5,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: tredition
- Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
- Sprache: Englisch
A look back and wistful memories of a childhood in post-war southern Europe. The street in the author's home town, Rue du Docteur Gustave Rioblanc, no longer exists today. The unique attitude to life and the peaceful coexistence of all its wonderful inhabitants disappeared 50 years ago in the course of political and social events, which increasingly put pressure on the tolerance, respect for diversity and love of humanity that was actually practised. The protagonists of this little book were scattered to the four winds. Like the narrator, they dream - if they have not already died - of their sunken island. They see the violence and hatred between people of different religions and origins in many places today and yet carry the certainty in their hearts that things can be different. In addition to the wistful memories, the hope remains that somewhere in the world there is a similar island or that it will rise again.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 200
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
Ähnliche
Table of Content
Table of Content
Dedication
Cover
Copywright
Author
1. Foreword
2. Declaration of love to the place of my childhood
3. The historical context
3.1 Preliminary remark
3.2 Conclusion
4. The residential district
5. The Rue du Dr. Gustave Rioblanc
5.1 The residents of the street
5.2 Life on the street
5.2.1 Celebrating together
5.2.2 Summer
5.2.3 The communal harvests
5.2.4 Joint education
5.2.5 The social evenings
5.2.6 Political discussions
5.2.7 Religious discussions
6. La Corniche
7. Cap Blanc
8. The dissolution of the street
9. The departure
10. Most important insights
11. No tolerance for the intolerant
12. 50 years later in Germany
12.1 Preliminary remark
12.2 My living environment
12.3 Happy?
12.4 Was the price too high?
12.5 Conclusion
13. Epilogue
Dedication
For my parents, my grandparents and all the residents of the street who helped give me a good upbringing
For all people who have suffered and continue to suffer from intolerance
For my wife, whose wise advice is always a compass for me
Against stupidity, intolerance, hypocrisy and racism, even within the family
Cover
Michael Ghanem
I often think...
of the Rue du
Doctor Gustave Rioblanc
A lost island of tolerance
Copywright
© 2025 Michael Ghanem
Website: https://michael-ghanem.de/
Printing and distribution on behalf of the author:
tredition GmbH, Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany
ISBN
Softcover
978-3-384-72536-3
Hardcover978-3-384-72537-0
E-Book978-3-384-72538-7
This work, including all parts thereof, is protected by copyright. The author is responsible for the content. Any use without his consent is prohibited. Publication and distribution are carried out on behalf of the author, who can be contacted at the following address: tredition GmbH, ‘Impressumservice’ department, Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany.
Image used:
https://pxhere.com/de/photo/1200185?utm_content=shareClip&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pxhere CCO Public Domain
Contact address in accordance with the European Product Safety Regulation:
Author
About the author: Michael Ghanem
https://michael-ghanem.de/
https://die-gedanken-sind-frei.org/
Born in 1949, Michael Ghanem grew up in France and graduated from an elite French university for industrial engineers. After moving to Germany, he studied economics, sociology, political science, philosophy and ethics.
Bonn, October 2025
In the field of philosophy, he was strongly influenced by the philosophy and teachings of Zarathustra, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Rabelais, Michael de Montaigne, Baruch de Spinoza, Thomas Aquinas, Ibn Chaldun, Niccolo Machiavelli, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Voltaire, Jean Jaques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Gottfried W. Leibniz, Auguste Comte, Arthur Schopenhauer, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Henri Bergson, Karl Popper, Karl Jaspers, Erich Fromm. The Frankfurt School with its teachers Jürgen Habermas and Adorno have strongly influenced him, as have Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Claude Levy-Strauss, Dalai Lama, Luc Ferry, Peter Sloterdijk, Werner Lachmann, Amartya Sen, Oswald Nell-Brauning and Niklas Luhmann.
In sociology, he is strongly orientated towards the Cologne School with his teachers Rene König and Erwin K. Scheuch as well as Gustave Lebon. In political science, he was also influenced by the Cologne School or the Cologne-Mannheim School.
