Experience German at Aston University

Study German at Aston, in the heart of Birmingham!

German Has a New Word: “Dänenampel”

May 7

Posted by germanataston in German in the world, News from D-A-CH | Comments off

Yesterday’s regional elections in Germany’s nothernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, produced a number of surprising results – and a new word, the “Dänenampel” (Danish traffic light).

The ruling coalition of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Liberals (FDP), who had been in the difficult position of trying to run a state with a precarious one-seat-majority, lost the election – or did they? The CDU only fared 0.7% worse than at the 2009 polls, securing a total of 30.8% on Sunday. And while their junior partner, the FDP,  lost a substantial 6.7% of the vote, the party still sees it fit to celebrate the fact that they managed to cross the compulsory 5% threshold to enter parliament – and comfortably so. Nationally, the Liberals are currently so violently unpopular that not having been kicked out of yet another Landtag (regional parliment) can indeed be considered a success and their result of 8.2% seems quite respectable.

With the current regional government losing support, Germany’s second major party, the Social Democrats (SPD), managed to increase their vote by a satisfying 5%, putting them behind the CDU by the incredibly narrow margin of 0.4%.

This very tight outcome now means that whichever of the two major parties, CDU or SPD,  first manages to form a coalition will run Schleswig-Holstein for the next four years. This situation puts the spotlight on the various smaller parties. The FDP’s significant losses mean that the current coalition cannot be renewed, or at least not without taking a third partner onboard.

The fragmented result of the election indicate that quite a few combinations would be possible. The third biggest party are currently Die Grünen (The Green Party) who did well with a result of just over 13%. They would most likely be interested in entering into a coalition with the SPD – but that would only give the two parties a combined share of just under 45% of seats in the Landtag in Kiel. They would be well advised to look for a third partner. And they are unlikely to find a coalition partner towards the left of the political spectrum.

Die Linke, a Socialist party to the left of the SPD, failed to clear the 5% hurdle, making space for the Piratenpartei (Pirate Party), a conglomorate of independent leftist thinkers and internet activists with strong links to the Occupy movement. The Pirate Party recently regrouped at their national party conference and did impressively well at this regional election, securing the same number of votes as the much more established FDP, one of Germany’s oldest political parties. But it is uncertain if the Pirates with their taste for anarchy are ready to enter government, even at regional level, and it is unlikely that the more traditional parties would currently be prepared to invite them into a coalition.

All in all, the current unresolved situation may just turn out to be the big opportunity a unique national minority party has been waiting for. The Südschleswiger Wählerverband (South Schleswig Voter Federation) represents the Danish and Frisian minorities in Schleswig, the northern part of the region which borders on Denmark. They are protected by special legislation, which exempts them from the 5%-rule and guarantees them a number of seats in parliament proportionate to the election result. They have been gaining support in recent years and they did well on Sunday, securing 4.6% of the vote, making them a potentially attractive junior partner. If negotiations are successful, the SSW could enter regional government for the first time in their history – and could add to the German vocabulary at the same time.

In German, political coalitions consisting of three partners are referred to as “Ampeln” (traffic lights), because they combine three different party colours. Only the (usually unlikely) coalition of SPD (red), FDP (yellow), and Greens forms a conventional “Ampel”. If the SSW were to reach an agreement with the SPD and the Green Party, the result would be red, blue and green – or a “Dänenampel” to use the quickly coined new term which has been hitting the headlines and is trending on Twitter.

It remains to be seen if the Danes really will be part of Schleswig-Holstein’s new government, but they have already made their entry into the German language.

Tags: , , , ,

German Pop Music Podcasts

May 5

Posted by germanataston in Music, Online Resources | Comments off

Are you not happy anymore, just listening to Rammstein all day? Would you like to know more about other German bands? Ones which are less well known in Britain?

Then you are in luck! Deutsche Welle offers monthly podcasts -  in English! -  which provide a concise 20 minute introduction to influential contemporary German music artists. So if you would like to find out more about bands such as Wir sind Helden  or Jupiter Jones   just click here - and set out on a musical journey of discovery!

