Vacation in France while the flood victims in the Ahr Valley are faced with the ruins of their livelihoods?
That feels wrong.
And so I set off for an inconspicuous industrial park in Grafschaft on the A 61. It has become the headquarters of the volunteers in the floodplains around Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.
Buses to the affected communities leave here every day.
The Helfer-Shuttle Ahrtal has its own website.
Flood victims can request volunteers there and they will receive the most important information there.
“No advance notice required - just drop by,” they say.
"Please bring rubber boots and gloves." Masks are also important, against corona - and the dust.
Stefan Tomik
Editor in politics.
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The open spaces in the industrial area are already pretty much parked when I arrive around ten o'clock.
There are mobile homes and cars with roof tents.
Some are probably preparing for a longer stay.
Many come from the region, you can tell from the license plates, others from Stuttgart, Nuremberg or Eckernförde.
Bundeswehr helicopters rattle above us.
A long line has formed at the bus stop.
I am quickly recognized as a newcomer because I don't have rubber boots and thought that hiking boots would be enough.
I could forget that right away, says Bärbel, 53 years old, nurse and alternative practitioner.
The mud in the cellars is knee-deep, if not higher.
Bärbel decides that she will take me into her team of helpers, my consent is not required: "We will adopt you."
We are now six working together. Barbel's son Ben is also there, as well as Gisela, a painter and varnisher, Mona, a student teacher, and Birgit, who teaches at a primary school. Bärbel fished a specific address from a Whatsapp group. We are supposed to help in Ahrweiler to clear out the full basement of an apartment building. Luckily there are rubber boots ready in the helper's quarters, I grab a pair, and then our bus rolls up.
It's hot, and we're standing so close together in the articulated bus that we sweat before work has even started.
Nevertheless, everyone is wearing masks.
The police have blocked the entrance to the place, but our shuttle is allowed through.
It gets quiet on the bus as we roll through the destroyed part of town.
“If you've been here once, you have to come back,” says Bärbel.
"Because then you can no longer find peace, because you know that these people now need every help."
Stacked wrecked cars, like a memorial
At the only still passable bridge, the driver dismisses us with a few tips.
At half past six in the evening we would be picked up at the gas station on the other side of the river.
Anyone who is injured should definitely contact the medical service, as there have already been several blood poisoning.
We walk single file over the bridge, the railing of which was torn away by the flood. I have already seen many pictures from the crisis area, but only now do I understand the extent of the devastation. Schools, daycare centers, gas stations, workshops - everything was flooded. The Ahr stood here up to the upper edge of the ground floor, as can be clearly seen on the house walls. Wrecked cars are stacked on a meadow. It works like a memorial.