The future smells of Russian leather, of blood, of godlessness and of much whipping. I advise our grandchildren to come into the world with very thick skin on their backs.

Heine’s image of the “future” as something that can be smelled turns political foreboding into a visceral sensory warning. “Russian leather” evokes the aura of imperial Russia—autocracy, police power, and militarized order—while “blood” and “much whipping” suggest violent repression and punishment. “Godlessness” points to a feared collapse of inherited moral or religious frameworks, whether through revolutionary upheaval or cynical state power. The closing counsel—grandchildren should arrive with “very thick skin”—is bitterly ironic: it frames coming history as an era in which ordinary people will need toughness not for adventure but to endure brutality. The quote thus reads as a prophetic, satirical diagnosis of Europe’s looming authoritarian and violent currents.