Old times, Carina Meyer 2BHW

My grandma tells me a lot about the time when she was young. My grandmother was an only child, so she used to play with the neighbours’ kids or mostly alone. She used to life in a city in Germany, so she only had to help with the work, when she was at her grandparents’ house on the farm on weekends. But she did help her mother with the household. Therefore, she lived in the city she had a house phone, it wasn’t always common everyone had something like that.
My grandfather is like the total opposite because he lived on the countryside and helped his parents with the work on the farm since a very young age. He also had five siblings who he played with a lot in some free time they had. But they also played a lot with the kids in the village where they lived.

Old times in Austria: appreciate little things

People didn´t have mobile phones and computers. They went to the next phone booth and called their friends and family. Thy appreciated all the little things, because they didn't have all the gadgets we have today. Everyone could go to school and do their school graduation. My parents had to go to school on Saturday and on Sunday they had the only free day in the week. I think that was really hard. You were in school till lunch and on Sunday you had to learn for Monday. Today it`s much better with two days of freetime.

Mariella 2bhw

Clothes and image

They wore colourful clothes like neon pink, yellow, orange and green. Some clothes were the same like today, for example converse, diesel t-shirts and scrunchies for the hair. But the style has changed a lot. They wore more black, white, grey, more hoodies and baggy clothes. You didn`t stress yourself with the ideal image of a person. The people were a big community and a team and it was easier to make friends.

Mariella 2bhw

About the past

I let my grandpa (born in 1947) tell the story and that's what came out…

The lifestyle was beautiful. You paid much more attention to things because you didn't have that much. everyday life was frugal and on good days he even got a sandwich to take to school, the way to school often takes up to two hours as there is still no good public transport system. His childhood was beautiful and carefree, but it was normal to work at a young age. My grandfather was sent to a local farmer when he was 12. He usually got good food for work, which was very rare. He would almost say he was better off then than now.

Vanessa 2bhw

school in the past

School
School in the 20th century was not that different from now, but there are still a few differences. Probably one of the biggest differences is that there wasn't such modern technology in the past. Everything was written on blackboards, and not every class had a computer like today. Later, there were overhead projectors with which notes could be projected onto the blackboard. - It's similar to how it works today with the beamer and the computer. It was normal in the past to go to school on Saturdays. My mum already wrote in notebooks as normal. However, you had to make sure that you were neat and tidy, as there were also marks for writing and neat notebook keeping. Another point is that teachers used to be much stricter than they are today. If you resisted, you were punished, for example, with a ruler on the finger.
Leonie, 2BHW

fashion in 1960, Hannah Hechtl 2bhw

1960s - flared pants were born. Jewelery was becoming more and more striking. Large plastic earings and bracelets were in trend. Bags and shoes in lacquer optics.
Also colourful, wide skirts, jeans with flowers on them, embroidery for boys and girls and blouses with loud colours. Eye-catching patterns were typical.

Old times in Austria

In earlier years they didn't travel that much by airplane. Rich people went on cruises. In those years this was very special and expensive. My parents were happy about everything, like holiday in the mountain or visiting their parents. The people were satisfied with what they had. Some girls were not allowed to go out in the evening. The social life was much better. Children talked to strangers in the bus and made friends. Today we are quiet. We look on our mobile phone and ignore others. It`s very sad, because maybe all the people are thinking the same way. We live in our own world and social life is neglected. People don`t dare to sit next to others in the bus, not even before corona.

Mariella 2bhw

Work and popular personalities

It wasn't difficult to find work because people were needed in almost every area. Because the economy was only really going uphill at that time. The jobs were safe and you were paid well, so it was very easy to save up. The currency at that time was the schilling.

At that time, not much was said about famous personalities and if so, then only from Austria. Franz Klammer is one of the few people who was actively talked about. He was a very successful skiing champion. People did less sport than today, but skiing has always been important. The school system over 50 years ago was much stricter and teachers were allowed to hand out punishments. Children were beaten or pelted with things. Disciplines were top priority and school levels were often simply merged.

