A chat with locals at Rathaus

When we returned to Simmering from Kloisterneuberg, a bunch of us decided to go get dinner at the Rathaus (City Hall.) There was a ballet being shown on the huge movie screen and we all dispersed to buy food. Alex and I found a smoothie bar and we got really excited for fresh fruit, so we ate smoothies for dinner then enjoyed a chocolate crepe for dessert. While in line for the crepe we met a local guy named Alex who invited us over to talk with him and his friends. We took him up on the offer because we haven’t been able to converse much with locals outside of noisy bars where the conversations remain mostly short and superficial. We had really good conversations with him and his three friends who all grew up in Vienna but are now attorneys that live together in London but are currently visiting home for a short time. They are a little older (probably late twenties), speak perfect English with hardly any German accent, and are well mannered and educated. The men were all really nice and we talked about everything including politics, history, food, the Olympics, and of course, Arnold Schwarzeneger. They enlightened us on local perspectives and we talked to them about our own lives as well.

Of the many things we talked about, one of the interesting points included learning about a generational gap between perspectives on the Holocaust. They were the ones who brought up the touchy subject, but were open to talking about their views. I learned that between our generation and our grandparents’ there is a large division regarding sentiments towards Austria’s role in World War II and the persecution of the Jews. One of the guys said that his grandparents lived in Vienna in an apartment building with several Jewish families, but one day they were gone without a trace. Instead of expressing concern, they (his family) simply went on with their daily lives without questioning the disappearance of their neighbors. The guys explained this reaction (or lack thereof) as a mixture of apathy and self-involvement for their own immediate well-being (and that of their family members who were going off to war against the allies.) In contrast to this, the younger generations have a more worldly perspective on what happened and admit that they were at fault for not taking action and instead worrying about themselves. I thought this insight from the young men we talked to was really interesting, and im really glad we were able to hear their opinions on such a dark part of Austrian history (which is still locally debated as to whether Austrians were victimized by the Nazis or perpetuates of the Nazi regime.)

We talked with the guys about how different European culture is from American, especially with regards to the government and our laws. They commented on how strict America is about certain things such as not being able to drink until the age of 21 yet being able to drive, vote, smoke, and go to war to kill people at the age of 18. They said they noticed lots of police everywhere when they’ve been to America, waiting around to write people up for benign infractions when it seems like there are more important things they could be worrying about, or "bigger fish to fry." They also made fun of Alex and I for being typical Californians and missing things like smoothies and salads which are constant staples in our diet. They didn’t understand our love of fruit and vegetables and they said "the food we [Californians] eat (such as produce) is what the food they eat (animals), eats" (saying they eat tons of meat, so we eat the food that their food, eats). We thought this was hilarious and had a good laugh over this comment. We talked about politics and after expressing our hopes that Obama will be the next president, they said that America isn’t ready for a Black president. We talked about the death penalty and how America is one of the last countries who still uses it (along with China) and they even brought up how Arnold Schwarzenneger was going to have a huge football (soccer) stadium named after him in Austria, but after he voted in favor of keeping the death penalty in California, they revoked the honor and named it for someone else. Talking to these young, insightful, educated locals was a great experience because I was able to learn so much about where they come from and how they view us. So far all I have learned is from the Professor and my own experiences, but after talking to these nice guys, I feel a little more enlightened on local perspectives.