City Life in the Holiday Season: A Peaceful Respite or a Boring Emptiness?

Schools in some states of Almanya have started their summer holidays, and daily life in the cities is suddenly changing completely. Streets, squares, and parks fall silent as if turning into a ghost town. This situation brings two opposing views for those staying in the city. For some, this emptiness is a rare opportunity to escape the daily hustle and is seen as a paradise. However, another group describes this silence as killing the city's soul, the most boring and dystopian period of the year. Two different German journalists turn this topic into an extremely colorful debate through their own personal experiences.

Oliver vom Hofe from Stern magazine stands out as one of the biggest defenders of cities that empty out during the holiday season. According to him, the real summer season begins right after exams are distributed, when millions of city dwellers flock to the highways to go on vacation. The writer describes with great pleasure how, after people leave the city, the streets, sidewalks, cafes, and squares are dragged into an emptiness. Claiming that days seem to last 25 hours and 26 minutes instead of 24, the writer notes that he has realized a temporal expansion. For him, this period is nothing but a time when life slows down and a unique tranquility gifted by the city.

Living in the writer's always-crowded neighborhood in Ottensen usually means waiting in long lines. Everything from getting ice cream to drinking fair trade coffee, or even going to the hairdresser, requires planning weeks in advance or standing for long periods. Even sitting on a park bench is so difficult that one who finds a sunny spot easily does not accept anyone else. However, when the holiday season begins, all this chaos disappears; even supermarket lines turn into a pleasant walk. Oliver vom Hofe experiences the joy of gaining an extra hour and a half just to sunbathe, with the return of time lost in lines.

On the other hand, Cathin Wissmann, who works at the same magazine, defends a completely different city experience and feels a deep distress about this emptiness. According to Wissmann, the mummified feeling of the city during the holiday season is so unbearable that one day she suddenly decides to surprise her spouse with a day trip to Helgoland island. Imagining a romantic escape during this short vacation, Kathin Wissmann hopes to escape the heavy and boring summer atmosphere of the city. Picturing an island walk with her hair blowing in the wind among colorful houses, the writer must also be prepared for great disappointment. Because she will never find the liveliness and energy she expects, and she will begin to question where she is.

Encountering a scene very different from the lively island of her dreams, Wissmann realizes that they are the youngest passengers even on the ship. Seeing that the elderly, flocking to the island with tour groups from all over Almanya, are the island's only occupants, the writer feels as if she is in a nursing home. This tragicomic situation leaves such a deep mark on the writer that even years later, she is afraid of the idea of going somewhere else when the city gets boring. This fear, which she calls 'Helgoland Syndrome' in her own words, leads her to hate being in places where there are no people her age. For this reason, Wissmann is happier the more crowded and filled with tourists the city is; because she believes that being in places where people are competing for an empty deckchair or bench is being in the thick of life, rather than being in an empty place.