies, start-ups and design studios, creative industries and inventions. Not only are new cars built in the Bratislava region, in Győr, Esztergom or Kecskemét, know-how also accumulates at the adjoining colleges and universities. Novi Sad is a centre of the international gaming industry, a stronghold of computer science and contemporary arts.

New, creative places have sprung up in many towns in the region, often from old industrial plants or other decaying buildings that have been converted for the purposes of art, culture and education.

The Danube itself has also sometimes been a border, sometimes a bridge. The linguistic-cultural heterogeneity, the constant movements and the conflicts led to the Danube becoming both border and connection. This contradiction makes the other Europe on the Danube so exciting and sometimes mysterious. Even one and the same bridge could sometimes connect and sometimes separate entire systems, as can be seen impressively in the example of the Nibelungen Bridge in Linz.

The Danube is the only river in Europe (and the world) where such a dense diversity of ethnicities, cultures, languages, denominations and scriptures exist side by side and with each other. Thus, the Danube uniquely stands for the much-quoted diversity of our continent. To this day, the countries often have a difficult time with each other, they have been enemies many times, but they have always depended on each other. In the end, no power, no nation of them could permanently assert itself and rule alone for long. Despite all the strife, the identities, customs, dialects, food, etc. always merge, which underlines the great richness of the Danube region.

The numerous minorities never had an easy life along the Danube. Jewish culture was omnipresent in the Danube region, but the incipient flourishing of Judaism came to a particularly tragic end with World War II. Nevertheless, the preservation of Jewish traditions, even the development of a new, active, self-confident Jewish life in cities like Vienna or Budapest gives hope. The streetscape in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt or the cultural-religious and culinary life in Budapest’s Jewish Quarter provide good examples.

Living together with the different, scattered groups of Roma and Sinti is also part of the Danube region. Their share of the population in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary is significant – but their participation in public life is low. The everyday life of many Roma families consists of poverty. For this very reason, it is important to notice those positive examples that are not only hopeful but can serve as a model – be it the Ghandi Gymnasium, a model school in Pécs, or the support programmes of the famous musician Ferenc Snétberger.

Text by

Dr. Márton Méhes

Experienced international cultural manager, lecturer and consultant with proven experience in transnational and European cultural projects and in cooperation with organisations throughout the Danube region and Europe. Initiator and coordinator of the annual regional literature programme “Danube Lounge” at the Buch Wien International Book Fair and Festival.  Experienced in project management, strategic planning, cultural diplomacy, project applications, intercultural cooperation, institutional administration and event management. Strong international and cultural affairs professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) in Linguistics.