Tags:

Austrian Digital Literature

May 4

Posted by germanataston in Research impact, Research seminars, Reviews, Staff and student news, Talks and events, Uncategorized | Comments off

Dr Jeanine Tuschling co-organised a conference (18-19th April) entitled “Lit.Net Austria“ on Austrian authors and literature on the Internet in co-operation with the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Centre and the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Londons sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the UK
Embassy of Switzerland. The conference brought together scholars and pioneers of digital literature from Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

 

 

 

The conference was accompanied by a workshop on “Communicating literature through the internet” , which provided an insight into the mechanics of the European market of net-literature and discussed the implications of the web for publishers, authors and cultural policy makers. The event was attended by a representative of the Swiss Ambassador in London, as well as members of the wider public.

Journalist Ann Morgan wrote about the event:

” Challenging the traditional polar opposition between the fixed, stable, solid creation of the printed volume and the fluid, collaborative, playful world of the net, Mazenauer showed how performance art and multimedia are reducing the central importance of the book and throwing its covers open to embrace a much broader spectrum of things. Looked at in this way, the internet itself could even be considered a book.”
Read her full article  in the “Huffington Post”.

Celebrating Sebald

May 3

Posted by germanataston in Film, Research impact, Staff and student news, Staff publications, Talks and events | Comments off

Bridport Arts Centre is going to do so with a film screening and a talk by

Uwe Schütte, Head of German at Aston, his former student and acclaimed Sebald scholar, who will speak about “Sebald’s Legacy”.

The talk will be followed by a screening of “Patience”, a film after Sebald’s novel “The rings of Saturn” by Grant Gee. The Guardian called the documentary a “guide through the psycho-geography of the author”, taking the viewer on a literary stroll along the coast of East Anglia, where Sebald spent most of his adult life. Read the Guardian review here

Philip French commented in the Observer that watching the film made him want to read all of Sebald’s oeuvre. The images are accompanied by readings from the book, as well as by comments by friends, readers and fellow authors.

 

Tickets for the event are available at info@bridport-arts.com

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , ,

Uwe Schütte gives laudation as Gerhard Roth is awarded prestigious literature prize

May 3

Posted by germanataston in News from D-A-CH, Staff and student news, Staff publications, Talks and events | Comments off

Austrian author Gerhard Roth has been awarded the Jakob-Wassermann Literaturpreis for his critical novels on Austria during the Nazi occupation and the memory processes and controversies in contemporary Austrian society.

Roth joins the ranks of famous colleagues Hilde Domin,  Uwe Timm, Sten Nadolny and Feridun Zaimoglu. The prize is named after German-Jewish writer Jacob Wassermann and has been awarded biannually by Wassermann’s hometown Fürth near Nuremberg.

 And who would be better suited to give Roth’s laudation than Dr. Uwe Schütte, Head of German at Aston University and internationally renowned Roth expert. Dr. Schütte is the author of 1997 monograph Auf der Spur der Vergessenen. Gerhard Roth und seine Archive des Schweigens and he has published extensively on Roth’s works in various academic journals.

Tags: , , , ,

Berlin Meets Birmingham: Wings of Desire at Victoria Square

May 3

Posted by germanataston in Events in Birmingham, Film | Comments off

The International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) is currently being held in the city for the third time. Produced by DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome, IDFB is a four-week festival bringing great dance to venues and public spaces across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

IDFB is offering many exciting performances but there is one particular event we would like to draw your attention to:

On Wednesday, 16 May, at 9.30 pm there will be an outdoor performance of Wings of Desire in Victoria Square. It is inspired by Wim Wenders’ celebrated 1987 film.

Considered by many to be his masterpiece, Wings of Desire is set in  pre-unification Berlin and tells the powerful story of a divided city inhabitated by people suffering from the modern condition and trying to find happiness in their everyday lives. They are watched over by angels who see the passing of time and try to relieve human suffering.

The German title “Der Himmel über Berlin” (The heavenly skies above Berlin) tries to capture this better than the English translation.

Stylishly clad in dark overcoats, these invisible messengers of God are disenchanted with human history and their own limited capability to ease people’s anxieties. They are removed from the city and only see the world in black and white.

But colours burst onto the screen when angel Damiel (played by Bruno Ganz who demonstrated his incredible versatility as an actor by moving from playing an angel in Wenders’ film to incorporating Adolf Hitler in the internationally successful “The Downfall” (Der Untergang) in 2004) falls in love with a melancholic trapeze artist and decides to become human to live with her.

This exciting adaptation will form the IDFB’s spectacular finale, featuring Australia’s world famous CIRCA, Britain’s urban 2Faced Dance Company, interactive performance experts seeper and starring internationally-renowned DJ, film and TV star Goldie.

