THE Swabian housewife made her debut on the world stage in 2008, when Angela Merkel, neither Swabian nor a housewife but the chancellor of Germany, mentioned her at an event in (Swabian) Stuttgart. The American banks which were failing, she said, should have consulted a Swabian housewife because she could have told them how to deal with money.“Yes, she’s a cliché, but much more than a cliché,” says Winfried Kretschmann with some pride, because “the Swabian housewife represents the starting point” in German thinking on the euro and fiscal management. As the (Green) premier of the rich south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, Mr Kretschmann should know.Württemberg, as distinct from the former grand duchy of Baden with which it has now merged, is where most Swabians live (though as one of Germany’s traditional “tribes”, their turf stretches from Augsburg to Switzerland). They are known for their quaint dialect, which adds the diminutive “le” to almost any noun to make it sound cute, as well as for such delicacies as Maultaschen, pockets of dough filled with meat and vegetables. But above all they are famous for being frugal, hating debt…
