Graceful beauty in the residential area at Stern in Potsdam: “Sonja, sports student”, created by sculptor Dietrich Rohde in 1973.
Photo: imago/Martin Müller
I have heat. Since it’s gotten cooler, the nights no longer torment me, but temperature differences can still be shocking. Sometimes it’s the cup of coffee, other times the stairs in a heated building – and I’m on fire, wanting to tear everything down, including a bad mood. It doesn’t stop, I haven’t been able to wear a wool sweater or anything long-sleeved for years. Others sit wrapped up in knitwear while I roll down my arm warmers and gasp for air with my red head in my short sleeves. “Aren’t you cold?”
Last week in the former border area between Berlin and Potsdam. I take the bus On the wood and In the valley over to Jagdhausstrasse. I don’t feel very romantic, the bus is rumbling, my lined jacket is far too warm for the sunny day. An older woman eyes me suspiciously, perhaps because of my flashy sunglasses. A little later, when I cross a red light – apart from the departing bus there is no vehicle in sight – a pensioner with a dog shakes his head indignantly.
Above water
private
Anne Hahn is an author of novels and non-fiction books and swims the waters of the world for “nd”.
Sanitized WBS-70 buildings without elevator, parking spaces, clothing collection containers. A few high-rise buildings, subtle green spaces. A naked girl gracefully holds her arms in the swirling leaves. It’s the one Sonja from Sportstudenta bronze sculpture by Dietrich Rohde that was installed in front of the swimming pool on Brauhausberg from 1974 to 2011 and has found a new home here. The one behind her Kiezbad am Stern is well heated. The lady at the ticket office has never seen a “Berlin Ticket S” before, and after consulting with two other employees, a paper is requested as proof of authorization. I’m on fire and, exasperated, I demand a swim without a discount. I don’t need a sauna anymore anyway. I pay 5.90 euros and rush, shoes in hand, into the gray and white labyrinth of the changing room.
Jacket down, clothes off. Photography is expressly forbidden, colorful cupboard doors, low ceiling. To the shower between frosted glass panes. Gray stripes accentuate pretty yellow tiles, and two shower cells are lockable. The hall looks friendly, glass windows facing the autumn sky, mosaic benches, and a large star adorns the back wall. The water is wonderfully cool. A dozen pensioners swim comfortably, four people train on the off-leash lane, and children learn to swim on the window side. Older children jump from starting blocks or play in the children’s pool.
A grandmother looks at me angrily when I sit down in the shallow pool under the backlight half an hour later, without an accompanying child. Her husband plays shark, the pair of primary school-aged grandchildren cheers with joy. I enjoy the chatter on the shoulders until it gets loud. I squint toward the main pool and see a pensioner screaming and offering to punch another. He has put his towel on a bench, and probably also his hearing aid, because he continues his journey. The offended bench sitter has to give in and rest a few centimeters away from his usual seat, I close my eyes. Peace returns.
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