The Two Town Story
It was with the supervision
of German prisoners of war that the border-crossing activities of a few
young people in Dagenham was to begin, an activity that has led to a unique
friendship between two cities and to a whole series of joint encounters
and events.
And following 25 years of regular exchange, it was Arthur Durant – one
of those initiators – who was to set down his memories of the twinning
in The Two Town Story. The resulting book was privately published in 1973
and consisted of 216 pages of typewriter paper scaled down. Since the
cost of photos using plates in those days was prohibitive, the book is
not illustrated.
Over in Witten, the idea of translating the story into German was often
floated, if not with tangible results. Until, that is, the Barking & Dagenham
/ Witten Club decided to take the 50th anniversary of the first encounter
as an occasion to bring out a bilingual illustrated version. And so Club
President Rolf Ostermann was able to distribute the first copies of the
translations fresh off the press to the guests from England at the traditional
Witten Onion Fair in 2007.
However, it was a long and winding road. First of all, the English original
would have to be edited since it had soon transpired that the book as
such would not arouse the greatest of interest. After all, a minute description
of every trip and evening meal is not necessarily gripping stuff fifty
years or so after the event! On the other hand, there were some fascinating
accounts worth recording — of the adventure of a first flight, of the
ruined post-war German cities and, with England still operating a rationing
system in the early 1950s, of the tug of war with the Dagenham authorities
regarding food coupons for German guests.
After the editing process, which was carried out by Klaus Lohmann and
Erich Bremm, only the moving preface and the sections about the first
years of the exchange remained intact. However, a number of thematic blocks
were compiled and quotes from Arthur's text used. This approach was aimed
at whetting the appetite for the complete text which appears on a CD,
along with the German translation.
Finding enough picture material for the new edition was not a problem.
What was difficult was pinpointing the right names and dates - and a lot
of research was carried out in Barking & Dagenham and in Witten. Surprisingly,
though, despite the lapse of time, most of the facts could be found and
verified.
The second phase of the project saw more additions to the publishing team.
Birgit Legel-Wood and Paul Wood revised any additional captions and/or
translations. Sylvia Smart took care of the layout and design. Michael
Ritzki was in charge of CD production. A big thank-you to the other helpers
too many to enumerate here.
As for the translation from English into German, a couple of volunteers
were just about to start when Klaus Völkel, the club secretary and a municipal
officer, came across a folder containing the entire text in German in
the cellars of the Witten Town Hall. The Two Town Story had already been
translated into German by Andrea Fischer, shortly after its publication
in English, only to lay forgotten all those years.
The Barking & Dagenham / Witten Club is now pleased to act as publisher
of the book and CD for a nominal charge of €10.00. In Witten, it is available
at the Krüger and Lehmkühl bookshops and at the Witten Tourist Centre.
Text: Erich Bremm