Briefe an Susanne, Kommentar                                             Brieftext

231. Paul                                                            Liverpool, 3.8.1967

[im Original:] My dear Susanne,

I thank you for your letter, which I received this morning. I was glad to hear from you because while I have your home address, I hadn’t asked you for your address in Reading. I had indeed intended writing as soon as I got back home.

I can honestly say I learnt a great deal at Carlisle. I think I have to realise just how much. But I would like to thank you for all you have given me and taught me, even in such a short time. I found great pleasure in our discussions and talks, finding you had the same problems and feelings on so many points. I, too, came to understand something of the wonder and loveliness of the idea of Community, not least in our quiet minutes of prayer together in Chapel each night. I cannot put into words what that meant to me, but I feel you understand. For that and for everything, many thanks.

I was pleased to hear that you intended staying with the Andrews. I hope your last few weeks will be happy ones, and that you manage to get some work done. And I wish you all success when you return to Köln. It may be hard but it will be worth it in the end.

I have about six weeks holiday left now, and I shall spend the time decorating the house and going out with the family. Fortunately I need not study until September.

Thank you for your thoughts on the colour problem. I find I think much as you do. What makes it so bad is the unnecessary bitterness which accompanies it. I have been watching a programme on the Aberfan disaster – the coal-mining disaster some ten month ago. There again, even though what happened has happened, people are not ready to forget or to forgive. They cry out for punishment almost as for revenge. Tolerance is a rare virtue these days, but without it we cannot hope to meet people as persons. And without that we cannot understand the notion of Community. The answer to all these problems sometimes seem so obvious and elementary that I wonder why every one does not see them. But again it is too easy to be over-idealistic and superficial. Somewhere in between the two is the right approach.

There are, needless to say, many things I would have liked to have discussed with you at Carlisle. The week was all too short. But if you would like, we can always write – but I warn you, my handwriting is not very legible. I should keep to typing.

For now, anyway, I must say à bientôt, if that can be said in a letter. I know you are very busy, so if I don’t hear from you before you return to Germany, I hope you have a good journey back, and not least – a happy few weeks with the Andrews.

I thank you once again for your letter.

May God bless you and guide you.

the colour problem] Ab Mitte der 1960er Jahre kam es zum Zerfall der amerikanischen Bürgerrechtsbewegung, die sich gegen die Diskriminierung der farbigen Bevölkerungsteile in den USA wehrte. Angesichts zunehmender Gewalt gegen Bürgerrechtler wuchs unter den jungen Radikalen der Bewegung die Sympathie für Anführer wie Malcolm X, einen prominenten Protagonisten der Black-Muslim-Bewegung. In ihrer gewaltbereiten Form drückten sich Black Power und Schwarzer Nationalismus in der Black Panther Party aus. Diese legitimierte ihre Militanz mit der nach wie vor existenten rassistischen Gewalt gegen Schwarze in den USA. Neben ihrem Selbstverständnis als bewaffnete Wachen der schwarzen Bevölkerung verfolgte sie ein radikal sozialistisches Programm, das sich gegen die soziale Benachteiligung Schwarzer richtete. Diese Probleme erwiesen sich als schwieriger zu lösen als die politischen. Die geeinte Bürgerrechtsbewegung war an ihnen gescheitert, ebenso Malcolm X, der 1965 ermordet wurde. Martin Luther King, Sprecher des gewaltlosen Teils der Bewegung, erkannte die Brisanz dieses Themas, das sich von 1964 bis 1967 alljährlich in Rassenunruhen in den Ghettos der Städte des Nordens ausdrückte.

Aberfan disaster] In Aberfan, einem Dorf südlich von Merthyr Tydfil in Südwales ereignete sich am 21. Oktober 1966 ein Grubenunglück. Beim Abrutsch einer Kohleabraumhalde wurden 20 Häuser und eine Farm sowie eine Grundschule und Teile der benachbarten Mittelschule vernichtet. Die meisten Schüler befanden sich zu dieser Zeit in der Aula, wo sie die anglikanische Hymne „All Things Bright and Beautiful“ sangen. Insgesamt wurden 144 Menschen getötet, davon 116 Kinder zwischen sieben und zehn Jahren sowie fünf Lehrer.

Carlisle] Stadt in der Grafschaft Cumbria im äußersten Nordwesten Englands.