A Dark Anniversary and a Non-Anniversary

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Since the themed post “dark tourism & cars” and last Sunday’s newsletter, two more blog posts have gone up.

The first one was on Wednesday 7 October and marked the former GDR’s “Tag der Republik” (‘day of the republic’) on which that ex-state used to celebrate its founding in 1949. It didn’t get to mark its 41st anniversary in 1990, because days before that date the GDR had ceased to exist with Germany’s reunification. So that’s what is meant in the title by a “non-anniversary”. This week I marked it by digging into my archives and “recycling” material from my purged Facebook page that I had posted on that date over the years as long as I still could. I also added some further GDR-related photos, so it was quite a kaleidoscope.

The second post went up on Friday 9 October – and that day is a truly dark anniversary, namely that of the tragic Vajont Dam disaster in northern Italy in the late evening of that date in 1963. A massive landslide displaced millions of cubic metres of water from the reservoir that had formed in front of the dam (for hydroelectric power generation), which was still relatively new at the time. This gigantic flood wave overshot the crest of the dam and rushed down the gorge behind it towards the town of Longarone, destroying houses and killing some 2000 people.

It wasn’t solely a natural disaster, though, because there had been warnings about the instability of the mountain, but the authorities chose to ignore them. In that sense it was also a man-made disaster at the same time. With the reservoir partially filled in by the landslide’s debris and with the hydroelectric power station’s operation building washed away, the dam lost its function and so nature is slowly reclaiming the artificial lake.

Remarkably, the dam itself survived the disaster almost unscathed except for a slightly scraped top. It is still standing today. A metal walkway was constructed along the crest and you can go on guided tours along this, ending at a viewing platform at the other end from where you can gaze down into the deep abyss behind the 262m high dam.

The Vajont dam is indeed one of the most unique dark-tourism sites anywhere, not just for the tragic story it’s associated with but also because it is visually so stunning. The post illustrated this with a series of photos, which were also taken from the ex-Facebook archive pages. The one at the top of this newsletter shows the crest of the dam with its metal walkway.

I made my life a little easier by using previously posted material and adapting it, because this week I was busy with the last really major bit of work I have to do for my book – namely writing the introduction. A first draft is now finished, but will require more careful attention and proofing, because the intro takes up arguably the most important few pages of the entire book. So it just has to be right. And it has to remain within the tight spatial constraints of just four pages in total (or max. 2500 words). Tricky, but I’ve managed. Now I have to re-read and re-assess it (without adding too many words, of course) a few times until I’m fully satisfied with it. Theoretically I have until the end of the month before I have to submit those pages, though, so there is still some time.

In between I also received the proofs of a short (five-page) article I was commissioned to contribute to a German magazine, so my proof-reading mode still being in full swing came in handy here too. A few things needed slight corrections but the overall result looks pretty cool as well. As it is for a regional magazine for Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg, five places within that region are introduced. If the article also becomes available online, I’ll post a link in a later newsletter once the piece has been published (I think that is to be in early December).

Today I had to exercise my voting rights, for what little they’re worth, namely here in Vienna, where I can’t participate in the mayoral election as a non-Austrian, but am allowed to cast my vote for the representation of the district I live in. That’s at least something, and more than my British wife can say. For the first time I have to go voting in this alone, as she has now – “thanks” to Brexit – also lost that final little bit of her democratic participation rights. Now she can’t vote any more at all, not anywhere.

But that shall be it for this time.

I’ll see if I can post more on the blog this coming week – and then of course I’ll send the next newsletter in a week’s time.

Until then – have a good week.

Peter