Some Past Events in German Studies
Sonnenallee
23-25 March 2010
This year's German Society play was Sonnenallee by Max Beinemann, based on the popular German novel Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. The play is set in 1970s East Berlin, and follows the protagonist Micha Kuppisch, his friends and family, as they juggle alleged Stasi neighbours, Existentialism and young romance with every-day life in the GDR. The production played to packed houses at the Contact Theatre and was a timely reminder of a disappeared world twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Sauerkraut Cup
1 May 2010
Manchester hosted this year's national football tournament for German Studies students. Twenty-six teams from twelve universities competed for the cup, and for the prize for the best fan-song. A team from the German Embassy and representatives of the German national authors' team, 'Autonoma', also participated in the tournament, which was won by Leeds German Department. You can see more information on and images of the tournament.
For more information about the Sauerkraut Cup can be found on the the ThinkGerman campaign website.
Sauerkrat Cup Pics
Turkish Girls or Allah's Daughters? Shifting Discourses of Culture, Gender, and Violence in Contemporary Germany
Yasemin Yildiz (Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Date: 12 March, 2009
Place: Room A114, Samuel Alexander Building
Time: 4pm
What does it mean to tell the same stories under different labels? In this talk I consider the emergence of the category of "Muslim" in German public discourse since the turn of the millennium. In Germany, the notion of a resident "Muslim" minority has been primarily created by relabeling and recasting immigrants from Turkey, the country's largest minority. I argue that the rearticulation of longstanding storylines about abused women of Turkish background -- increasingly presented as "Muslim" -- serves as a key point of transfer in this process. Analyzing exemplary media sources as well as influential non-fiction books, I point to the crucial and multilayered work done by gender in this shift as well as its large-scale implications for reimagining Germany and Europe.
The Land of Hopes, Broken Dreams, and Desires. Israel in the Works of Contemporary Jewish Authors in Austria
(German and Jewish Research Seminar)
Dagmar C. G. Lorenz, University of Illinois at Chicago
Samuel Alexander, A112
15 May, 2008
In her presentation, Dagmar C. G. Lorenz examines the shifting significance of Israel as a touchstone of self-identification in the writings and films of Jewish intellectuals in 1980s Austria, notably Vienna. Born and raised in the postwar era, these young authors rebelled against the staunch pro-Israel views held by their parents, survivors and former exiles. Even though the latter chose to live in Austria, they did so with an eye on the Jewish State. They were emotionally identified with Israel and often had misgivings about raising their children in Austria. The journalist and filmmaker Ruth Beckermann summarized the situation as follows: "They considered Israel our real homeland and viewed America as the great power protecting the Jews." Jews growing up in post-Shoah Austria led a double life. They never discussed their home life and overcompensated for their relatives' Jewish speech or Eastern European accent. They themselves avoided Yiddish vocabulary even words that had become fashionable in the Viennese media. Talking about their family members' memories of persecution and the Holocaust was out of the question.
In an attempt at integrating themselves into the dominant culture, many young Jews objected to their parents' isolationism and the older generation's unrealistic expectations of them. Some sought allies in leftist circles in Austria or Germany, impressed with the professed anti-fascism of the "Extra Parliamentary Opposition" and the critical stance of writers such as Handke, Berhard, Schwaiger, and Schutting. Yet, until the Waldheim-scandal in 1986 they hoped in vein for a broad-based re-examination of the past in Austria. Even open-minded Austrians and Germans eventually perpetuated often-heard claims of at least partial innocence casting doubt upon the integrity of Nazi victims. Jewish authors such as Schindel, Seelich, Beckermann, and Mitgutsch came to agree with Shoah survivor Jean Améry, who had identified a lingering anti-Semitism among the New Left under the guise of anti-Zionism. Despite their critical attitude toward the survivor generation, younger Jewish authors became keenly aware of their fundamental bond with Israel without embracing the uncritical approval of the Jewish State that they had criticized in their parents.