The parking lot began to fill up in the morning. In the afternoon, cars with Czech license plates clearly predominated. For example, in the district town of Cham, which is roughly 20 kilometers from the border on the way from Domažlice.
Elongated faces. Us and the Germans
Full baskets contained everything possible. Toilet paper, washing powder and fabric softener, even charcoal was already taken. And of course sausages for grilling – the local ALDI offered Munich, Nuremberg, Franconian and Thuringian sausages. It all disappeared like after a locust attack.
The price of hard alcohol in ALDI. Photo: Václav Fiala
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“I’m not surprised that the Poles have had enough of your shopping raids. I’m also slowly starting to get annoyed by the queues at the cash registers and the impossibility to do some shopping in peace in the afternoon, because there are Czechs everywhere,” states an elderly local citizen. We simply slept longer, then started the cars and headed to the border crossings. Many may have been surprised by the presence of the police there, but this is already a longer-term fact that random checks have been introduced again, mainly due to illegal migration.
Per thousand discount
When you stop in the local Lidl, you will not experience such a frontal attack on goods from the Czechs. We ourselves were surprised that the practice of reducing prices by a few cents is strangely the same in Germany as in our country, where it sometimes goes to extremes – not a few crowns, but long-defunct metal pennies. A discount in the amount of a few per thousand of the price is rather ridiculous, but even the citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany are already familiar with the situation. As they deliver, prices are tight and every penny saved is good. “A cent to a cent and you have a euro,” they state.
Tomatoes in Lidl in Cham. Photo: Václav Fiala
Tomatoes at ALDI. Photo: Václav Fiala
Radishes. Photo: Václav Fiala
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The Czechs are sometimes grandiose and leave cashiers a small “trinkgeld” and round up to tens of euros. And the cashiers are aware of this and smile even more than usual in this case.
Alcohol is also a cheaper product. Give a few euros and save more than a hundred crowns.
Like an exhibition… after a quarter of a century, it’s here again
“It’s terrible what the price differences are,” says a woman who came with her family and relatives from Domažlice. “We go around all possible markets here and look, and we still can’t get enough of being surprised. Where have we come with those prices? And with the quality… there is no bruised, let alone rotten fruit or somehow too dry vegetables to be seen here.”
I remember how people used to go to Germany for all kinds of technology and how there were sometimes warnings for Czechs not to steal. Today, we are valued clients and, according to other buyers, our eyes for tears remain in the country.
Cheap rice. Photo: Václav Fiala
“Look at those packaged chilled beef steaks, they’re beautiful,” enthuses another visitor, a young man in his thirties. “You know where it’s from and the quality is first class. Everything described as it should be. And that’s what the Germans want to give up as part of the Green Deal?”
For a snack, Czechs also stop at the local Burger King. Here you have the latest hit, a beef burger with cheddar for less than 9 euros. Change for 12. Comparable price, quality without comment.
Photogallery: – Night wolves by day in Olšany
Memories sank under the weight of consumerism
Visitors to Germany on the day we commemorate the end of World War II will not remember much about the anniversary. Nor will cultural programs and exhibitions in neighboring Bavaria appeal to them. For the Czechs, it seems, shopping is no longer a passion, but an obsession. Sometimes they ask what is happening in our country that so many Czechs come here – and it is not the other way around, the increased movement of spring car tourists from Germany is not recorded much on Czech roads. Nobody here wants to talk about war and liberation. For some a taboo and sensitive topic, for most Germans a fact that they have suppressed.
Action in German Lidl. Photo: Václav Fiala
When the crunch turns bitter
It is said that Czechs only have time for a coffee or a beer on weekends, or when there are several days off together. This abundantly fills the Bavarian countryside and cities, and these are not shopping trips. Prices here are stagnant or going down. “Unbelievable,” shakes the head of an elderly lady who came here from Pilsen. “Sixty years ago, they had nothing to say. And today we have that mouth open. I don’t know why we outstripped them. And I’m afraid it won’t get any better. Take a look at those peanut crisps, for example. Not only a large package for a small price, but mainly the composition. No palm or coconut oil, but sunflower oil. Here you would see something like this. You can find it, but you have to search in several markets. And the fact that we are closed on the holiday is our pity. Our people just go out. So there is really no danger of them celebrating the holidays and being at home…”
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author: Václav Fiala
Tags: Czechs occupied Germany yesterday buying elongated face Germans
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