Noissergorp, Tixerb

NOISSERGORP, TIXERB (The backwards movement?)

       "In 1914 Europe was a single civilized community, more so even than at the height of the Roman Empire. A man could travel across the length and breadth of the Continent without a passport until he reached the frontiers of Russia and the Ottoman empire. He could settle in a foreign country for work or leisure without legal formalities except, occasionally; some health requirements."

        "Conventionally, Europe extends from the seas and oceans to the Urals, .......Some nations are more consciously European, some less. When an Englishman, for instance, says that he is going to 'Europe' for a holiday, he does not mean Stratford-on-Avon or even Edinburgh. Russians talk about 'the west' in the same way. Howevermuch we insist that Englishmen and Russians are Europeans, we tend to assume that 'the Continent' also exists in a narrower sense."

         "Citizens of every country and of every class dressed much alike - national costume was worn only by peasants or as fancy dress. All European citizens took much the same meals at much the same times, except that the Russians ate their dinner at three o'clock and most English people at midday, not in the evening."

                              A.J.P. Taylor 'From Sarajevo to Potsdam' (Thames and Hudson 1966)