In the field of economics, he was strongly influenced by the post-Keynesian and behavioural economists. He is very critical of the teachings of Milton Friedmann, the Chicago Boys, the Freiburg School and Friedrich A. Hayek. He feels a close affinity with Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, James K. Galbraith, Daniel Kahneman, Thomas Piketty and the Club of Rome.
His professional career initially led him to an international organisation, for which he worked for 5 years as a project controller for large water projects, mainly in Africa, where he got to know a large number of countries and their leaders. He then worked for many years with a European organisation and several international consulting firms as a consultant for the modernisation of a wide range of industries and companies.
He sees himself as a critic of today's globalisation and has been a strong advocate of water management issues since 1974.
This experience has resulted in a deep understanding of geopolitical issues and enables him to assess current political developments, particularly against the background of economic interdependencies.
Since his retirement, he has lived in seclusion in Bonn and works as a writer. In his publications, he focuses primarily on the pressing social, economic and political issues of our time, as well as water management.
To date, numerous publications have appeared at on the topics of politics and geopolitics, society and the economy. He is the author of more than 100 books to date. In the field of politics, his main focus is a critical examination of Germany. Other topics include health, identity, racism, the environment, migration, water management, Africa, population development and alternative economic systems such as the anti-fragility economy. He has also published a number of short stories and fairy tales.
This is a selection of his publications to date:
Non-fiction books on politics, economics, society
Geopolitics
‘The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 1 - Introduction - A Critical Review of the West 1949-2023’
‘The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 2: Deep Fall of the Military, Building Blocks of Geopolitics, World Order in Transition, Conflict Potentials’
‘The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 3: Building Blocks of Military Potential - The End of Hegemony’
‘The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 4: Country Profiles - Multiple Systemic Failures - Accidents of History - Water and World Hunger - Climate and Energy Supergau - BRICS versus G7’
"The deep fall of the West and the bitter tears of Europe, Part 5: Problem cases: Population bomb migration, integration poverty and hunger raw materials"
‘Africa between curse and blessing Part 1: Water’
‘Water as a global power - Part 1: Overview and assessment 2021’
On the state of Germany
‘Germany's deep fall, Volume 1A Health’
‘Germany's deep fall, Volume 1B Health’
‘2005 - 2021 Germany's lost 16 years - Angela Merkel's balance sheet’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 1: Angela Merkel - An interim balance sheet’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 2: Political system - Quo vadis?’
‘2005-2018 Germany's Lost 13 Years Part 3: Society - Balance Sheet and Outlook’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 4: German economy - Quo vadis?’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 5: Internal security - Quo vadis?’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 6: Justice- Quo vadis?’
"2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 7: Health - Quo vadis? Volume A"
"2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 7: Health - Quo vadis? Volume B"
"2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 7: Health - Quo vadis? Volume C"
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 8: Poverty, old age, care - Quo vadis?’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 9: Building and renting in Germany - No thanks’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 10: Education in Germany’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 11: The decline of the media’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 12: Literature - Quo vadis - Part A’
‘2005-2018 Germany's lost 13 years Part 13: Development policy - Quo vadis - Part A’
German politics
"German identity - Quo vadis?
"German identity and homeland - Quo vadis?
"I know we can! An opportunity for Germany"
"The Germans - a cursed people?
‘The Greens or The Feminist Club - 10 reasons NOT to vote for the Greens’
‘AKK - No thanks!’
‘A chance for democracy’
‘Non-voters are also voters’
‘Germany's Titanic - The Berlin Republic’
‘In the stranglehold of the political parties, part 1’
"Lord forgive them not! For they know what they are doing!"
‘Symptoms of Germany's decline - do we have to put up with it?’
‘Is Germany built on sand?’
