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October 3rd, Germany celebrates "Tag der Deutschen Einheit" – The German National Day

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Today Germany celebrates its National Day, the “Tag der deutschen Einheit” !

Today Germany commemorates the reunification of Germany. After WW II Germany got divided into East and West Germany. A fortified wall made sure that interaction between these two Germanys was limited and especially controlled .

Many Germans never believed that they would ever witness a unified Germany again, but November 9th, 1989 should catch them by surprise.

On this fateful day in history the East German government declared that all East Germans were free to go to the West and visit West Germany and West Berlin. Germany and the world went wild! Impactful, dramatic images of that day still captivate us today.

So why don’t we celebrate our German National Day on November 9th after all?

November 9th happens to be a day for a variety of  historical events in Germany, and not all were such that they should be honored or remembered positively on a day that shall celebrate the National day of Germany .

November 9th was the day on which the German republic was proclaimed in 1918, and it was also a November 9th when Hitler’s first coup in 1923 was defeated. This ominous date however also marks the anniversary of the Reichskristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) in 1938, the day of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews.

November 9th therefore did not seem an appropriate date for the German National Day.

October 3rd was chosen instead since this was the day in 1990 when the formal reunification took place.

October 3rd replaced the date of June 17, which used to be the date for “The Day of German Unity” during the days of the BRD ( The Federal Republic of Germany).

Images: Pixabay.com

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A Personal Lesson in German History

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A Personal Lesson in German History

Have you read Author Dieter Kermas recent article “Das Erste Mal Durch Die Mauer?”  If not, I highly recommend it.  I find it very fascinating to hear about experiences from people who have lived during a time of major historic events.  Back in the days, when my grandma from my mother’s side was still alive, I begged her to keep telling me stories about World War ІІ.  Since I (obviously) wasn’t alive at that time, I tried to imagine how life was back then through my grandma’s stories.  And boy, did she have experiences to share!

She explained to me how she felt the earth shaking from bomb fire while she and her family were puckered up in an underground bunker.  Another story consisted of her sister losing her baby while in the bunker because of a lack of breast milk.  She also told me how it felt to be part of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the female youth organization during the Nazi regime, which was part of the Hitler Youth.

I was beyond impressed by what my grandmother had to live through during her long life.  The world we live in today is far from peaceful; we do live in a time surrounded by war and terrorism.  Thankfully, so far I wasn’t personally impacted, meaning that I haven’t lost a relative or friend through a terror attack nor was I the victim of one.  I would not know how to deal with something that terrible, while my grandma endured several losses and tragedies in her lifetime.

These personal experiences really sparked my interest in history.  Unfortunately, I had a really bad history teacher during High School, who made the subject unbearable and unnecessarily boring.   Due to that, I lost interest in the subject, and my hunger for experiencing German history myself kind of subsided for the next couple years.

I know it might be a shame to admit, but I had never visited Berlin until 2010.  I just didn’t really feel the urge to travel much around Germany when I was younger.  That changed after I came back from my Au Pair stay.  I developed an incredible urge to travel, and if it would just be for a weekend.

It just so happened that one of my Au Pair friends, who I met in the states, moved to Berlin after she came back from the U.S.  She invited my other good Au Pair friend Doreen (name changed due to privacy) and me to come visit her in Berlin.  Finally I was going to visit the capital of the country I grew up in and could experience a grand piece of German history first hand.

My friends and I crammed every possible Berlin sight into our two day stay.  Of course, we couldn’t miss the Brandenburger Gate or the German Parliament.  But the monuments that struck me the most were the Holocaust Memorial and the remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall.  Those brought back the imaginations, and I was finally able to grasp what my grandmother used to tell me about.

While at the Holocaust Memorial, some darkness overcame me.  Not from the clouds in the sky that were hanging above us that day,  but rather from what the Holocaust represented during World War ІІ.  It was beyond saddening to see those hundreds of ceramic stones on the cold ground, each one representing the victims of the horrendous concentration camps.  We can all just pray that something like this is never going to repeat itself.

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Checking out the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall, also known as the “East Side Gallery”, which represents freedom, was more uplifting.  I don’t remember any of the news coverage from 1989 when the wall fell, but seeing those monument parts from such a big part of German history was just amazing.  Each of those pieces still represents the fate and pain so many people had to endure during that certain time period.

This trip definitely had an impact on me and made me realize how appreciative we can be of not having to endure a world war at first hand.  Let’s keep praying that it will stay that way.

