hidden europe 49

Editorial hidden europe 49

by hidden europe

Picture above: Odessa’s famous Potemkin Steps, Ukraine (photo © hidden europe)

Summary

Welcome to the 49th issue of hidden europe magazine. In this issue we visit the Ukrainian town of Odessa, explore western Serbia, witness the vanishing art of cowbell crafting in Portugal's Alentejo region and attend the matanza in the Spanish village of Secastilla. All that and much more besides.

In this new issue of hidden europe we present a continent which thrives on its tolerance and diversity, a Europe which has over centuries been shaped and enriched by the ebb and flow of ideas and people. We look at how Odessa developed as the third great city of the Russian Empire by dint of being welcoming Jews, Armenians, Italians and French settlers to join the Tatars and Cossacks who made their homes in Odessa. In similar vein, we see how Dutch migrants — the most diligent dredgers and drainers in the world — helped convert low-lying marshes by the River Elbe into productive agricultural land.

Europe, the very idea of Europe, depends on the expansive, generous mindset which has been the hallmark of our continent over the last half-century. Of course there have been blips and deviations from the path, most conspicuously in the fractious conflicts in the Balkans following the disintegration of Yugoslavia. But the most severe dislocation of European harmony of this century has come not from the east of the continent (despite occasional Russian provocation) but from an unlikely source in the far west: Britain.

The UK government’s participation in the European project (at best half-hearted but usually massively disruptive) has come to an abrupt end as the politics of hate and fear triumphed over reason and the good neighbourliness which has underpinned the development and expansion of the European Union. This is nothing short of a catastrophe for millions of ordinary decent people in Britain now condemned to live in a country tainted by neo-nationalist sentiments.

Happily, across most of Europe we find on our travels a respect and civility which underpins conversation and debate. That cordiality between people and nations is something we shall continue to celebrate in hidden europe.

We welcome four outside writers to this issue of hidden europe magazine. Rudolf Abraham and Laurence Mitchell are our two most regular external contributors. So it’s good to welcome them back. They are joined by Kate Wilson — a newcomer to the hidden europe fold — who writes about the Spanish village where she lives, and Paul Richardson, editor of Russian Life magazine. We have ourselves contributed many times to Russian Life, so it’s lovely that the roles are now reversed, with Paul sharing a piece on Karelia with hidden europe.

Susanne Kries & Nicky Gardner
Editors

Freistadt, Upper Austria
June 2016

Related articleFull text online

The Hills of Western Serbia

There are many visions of Yugoslavia's past. Laurence Mitchell visits the hills of western Serbia to learn how heritage and history fuel the imagination. It's a journey that starts and ends in Uzice and takes in the famous Sargan Eight narrow-gauge railway.

Related articleFull text online

The City by the Elbe: Torgau and the Reformation

This is at one level the story of a renegade monk and a runaway nun. But it's also the wider story of the Reformation in Saxony. Join us as we explore Torgau, a town on the banks of the River Elbe in eastern Germany which played second fiddle to Wittenberg in the Reformation. It is 500 years since Martin Luther kicked off a movement which was to divide the Catholic Church.

Related articleFull text online

Where God grew stones: a Mani odyssey

Patrick Leigh Fermor's 1958 book on the Mani region of southern Greece helped put Mani on the map. Today it pulls the tourist crowds, yet it still retains a raw appeal. Guest contributor Duncan JD Smith dives deep into Mani to explore the otherworldly landscapes of this arid peninsula.