What I Have Learned In German 110

Throughout this class I have learned a lot about the country of Germany. I took four years of German in high school, but I never really learned much about the country. I learned a lot about the history, and how Germany got to be how it is today. The only topic I knew much about before attending this class was the Berlin Wall period. I learned a lot about the beauty of Germany. I liked the topic on the natural beauties of the country. I learned about the breathtaking forests, mountains, and waterfalls as well as the always changing landscape as you travel from city to city. I also learned a lot about the states of Germany. I never knew how different they are all from each other. I thought they were more like American cities, but I have now learned that they are more like the states here in their uniqueness. I have learned not only about the country, but the people that live there. I learned that men dominated the media scene until pretty recently, but that the women would do whatever they had to in order to be heard. The topic that I think will really stick with me though is the RAF. I think that one got my attention the most. I’ve never heard of the group, or what they did, but they really caught my interest. I was surprised that something like this occurred in a country that I spent many years learning the language of, but I had never heard about the group. I learned a lot of very interesting things taking this class, and I’m very glad that I decided to take it. I hope to someday get the chance to travel to Germany and see many of these things for myself.

Red Army Faction

The group can be traced back to the student protest movement in West Germany. The maturing of the baby boomers that were born following WWI was related to social upheavals in industrialized nations. Racism, women’s liberation, and anti-imperialism were at the forefront of left-wing politics. The group categorized itself as a communist group fighting fascism.

The three stages of the RAF:

1.       Baader and his associates

2.       The original group plus some former members of the Socialist Patients’ Collective

3.       Created a decade after the first generation, existing from 1980s to the 1990s

When the Soviet Union collapsed, it left a serious blow to left-wing groups. Attacks continued to be committed by the RAF well into the 1990s. In 1992 it was confirmed that the RAF had been given financial and logistic support from the Stasi. In order to weaken the organization even more the government released some RAF inmates in exchange for the promise that the RAF would refrain from violent attacks in the future. The final attack by the RAF took place in 1993 with the bombing of a newly built prison.

Similarities between the RAF and current terrorist attacks

·         Are willing to go as far as possible to fight for what they think is right

·         Kidnapping of important people is involved

·         There is civilian loss

Differences between the RAF and current terrorist attacks

·         The RAF stayed in their own country, today’s attacks are international

·         Current terrorists are more ready to die in attacks

Baader-Meinhoff Complex

Movie Response:
I was really shocked by many parts of the movie. I couldn't believe how real some parts seemed, how much emotion they provoked, and how intense the entire film was. The scene that stuck in my mind was the beginning protestors that were beaten almost to death, and one shot. I can't believe how the people were treated just for voicing their opinions. I was also shocked by how comfortable everyone seemed to be with each other. It was like there were no boundaries between any of them if they were fighting for the same thing. The movie made it seem like you were right there with the protestors. That group of young people was actually really inspiring in some ways. They were not willing to stop fighting for what they believed was right, even if that meant risking their own lives. It showed how they would not stop until their voices were heard, or their lives were ended. They were all about being in control of their own lives. The character of Gudrun stuck out the most to me. She gave up everything she had, even her son just to fight for what she believed in. I’m not sure that I would be able to do what she did, or that it was the right thing to do, but she really showed a lot of heart for what she was doing. The movie appeared to show what happened very well. I think it was a very good representation of what really happened.

Roles of Men and Women in the 20th Century

Matt

Kevin A.

Lexi

Lacey

Kayla

Danielle

Shelby

Andrew

The Military

Auxiliary Units

• Served in the auxiliary units in the navy (Kriegshelferinnen), air force (Luftnachrichtenhelferinnen) and army (Nachrichtenhelferin)
• Hundreds of women auxiliaries served for the SS in the concentration camp

Mata Hari 

• Dutch exotic dancer and prostitute
• Accused of being a double agent for France and Germany during WWI
• Was offered cash from a German consul for information the next time she visited France.  Hari passed on old, outdated information to the German officer.  Arrested in France and executed the same year by firing squad.

