How to survive Vienna?

“You shouldn’t take the grant too seriously”

Andreas Rainer has been collecting everyday Viennese poetry for years. His new book has now been published.

(Bild: Zwefo)

The ÖVP posters entitled Leitkultur are currently on everyone's lips. But what actually constitutes Austrian culture? And to what extent is Viennese culture different? Two writers are currently trying to clarify this and answer the question: How can the most liveable city in the world also be the most unfriendly?

A debate on values has just broken out in Austria - this time under the title of Leitkultur. What do immigrants have to be prepared for when they come to Austria? Integration Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) has invited a number of experts to discuss the issue.

"Tradition instead of multiculturalism"?
In the run-up to the event, it was said: "This is not about us all having to eat schnitzel or listen to Austrian musicians. But Austria is a diverse country that needs a common set of rules that everyone must abide by." The first results of this process are slogans such as "Tradition instead of multiculturalism" (withdrawn), "Tradition and customs" or "Integration through adaptation". This has been met with fierce criticism from many quarters.

Observers of the domestic (un)culture
However, Andreas Rainer (Wiener Alltagspoet) and Irina (Toxische Pommes) also show what Austria stands for in their new books. They are meticulous observers of Austrian (un)culture.

(Bild: Andreas Rainer – Wien man die lebenswerteste Stadt der Welt überlebt / Story One M.Jöchl Krone KREATIV,)

The Viennese Everyday Poet
The Viennese live in the most liveable city in the world. And this is not a new or unique distinction - last year, the Austrian capital was awarded this title for the 11th time in a row (!) in a Mercer study - and the competition is fierce, with 241 major cities being compared. At the same time, however, it is also ranked as the most unfriendly city. How can that be?

The residents make the city
"Vienna is full of contrasts and contradictions that don't really make any sense," says author Andreas Rainer, better known as the Viennese poet of everyday life, who has just published his new book "How to survive the most liveable city in the world". In it, he not only describes his own thoughts on his home city, but also gives a voice to those who make up the city - its inhabitants (see graphics). And here, too, the ambivalence is evident.

(Bild: Andreas Rainer – Wien man die lebenswerteste Stadt der Welt überlebt / Story One M.Jöchl K)

Sitting in a coffee house for three hours and doing nothing is as much a part of Vienna as the Melange. "But if the next subway train takes longer than three minutes, then there's fire under the roof," says Rainer. And although the Viennese always like to grumble about "their" city as soon as a bad word comes from someone from the provinces, they defend it loudly.

Vienna is still one of the safest big cities. But the danger of putting your foot in your mouth is greatest here.

Andreas Rainer, Schriftsteller

But how do you survive the most liveable city in the world? Rainer: "Don't take it too seriously and try to understand the mentality."

Red-white-red stereotypes
"Toxische Pommes" has almost 200,000 fans on Instagram. Her videos have been clicked on several million times on TikTok. The satirist slips into the role of the uncle from the Balkans, who gives her take on world politics. Or she takes a close look at the brutality of traditional German fairy tales. And time and again she plays with red-white-red stereotypes. "I like funny situations, unpleasant encounters, funny descriptions and things that don't fit together," is how she describes her brand of humor.

As "Toxic Fries", the lawyer became a star on the internet.

(Bild: Muhassad al Ani)

A punch in the pit of the stomach
In just a few seconds and often even fewer words, she holds up a mirror to her viewers. Always with a certain amount of self-irony, often with the precision of a punch in the pit of the stomach. The humor in "Toxic French Fries" can hurt. Not much is known about the young woman. In real life, "Toxische Pommes" is called Irina and works as a lawyer in Vienna. Wikipedia tells us that she was born in 1990 in the former Yugoslavia and came to Austria at the age of two. Her debut novel "Ein schönes Ausländerkind" (Zsolnay Verlag) about migration, intra-family relationships and "supposedly correct" integration has now been published. Uprooting is one of the central themes. What do home, home and roots mean to the neo-writer?

Connecting and dividing
Irina: "Today I give them less importance, mainly because I have realized that they do not completely or definitively define a person. Of course, traditions and shared stories are important, and they can connect people in a wonderful way, but unfortunately they can also be misused to exclude and divide."