There are many fountains in Loerrach. You can notice at first sight. In shops, in entrance halls of theatres and hotels. An amazing number of fountains. First there were only indications: Punks assembling in front of soap shelves in a hardware store. Then I saw a group of punks in the lobby of a bank, not at the cash desk, but near the fountain in the middle of the hall. Next I noticed the morning group of citizens near the fountain at the market square silently awaiting the water to come and watching the stream for about five minutes before they grumpily separated. Finally I saw the sign on another fountain: “… will be punished…” and “…fish are human beings as well…” (in some fountains fish are living).

One morning a man comes running into a café making announcements to the barman and everyone else. They all jump up and we follow them. A strange sight: on top of the fountain foam is rising higher and higher. Kids shout for joy, adults complain about the punks but their outrage is not convincing. You can see they are not really angry. The foam is reaching the top of the fountain. It is an incredible party. The police comes and turns the fountain off. A special car arrives to take out the water.

It turns out that punks pour bubble bath into the fountains at night. This is an old story. It started in the 13th Century when a member of the German royal family stabbed the mayor of Basel which is very near. The blood came streaming out of his massive body like out of a fountain. The murderer did penance and built the town of Loerrach. The main landmark of the town is a fountain. The punks come from Switzerland, from Basel and wash off the old blood with soap.