Birobidzhan

Næste stop på vejen fra Blagaveshinsk til Khabarovsk er Birobidzhan. Vi ankom dér sent om natten og godt forfrosne. Heldigvis fandt & frelste Gena fra den lokale mc-klub os – det er ikke kun Jesus der er frelseren, hvis nogen troede det. Gena var en mand af få ord, men en god mand, som den slags ofte er.

Byen har en ret interessant historie: I 1927 blev den erklæret hovedstad for en autonom jødisk region, og jøder ankom fra hele verden for at slå sig ned her. Snart efter blev Stalin noget paranoid og troede at jødiske læger var ude på at tage livet af ham. Når vi andre kan blive lidt paranoide og få nerver på om søndagen, varer det som regel kun et par timer. Stalin derimod var paranoid i årtier. Hans paranoia var med til at opflamme antisemitismen, hvilket gjorde livet hårdt for jøderne her. Da de var flest boede her 43.000, mens der i 1991 kun var 22.000. I dag er der blot 4.800 tilbage, svarende til 2,4% af befolkningen, fordi de fleste emigrerede til Israel da Sovjetunionen brød sammen.

Vi interesserer os ikke gevaldig meget for politik, men er der noget der interesserer os, så er det festivaler. Og vores timing var perfekt; mc-sæsonen her i byen sluttede officielt denne weekend. Ingen grund til at gå i detaljer om det, men hovedpunkterne var at der kom en masse mc-folk fra hele det fjernøstlige Rusland, vi blev interviewet til både radio og TV igen, stor parade byen rundt og så til fest bagefter. I ved, en af den slags fester hvor ingen kan huske ret meget fra den, men hvor alle bagefter synes at den var rigtig god.

Next stop from Blagaveshinsk en route to Khabarovsk is Birobidzhan. We came in late in the night and quite frozen. Luckily Gena from the local motorcycle club found and saved us, it’s not only Jesus that saves for those who thought that. Gena is a man of few words, but a very good man, as it often is with that kind of people.

The city has got a very interesting history. In 1927 it was declared the capital of an autonomous Jewish area and Jews came from all over the world to settle. A bit later Stalin got a bit paranoid and thought Jewish doctors tried to kill him. While the rest of us get a bit paranoid and nervy on Sundays, and it normally last for some hours, Stalin’s paranoia lasted for a couple of decades or so. His paranoia fueled the anti-Semitism and made the life hard for the Jews here. At most it was 43000 jews, in 1991 it was about 22000. Today is just below 4800 left, which makes about 2,4% of the population, as most left for Israel after the collapse of the union.

For us we don’t care too much about politics, but if there’s one thing we certainly care about, it is festivals. And this was the perfect timing; it was season closing in town this weekend. It’s not much use in elaborating on the details here, but the main points is that it came a lot of bikers from all over Russia far east, we got interviewed again on both TV and radio, big parade around town and a party afterwards. You know, one of those parties nobody remembers, but everybody agrees that was really great.

Fra mc-sæsonslutning i Birobidzhan.

From the gathering at season closing Birobidzhan.
Gena, vores frelser, viser politiet at vi ikke er en trussel mod samfundet, men blot lidt langt ude, nogen gange fulde, men ellers harmløse.

Gena, our saviour, shows the police that we're not a threat to the society, just a bit far out, some times drunk but harmless.

Birobidzhans byport. Bemærk at navnet både står med kyrillisk og hebræisk skrift.

The gate to Birobidzhan, note the name in both cyrrilic and hebrew letters.

Vi blir venner med en masse charmerende folk.

We make friends with lots of charming people.

Efter paraden var der fest i 'Region 79's klubhus.

Party at Region 79's clubhouse after the parade.

MC-79's logo. Nummerplader i Rusland har bestemte tal for hver region, og da Biribidzhans nummer er 79, er mc-klubben opkaldt efter det. Regionale numre er fine hvis det er svært at huske stednavne, som det ofte er tilfældet i Rusland.

En samtale kunne foregå sådan her. "Hej fister, hvor kommer du fra?" "Jeg er fra 79, men bor i 25 nu." "Fedt nok, jeg er fra 55, og på vej til 125. Er det langt herfra?"

Den samtale havde fyldt to linier mere hvis man havde brugt stednavne i stedet for tal.

MC-79's logo. Russia has got licence plates with numbers that represents the region, and Birobidzhan is 79, that's why the name of the club. Region numbers is cool when it’s hard to remember the names, like it often is in Russia.

A converzation could be like this: ” Hey man, where do you come from?” “I’m from 79, but live in 25 now”. “Cool, I’m from 55, traveling to 125. Is it far?”

This would have been two lines longer when using the names and not the numbers.

Speaking of the devil...

Der var en meget striks "én mad, én drink" regel. 'Én mad' var én skefuld stuvning, én drink var en genstand (vodka). Overflødigt at fortælle hvad det så førte til, men skægt var det.

There was a very strict "One eat, one drink" policy. One eat means one spoon of stew, one drink means one shot of vodka. Needless to talk about the result of the policy. It was fun though.

En af presse-tøserne, tror hun var fra radioen. Presse-tøser er en ret speciel art som man skal være forsigtig med at omgås.

One of the media-chicks around, think this one was radio. Media chicks are a very special breed that you should be careful with.

Kamera: Nikon D700 til 15.000 dkr.

Linse: Nikkor 24-70, f 2.8, til 10.000 dkr.

Filter: Specielt kosher vodka filter,...ubetaleligt.

Camera: Nikon D700, $: 3000.
Lens: Nikkor 24-70, f 2.8, $:2000.

Filter: Special kosher vodka filter, $: Priceless.

Birobidzhan er det eneste sted i Rusland jeg har set kosher (dvs. religiøst korrekt godkendt) vodka.

Birobidzhan is the only place in Russia I've seen Kosher Vodka.