Images: © Anne-Kathrin Schulte
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Anne-KathrinAnne-Kathrin Schulte, is a contributor for CaliforniaGermans.com. She writes on her personal experience of the American Dream as well as on working as an au pair in CA. She was born and grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she completed her degree as a state-approved Kindergarten teacher. After her au pair engagement in the US and a quick return to Germany she decided to attend university in California and moved back to the United States. She has been living in Southern California since 2011.

If you would like to contact Anne-Kathrin, please send an email to californiagermans(at)gmail.com and place her name in the subject line.

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The Fall of the Berlin Wall – November 9, 1989

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English: The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. Th...

30,415 GDR citizens fled to West Berlin in July 1961, which was the highest number of refugees per month since 1953. After that event the GDR started with the building of the Berlin Wall on August 13th, even though just in June 1961 First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, Walter Ulbricht, had declared “Nobody intends to build a wall”.

After years  of a divided Germany, dramatic events like the Berlin Blockade, and many  frightening attempts of East-Berliners fleeing the repressive country GDR, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9th, 1989 .

Anchorman Hans Joachim Friedrichs proclaimed then on ARD’s Tagesthemen, “This is a historic day. East Germany has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The GDR is opening its borders … the gates in the Berlin Wall stand open.”

The Berlin Wall was a phenomena not only for foreigners, but also for Germans who were non-Berliners. It seemed strange how within a country one part of a capital city belonged to a different regime. The Berlin Wall and its historical situation inspired writers and filmmakers around the world, and continues to stay a topic of great interest even nowadays .

“Deutsche Lese-Ecke” on California Germans

Stay tuned for quite a different Berlin Wall story by CaliforniaGermans’ author Dieter Kermas tomorrow.

“Welche Mauer?”, a short story written all in German, will also start our “Deutsche Lese-Ecke” category, where you will be able to find periodic new postings of short stories, poems and excerpts of larger works exclusively in German.

Sources: Berlin.de, wikipedia
Photo: wikipedia
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Berlin Wall Dedication in Mountain View

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Please join the Dedication Ceremony for the two 10 feet tall Berlin Wall segments that have been donated to the city of Mountain View by the Golzen Family, who had purchased them when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

They now found a new home at the Mountain View Public Library and will be a permanent installation in front of the library .

The ceremony will include guest speeches by the Germany‘s Consul General in San Francisco and the Golzen Family. The German International School of Silicon Valley will accompany the event with music.

WHEN: November 14th, 2013 at 3pm

WHERE: Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin Street

Berlin Wall Dedication NoCal.

 

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Villa Aurora – Artists Residence and Cultural Meeting Point in Los Angeles

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Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades is a place where German, European and American culture meet.

Originally the private domicile of German-Jewish novelist Lion Feuchtwanger who had bought the villa in Pacific Palisades in 1943, Villa Aurora quickly became the meeting place for exiled German intellectuals and their American colleagues.  Artists and scholars from different disciplines gathered at Villa Aurora for readings and musical evenings, for celebrations and discussions. Albert Einstein, Bertold Brecht,Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann, Fritz Lang, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill and many more were part of this eclectic cultural group.

After extensive renovations, Villa Aurora picked up on its tradition in 1995, and since then has continued to be a meeting place for the arts again. With its Artist-in-Residence Grants Villa Aurora awards up to 12 scholarships every year in the areas of literature, fine art, film and music in the German-American cultural exchange program. The villa itself beautifully restored to its former grandeur is listed on the historical register.

Events at the Villa Aurora

Villa Aurora hosts many cultural events throughout the year that open up the splendid residence and location to the public.  Some exciting events coming up as soon as this week are listed below:

– Music Memory Metamorphosis – 

Los Angeles | April 20, 2013 (7:30 pm)

Viktor Ullmann:
Piano Sonata Nr. 7 (1944) &
“The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke” (1944)
12 excerpts from the poem by Rainer Maria Rilke for speaker and piano

As Cinematic-Musical-Montage

Produced and directed by Gwyneth Bravo with the support of REZN8’s founder Paul Sidlo and featuring live performances by Neal Stulberg and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, this multi-media program presents composer Viktor Ullmann’s final 1944 works—the Piano Sonata No.7 and his melodrama The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke — against a cinematic backdrop. In the spirit of early film and Erwin Piscator’s experimental Berlin theater of the 1920s, the production re-imagines the theater and concert hall as a cinematic space where the live performance of these works takes place inside a cinematic framework, where a kaleidoscope of projected and slowly shifting montage images serves as a visual counterpoint to the poetry and music. Employing a postmodern compositional aesthetic, her film, which Robert Elias, President of the OREL Foundation, describes as “a moving and beautifully wrought immersive work of art,” unfolds in thirteen, short movements and is composed of a series of densely-textured images constructed from the superimposition and animation of a multi-layered and harmonically-conceived series of visual elements.