And the best thing: IT IS FREE! No need to book tickets, just turn up on the night and be amazed!

But there’s more: For those of you who have never seen Wenders’ visually stunning original there is a chance to see this cinematic masterpiece at the Electric Cinema in a matinee performance on Sunday, 13 May at 2.30pm.

Tags: , ,

Director Andreas Dresen Triumphs at German Film Awards

Apr 28

Posted by germanataston in Film, News from D-A-CH | Comments off

At last night’s German Film Awards, or the Lolas, as the ceremony is colloquially referred to because winners are presented with supposedly female statuettes, it was all smiles for Andreas Dresen.

Dresen’s film “Halt auf freier Strecke” (“Stopped on Track”) did extremely well, winning both Best Film and Best Director. In addition, the Lolas for Best Male Lead and Best Male Supporting Actor also went to “Stopped on Track”.  This was even more remarkable given the subject matter of the drama which tells the tragic story of a family man dying of a brain tumor. For Dresen this was the second Best Picture win in just four years, following on from “Wolke 9″ (“Cloud 9″), a tender and unconventional  love story  between two pensioners.

Dresen originally trained as a documentary film maker in East Germany before moving to feature films in the late nineties. From “Nachtgestalten” (“Nightshapes”, 1999) to “Sommer vorm Balkon”  (2005) many of Dresen’s films are set in the capital (as indicated by the English title “Summer in Berlin”) and often provide an unusual and closely observed focus on its inhabitants and their daily joys and struggles. As a director he has a keen eye for social dynamics, and while some of his films contain strong comedy elements and sometimes even produce laughs at the expense of his often socially disenfranchised characters, there is never any condescension in Dresen’s attitude as a film maker. This strong respect for his characters also came through in his 2003 documentary “Herr Wichmann von der CDU”  about a young Conservative politician on the lost mission of trying to win a seat in a left-wing Eastern province. Ultimately it is this strong sense of empathy which makes Dresen’s films special.

Other awards given last night included the Silver Lola, which went to Christian Petzold’s highly acclaimed film “Barbara”. It is set in Communist East Germany and focuses on the discrimination and repressive state measures a physician encounters, when she applies to leave the GDR for the West. Petzold had previously won second prize for his film at the prestigious Berlinale film festival and must have been disappointed that he was only successful in one out of eight nominated Lola categories.

Other wins included the “Filmpreis in Bronze” for David Wnendt’s hard hitting social drama “Kriegerin” (“Combat Girls”) about girls in neo-nazi groups, and several awards for the historical drama “Anonymous”. “Combat Girls” also won best script and newcomer Alina Levshin secured the Lola for Best Female Lead.

 ”Anonymous” is a controversial “Fakespeare” film by Roland Emmerich (of “Independence Day” fame), who has joined the ranks of many conspiracy theorists before him, claiming that the bard’s plays and sonnets were penned by an anonymous author. Last night the film won an impressive six Lolas, but all of them in minor castegories such as sound and costumes. Unsurprisingly, the film has not gone down well with British critics (and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust even launched a counter campaign) to re-establish Shakespeare’s position as England’s greatest author). On the whole Britain was less than impressed by this attempt to question English literary history, particularly because it was made by the man who brought you light action film fare such as Godzilla.

But see for yourself: Here are the 10 reasons why Emmerich believes Shakespeare was a fraud:

Tags: ,

German Film “If Not Us, Who?” Showing at the MAC

Apr 18

Posted by germanataston in Events in Birmingham, Film | Comments off

On 23rd, 24th and 26th April the MAC in Cannon Hill Park is showing Andres Veiel’s award winning film “Wer wenn nicht wir”. (Click here for screening times.)

The film portrays the extreme love-story between German left wing terrorist Gudrun Ensslin and her husband Bernward Vesper. As part of the 1960s protest generation, Gudrun and Bernward challenged the ideals of bourgeois society and the concept of capitalism. This biopic follows their story from early student days in Tübingen to their work at the core of the protest movement. Torn between loyalty and admiration for his father, a Nazi era writer, and his own strong rejection of a post-war German society which refuses to accept responsibility for its history, Bernward develops a drug-fuelled self-destructive lifestyle. In 1964 the couple moves to West Berlin, where Gudrun becomes increasingly radicalised after meeting and falling in love with Andreas Baader…

Tags: ,

Thirty Years of A Little Peace

Apr 15

Posted by germanataston in Information | Comments off

 

©European Broadcasting Union 1982

In a few days, Eurovision Song Contest enthusiasts across Europe will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the success of Ein bisschen Frieden (A Little Peace), lyrics by Bernd Meinunger, composed by Ralph Siegel, and sung by the German singer Nicole at the European Song Contest held on 24 April 1982 at the then brand-new Harrogate International Centre.