World War II

• Germany’s men that weren’t in war were afraid to intervene when Russians were raping German women for the fear of being shot. 
• The women of Berlin braved the artillery fire to forage for food and water in the streets. It was they who fed the family, cleaned what mess they could, looked after the sick, hid their young girls and took the brunt of Russian brutality. Some women in Berlin were now looking down on their men as the weaker sex and felt disappointed in them and even sorry for them.

Women

·         “For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up and circumscribed by the three "K" words: Kinder (children), Kirche (church), and Küche (kitchen)” (4)

·         During the first world war women helped by entering into industrial style jobs while the men were off fighting in the war (1)

o   Approximately 700,000 had begun working by the end of the war

o   After WWI women won the right to vote (1919)

o   Some women kept their jobs after the male soldiers returned

·         During the Third Reich, women were meant to bear “Aryan” children and were taught to do so through aggressive propaganda. During WWII, Adolf Hitler wanted women to focus on the three Ks mentioned earlier and to not take place in war. (3)

·         In 1975, German women were sought out to join the military (2)

Men

·         All men age 18-23 have to attend a nine month training before going into war (2)

·         There are approximately 200,000 soldiers that are considered professional and 300,000 that are more civilian, but are on reserve and are able to become active at any given time

·         Many men were forced into war often through guilt and shame of their family and friends during the first two world wars

·         All major German military and political leaders in the 20th century were men

  

Politics

1919 - women recieved the right to vote

Nazi Germany - Hitler wanted women to just have children to grow Germany's population. It was thier duty to ensure the future of the German race. Women were even given medals for having large families

1949 - Basic law declared men and women equal

1977 - Women gained rights to equal marriage

1980 - National office for women affairs set up in west germany to help work towards women quality

1988 - East germany, women made up almost 1/3 of Socialist unity party of germany (SED) while in west germany, women only made up abour 4.5% of the political party members.

1990 - Sabine Bergmann-Pohl was the president of the people's chamber of the GDR from april to october before the GDR ended

 



Domestic Life

Roles

• In 1919 women received the right to vote
• During World War II women took on some of the traditional jobs that the men left behind when they were fighting.
• When the World War II was over women tended the wounded, buried the dead, salvaged belongings, and began rebuilding war-torn Germany by clearing away the rubble
• In 1977 women got equal rights in marriage.

In West Germany                                                                              

• In the early 1980s women qualified for admission to universities in the same numbers as men.
• The Basic Law of 1949 declared that men and women were equal.
• But it was not until 1957 that the civil code was amended.

·         After World War II women became homemakers and mothers again and largely withdrew from employment outside the home.

In East Germany

·         Mid 1960s women accounted for half of all secondary school graduates.

·         By 1975-76 they were the majority (53%)

·         In the east, however, women remained in the workforce.

·         As early as 1950, marriage and family laws also had been rewritten to accommodate working mothers.

·         Abortion was legalized and funded by the state in the first trimester of pregnancy.

·          An extensive system of social supports, such as a highly developed day-care network for children, was also put in place to permit women to be both mothers and workers.

·         East Germany had to rely on women because of its declining population; the situation was made more critical by the fact that most of those fleeing to West Germany were men.

·         90% of the women worked outside of the home.

Business

Business in the German world is primarily made up of men. Women are not seen much in the business world. According to Wikipedia.com “Women are noticeably absent in the top tiers of German businesses. They only hold 9.2% of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positions.” Although the Chancellor is a Woman it is still very difficult for woman to rise to management. There have been some issues in creating a law in Germany that would look at the quotas in companies so that woman have a chance to succeed. “ In 2001, the Justice Ministry established a governmental commission to develop a Corporate Governance Codex,.” quoted by Spiegel online. This is a document that was recently amended that could call on companies to increase the number of female managers. “Some companies in Germany such as Deutsche Telekom back in March and energy giant E., have recognized that incorporating more woman into their hierarchies is beneficial to their organization as a whole. Deutsche Telekom was the first DAX company to pledge to raise the percentage of women at mid to high level management to 30 percent.” Spiegel online. This does show us that there are some people who feel that woman can benefit their company, they are climbing the corporate ladder and there are ways that is making this happen either with the government help or by recognizing the good that both genders can play in a company. Stated by German information centre, “The business newspaper Handelsblatt was searching for tomorrow’s top women for Germany, the Financial Times Deutschland then proclaimed the “Age of Women”, and the magazine Capital even carried a cover story entitled “Der Chef trägt Prada” (The boss wears Prada)…. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller has been managing the machine tool company Trumpf for a number of years now. Simone Bagel-Trah, a representative of the Henkel family, has been chair of the supervisory board of the Düsseldorf washing power and consumer goods company since last year and thus one of Germany’s most powerful women.” This just goes to show that woman can and are ready to make it to the top in the business world.