Neal Stulberg, Recitation
Steven Vanhauwaert, Piano
Paul Sidlo, Technical Production & Design
Gwyneth Bravo, Producer & Artistic Director

For more information and tickets, please go to the following website: http://musicmemorymetamorphosis.brownpapertickets.com/
Admission: Members & Students $10, General Admission $25

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 – Two Who Dared – 

Los Angeles | Saturday, April 27@ 7:00 p.m.

A documentary by Artemis Joukowsky III                                                       USA, 2012, 76 min., digital                                                                                           Presented by Villa Aurora, Artemis Joukowsky III and Robert Lemelson

Q & A and reception for the filmmaker after the screening.

This film tells the story of Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha who, just days prior to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, left their young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts to help save thousands being persecuted in Eastern Europe.

Who were these American heroes? What drove their willingness to put the well-being of strangers over that of themselves and their family?

Waitstill and Martha were also involved in the Feuchtwangers’ escape from France. They are two of only three Americans who have been honored as “Righteous Among Nations” by Yad Vashem.  Two Who Dared has received a number of awards in 2012 including the Special Jury Prize from the Amsterdam Film Festival; Official Selection, River’s Edge Film Festival, and Redemptive Storyteller Award, Redemptive Film Festival

The screening at Villa Aurora is part of a grassroots, community-based effort, at synagogues, churches, theaters, and schools; in cities world-wide!

For more information visit www.TwoWhoDared.com
RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org – you will receive a confirmation.

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–  Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border –

Los Angeles | Thursday, May 2 @ 7:00 p.m.

A documentary by Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote                Germany, 2011, 95 min.                                                                                                   Presented by Villa Aurora and Pacific Palisades Film Festival

Sunday, August 13th 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic lays the foundation stone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. A whole city is in a state of shock. At first the “atrocious century-construction“ is watched in disbelief. Then people start pulling their 8mm-cameras out of their cupboards to capture the images of the events.

On the basis of these extraordinary, widely unknown recordings and found footage, Claus Oppermann und Gerald Grote’s first feature film tells many impressive but forgotten stories about the rise of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to its fall in 1989, about the division of Germany and a bloody borderline through the middle of Europe.

The Wall, 155 km long, symbol of the Cold War, photographed and filmed million-fold, seen from a private and personal point of view. A unique documentary, put together out of hundreds of previously unreleased substandard films that have never been seen like this before. Many private archives were opened for the first time – a time travel, well worth seeing.

For more information visit http://www.bis-an-die-grenze.de/
Free for members / General $ 5
RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org

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VILLA AURORA:

Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Event Shuttle service starts usually one hour prior to an event and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.

Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!

To Listen to an Audio Report on the Villa Aurora by PRI on theworld.org click here : PRI- Villa Aurora Audio

 
 
Source:
Villa Aurora –
German Mission in the United States –
 
Photo Credit: Villa Aurora
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Berlin Wall is Making Headlines in Berlin, California and the World

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While the world witnessed how Berliners stood up for the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall not to be removed last month, two other Berlin Wall segments found a permanent home in Mountain View, California.

A few days before Easter shortly before dawn construction workers started with the removal of the famous ‘East Side Gallery’ in Berlin, the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall (1.3 km long), and an international memorial for freedom. The reason behind it: The East Side Gallery needed to make way for a luxury apartment complex. Despite days of protest and even a short-lived halt of the project, when politicians tried to find a solution for keeping this famous section of the Berlin Wall untouched, the developer was ultimately given permission to proceed with his project after all.

As the international community followed the unfolding of events, Berliners were stunned and plainly shocked.  “I can’t believe they came here in the dark in such a sneaky manner,” said Kani Alavi, the head of the East Side Gallery’s artists’ group. “All they see is their money, they have no understanding for the historic relevance and art of this place.” By mid morning people witnessed in disbelief how a 6 meter gap was guarded by a wooden fence and protected by police.

And…that’s not all. The controversial project continues to make headlines. Latest news unveil that the investor behind this project, Maik Uwe Hinkel, had apparently strong ties to East Germany’s communist party SED (Socialist Unity Party),and in fact may have been a spy for East Germany’s notorious secret police, the Stasi, so the news magazine ”SPIEGEL” in its report “Stasi Suspicions: Berlin Wall Developer’s Past in Question”.

