Chapter 35 student prison

Heidelberg has long been an industrial city. As far as the cultural landscape is concerned, the most important one, except for the old castle, is Heidelberg University.This is one of the oldest universities in Europe. There are no walls, so students are scattered around and can be seen everywhere, making this city also known as the city of universities and the city of youth. It is a blessing that a city is filled with so many bright lives. The vitality of the streets makes all the old walls and old trees vibrate.The central commercial street is also connected to the campus. As a result, even ordinary citizens have a mentality of going to school and never graduating.Whenever they are free, they like to sit on the coffee seat with a gentle body and a trendy face. They regard the street as a classroom.

My initial understanding of Heidelberg University was because of one person.I couldn't help it, so I chatted up two college students at a book stand on the street, and asked them what department they were in, and the answer was the Department of Sociology. I thought it was a coincidence, so I followed up and asked: "You still have the Max Weber school there." ?They said: He is a thing of the previous generation, too old and too old, we no longer read his books.Maybe there is his school among the teachers. Disappointed, I continued walking along the street.Suddenly, at a narrow intersection, I saw a blue sign, which clearly read: Student Prison.

This sign will surprise many foreign travelers, but I am overjoyed, because I read an article before and know that it is just a relic, and the students have not been detained for a long time.Remains unmarked, I guess out of humor. Of course, you have to go and see it, because it is not easy to find a second such relic even in the whole world. Go forward along the signboard, and soon you will see an old building, the door is closed, just ring the bell and it will open.Walking through the ground floor, you will see a small courtyard. Climb up the stairs, and the stairs on the second floor are already covered with calligraphy and paintings, and the third floor is the prison.Four prison cells, a toilet with a high squat position.There are old iron beds, old tables and chairs in the cell, while wild and naughty calligraphy and paintings are all on the walls and ceiling.

In fact, this prison was only used for two years. From 1912 to 1914, it was the place where the school punished naughty students.Any student who got drunk, got into a fight, or violated other rules was locked up here, only provided with water and bread, and had to go to class honestly during the day. After all, it is not a real prison, and there is no prohibition on buying food from other places, nor prohibiting other students from visiting, so this place quickly became a student paradise.Many students also tried every means to intentionally violate the school rules, and won to be detained here.

I asked a fourth-year student of the Sociology Department of the University of Cologne to translate the German scribbles on the wall, and he read it out with a smile after carefully deciphering it for a while: Hey, I went to jail for being naughty! Life here is great, I love it so much that it hurts every time I leave, it's a pity this time the lockup was two days instead of ten. It can be seen that this student is a frequent visitor here and has long regarded punishment as enjoyment.This allows us to see an interesting logic: most of the bad treatment imposed in the world is based on the imagination of the perpetrators themselves, and does not necessarily match the value system of the recipients.Sometimes, the receiver is just what they want.

On the wall are written the prison rules drawn up by the detainees themselves: 1. No beating people with sticks is allowed in this prison; This third prison rule insults women and should not be done.But it also proved that this prison was a purely men's prison, and the female students at that time were obedient and would not commit crimes.Maybe this prison rule was drawn up by a boy who was reported by several female classmates and imprisoned, right? The student prison closed in 1914, presumably in connection with the outbreak of World War I.If so, it closes too grandly. I think this student prison is very interesting in the following aspects. First, the school at that time was very interesting. It actually set up a private court and ran its own prison.This may also be unique in the world, so it arouses the curiosity of many tourists.It is conceivable how helpless the school is to the students, but now it seems that the real offender is the school; second, the students at that time were very interesting, and they were so mischievous that they wanted to force the school to take illegal means.But the extreme of their mischief is not resistance or appeal, but turning the prison into a paradise.The power of youth is irrepressible, and even hell can become heaven; third, the idea that this place has been preserved as it is is interesting, or it has turned boring into interesting.Heidelberg University has been glorious for hundreds of years, but it is not opposed to showing these absurd shabby houses to the world. A large number of tourists from all over the world may not know any academic achievements of this university, only know that there is such a student prison.None of the professors protested tearfully, criticizing the move as detrimental to the university's reputation, as is often the case.The charm of the university lies in the atmosphere, and the first sign of the atmosphere is the humor of history; fourth, tourists from all over the world are interesting.When they came to Heidelberg, they had to take a look here. After seeing such a dilapidated and cramped space, they didn't complain, and just huddled there cheerfully and lingered for a long time.Especially those elderly ladies, wearing presbyopic glasses, they were not angry at all after reading the insulting words on the wall, but bent over and rubbed their stomachs with laughter.

Calculated by age, they can't even catch up with the female classmates of those naughty boys, they can only be the granddaughters of those boys.Perhaps, they were deeply happy because they saw the truth about the early years of their grandfathers here. Their laughter made me suddenly understand that naughty boys can do whatever they want when they get together, as long as they are afraid of being laughed at by girls.Therefore, when they refuse girls to go to prison, they reject the girls' laughter, and their refusal proves that they care.Today's elderly women all understand this logic, so they laugh condescendingly and reverse their generations.

Of course, those imprisoned boys couldn’t imagine it. After decades, many women came in without chains. Even the most picky old women squinted their dim eyes and forgave them with laughter.