Sketches

Thursday 14 January 2016

Cologne (Germany), Hauptbahnhof

Businesstrip to Goslar again. This time I returned by train, which was a six hour journey.
I had a little stop in Cologne, and made this drawing of the square in front of the main train station, next to the medieval Cathedral.
This is what we call "guilty landscape". Hundreds of women (about 500 now and still counting) were sexually harassed on this spot on new years eve. There is a lot of turmoil over the issue in the German media. Also in relation to the Syrain and other fugitives issues, the fugitives got blamed for it.
Anyway, there was a lot of police around tonight, and a few cameramen as well.

2 comments:

Michael Lukyniuk said...

That was a terrible situation in Cologne which raises a lot of questions, one being the capacity of a state to receive such a large number of immigrants and refugees. Canada with a population of 35 million receives about 250,000 immigrants annually but many of these individuals already have family or friends established here already or have been screened for criminal backgrounds, etc. It makes the task of supporting relatively large numbers of newcomers easier. Germany didn't have that luxury and now has to deal with the fallout.
On another front, your sketch is good and seems to demonstrate a new style - more like painting than drawing. Also very colourful.

Rene Fijten said...

Michael, you are right. Also, I suspect that Canadian immigrants go to Canada by their own choice, because they see opportunities. Like entrepreneurs. There will be more open for assimilation, because they know that's the way to make a new life in anew country. I guess most of the fugitives who come did so because they had no alternative. To flee or to die; essentially they did not really want to come here in the first place. That means they are not so open to adapt to our ways of thinking. For example in relation to our views and behaviour towards women (For the sake of argument I am exaggerating; there are enough good examples).