‘Four million disenfranchised Germans’
Economy and finance
‘Approaches to an anti-fragility economy’
‘In the stranglehold of the financial sector, part 1’
‘In the stranglehold of government debt, part 1’
‘In the stranglehold of government debt, part 2’
Population, migration, integration
‘In the stranglehold of migration and integration’
‘In the stranglehold of the population bomb, poverty and nutrition, part 1’
Racism
‘In the stranglehold of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, right-wing radicalism, fascism, part 1’
‘Theses on the equality of the races’
‘Balance and decline and the fear of the white man’
Man and society
‘The power of the word’
‘The new horsemen of the apocalypse’
‘Crises in times of Corona, part 1’
‘Corona 2021 - Waiting for Godot’
‘Time - an unrecognised world power’ Volume 1 of the ‘Man & Society’ series
‘Only courage - stand up’
Stories
‘Adventure Germany: Confessions about this country -’
‘A little prince and a little blue siren’
"I often think ... of the Rue du Docteur Gustave Rioblanc - Sunken Island of Tolerance"
‘Tales of a shadow man’
‘21 days in a clinic full of fools’
‘Sayings and wisdom’
‘Leonidas the Great - I am a human being’
"50 years of life in Germany - A mistake? A destiny"
‘A road without a soul’
‘The devil's pond - a fairy tale’
‘The legend of the house by the lake’
‘If I were the Lord God one day’
‘Love means’
‘Thank you, Mr Teacher,’
‘The legend of the spring’
‘The legend of Annette - Dream of an unfulfillable love’
‘Peace and freedom: I wanted to plant an olive tree - I wanted to plant an orange tree’
‘The world is so beautiful’
‘The old ship - A tribute to old iron’
‘If she would read this, The little grande dame so brave for me’
"I can never stop loving you. Tender memories of 50 years together"
‘The forgotten strand of hair’
‘The lilac’
1. Foreword
I have decided to describe the street of my childhood in more detail because my childhood was the happiest time of my life. This childhood place was characterised by a relatively high cultural level, which was based on a real tolerance of different people and their different cultures. I learnt there what experienced tolerance means, beyond theoretical explanations. When I watch some political discussions about tolerance on television today, I have to ask myself whether those present there have really understood the concept of tolerance. When I am admonished by do-gooders and so-called popular educators to adopt a prescribed tolerance, I have to ask myself whether the panellists have ever experienced tolerance in real life beyond reading a few theoretical books. Moral cudgels to force tolerant behaviour have never brought the desired result. Because those who wield such clubs demonstrate their intolerance in this very appeal.
In what follows, I have always orientated myself on the formative experiences of my childhood, which in retrospect proved to be an island of tolerance. I have not written this memoir from preconceived writings, but freely from my memory. This book came about with the important help of my wife. Some forgotten memories were brought back to me by telephone conversations with friends from my childhood.
Rue du Docteur Rioblanc no longer exists today. The unique attitude to life and the coexistence of all its wonderful inhabitants have been lost in the course of political and social events, which have increasingly put pressure on the tolerance, respect for diversity and love of humanity that is actually practised. The protagonists of this little book have been scattered to the four winds and - if they have not already died - dream of their sunken island, as I do. They see the violence and hatred between people of different religions and origins in many places today and yet carry the certainty in their hearts that things can be different. In addition to the wistful memories, the hope remains that somewhere in the world there is a similar island or that it will rise again.
2. Declaration of love to the place of my childhood
Beloved place where I first saw the world, please do not be angry with me for neglecting you so much in recent years. I always carry you in my heart, even if you have to share my heart with a mortal Northern European woman and a Northern European city. You were the cradle of part of humanity in the Mediterranean; no one can deny that. Your place in my heart is no smaller than that occupied by Northern Europe. I have forgotten nothing; one forgets nothing, one just gets used to many things.
I have not forgotten my first steps on the beach by the water. I have not forgotten your pleasant weather, which protected us children. I have not forgotten the beauty of the silver waves in the inner lake. I have not forgotten the true-blue colour of the canal and the bay on the days when you are kind to us. I have not forgotten the foam washing up on the beach with a sound like a lullaby.
