Finally out! The Beyond the Curtain e-magazine
Published on
Translation by:
Danny S.
It’s finally time: The e-magazine of Beyond the Curtain is here! In five large reportages, each written by two Babelians from East and West, we explore the current state of Europe – 25 years after the Fall of the Iron Curtain.
For two months our team has slaved away – now the e-magazine of our cross-border reportage project Beyond the Curtain is finally ready. Starting today, you can read our five concluding reportages from Austria, Hungary, Poland, Germany and Slovakia in three Babel languages – English, German and Polish. Lilian, Daniel, Róża and Christina sat on the editorial team, while Jee Hei Park took care of the graphics and illustrations.
To make sure that our texts and videos didn’t wind up being one-sided, whether on the left or right of the former border, we sent off two journalists from both sides together to conduct their investigations: Johanna and Aleksandra went to Słubice to check out the Polish markets; Martin and Tomáš spent time exploring “Partyslava”; Eva and Ráhel interviewed Germans living in Budapest; Christina and Emilia explored the ruins of Görlitz; And Linda and David took the commuter train to Vienna.
What did we learn out of all of this? 25 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, a border absolutely does not exist anymore. Somehow, everything is now simply considered to be Europe, even if history continues to dictate the way that we perceive the world around us. How can that be changed? Well, for starters, we could stop thinking in categorical terms of “East” and “West”. Besides, such terms are relative anyways, and not just after 25 years.
Click here to check out the e-magazine! All reportages will also appear on cafebabel.com/beyond-the-curtain starting in April.
25 years ago, the Iron Curtain fell. Ten years ago, eight post-communist States joined the EU. But what do we really know about our neighbor on the other side of the border? Send your thoughts to berlin(at)cafebabel.com to become a part of the team of reporters.
Translated from Endlich! Beyond the Curtain als E-Magazin