Vanessa 2bhw

Little money, working on farms

When my grandma was about 12 years old she didn't own many things. She didn't have a computer and she didn't even know what a phone was. My grandma and her three siblings worked every day hard to make a little bit of money to help the family, because they didn´t have a lot of money. Money was very rare and hard to get and often there wasn't enough money for food. They had one single room to sleep in, so there wasn't much privacy. She was one of the only girls that could go to school, because all of her friends had to work on the farm at home.
Leonie, 2BHW

Back in time, Livia 2BHW

One thing my grandma always told to be thankful for what I have, cause back when she was born the second world war was still going on. My grandma was born in 1944 one year before the war ended. She told me that she and her family had to hide in a air raid shelter cause our hometown was bombed.
She also says that back then there wasn't that much food as there is now. My grandmother still had enough food, but she says that her own grandmother hadn't had that much to eat. Also food was really valuable.
The money back then was also different before the euro came there was a currrency called Schilling. One Schilling are seven cent. While one euro are fourteen Schilling. Back then everything was a little bit low priced and people also didn't earn that much as today.

school in 1960, Hannah Hechtl 2bhw

Girls and boyes were mostly taught together. Students in this time had no computers, instead of that they had typewriters. At that time stenography was still being taught. My grandpa told me, that in his school time there was school on Saturday too.

Church on Sundays

I asked my grandma about her childhood for this project. My grandmother is 82 and we all live together in a tiny village called Dieschitz near Velden am Wörthersee.

The children back then used to go to elementary school for about 8 years. Most people got there on foot. But the focus here in the rural area was less on school and more on helping out at home. After school, which lasted until midday, everyone had to help at home in the stable or on the field.

People at that time were also very religious and went to church every Sunday and on every religious festival. After church everyone stood together for a bit and that was actually one of the few opportunities for the children to play together, because they were usually busy working in the afternoons.
Bianca 2BHW

Hard work, no free time

The lifestyle was always structured and there was hardly any free time. You always had to be ready to work and perform. They didn't go to parties, they just sat together and played cards. His own life was not influenced by outsiders. Women with children could only go to work for an hour. Marriages were early and family came first, but often there was no love in families and they were very distant. The fashion was eye-catching and a lot was done with colors and patterns. Baggy jackets and pants were common and you could always tell exactly what year a piece of clothing was from because every year was a new trend.

Vanessa 2bhw

lifestyle/music in the past

Lifestyle
In my parents' younger years, there were bands. The “poppers” and the “rockers”. The difference was very glaring, rockers dressed in chains and darker clothes. They had long hair and especially a mullet. The poppers wore more colorful clothes. They had a low cut and long hair on top. Between the two groups, there were always fights. Even though more rockers were in one club, poppers mostly had to go to the next club.

2BHW, Leonie

Music, celebrities, Slovene language

Back then TV stars here in Austria were Hans Moser, Peter Alexander and Gunther Phillip. The people mainly listened to folk music. My grandma's favorite bands were Slavvko Avsenek and the Stoakogler. Many songs were in Slovenian because we live on the border to Slovenia. That's why many people also spoke Slovenian to each other. But the top star of the 1970s in Austria was the skier Franz Klammer. He won the Olympics in 1976 and was the pride of the nation.
Bianca 2bhw

travelling in 1960, Hannah Hechtl 2bhw

The furthest travel destination for Austrians was Italy. People in 1960 spent their holidays in their surroundings. No Dubai or New York for example. My grandpa told me that the furthest travel was Italy in his childhood. They booked cheap accomodations. No hotels with five stars. In the evening most people bought a snack in the supermarket or cooked themselves. They didn´t eat out in a restaurant. Now it´s normal, but in the 1960 everything was different.

The old times, Stefanie Napetschnig. 2bhw

Old Times

Currency in the old days

The currency in the GDR were the East German mark and then after "the turning point" it was the Deutsche Mark. In the GDR everything was expensive except the food, the rent, the means of transport and the education of the children. So the necessities of life were therefore cheap and consumer goods very expensive. For example an anorak costed 400 marks but my grandmother only earned 460 marks a month as a nurse. There was a school bus for which you had to pay nothing. Also everything for the education of the children were cheap. The kindergartens were gratis expect the lunch but that costed only 50 penny. My grandparents only ate meat once a week because it was also expensive.
Isabelle Mügge 2BHW

travelling

My family is from Germany but from the eastern part, the GDR. My grandma told me that she only travelled to 4 different countries before "the turning point". The countries were Hungary, Serbia, the former soviet union and the present czech republic. People in the GDR only could travel to the east. After "the turning point" my grandparents travelled a lot. They were in America, Norway, Austria, France, England and different islands. It was a great difference because for them everything was new territory. Everything was impressive and there was so much more diversity than in the east. There were other things to buy and my grandmother said it wasn't so "overgrown".
Isabelle Mügge 2BHW