I have not forgotten to think of the song of the sea to the rocks, which will not cease from ancient times to eternity. Your inner lake, which provides natural protection for ships of all sizes. I will never forget that several large shipyards settled on your lake, where large warships were built and repaired.
I will never forget the large harbour that begins at the end of the canal and extends to the middle of the inner lake, welcoming ships of all sizes. I will never forget how the girls offered their services to the sailors when the ships arrived, often accompanied by a song by Melina Mercouri.
I will not forget that opposite the harbour stood the small but very beautiful Orthodox church built by Christians who had fled the October Revolution in Russia.
I will not forget how you behave like a capricious lover. I will never forget how some of our poets and writers described you as the ‘most beautiful Salambo’ of the Mediterranean.
I will never forget that despite the occupation during the Second World War and despite a cemetery of several German soldiers, you never held the war against them.
I will never forget that from May onwards every year, the scent of jasmine and oranges intoxicated people and that the nights on the ‘plage’ lasted all night long up to the Corniche. They were very sensual nights.
I will never forget your green belt, adorned with oranges, mandarins, lemons, figs, grapes, mulberries, cacti, eucalyptus, jasmine, and lavender, all blending into an unforgettable scent that intoxicated men and women.
I will never forget the long evenings at the old harbour, where young women waited anxiously among old sailors for their husbands to return. I will never forget the images of joyful reunions when the individual ships came home. Sometimes one or two fishermen were missing from the boat, and a major alarm was raised. Military boats went out in search of them, very often in vain. The town would then mourn its lost sons for several days.
I will never forget how pretty you made yourself to welcome us back from our trips abroad.
I will never forget how the young girls put flowers and jasmine in their hair to seduce us.
I will never forget how your gold- and silversmiths accomplished seemingly impossible things to make wedding gifts for their loved ones. I will never forget that you assimilated over 80 ethnic groups and formed such a large family. You were strict with them all but at the same time well-disposed towards them. Everyone could live according to their own customs, provided they respected others. I will never forget that, for you, the position of women was just as important as that of men.
I will never forget the hustle and bustle of the Marché Central, where all kinds of spices from the Occident and the Orient were on offer, the most beautiful fish, and the best meat and vegetables from all over the world. Added to this was a colourful atmosphere of decency and fairness.
I will never forget the arrival of the fishing boats, bringing home the fresh produce of the Mediterranean, and the trade that began as soon as the boats landed.
I will never forget how, at around three o'clock in the morning, fresh bouillabaisse was served at the old harbour, which is now a delicacy. You made all this possible for us and never asked for anything in return.
Eight fundamentally different religions were practised in your midst, without any one of them claiming to dominate the others. Even the heated discussions between representatives of the respective religions were conducted in a very civilised manner. This was because they were also half-relatives or friends. You also made it possible for many a dispute or neighbourly disagreement to be resolved over a glass of rosé in the old harbour. Many of your children have become or are becoming part of an intellectual elite that now lives in other countries. That is why, for me, you are one of the most beautiful lovers one can have. I therefore ask you not to regret too much that I have not spoken to you for a very long time, let alone written about you. You are and remain the largest part of my inner compass. Please don't hold it against me that I profess my allegiance to a foreign people, even if this people have not always been kind to you in the past. You know that I fell in love here, with one of its girls, and that over time I have learnt to appreciate these people as well. You are and will remain a part of me that I will never give up.
3. The historical context
3.1 Preliminary remark
Contemporary descriptions of this street take place in the 1950s and 1960s up to 1963. During this period, both profound geopolitical events and internal French events took place.
The 1950s
International political events of the 1950s:
A selection of culturally significant events of the 1950s:
Important figures of the 1950s (a selection):
The following individuals, among others, shaped the music of the 1950s:
Films of the 1950s were influenced by the following people, among others:
Oscar winners, e.g.
French events of the 1950s
Fashion
French fashion in the 1950s was defined by:
Economy and society:
The following films were influential:
