It’s just a myth that Tourismus & Congress Frankfurt GmbH (TCF) in Birmingham operates under the name Tourism & Christmas Frankfurt. But in fact, even older English people are wondering how the population actually got into the mood for Christmas before Frankfurt fundamentally changed the pre-Christmas period in the UK. In 1997, as a supposedly unique gift to the twin city, ten Christmas stalls were shipped across the canal and brought a typical German Christmas market atmosphere to the central English city with a population of just over a million.
“It wasn’t a success yet, but it was the beginning,” says Kurt Stroscher, who, as he once was the event manager for the TCF, still organizes the market today as a pensioner. He changed Christmas on the island. Before the first Frankfurt Christmas Market there was not a single comparable event in the kingdom apart from small weekend events between twin cities, today there are more than 1000 Christmas markets, a dozen of which were initiated and organized by the TCF in the past.
“Overwhelmed by the picture that Frankfurt presents here”
Cultural asset: Of course there are also cuckoo clocks.Daniel Meren
Josef also holds talks with local politicians to maintain contacts. Above all, he wanted to see with his own eyes what he had already heard so much about. “I am overwhelmed by the picture that Frankfurt presents here. Everything from mulled wine to wheat beer to Frankfurt sausages are advertised in German, the English are enthusiastic about our Christmas culture,” he says.
However, Christmas market diplomacy alone should not constitute the town twinning. Instead, Josef wants to work on modernizing the relationship with all 17 Frankfurt partner cities. “It is contemporary how we exchange ideas on issues that affect every city in the world in a similar way. I’m just thinking about health issues or the UN sustainability goals, which can be broken down to the municipalities. Knowledge transfer can be very valuable, a functioning city partnership would be a strong basis of trust,” says Josef.
Christmas Market is suffering from the consequences of Brexit
Head of the Digitization Department O’Sullivan is using her stay to exchange ideas with her counterpart in Birmingham. “We have a lot of very similar challenges that we can help each other with,” says the city councilor. Marion Fleming-Froy has been in charge of city twinning for the Birmingham administration for a long time.
Export hit Christmas market: Mayor Mike Josef visiting the twin city of Birmingham.Daniel Meren
“When our shared partner city Leipzig asked how we had renovated our city over 20 years ago, Frankfurt and we could not tell them how they should redesign their city. But Birmingham was able to provide guidance on which of our mistakes they should avoid and Frankfurt was able to provide knowledge about applying for funding, which Leipzig did not have after reunification.”
Today, much more mutual help is possible, especially because Brexit has caused difficulties from which the Christmas market is also suffering. Almost all showmen have given up because of the obstacles in importing and finding employees. The German ambassador Miguel Berger wants to combat these Brexit aftermath, who made the journey from London to the opening of the Christmas market for the first time because of Josef’s inaugural visit.
“Due to Great Britain leaving the EU, the number of student exchanges fell by 60 percent, and student exchanges even fell by 70 to 75 percent. “This is a development that is very sad,” says Berger. The reasons are the discontinuation of the Erasmus program for students; for English students, the necessary application and the associated costs for a passport are a major obstacle to participation.
“We must therefore return to a passport- and visa-free travel option, at least for children and young people,” says the ambassador. Then young Birmingham residents might not only experience German culture through the Christmas market and more than just mulled wine and a cuckoo clock.
