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In Germany the shops are closed, in France they are open. This is why many Germans go shopping in Strasbourg. There are no controls on the obligation to quarantine. An on-site report.
Strasbourg the day before Christmas: On the “Rue des Orfèvres”, a popular side street in the city center at Christmas time, crowds of people move slowly from one side to the other. Here you should not be afraid of getting infected with Corona, it is almost impossible to maintain minimum distances.
After weeks of curfew in France, it seems that people are thirsty for shopping, so the rush is in the shops. But among the thousands of passersby there are not only French. Many Southwest Germans also take the opportunity to bypass the home confinement and drive “up” for one last shopping trip before the holidays.
This does not benefit the fight against a pandemic. Stores on the Baden-Württemberg side of the border have been closed for a week as crown numbers in Germany continue to rise despite the Lockdown Light in November. The pandemic is also still out of control in the federal state; More recently, the Baden-Württemberg authorities recorded 64 new deaths in relation to Covid-19.
Emergency shutdown? What lock?
The proximity to France and Switzerland poses additional problems. Because: unlike spring, borders are more open, so-called cross-border shopping is practically impossible to prevent. And so it happens that even now that everyone in Germany should move as little as possible, many Germans drive to Strasbourg in the southwest. On the contrary, the French are stocking up on the opposite side of the Rhine, in the small town of Kehl, with cheap pharmacy items, groceries, gasoline and tobacco.
Cars wait at the gas station: many French want to refuel cheaply in Germany despite the closure. (Source: Catharina Liesenberg / t-online)
Both border cities have always benefited each other. The dm branch in Kehl is said to have the highest turnover in the whole of Germany thanks to customers from France. Even the Strasbourg tram has been connecting the small German city to the other side of the Rhine for some years now, attracting even more customers.
A middle-aged French woman with dark curly hair awaits exactly this tram on Wednesday. She listens to music, leans against a barrier relaxed. Do you know that border traffic is subject to new restrictions? You know nothing. I wanted to buy cheap tobacco, but stores were closed due to closure. But she doesn’t seem disappointed – chocolate and shower gel are also cheaper at Kehl. The other passengers get off and on without worrying as if none of the measures ordered by the Ministry of Social Affairs seem to affect them.
“The French also come to us shopping”
One reason for this is likely: those who are drawn to the other side of the Rhine, unlike spring, do not have to prepare for checks, the borders are open.
In Strasbourg you can find license plates from the Ortenau district, as well as well traveled people from Karlsruhe, Essen or Berlin. There appear to be fewer people driving there than before the corona pandemic. However, many of them do not want to miss their shopping trip, as confirmed by several retailers in Strasbourg. “Fewer Germans come than before, but they were here again on Sunday shopping,” reports a saleswoman in the bag department of the “Galeries Lafayette”.
Grocery shopping: Despite the closure, many Germans cross the border to shop. (Source: Catharina Liesenberg / t-online)
A German couple is shopping in a supermarket in Strasbourg. “We visited my mother in France,” explains one of the two. “And on the way back we’ll run a few more errands here.” Would they have done that without the chance? The man shrugs. “The French also come to us to buy,” he says. “So they have to close the border,” adds his partner.
The parking lots are completely full at noon
Statements like these reflect a widely held opinion of Kehl’s people. This is not a helpful attitude in the pandemic.
While the rush in the “Rivétoile” shopping center is limited, the famous city center of Strasbourg is even more crowded. The central car park “Gutenberg” is almost fully occupied at 12 noon. And again and again there are vehicles with German plates waiting at the barrier to be admitted.
Also on the “Rue des Grandes Arcardes”, where the branches of “Mango”, “Desigual” and “Sephora” are lined, there are numerous passersby full of suitcases. Some of them will leave the metropolis for Germany in a few hours.
Responsable? “We cannot comment on this”
Wouldn’t it be necessary to carry out random checks at the border to enforce the new quarantine requirement? Wouldn’t it depend on politics to at least remind people of their personal responsibility in the pandemic?
Ortenaukreis district administrator Frank Scherer (independent) doesn’t seem to see it that way. He circumvented several t-online requests. A spokeswoman said Tuesday: “We cannot comment, the time before Christmas is too short for that.”
Does not comment: The nonpartisan district administrator of the Ortenau district, Frank Scherer. (Source: Orteneaukreis)
The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs, which has just introduced the quarantine obligation, declined to comment on its implementation on Tuesday and referred the federal police. Upon request, the latter in turn declared in writing: “Beyond the already existing level, no additional measures are currently being taken at the internal Schengen borders on the land and air side.”
In other words: no major presence at borders, no additional controls – the quarantine requirement appears to be a measure that only exists on paper.
The German border post at Kehl looks correspondingly gloomy. Only two policemen make their shift in a van parked along the street. It is not clear what exactly they are doing, but it does not appear that they are performing checks. Has border traffic at least decreased?
Ortenaukreis has a corona incidence of 214.6
Officials on site are unable to conduct any assessments. Peter Spindler, general manager of the Südbaden trade association, says: “With the current quarantine obligation, purchases across the border will certainly be significantly less.” But it will hardly stop. “Of course the Germans now go to France to go shopping,” he says.
With the start of the total closure on December 16, Baden-Württemberg introduced stricter regulations than other federal states. In the Southwest there is even a curfew between 8 pm and 5 am However, not a single county has so far had an incidence of 7 days below 100. In the Ortenau district it is 214.6, and the trend is increasing.