Mountain View in CALIFORNIA becomes Home to two Berlin Wall Segments

On the other side of the world in the meantime two large segments of the Berlin Berlin Wall Mountain_View,_CaliforniaWall found a permanent home in a much quieter venture and with much less media attention.

The more than 10 feet tall donated wall sections depict a caricature of Elvis Presley on one slab and a heart with the words “Wir lieben Dich” on the other. They were previously displayed at an office park, before they got donated to the city last year by the family of Frankfurt native Frank Golzen, who had purchased them after the wall came down in 1989.  “These pieces of the Berlin Wall remind me that freedom is not free. Freedom is paid for in blood,” said Bahl, a local resident who had urged the city council to pick a spot that offered good public visibility.  The famous slabs will now greet visitors to the public library at Franklin Street in Mountain View.

Villa Aurora in L.A. features Documentary on the Berlin Wall in May 2013

In connection with the Pacific Palisades Film Festival, Villa Aurora in L.A. is presenting the documentary “Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border”.

On the basis of extraordinary, widely unknown recordings and found footage, Claus Oppermann und Gerald Grote’s first feature film tells many impressive but forgotten stories about the rise of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to its fall in 1989, about the division of Germany and a bloody borderline through the middle of Europe.

In this unique film one can see how on the historical Sunday of August 13th 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic lays the foundation stone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. An event that puts a whole city in a state of shock. The “atrocious century-construction“ is at first watched in disbelief. Then people start pulling their 8mm-cameras out of their cupboards to capture the images of the events.

“Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border”
A documentary by Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote
(Germany, 2011, 95 min)
Thursday, May 2 @ 7:00 p.m. 
At Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles

For more information visit http://www.bis-an-die-grenze.de/
Free for members / General $ 5
RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org
 
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining...
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Article Sources:
http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2013/04/01/east-side-gallery-of-remaining-berlin-wall-dismantled/
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/27/17485506-historic-parts-of-berlin-wall-removed-despite-protests-over-luxury-building-project?lite
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/shock-as-part-of-berlin-wall-knocked-down-to-make-way-for-luxury-apartments/story-e6frfq80-1226608053342
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_22829559/berlin-wall-sections-find-new-home-mountain-view
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/stasi-suspicions-east-side-gallery-developer-hinkel-past-in-question-a-893110.html
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David Hasselhoff Throws In His Support For Preserving Remaining Section of Berlin Wall

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A little over 23 years ago, the idea of Germans wanting to stop the demolition of the Berlin Wall would’ve been unheard of for the most part.  In 1989 when the demolition of the wall began, Germans came with sledgehammers and other destructive tools to tear down the miles of concrete that once divided the city in two.  As time passes though, remnants of the past that once brought on feelings of hatred and pain become reminders of what once occurred and serve as a lesson of where things went wrong.  That is why thousands in Germany have taken to the streets to protest the removal of the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall and David Hasselhoff, who performed at the wall in support of tearing it down in 1989, has vowed to do what he can to help keep this section in place.

The 1.3 kilometer (0.8 mile) section of the Berlin Wall under threat of removal, which is referred to as the East Side Gallery, was approved to be removed to make room for a luxury high-rise apartment complex despite it being a protected landmark.  Every year nearly 800,000 visitors from around the world make the journey to this section of the Berlin Wall covered in graffiti art in remembrance of what it once was.  While the initial plan was to move this section of the wall to a new site nearby, many have argued that a move like that would alter and diminish the impact of what it signifies.

David Hasselhoff sat down for an interview with the Huffington Post last Friday to talk about the protest and mentioned that he would be more than willing to perform another concert at the wall, except this time it would be in support of it.  He told the Huffington Post that ”I think the best way to do this is to fight capitalism with capitalism… If you get the whole world behind it, I’d be happy to come over and help and do what I can and do a concert. If you’re gonna fight money, you gotta fight money with money.”

Towards the end of Hasselhoff’s interview he touched upon the need to preserve history whether it is a remembrance of good or evil by relating it to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.  He summed it up by saying ”If this did happen in Manhattan and you tried to tear down something about 9/11, you’d have a hell of a lot of problems… This is about history.”

So far the protesters have been able to stop the initial removal that was scheduled for March 1 after the development firm behind the high-rise project, Living Bauhaus, agreed to put it off until at least March 18.  Living Bauhaus feels that they have been unfairly abused during the last several weeks but has agreed to hold a public forum to discuss the matter.

Sources: Huffington Post, Deutsche-Welle
Photo by Viktor Rosenfeld via flickr
Article Source: GermanPulse

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   German Pulse is a new online magazine for the German-American community where you can  find the latest news, reviews, events, businesses, and so much more.
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Goethe-Institut Los Angeles Holding “Rockin’ The Wall” Screening with Director & Writer

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Director Marc Leif and Writer Larry Shweikart will be screening their latest documentary ”Rockin’ the Wall” with a special Q&A on September 13 at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.  ”Rockin’ the Wall” is based on Shweikart’s book Seven Events That Made America America and tells the story of the role Rock and Roll played in bringing down the Berlin Wall.  The film interviews several well-known rock musicians, including David Paich (Toto), Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets), and Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot), as well as individuals who experienced life behind the Soviet controlled side of the wall.

“Rockin’ the Wall” shows that music was a liberating force behind the Iron Curtain and helped give strength to the anti-communist revolution.  The September 13 screening is a great opportunity to talk with the director and writer of the film to get an even better understanding of this often unrecognized movement.  Admission is free of charge and the film screening starts at 7pm.

If you are unable to make it, you can still see the film by purchasing your own copy of the DVD.  Check out the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles websitefor more details on the event or head on over to the “Rockin’ the Wall” website to order a copy of the DVD.

Source: Geothe-Institut Los Angeles, Rockinthewall.com
Article Source: German Pulse

———————————————————————————–   ABOUT

German Pulse is a new online magazine for the German-American community where you can  find the latest news, reviews, events, businesses, and so much more.
website | twitter | Facebook
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Reunification of Germany/Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands – 20 Jaehriges Jubilaeum

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The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. The photo s...
Image via Wikipedia

It’s seems just yesterday that the news circled the world of the Berlin Wall falling down and of Germany being reunited again. But the fall of the wall was just the beginning of a long path of bringing the two “Germanys” together again and it wasn’t an easy one often.

The wall fell in 1989 and in 1990 the Deutschmark was introduced. On September 12 of that year the Two-Plus-Four-Treaty was signed and led to Germany regaining full sovereignty. On October 3, the Unification Treaty officially reunited Germany and October 3 became Germany’s new national day.

Germans all over the world are celebrating this day with various festivities. The German Consulate Los Angeles has put together the following list with happenings in and around LA:

German Week at Concordia University Irvine – October 2-7, 2010

German-American Day Celebration, October 2, 2010

Premiere Screening: One Germany, Twenty Years Later, October 3, 2010

Book Signing with Author Anke Otto-Wolf, October 3, 2010

Goethe-Institut Los Angeles: Celebrating 20 Years of Unity, Oct. 5-13, 2010

Lectures: Drafting a United Germany – Horst Teltschik, Oct. 18-19, 2010

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The Berlin Wall and Other Physical Borders – A Discussion at USC Annenberg School for Communication

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Visions & Voices presents Communication Across Borders: An International Dialogue
Annenberg Auditorium, 6:30 p.m. – Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 – Co-sponsored by the Goethe-Institute Los Angeles

November 9th, 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  – While many have forgotten the impact of living with the wall for a quarter of a century, it was a constant reminder of the Cold War and the threat of atomic war.
Choreographer Nejla Yatkin was a teenager in Berlin living with the reality of the divided city. She experienced the threat of imminent conflict in the battle between East and West, and saw the world open up when the wall went down.
For the first time in decades, people had a chance to communicate, share, move and get to know each other, without feeling the oppressive threat.
This event will draw on these observations and experiences, exploring the role that physical and political boundaries play in society.
The event will include a screening and short performance of a contemporary dance piece by Yatkin that reflects, embodies and subverts the interaction between individuals, movement and the emotional impact of barriers.
Following the presentation, Carola Weil, Annenberg associate dean for planning and strategic initiatives, will moderate a discussion with Yatkin and Annenberg faculty members Sandy Tolan, Josh Kun and Roberto Suro.
They will link the Berlin Wall to other physical borders, such as the U.S.-Mexican border and the fence between Israel and Palestinian territories.
While these boundaries can act as national or international assets, they can also act as impediments that restrict the flow of resources, commerce and intellectual property, isolating people and dividing nations.

WHERE: USC University Park Campus, Annenberg Auditorium  WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 18th, 2009 at 6:30pm
Admission is free. RSVP requested.
visionsandvoices@usc.edu

 

 

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