0128 Physikalische Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
After my second year at university, my vac job was in Germany; at the equivalent of their national physical laboratory. This was the PTB in Braunschweig.
I got there after a horrendous journey, of which the worst part was getting across country to the port of the Harwich from my parent's place. It seems that if you ever want to go across country in the United Kingdom, by train, you must allow at least three or four times as long. I eventually, boarded the overnight ferry and was deposited at the Hook of Holland after very uncomfortable night, Something like ten of 12 hours later, after travelling on the train through Holland and then Germany right to the border of East Germany, I came to Braunschweig (Brunswick in our translation).
It was daunting prospect. Although I had done two years of German at school, I didn't really speak the language -- so I had difficulty finding my way around. I was in digs in, I remember, Gliesmarode Strasse. The landlady was a nice old dear who used to ply me with her 'saft', which was a soft drink make from fresh strabwerries, which was delicious. From there I used to catch the tram, changing once, to the PTB; which was on the outskirts of the town. It had been built in the Second World War, but was in very good condition.
For a while I was a nine-day wonder and everyone spoke English to me -- they were all desperate to improve their own English (which was good anyway). But, after a while, they got bored with speaking English and I had to speak German instead. This proved to be the best way of learning the language! I was there with another student, from Mauritius, who did not manage to learn the language and was somewhat disadvantaged as a result. But I did learn something of the language, and eventually was sort of fluent in it. I thought in German, but had a very small vocabulary. More important, since it offended Germans, my grammar was appalling. I was always using the wrong tense or the wrong gender or the wrong something or other. But the girls use to love teaching me German. They called 'Mr Mitzekatze'; which was German for Mr Pussycat.
I worked in various labs, starting in one using high-voltage -- where I was at one end, controlling the power, and the experiments were at the other; and a German colleague was on the receiving end. It was a very quick way of learning what worked in German, since otherwise one or other of us was fried!
Most of the time I was working the Hall Effect, an electromagnetic effect which promised much for the future -- though it has not been used since as much as we expected.
But there were times to escape, and climb the towers which dotted the establishment. The top parts of these were made of wood, since they had been used to test radar and had to be non-magnetic. Up there I was propositioned -- for the third time in my life - but, innocent as ever, I didn't accept!
As a provincial town there was not much to do. It had a cinema, which I used go to. I remember seeing Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (Wilde Erdbeeren). This was something of an achievement on my part, because the films tended to be dubbed into German, so I really did have to understand German -- but I suppose I must have done. Best of all, I saw 'Some Like It Hot' for the first time. Again it was dubbed into German, but I will swear it was funnier as a result -- especially the closing lines!
But there was little else to do around the place. Eventually I got so lonely that Pat came across and joined me for a couple of weeks. Fortunately my landlady was able to find an extra room in her flat. You can tell how provincial town was, for - when I was working - Pat went round the shops. The staff at the PTB the next day told me exactly where she had been -- an English person in Braunschweig (even with its 100,000 people) stood out like a sore thumb. In evening we used go to the ratkeller or some place like that, and drink beautiful Moselle wine and eat German food. At lunch I ate in the PTB canteen, which served typically stodgy German dishes, which were actually quite delicious; mashed potato and pork in various guises. I also took a liking to the German bread, which is very difficult to get over here -- so I have tended to buy the extreme version of this, pumpernickel, ever since.
At the weekend one of people I worked with took us all round Braunschweig and the surrounding country. We even went to the Zonegrenze -- the border with East Germany -- with its barbed wire fences and minefields; and manned guard towers. I remember it was very political at the time. There were notices which said ‘Daruber ist auch das Vaterland’ (Over there is also the fatherland!). In any case, everywhere you saw posters which said ‘Dreigeteiled niemals’ (Never split into three – an allusion not just to the split with East Germany but also to the part given to Poland!). Almost immediately after I returned to the UK the East Germans built the Berlin wall. But the people in Braunschweig told me that most of those who crossed the border went back, because they preferred the culture in the East.
We also went through the Harz Mountains Forest nearby. We also went to the medieval town of Wolfenbuttel, well preserved since it was not bombed, and had a superb collection of genuinely medieval buildings. On the way back we stopped to look at the Till Eulenspiegel museum. Till was the famous German character -- Richard Strauss wrote a famous symphonic poem about him -- who was a practical joker to about whom many stories have been told. When we got there the museum was closed, but we woke up the curator and were taken through the museum by him -- he was enthralled that we British had come all way to see his exhibit!
Other than that we went around Braunschweig itself, visiting places like the Grüne Jäger; which was Hermann Goering's house, though all was left then was a public park for everyone to use. We also caught the train to Hanover, though there wasn't much to see when we got there.
But, above all, I was no longer lonely.
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