I do not know who of you knows this – but my favourite writer is Erich Fried. And I wanna tell you a nice story that happened a few weeks ago.

Erich Fried was born on the 6th of February in 1921 in Vienna. He was the son of an assimilated - Jewish family and raised in a time when German Nazis marched into Austria and the terrorism against “public enemies”began. Soon he felt the hostility and hate against the Jews for oneself. His father was murdered by Gestapo, Fried himself emigrated to England and helped his mother to flee too. But he had to leave his grandmother inVienna and she was deported to Auschwitz and murdered. In post – war times Fried was a contributor to several new-founded magazines and worked for the BBC.

Fried is well – known for his poetry more than for his prose - writings. But he was a fabulous essay – writer too. I love him for his love – poetry, but aswell for his smart observations in terms of political and social topics and for his - I find, very true - worldly wisdoms…


But what i wanted to tell you:

I knew for a long time that Fried lived in Vienna. But I did’nt know where exactly. When I was with Matthias at his home in Vienna after Christmas, I did some internet researches ‘cause I thought maybe there are places where you can see Fried’s traces in Vienna. And I found out that Erich lived on Alserbachstraße 11 in Alsergrund. Of course I did not know where this street is located so I asked Matthias and to my surprise he told me that this Alserbachstraße is a neighbouring street to Fuchsthallergasse where he lives. You cannot imagine how great this revelation was to me! We went there to see his old home.
Nowadays there is an installation next to it which contains a glass plate with Fried’s most famous poem: “Was es ist”. Beneath this there is a bench with an unusual high back rest. And when you look up to one of the windows of Fried’s apartment you are very surprised ‘cause one can see a tree growing out of the open window. For me it is the perfect symbol of everything which Fried represents for me.
But the best thing about all this for me was to find out that he lived only a few meters away from Matthias’ place. For me it is definetely not only an accident – maybe it is fate – but it is at least something that touches me deeply and gives me a feeling of fullfilment, to know his roots and spirit to be so close to me when I am in Vienna.


For everyone of you who does’nt know Fried:


What it is Was es ist

It is madness Es ist Unsinn
says reason sagt die Vernunft
It is what it is Es ist was es ist
says love sagt die Liebe
It is unhappines Es ist Unglück
says caution sagt die Berechnung
It is nothing but pain Es ist nichts als Schmerz
says fear sagt die Angst
It has no future Es ist aussichtslos
says insight sagt die Einsicht
It is what it is Es ist was es ist
says love sagt die Liebe
It is ridiculous Es ist lächerlich
says pride sagt der Stolz
It is foolish Es ist leichtsinnig
says caution sagt die Vorsicht
It is impossible Es ist unmöglich
says experience sagt die Erfahrung
It is what it is Es ist was es ist
says love. sagt die Liebe





sources: http://www.erichfried.de/index.htm, 27.01.2006
http://www.geocities.com/marxist_lb/Erich_Fried.htm, 27.01.2006

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i would like to show you a few pages on the internet which are worth seeing and in my opinion very important to join or support. take the time!

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