bratislava (=: BA), SK

i was not sure, should i call this blog post 'mama, next chapter' or 'bratislava 2022'. well, bratislava (=: BA =: blava, as the locals say) is more neutral, isn't it? 🍀

the castle of pressburg (DE+AT) / presporok (SK) / poszony (HU)

/ posonium (latin) = today the capital of slovakia, bratislava (SK)

i welcomed the chance, that slovakia (slowakei, slovensko) finally terminated its mad corona quarantine regulations (even for negative tested (!) unvaccinated people like me) on april, 6th and i could visit my brother's family who take care of our ailing mother. as i still could work mobile at that time, i spontaneously deciced to stay for the whole easter week. what a good idea! just a week later i had to come to the office 3 times a week 😂

what about my mother? well, she is soooo weak and forgets everything, even how and why to eat. on the other hand, she's fine in many ways. she has no body aches, get's everything she needs and even smiles from time to time, especially when she gets something sweet. the whole situation is worse for my sister-in-law and the whole family than for my mother, if you asked me. good luck + all the best, dear mama 💗🍀💔

 

mother and son. google's AI still recognizes her fast changing face even with closed eyes as my mother and suggests to marke her as my mother. how do they do it? 😄

 

as there is a war in ukraine, less than 100 km east from my home city kosice (SK), i will direct your attention also to bratislava's multi-language, multi-national, multi-cultural and  peaceful past, okay?

pressburg (DE+AT) / presporok (SK) / pozsony (HU) => bratislava (SK): after the mongol invasions and conquests 1206 - 1405 was today's slovakia a quite empty place and many german settlers came here. therefore was bratislava (then called pressburg) many hundred years a german (speaking) city. before the austro-hungarian compromise of 1867 were approx. 75% of the inhabitants germans, followed by slovaks und hungarians. pressburg was also the place where the austrian kings were crowned. after the austro-hungarian compromise started a hungarisation of the city. in 1919, when the first czechoslovak republic was formed, were 36% germans, 33% slovaks and 29% hungarians. today are more than 90% slovaks. if interersted, you can read even more detailed data copied from wikipedia.DE below. how did the folks live together in former times?

i will tell you about the coexistence of nations in slovakia as i know from my parents and grandparents from einsiedel an der göllnitz, a village founded by german settlers in 1230 in eastern slovakia. before WW II, there were more than 95% germans. they married and got children in german communities among the neighbouring villages / cities, but worked all together with other nations [germans, slovaks, rusyns (russinen, ruthenen, rusnaci - today belong mostly to ukrainians), hungarians]. my grandpa as a mason / bricklayer thus spoke not only german, but also some basics in the other languages. my grandma as a housewife spoke german only. 

=> it there was no politics, the people could probably live in peace an cooperation with all other nations, couldn't they?

enjoy few pictures:

pressburg's / bratislava's city mayor heinrich justi (1804–1878) changed the city to a modern and better place in many ways and was also the founder of the forest park in pressburg.

me, trying to take care of brother's children, #1 😍

mill klepac, zelezna studienka, BA

 

 

 

 

beer with my father and with my brother's family. btw, the patronka brewery was an ammunition factory before. beer is better than war, what do you think?

kosice (SK), painted by the ukrainian painter curej / tschurei / czuray

today's western ukraine (called zakarpatska rus with the carpatian hills and the cities uzhorod, mukacevo) belonged to czechoslovakia before WWII. painted by the ukrainian painter czuray

 there is the ukrainian ambassy close to my brother's home

probably some russian beauties from vk, the russian facebook

arts?

there is also the chinese ambassy close to my brother's home.

what a nice mission statement for the (new) SILK ROAD ~ peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit

china along the new silk road

 the patronka brewery was an ammunition factory before. beer is better than war 🍺

  

me, trying to take care of brother's children, #2 😍

 

gruber family tree ~ stammbaum ~ rodokmen.

my mother was special in many ways. she could take so much effort in order to finish s.th. important for her. thanks, dear mother 😍

 

historic electric busses in bratislava today

 dubravka, the former croatian village in the hills above BA

 new dubravka

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source wikipedia.DE 26.05.2022:

• 1850/51 hatte Bratislava 42.238 Einwohner. Davon waren 31.509 (74,59 Prozent) Deutsche, 7.586 (17,9 Prozent) Slowaken und 3.154 (7,4 Prozent) Magyaren. Nach dem Österreichisch-Ungarischen Ausgleich von 1867 setzte eine intensive, von der ungarischen Regierung geförderte Magyarisierung ein. 
• 1890 wurden 52.441 Einwohner gezählt, davon 31.404 (59,9 Prozent) Deutsche, 10.433 (19,9 Prozent) Magyaren und 8.709 (16,6 Prozent) Slowaken. 
• Unmittelbar nach der Gründung der Tschechoslowakei wurden im August 1919 insgesamt 36 Prozent Deutsche, 33 Prozent Slowaken, 29 Prozent Magyaren und 1,7 Prozent andere gezählt.
• Im Jahr 1930 waren 25 Prozent Deutsche, 33 Prozent Slowaken, 23 Prozent Tschechen, 16 Prozent Magyaren und 3,833 Prozent Juden in der Stadt ansässig. Die Bevölkerungsstruktur hatte sich vor allem durch Zuzug von Tschechen verändert; außerdem wurden nun Juden separat erfasst, die sich zuvor aufgrund ihrer Sprache entweder als Deutsche oder als Magyaren deklariert hatten. Die Gründung des Slowakischen Staates im Jahr 1939 hatte die Ausweisung vieler Tschechen zur Folge. Die slowakischen Juden wurden zwischen 1942 und 1944 deportiert und ermordet.
• today vs. 2001: Die größte Ethnie sind die Slowaken mit 373.568 Einwohnern (90,84 Prozent, 2001: 391.767), gefolgt von Magyaren mit 14.119 (3,43 Prozent, 2001: 16.541), Tschechen mit 5.445 (1,32 Prozent, 2001: 7.972) und Deutschen mit 963 (0,23 Prozent, 2001: 1.200). Weitere ethnische Gruppen sind Mährer (783 Einw., 2001: 635 Einw.), Russinen (747 Einw., 2001: 461 Einw.), Kroaten (649 Einw., 2001: 614 Einw.), Ukrainer (454 Einw., 2001: 452 Einw.), Russen (446 Einw., 2001: 399 Einw.) Polen (404 Einw., 2001: 339 Einw.), Roma (370 Einw., 2001: 417 Einw.) und Bulgaren (368 Einw., 2001: 475 Einw.). Bei 10.016 Einwohnern konnte die Ethnie nicht festgestellt werden (2001: 5.680).

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many, many additional pictures here.

pictures from my last visit to slovakia in 2021.