Yes We Can (Call It That)

I don’t know whether I mentioned it or not, but there is an interesting house in the nearby village of Bruchhausen-Vilsen which caught my attention a while back. Interesting because of its history, more than anything else, and as an addition the plans which have been put forward for it.

The house is the old railway station on the eastern side of Bruchhausen – Bruchhausen-Vilsen being two villages which amalgamated many decades ago and which still have not come to terms with their fusion – dating back to the golden age of steam railways and an active commuter line between Hoya and Bruchhausen-Vilsen or, to cover its complete length, Eystrup and Syke. The railway line is still there, still in use, but not as a main commuter line any more, more for tourists, which is one of the reasons why the old railway station was closed down and brought to other uses.

Photo Source: Tamara

The ‘other uses’ in this case was as a brothel, which managed to survive for many years using a variety of services from young woman from a variety of countries with a variety of languages which did not include much German, and a wide variety of probably illegal entry means into the country in the first place. Eventually the brothel closed, the owners found that there wasn’t enough interest to keep it going, that the revenue sources were drying up – or that the women couldn’t be caught and brought in all that easily – and there was no future. Also, it would appear, no future for the house, which was set on fire in order to claim the insurance.

A complete wreck – which the insurance didn’t pay out for – the house then stood for a while, open to wind and weather, while the various officials in their offices played hide and seek with paperwork, money and such like. The owners became either no more or filed for bankruptcy, and the house was foreclosed.

The village of Bruchhausen-Vilsen, seeing that they had a good opportunity here, decided not to let the foreclosure bring new owners – the going price was a neat ten thousand Euro – and purchased it themselves, with the promise of making something out of it, although no one could say what.

For a while it looked as if someone was doing something, but then they gave up and a barely begun renovation was left open to wind and weather. Until this last week. The newspapers carried the joyful news that a cooperative has been set up and has given itself a name and a plan: the house will be renovated and used as a bed and breakfast – or something similar – for tourists.

And the name? They’ve based the name of the project on the name of the street – Maidamm – and the name of the house – Ostbahnhof – taking a few letters from each word to form a whole and to prove that Yes, they can do it and nothing is going to hold them back with the right backing from the people.

The project is called ObaMa.

Love & Kisses, Viki.

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