Simone Bagel-Trah

Education

During the early part of the twentieth century predominantly men went to school with intentions of going to university. By the mid-1960s women accounted for nearly half of all secondary school graduates with intentions on studying at institutes of higher learning in the GDR. Just fifteen years later they made up the majority with fifty-three percent. Supplementary payments and child care were provided to assist women in completing their studies. Women in west Germany did not qualify for admission into universities until the early 1980's. Therefore, west German women had more traditional familial relations, and did not have great ambitions for admission into particular academic departments, and for professional employment after graduation.
Sources

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh_germany_women.htm http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/weekly/aa080601c.htm
http://www.warandgender.com/wgwomwwi.htm
http://www.mygermancity.com/german-military
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005205
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh_germany_women.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/g-wm.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_roles_in_the_World_Wars
http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/matahari.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ency/blwh_germany_women.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_issues_in_Germany#Gender_roles_and_demographics
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,702895,00.html
http://www.germanyandafrica.diplo.de/Vertretung/pretoria__dz/en/03__BD/New__women__managment.html

Pictures

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mutterkreuz1940.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1990-0813-302,_Sabine_Bergmann-Pohl.jpg http://www.tridentmilitary.com/New-Photos14/393.jpg
http://tisores.net/imagenes/hari.jpghttp://www.faz.net/s/RubF36E5361491F4CD9953863A0D5A760BC/Doc~E3635B2EB070E44DFB79CF2AD63692108~ATpl~Ecommon~SMed.html

Top Three Blogs

1. David Grow
Great writing and use of pictures. Very appealing to the eye, and great job citing sources.

2. Daniel Ostendorf
Very eye appealing background, and nice writing. Should have had more pictures in the blog, and not just the links to the picutes.

3. Alexia Ball
Very good writing, but blog is not very appealing. Needs more pictures and maybe a few more personal touches.

All Quiet on the Western Front Discussion

To start the discussion of All Quiet on the Western Front, Kemmerich was brought up and how he overuses his power in the military, because he has no power back home in his job as a postman. Then we each wrote a short summary of the book. My summary talked about how in the beginning of the book the men have been decreased from 150 to 80. Then one of the men dies from having his leg amputated and his boots are given to Mueller who had previously asked for them. As the book goes on new recruits come in that are younger than the original men, and have had little training. When the fighting starts up again, the young men start dropping like flies, and once again new recruits must be brought in. These ones are even younger than the previous, and have had even less training. Paul goes home on leave, to discover that his mom is sick with cancer, and that he no longer feels like he belongs at home. The war prgresses, and eventually none of the men from the original class survive. Then we spent time discussing why the book was so successful, and why it took 10 years after the war was over to be published. There are a few reasons for each. We then discussed the loss of identity that the returning soldiers felt. Most of them only had their schooling, and the war, and that was all they knew. It was difficult for some to find their own identities as they returned home. We also discussed what it takes to regain your own identity, unltimately deciding that you need to find something new to cling to.

Hamburg

As you can see, the city state of Hambuurg is located in the northern part of Germany. According to Wikipedia.com, Hamburg has a population of over 1.8 million people, making it the second largest city in Germany. The official name is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Hamburg was a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.  Hamburg is approximately 1/5 the size of Rhode Island. Hamburg is named after the first castle to be built on site. It is the center of the north, both culturally and economically, being a center for trade. The city of Hamburg is unique in that there is a lack of skyscrappers. It is also the city with the number of the most bridges having 2302 of them. Hamburg is also often called Germany's capital of sport because it has more first-league teams and international sports events than any other city.