The song conveys a simple, emotional message of peace, presented from the individual point of view of a “little girl” – the singer was then only 17 years old and still went to school. The melody, likewise straightforward in its simplistic beauty, is predominantly carried by an acoustic guitar, which also makes it possible for soloists to replicate (or parody) the song with relative ease.

 

Nicole. © BBC 1982

On the day of the contest, the successful combination of text, melody and interpretation certainly did its magic on the international television audience. The song received top marks from no less than half of the then 18 participating countries and at least some points from every other participation country except Luxembourg. The song won with 161 votes – 61 more than were received by the Israeli contribution in 2nd place. This result remained a record for more than 20 years until the European Song Contest grew exponentially when East European broadcasting agencies started to participate in the 2000s. Back in 1982, the British audience in Harrogate was enthralled too, not least since Britain had been at war for three weeks at the time, following the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982.

According to the rules of the contest in force at the time, the original song had to be sung in German. However, the subsequent international success of Ein bisschen Frieden, with approximately 5 million singles sold and top placings in eight European national charts, is also due to the fact that the song had been designed as a truly “international” one: it was instantly translated into seven languages (English, French, Dutch, Danish, Italian, Russian and Spanish), and Nicole personally sang the song in all these languages, including a four-language version right at the end of the Harrogate concert.

Throughout the 1980s, and until the end of the Cold War in 1990, the song’s title, A Little Peace / Ein bisschen Frieden became a catchphrase among ordinary folks in West and East, hoping for peace while being afraid of a nuclear inferno. Political peace movements and governments on both sides of the Iron Curtain, however, remained less enthusiastic. While governments dreaded an undermining of fighting morale among their troops, peace activists were of the opinion that the song wrongly portrays the individual as helpless in the face of impeding existential threats. Song writer Meinunger, composer Siegel and Nicole later responded to this challenge. Not least in the context of continued threats to peace after the end of the Cold War, in 1996 they released a sharpened-up version Mehr als ein bisschen Frieden (More Than A Little Peace), which concludes with the words “Ein bisschen Frieden ist nicht genug” (A Little Peace is not enough). Unforunately, however, this version was only produced in German.

Nevertheless, in an interview with the German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Nicole stated in 2010 that she still likes to sing Ein bisschen Frieden, and often does it in her concerts – not only because the audience practically expects it every time, but also because in the 30 years of its existence the song’s message has lost little of its impact, now also having won an audience among the next generation.

Tags:

German Rock Band “Die Toten Hosen” Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Apr 11

Posted by germanataston in News from D-A-CH | Comments off

The music industry is a fast moving business, making it difficult for many artists to develop long-lasting careers. A German band that has been incredibly successful at maintaining a huge popularity throughout the years, whilst remaining true to their socially subversive punk rock roots, are Die Toten Hosen. The band’s name alludes to the colloquial expression “tote Hose”, denoting boredom and apathy – yet this ironically self-deprecating epithet could of course not be further from the truth. Audiences have certainly never felt bored at Tote Hosen gigs, and over the years the band has been involved in various initiatives which have motivated people to take a stand against racism, fight the negative effects of globalisation and oppose environmental destruction.

 Headed by charismatic frontman Campino (born Andreas Frege, he chose a  popular sweets brand as his stage name) Die Toten Hosen first rose to fame in the early 1980s and had their big commercial break-through in 1988 with the songs written for a stage version of  Anthony Burgess’ / Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The track “Hier kommt Alex” became an instant hit.

Nearly 25 years on and Die Hosen are still one of Germany’s most commercially successful rock groups. Yesterday they returned to Bremen where, many years ago, they had their first successful gigs away from their native Düsseldorf. In the Schlachthof (a former abbatoir cum music venue) they celebrated their 30th anniversary – and it was just like the old days.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Tote Hosen!

 

 

Tags: