Unanswered Question

Where did the very first nobility of Germany come from?

Rote Armee Fraktion

The Rote Armee Fraktion, also known as the Red Army Fraction, is generally shortened to RAF. In its early stages the RAF was called the Badder- Meinhof group. However, the RAF never used this name for itself. The media was the one that used this nickname for the RAF because they did not want to legitimize their organization. The RAF began in 1970 and lasted until 1998. This group engaged itself in armed resistance against the fascist state.

There were three generations to the Rote Armee Fraktion. The first generation consisted of Badder and his associates. The second generation was during the mid 1970s. Several Socialist Patients' Collective members joined the Red Army Fraction during this time. The third generation was from the 1980s to the 1990s.

On April 20, 1998 the RAF sent and eight page letter declaring the group had dissolved.

Similarities and Differences between terrorist groups today and the RAF

Similarities:

• Both are very idealistic
• Want new changes
• Civilian loss occurs
• A lot of violence

Differences:

• The RAF stayed in their own country
• The RAF never controlled their own country

Baader- Meinhof Complex

The movie Baader- Meinhof Complex was very confusing for me. The movie I watched had English subtitles so it was a bit confusing reading the subtitles and paying attention to the movie. I liked the idea that the group did something to stand up but this movie, to me, seems to be advocating terrorism which I do not think is correct. This movie was very much an action packed thriller. It was a good movie but I am not a big fan of action movies so I got a little bored at times. There were also a few sad parts in this movie. As the movie went on I took the side of this group. I felt sorry for them because they were continuously trying to beat an enemy much to large and in power.

20th Century German Inventions

click on the following link    https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AYZE5aS0jKW4ZGdmcmhuYzRfMTMzZDhicjNmZjI&hl=en&authkey=CNTAwsoM

20th Century German Fine Arts

please click on the following link  https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ARjpXpOJEC7dZHE3cDN0aF8yMmRmM3Q2ems0&hl=en&authkey=CM2QndIE

Why the EU will continue to be a pivotal organization for Germany in the 21st century

1. The EU unites Germany in that they have other countries to unite with.
2. The EU is good for Germany in that it gives Germany something to belong to that is good since they have been looked down upon during the world wars.
3. In the EU the German population does not worry about tariffs or trade wars.  This benefits Germany buy letting them sell their goods at whatever price they want.
4. The EU allows people from other countries to live in other EU countries freely. This is beneficial for Germany because they have the opportunity to have a larger population.
5. The EU has people pay taxes in the country that they work, so all the non Germans working in Germany half to pay their taxes to Germany.
6. If Germany would ever become poor or cannot support itself the EU can help support them.
7. The EU is a bis sponsor of protecting the environment. Germany benefits from this because their environment then stays clean and protected.
8. Renewable resources are important in the EU which benefits Germany because they are big into protecting their enivronment.
9. The EU unites countries so if Germany ever wanted to go off the path and do something globally wrong the EU would stop them, which is good since WWII was not good for Germany.
10. The EU is a marketplace for other countries to buy German goods which will lead to Germany being very prosperous.
11. The EU's currency is the Euro. Germany also uses the Euro which allows the Germans to spend their money in other EU countries freely without having to switch currencies.
12. EU allows Germany to remain a global competitor with the rest of the world.

Work Cited

Specht-Jarvis, Roland. Class Lecture. 8 Nov, 2010.


http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_177700/Content/EN/Artikel/Europa-Uebersetzungen/07-02-13-2007-01-04-fuenfzig-jahre-eu-zehn-vorteile-fuer-deutschland/2007-01-04-fuenfzig-jahre-eu-zehn-vorteile-fuer-deutschland__en.html

20th Century German Rulers

20th Century Rulers

20th Century German Poets and Writers

Pkease click on this link to view the presentation.

Gender Roles in the 20th Century

Roles of Men and Women in the 20th Century (10/20/10 Project)

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

Top Three Blogs

1. David Grow
• Blog is neat and organized, great pictures.
2. Kelsey Kubiak
• I enjoyed this blog. it is neat and well written.
3. Danielle Ostendorf
• Great blog: well written with good pictures. I really like the background and the fish on top. =)

All Quiet on the Western Front Discussions

In class on Monday we had discussions on the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque wrote this book and his book has become world famous. Another topic was how the young soldiers lost their identities after coming back home from the war. Remarque began writing articles for newspapers and small books before he became famous. After this popular novel he never wrote another book. The soldiers had nothing to remember from before they went to war because they were so young. Along with this these soldiers changed throughout the war. Going into the war they were youthful but then coming out they were much more mature.

Lower Saxony/ Niedersachsen

Lower Saxony

Where is Lower Saxony located?

Located in the northwestern part of Germany

Lower Saxony borders many other German states:

• Southeast: Thuringia
• East: Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt
• North: Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
• South: Hesse
• Southwest: North Rhine- Westphalia
• Northeast: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Also bordered by the Netherlands and the North Sea

How many live here?

• 7,977,000 people
• 4th largest state in population

How does its size relate to Minnesota, or any other US state?

• In population:
• Lower Saxony is equivalent to the population of Minnesota and Iowa together
• It is about half the size of Indiana

What is special about Lower Saxony?

• Second largest state in size
• 20% of the state is designated to nature conservation
• Agriculture and farming make up a big part of the economy
• Automobile manufacturing and automobile parts manufacturing are also important economic part of Lower Saxony
• Volkwagon has 5 production plants here along with its headquarters, which is located in Wolfsburg
• The capital of Lower Saxony is Hannover.
• Hannover is also the largest city in Lower Saxony
• Mining has been an important source of income in Lower Saxony for centuries. Lower Saxony is also an important supplier of crude oil in the European Union. Mineral products still mined today include iron and lignite.
• The coat of arms shows a white horse (Niedersachsenross) on red ground, which is an old symbol of the Saxon people

What was the Lower Saxony historically? A kingdom, a duchy, a free city?

• Was originally a duchy
• It is named after the Saxons
• Originally the region was simply called "Saxony", but as the center of gravity of the Duchy of Saxony gradually moved up the Elbe, towards the present-day states of Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony, the region was given the name of Lower Saxony
• The state was founded in 1946 by the British military administration, who merged the former states of Brunswick,  Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the former Prussian province of Hanover

http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=14414

http://www.germanfoodguide.com/niedersachsen.htm

http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/11155

Compition questions

Group 1

~What are the two restaurants/bars in Germany where you can dine completely in the dark?
Life In Germany Today
Unsicht-Bar in Berlin, Cologne, and Hamburg (http://www.unsicht-bar-berlin.de/)
Nocti Vagus in Berlin (http://www.noctivagus.com/)

~Germany is the second most populous country in Europe. Which is the first?
Life in Germany Today
Russia!

~On Saturday, September 25th, Munich will be hosting a pop sensation. Who is it? Where are they from?
Life in Germany Today
Kate Nash, Britain

~What German ruler backed Martin Luther from very early on, and ensured his safety after he was declared an outlaw?
German History
The Duke of Saxony

~What German state rapidly rose to a first-class miliary power between 1670 and 1740?
German History
Prussia

~Who is this?
German History
Richard Wagner

~Who is this?
German Media
Franka Potenta

~What was the name of the movie where German actress Angelica Domröse plays the sister of a Man named Jens?
German Media
Die Legende von Paul und Paula

~These three men founded a video game company located in Germany, what is the name of their company and who are they?
German Media
Company name: Crytek
Brothers: Cevat, Avni and Faruk Yerli

~Who spoke at the Ingolstaedter Muenster church in Ingolstadt, Germany on 24.4.10?
Bavaria
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Karl-Theodore zu Guttenberg, in a service for four soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

~Why were King Ludwig the Second's castles opened up for tourism shortly after his death?
Bavaria
To pay for the cost of building them.

~Which of King Ludwig the Second's castles in Bavaria was the only one to be finished before his death?
Bavaria
Linderhof

~What is the oldest flowering plant in Germany?
Lower Saxony
A rosebush at St. Mary's Cathedral in Hildeshein

~What are the 7 inhabited Frisian Islands?
Lower Saxony
Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeook, Spiekeroog, Wangerooge

~This character from the Shrek movies is based off lore from Lower Saxony.
Lower Saxony
The Pied Piper

~What do the colors of the NRW flag represent?
North Rhine-Westphalia
Green - the River Rhine; White - the White Horse; Red - the Red Rose

~Which political party had the greatest percent of votes in the May 9th, 2010 election in NRW?
North Rhine - Westphalia
Christian Democratic Union, with 34.6%

~What was the precursor to the treaty of Westphalia?
North Rhine - Westphalia
The Concordat of Worms

~What street is this building on?
Berlin
It is the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, located on Werderscher Strasse in Berlin.

~This structure is a key location in which German film?
Berlin
Run, Lola, Run (in English) or Lola Rennt (in German).

~Held in Berlin, what are the German equivalent to the British Pop Awards?
Berlin
Echo Awards

~What famous novel, anonymously written in the early 13th century, ends with the death of all key characters?
Our Choice
Nibelungenlied

~Where is this statue and what is it depicting?
Our Choice
It is in Bremen, Germany, and it is depicting the Bremen town musicians.

~Which German car was the first one to be built solely outside of Germany?
Our Choice
The BMW Z3

16 German States Pivotal Facts

Schleswig-Hoistein

• Is the land between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea

Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)

• The biggest employer in the industry is the Volkswagon in Wolfsburg
• The second largest state

Bremen

• Is a city state- consists of two enclaves, Bremen and Bremerhaven. Both cities are surrounded by Lower Saxony.
• Bremerhaven is the home of the German Martime Museum

Hamburg

• The port of Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe

Mexklenburg-Vorpommern (Mexklenburg-Western Pomerania)

• Largest population density

Brandenburg

• Capital is Potsdam. Was the residence of Prussian kings until 1918
• Has the second least population density

Berlin

• Capital city of Germany
• Germany's largest city

Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt)

• The oldest German chocolate factory is in Halle

Sachsen (Saxony)

• Economic leader of the five "new" states

Thuringen (Thuringia)

• Many famous people where born and lived here

Hassen (Hesse)

• One of the smaller states
• Home of the Grimm Brothers

Nurdrhein-Westfalen (North-Rhine West Phalia)

• Germany's westernmost and most populous state. Has the largest metropolitan area

Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)

• Germany's wine state
• Home of the largest chemical company in the world, one of the largest breweries, and car manufacturers

Saarland

• Smallest German state in area and population

Baden-Wuerttemberg

• One of the most prosperous states
• People are known for being inventive and industrious

Bayern (Bavaria)

• Largest state and one of the oldest

http://www.germany-insider-facts.com/german-states.html#schl

Radio Staions and What they Broadcast

Are Mass Media more globalized than the people who consume them?

• I think the mass media globalizes the people and the people globalize the mass media.

What does it mean when patterns across the Western globe are so similar?

• That the Western countries follow other countries and end up doing the same things.

Where do cultural differences "survive" if media do not carry them - or do they?

• Within the people of that culture.

What can you say about Radio in Germany?

• It is very similar to radio in America.

German Print Media Reviewed

These German newspapers all have their own unique features. Like in America, these papers cover a wide variety of topics. Also, these newspapers sometimes cover only their area while others cover many countries. What's differnet I think is that a couple of these newspapers appeare in over a hundred countries not just Germany.

My Observations About the Top 20 Radio Stations in Germany

After listening to the top 20 radio stations in Germany I relized that there are a lot of techno stations. Also there is a lot of stations with music played especially for clubs for people to dance to. While these stations are located in Germany there are a lot of songs that come from the United States and from Englan. I noticed these because I speak English so it is easy to recognize these songs. However, I assume that other country's music might also be played on a few stations. Out of the top 20 stations many of the stations are similar but there is also enough different stations to fit most people's preferrences.

Most and least radio stations

Most: Bavaria 78 stations
Least: Bremen and Mexklenburg-Vorpommern have 6 stations

Bayerische Wald

• The Bayerische Wald (Bavarian Forest) is the oldest national park in Germany
• This forest has been completely returned to nature.
• No humans live here
• There are wet valleys, streams, bogs, moors and meadows in this forest
• The Bavarian Forest is the largest contiguous area of protected forest in central Europe.
• Many rare species have made the Bayerisch Wald their home
• lynx, black stork, eagle owl, and the three- toed woodpecker are a few examples
• There are 300km of walking trails
• 200km of cycling paths
• Mountain biking is all popular here
• This forest is not well known which makes it a great place to go to avoid tourism
• The Bayerische Wald contains Germany's cleanest air
• This forest use to be covered in glaciers
• Home to the tallest mountains in Bavaria
• One of the oldest hand- axes in Germany was found here around 80,000 years ago

http://www.slowtrav.com/germany/bavarian_forest.htm

http://www.germanplaces.com/germany/bavarian-forest-national-park.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8292819@N08/4247956363/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophie-/3138137194/

Berlin Topics

Berlin Topics

1. Bradenburg Gate
2. Berlin Buildings
3. Berlin Structures
4. Berlin Nightlife
5. Museum Island
6. Reichstag
7. Sports
8. Berlin Olympiastadion
9. Popular Sights and Activities in Luebeck, Germany
10. Berlin Music, Art, and Literature
1. Art and Culture of the 1920's
11. Berlin Tram
12. U-Bahn and S-Bahn
13. Berlin During WWII
14. Berlin After WWII

Berlin in the 1920's and Today

Art and Culture in the  1920's

In 1923, inflation swept through Germany. Having no money led to the odd mixture of despair and manic festivity that led to Berlin’s artistic, musical, and literary renaissance.

Theater
Das Proletarische Theater (The Proletarian Theater) was founded by Erwin Piscator in 1920. Piscator used theater as a way to keep the working middle class Germans from their depression and prepare them for the coming "socialist revolution".

Kurt Weill came up with the “Singspiel” (song play) and introduced German audiences to the musical as we know it today. Although Kurt Weill was very popular he was a Jew. When the Nazis came to power Weill came to America where he continued to be very successful.

Music
As in America, jazz music was very popular in Berlin during the 20s.  Josephine Baker, and African-American singer, caused a sensation in Berlin with her overtly sexual “banana dance.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tVgzMy5dY&feature=related

Classical music also flourished during the 1920s. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was under the leadership of conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler,  a very creative and passionate man.

Art

In Art, DaDaism was a controversial and exciting movement in Berlin during the 1920's. DaDaism used collage and photomontage techniques. Many DaDa works were overtly political. The majority of DaDaists denounced the Prussian government and were anti-capitalistic.  Prominent DaDaists included artists Hans Richter, George Grosz, and Raoul Hausmann.

Writers

The most influential book in Germany in the 1920’s was “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Written by Erich Maria Remarque. Erich was a young veteran of the German Army in World War I. His book is about the horror of the war and the sense of utter defeat felt by many Germans. His book has become one of the most read novels of all time.

Art and Culture in Berlin Today

Theater

Berlin is world famous for their status as film festival capital of Europe. They are third behind Cannes and Venice.

Berlin's and one of Germany's most famous theatre companies, the Berliner Ensemble, was founded by Bertolt Brecht. Today it still is producing great theater

Music

Peter Fox belongs to the band Seeed but he has gone solo and  has became very popular. Culcha Candela is a famous dancehall group.

Art

Berlin attracts artists from all over the world. Berlin's annual art trade fair has made the city a melting pot of the international art market.

Berlin is once again the city where trends are put in motion and is fast becoming one of Europe's art capitals.

Writers

Günter Kunert has written in nearly every literary genre, including literary criticism, short stories, television plays, and poetry. Kunert's most recent poem is So und nich anders, which he wrote in 2002.

 

http://www.berlinfo.com/freetime/Film-Theatre/index.htm

http://www.essortment.com/all/artberlin_rbut.htm 

http://www.visitberlin.de/english/sightseeing/e_si_museen_museumsjahr.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fox_%28musician%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culcha_Candela
http://www.greeninteger.com/pipbios_detail.cfm?PIPAuthorID=979

Collegiate Church, Castle and Old Town of Quedlinburg

Collegiate Church, Castle and Old Town of Quedlinburg


Quedlinburg, Germany has been known since the early 9th century. In 919 A.D. Quedlinburg became the capital of the East Franconian German Empire in 919. This had happened during the Saxonian- Ottonian dynasty. Quedlinburg is located in the state of Saxony- Anhalt, which was part of the former GDR. The town of Quedlinburg is one of Germany’s largest monuments. Lining the streets is large number of high quality timber-framed buildings.

Beginning in the Middle Ages Quedlinburg had been a prosperous trading and market town. In 919 A.D. King Heinrich I (Henry the Fowler) became King of Germany. He was the first King to be crowned in Quedlinburg. Quedlinburg is centered around the Markt. The Markt is the town square. Quedlinburg also has two hills. On one hill is the castle, the abbey that King Heinrich’s wife founded, and the church. This complex is known as Burgberg. The church on Burgberg is the Collegiate Church of St. Servatius. This church holds the graves of the first royal couple, King Heinrich I and his wife, along with all the Abbesses. The church of St. Servatius is also one of the master pieces of Romanesque architecture. The other hill is known as the Muenzenberg and when standing on Muenzenberg you are able to see the rest of this beautiful town.

The Abbey of Quedlinburg played a big part of Quedlinburg’s history. For 800 years Quedlinburg was ruled by the Abbesses of the Quedlinburg convent. These women ruled until 1802, which is when Napolieon had invaded Quedlinburg and disbanded the Abbey. Then in 1754 another women made history. Dorothea Erxleben became the first women to win the right to attend a university. She then went on to receive the academic title of Medical Doctor. Dorothea was a native of Quedlinburg.

16 German States

1. Schleswig: Holstein : The Flounder fish here lay in the mud flats where people come for a tour.
2. Hamburg: Thomas Cotterell's company controls and houses imported goods like spices, rubber, coffee and cocoa and has been around for 122 years.
3. Bremen: Has ports for trading goods, but the ships are becoming sparce because of the high docking fees.
4. Lower Saxony: Wolfsburg is where the VW headquarters is located. (I stayed here for 11 days!)
5. North Rhine-Westphalia: Steel mill that had a two month strike.
6. Hesse: All the banks in Frankfurt make this state very international.
7. Rhineland Palatinate: Two-thirds of Germany's wine is produced in this state.
8. Saarland: Food is celebrated here because of the the closeness to France.
9. Baden-Wuerttemberg: Ulrich Ruediger created the scanning tunneling microscope which costs around a million euros.
10. Bavaria: Bernhard Mumm makes three-dimensional ultrasound images that can be turned and manipulated.
11. Thuringia: Is the German capital for glass art.
12. Saxony: The Technical University in Freiberg is one of the trend-setting universities in silicon research and the development of large solar energy plants.
13. Saxony-Anhalt: Are the nation's earliest risers.
14. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Mecklenburg is a state devoted to tourism, farming and livestock breeding.
15. Berlin: Most famous street snack, the currywurst, is located in Berlin.
16. Brandenburg: One third of this state's acreage is all nature.

Berlin Wall Project

The Berlin Wall

How and Why the Berlin Wall was Built

How

The barrier was built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting August 13, 1961. In the city of Berlin the wall stretched 43 kilometers long and is also known as “The Death Strip”. The total wall, including the length outside of Berlin, was 140 Kilometers. The wall was 12 feet high with smooth pipe lining the top to make it more difficult to scale. It also included Barbed wire, dogs on leashes, beds of nails, 116 guard towers and, anti-vehicle trenches.

The Berlin Wall went through 4 stages of construction before it was torn down
1. Wire fence (1961)

2. Improved wire fence (1962–1965)

3. Concrete wall (1965–1975)

4. Concrete wall with trenches (Border Wall 75) (1975–1989)

Why

The life in West Germany was much better than in the East after 1948. West Germany, including West Berlin, had financial help through the Marshall Plan from the USA. In East Germany a communist system was established and many people had to suffer under repressions of the Communist party. The wall served to prevent the massive emigration


Rescue and Escape Stories

-The East German families of Peter Strelzyk and Günter Wetzel worked together to create a homemade hot-air balloon. Their wives stitched together curtains, bed-sheets, and random scraps to construct a 65-foot-wide, 75-foot-high balloon. On the night of September 15, 1979, the group launched their contraption, which had just enough fuel to make it over the wall and into the land of Coca Cola and fancy Levi jeans.

-Professional gangs built tunnels that would go under the Berlin Wall (and charged extortionate fees for refugees to use them). One tunnel began in an East Berlin graveyard, where “mourners” brought flowers to a grave and then disappeared underground. And they would have gotten away with it to until Communist officers discovered a baby carriage left by the “grave”. Sealing up the tunnel followed.

-Holger Bethke shot an arrow from an East German rooftop over the Berlin Wall and managed to rig a makeshift pulley system and swing himself to freedom. Years later he flew across the Wall in a micro light aircraft, that he decorated with Russian stars, to rescue his brother Egbert.

-The East German government issued shooting orders to border guards dealing with defectors, though such orders are not the same as "shoot to kill" orders. GDR officials denied issuing the latter. In an October 1973 order later discovered by researchers, guards were instructed that people attempting to cross the wall were criminals and needed to be shot: "Do not hesitate to use your firearm, not even when the border is breached in the company of women and children, which is a tactic the traitors have often used".

-Early successful escapes involved people jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping out of apartment windows along the line, but these ended as the wall was fortified. East German authorities no longer permitted apartments near the wall to be occupied, and any building near the wall had its windows boarded and later bricked up. On August 15, 1961, Conrad Schumann was the first East German border guard to escape by jumping the barbed wire to West Berlin.[57] On 22 August 1961 Ida Siekmann was the first casualty at the Berlin Wall: she died after she jumped out of her third floor apartment at 48 Bernauer Strasse.

-Another dramatic escape was carried out on April 1963 by Wolfgang Engels, a 19-year-old civilian employee of the Nationale Volksarmee. Engels stole a Soviet armored personnel carrier from a base where he was deployed and drove it right into the wall. He was fired at and seriously wounded by border guards. But a West German policeman intervened, firing his weapon at the East German border guards. The policeman removed Engels from the vehicle, which had become entangled in the barbed wire.

-East Germans successfully defected by a variety of methods: digging long tunnels under the wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking a hot air balloon, sliding along aerial wires, flying ultra lights, and in one instance, simply driving a sports car at full speed through the basic, initial fortifications. When metal beams were placed at checkpoints to prevent this kind of defection, up to four people (two in the front seats and possibly two in the boot) drove under the bar in a sports car that had been modified to allow the roof and windscreen to come away when it made contact with the beam. They lay flat and kept driving forward. The East Germans then built zigzagging roads at checkpoints. The sewer system predated the wall, and some people escaped through the sewers, in a number of cases with assistance from the German student group.

-If an escapee was wounded in a crossing attempt and lay on the death strip, no matter how close they were to the Western wall, Westerners could not intervene for fear of triggering engaging fire from the 'Grepos', the East Berlin border guards. The guards often let fugitives bleed to death in the middle of this ground, as in the most notorious failed attempt, that of Peter Fechter (aged 18). He was shot and bled to death, in full view of the Western media, on August 17, 1962. Fechter's death created negative publicity worldwide that led the leaders of East Berlin to place more restrictions on shooting in public places, and provide medical care for possible “would-be escapers”. The last person to be shot while trying to cross the border was Chris Gueffroy on February 6, 1989.


Why the Berlin Wall Came Down

Russia lost its strong hold on East Germany in the 1980's. Then, East German leadership lacked the power and ability to handle the growing discontent of its people.

The boarders between East and West Germany were opened on November 9, 1989 and the Berlin wall was torn down by the end of 1990. The collapse of the Berlin Wall contributed to the collapse of communism and ended the cold war.
Although the opening of the wall was seen as a good thing, fear and anxiety spread throughout the rest of Europe. The fears of reunifying East and West Germany would again lead to war as it had in 1939. Over the next year steps were taken to reunite Germany after 31 years of separation. In the following weeks of November 9, 1989 people from both sides gathered to watch bulldozers make new border crossings. Even though sections of the wall were dismantled or demolished on November 9, 1989, the official dismantling of the wall did not start until June 13, 1990 by the East German Military.

Facts About the Berlin Wall

• Around 5,000 people successfully escaped into West Berlin.

• The Berlin Wall was erected in the night.

• The second generation wall was built to prevent escape.

• There were over 190 people killed on the Berlin Wall.

• There were over 200 people injured by shooting from the Berlin Wall.

• Gunter Litwin was the first victim who was shot down by an East German border guard in Berlin on August 24, 1961.

• The Berlin Wall stopped East German laborers from working in West Berlin.

• East Germans were imprisoned in their own country.

• Berlin became a place of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• The Berlin Wall split up families and friends.

• The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989.


http://www.berlin.de/mauer/geschichte/index.en.html

http://www.freedomhaters.org/content/craziest-berlin-wall-escape-stories?page=2

www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/facts.htm

 www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/escape.htm

www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/faq/index.htm

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/history-of-the-berlin-wall-4685.html

www.helium.com/items/306623-the-history-of-the-berlin-wall

World Heritage List

Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg
Wartburg Castle
Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen
Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof
Historic Centers of Stralsund and Wittenberg