Education

In the first four years there were always two classes in one classroom. For example the first and second class and the third and fourth. One half got exercises in written and the other did oral exercises with their teacher. Then it switched. After the four years every class had their own classroom and there were also different rooms like a biology room, a chemistry room, a gymnasium with showers and changing rooms. The teacher did their best to educate the students well. They were all young because of the war years ago. The children from the GDR were better educated than the children from East Germany. My grandmother told me that after "the turning point" she was scared that she didn't know evrything but in the end she knew a lot more than the nurses from the SED.
Isabelle Mügge 2BHW

How my parents got to Austria, Rebeca Cifor 2CHW

When my parents were younger, about 17, they wanted to have a better life. In Romania it's very hard concerning salaries, doctors and jobs. So, my father decided to migrate to Austria. I don't know why they couldn't cross the border normally, but they didn't let them and so they either hid in cars or jumped the border. Mummy stayed in Romania until dad found a job. So, after my father married my mother, they came and moved to Austria to make a better life for us children. It was very hard in the beginning, they had to sleep about 5 people in a room, they didn't have their private time. But they got over it and we, the 7 children, had an inexplicably beautiful life with laughter and joy. I thank them for what they did, and I cherish and love them.

My grandmother's story - Valentina 2CHW

My grandmother didn't have a great time, especially when my grandfather died. It took her 2 years before she could go back to work. She was a waitress in a friend's restaurant.
After 25 years she started dating again with the musician who plays at my grandfather's restaurant. He cheated on her with other women and only used her because he lived at her place. After he had built his own house with his affair he dumped her. My grandma was very sad about it. Because of multiple blows of fate she fell in a big depression. She stopped working, cooking for herself, going outside and she even stopped shopping groceries or going to a doctor even if she was sick. I'm so happy my aunt still lives at her house. Grandma started drinking and smoking, what's kinda sad. I hope she will feel better soon and overcome her depression.

The Battle of Egypt

My grandma told me a story about my great-grandfather. What happened to him took place during a battle in Egypt. He was a soldier fighting for Italy and got captured and brought in the Himalaya, into a village called Yol in the Kangra district. He lived there being held captive for 8 years. She told me that he would tell her that he could remember how cold it was. He had refused to go back home to Italy, because he was a man of honor and didn’t want to lose his faith in fascism. He could’ve been free if he had sworn to not be a fascist. He was a person who never let himself go, even after being captured. We still own an old razor set he used during those times. He died at the age of 93 in 2000.
Bellan Emma 2CHW

History-Austria-Lucas Jesch,2CHW

My grandfather’s story:
My grandfather, who has already passed away, told me before his death how his father, my great-grandfather, had to go to war for the Germans. He told me that my great-grandfather Maximilian was first classified as marginally fit. So from 1940 to 1942 he worked in offices near his home. After that, he had to drive lorries with building materials. He did this job for the Nazis until the middle of 1944, which pleased him under the circumstances. But at the end of 1944 the Nazis mustered their last forces, my great-grandfather had to go to the front despite his physical limitations. At first, he fought close to home, he was finally killed in action on 3 March 1945. His son Maximilian, was born in 1944 and killed in the last weeks of World War II when he was only one year old.

Katerina,ilion

All of us -unfortunately-have a grandpa that has participated in a war

manos-ilion

WAR TANK

Unai F. and Ekaitz P. (Koldo Mitxelena)

My grandfather's story - Hanna Schiestl 2CHW

My grandfather always tells me a lot about how the time was many years ago. It wasn’t always easy. There used to be a lot of farms and the children always had to help. In the past, it was also very rare to have studied. Many children went to work the age of 14. There were also very few people who owned a phone, if they had one at all, then rather a house phone. Students always went to school, no matter how far the way was. The newspaper carrier also came very often with a carriage. In the past, people didn’t have as much as they do today. There were a lot of children in the villages who always played together. The time in the past was easier then today.

History

History

Rana Özkaya Kanuni,Turkey

Emma Bellan

rEmix Cat - Marc Amparo

Grumpy Cat - Marc Amparo

"This is our land"

Guilherme PT

Beach day!

Luís C. PT

Austria

João P. PT

What my grandparents told me

by Anna L_2BHW Austria

WAR

The war was hard!

Natalia L.- Kopernik, PL

Aneta N Tábor team