Berliner Pfannkuchen

Ich bin ein Berliner

 http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/berliner.jpg

Berliner's originally were eaten only as a New Year's Eve dessert. It is a funny and common prank to give someone a Berliner filled with mustard.

Berliner's are Germany's version of doughnuts. They are traditionally fried in lard and injected with filling using a syringe. They are then topped with some sort of sugary topping, whether that be powdered sugar or a sugar glaze. The different kinds of fillings vary, with fillings such as Plum-butter, jams, custard, and chocolate. The filling determines what kind of topping will be on the Berliner. For plum-butter filled Berliner's, powdered sugar is used. Raspberry, strawberry, and cherry Berliner's call for regular sugar. All other fillings would require a sugar icing.

Most people believe that when JFK visited Germany and said the famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner," that it was translated literally as him saying "I am a doughnut." However, he did in fact use an appropriate sentence, which addressed his relation with Berlin. In Berlin, the call Berliner's Pfannkuchen, so no one from Berlin would have misunderstood him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_%28pastry%29, Dec. 11

Baader-Meinhoff Follow Up Questions

The first generation of the Baader-Meinhoff group were the more civilized of the three generations. They had set rules and guidelines for themselves- they did not want to harm any people that they found to be innocent. This was made clear when they called the newspaper office several times trying to warn the workers of a bomb attack. Their main forms of attacks were using bombs to terrorize the government and using published media to justify their attacks and gain supporters.

In the beginning of the movie, I was able to connect somewhat with the main characters, identifying them as the protagonists of the movie. As the movie continued and their actions more out of hand, I started to withdraw from them and lose connection. I was no longer rooting for the main characters. It felt like only 30 minutes into the movie and I no longer understood what they were fighting for or what they were protesting.

I feel that without Andreas Baader in the picture, this terrorist group would have never become as prominent as they were. It as his determination and his almost lack of caring of what others think that seemed to push the group forward to continue to do bigger and "better" things.

Der RAF

In the 1960's, World War II had been over for only 20 years. Some of the important leader figures in the government, police force, and the schools were people who had been leaders during the Nazi regime. The chancellor himself had been a part of the Nazi party. The baby boomers were just starting to mature and were the first people who began to question why this was possible. They were under the belief that their country was continuing to be a fascist state, even after the Third Reich had ended. Because of this belief, the new generation felt the need to bring it upon themselves to stop the fascist state from continuing.
The first generation of the RAF was founded by four main people- Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler. They were originally referred to as the Baader-Meinhof Group. Using training they gained from working with guerrilla's in Palestine, they sabotaged and terrorized Germany, pulling bank robberies to gain money and bombing police stations, buildings which belonged to the Axel Springer press, and US military forces. They criticized their country for helping America in the Vietnam war, and drew inspiration from people like Che Guevara, Lenin, and Marx.

The second generation of the RAF arose when the first generation was in prison. The second generation consisted of people who sympathized with the original four, but were not actually connected to them. They kidnapped Peter Lorenz, who was the CDU candidate for mayor of Berlin, in an attempt to pressure the state to release several inmates. Their demands were met, and so Lorenz was released. Several months later, members stormed a West German embassy in Stockholm and took hostages. Two of the hostages were killed when their demands were not met. Two members of the RAF died due to a explosives they planted detonated. More attacks continued to take place through out the trials of the first generation, including the shooting of a federal prosecutor and his body guard while they were sitting at a red light.

1980 was the time the third generation of the RAF was formed. They continued their attacks, bombing places like the US Air Force Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, and targeting government officials and important businessmen. In 1990, after the reunification of East and West Germany, the RAF was receiving both financial and logistical support from a security and intelligence organization in East Germany. Their last action was bombing a newly built prison in Weiterstadt.

April 20th, 1998 marked the end of the RAF. An eight-page letter was written up and sent to a news agency, declaring that "the urban guerrilla in the shape of the RAF is now history."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction, Dec. 10

Today's current forms of terrorist attacks resemble the RAF in their reliance on using bombs. Of course, all terrorist groups are forms of extremists, ready to go to any extent in order to force change in their government. While I am not the most well informed on today's terrorism, it appears to me that most of the attacks made today are on civilians, where as the RAF originally made it very clear that they did not want to hurt civilians.

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex is an intense movie, with some similarities to modern day America. In the very beginning, with the protestors and their signs, it reminded me of the Wall Street protests which happened not too long ago, with people shocked by police brutality towards the protestors. The entire movie, from what we have seen, appeared to me to be a bad drug trip spiraling downwards, and fast. At first, there was a clear problem that the Baader-Meinhof group was against. As their attacks became more intense and they began to train themselves in guerrilla warfare, I wasn't sure what they were fighting for, or if they themselves even knew what they were fighting for. This movie is unique in the way that the viewer starts off with a clear protagonist, but as it continues, you begin to question who is the "good guy" and who is the "bad guy." As more and more people are killed and hurt in the Baader-Meinhof pursuit of something, I am begin to distance myself from the main characters and begin to support the government, which was originally established as the antagonist.

Berlin Calling

1. What do drugs mean to Ickarus? 

 Drugs in the beginning seem to be just a way for Ickarus to socialize with people. You can't have a normal conversation without snorting some cocaine beforehand. Drugs are a form of escape from an otherwise disappointing life. It seems to be what he draws his inspiration from, relying on drugs to help him create new songs. As we see, the drugs were only able to get him so far before he started to fall flat.

2. Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

People attending the shows were taking drugs either in the bathroom, snorting cocaine off of cards, or on the floor and taking pills which were ecstasy or a new mixed drug that a drug dealer had came up with. Drugs are just the first step towards being able to interact with these people. They take it to be able to let loose and experience the music in a new way.  

3. While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus is in focus on drugs?

Drugs are a form of escape, and the subculture that Ickarus was involved with were low on their luck. They used the drugs to temporarily relieve themselves of all the burdens of their lives.

4. Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this 
movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

There are so many people casually taking drugs, and that is very different from the groups that I would hang around with while growing up. Growing up in a suburban town, I never saw the inside of clubs or filthy public bathrooms. Drug use was something that people were ashamed of and would try and hide, not take drugs with friends as a bonding experience.

5. Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

 It seems to be that the youth culture in this movie would not be beneficial towards Germany's industry. I'm not even sure if half of these people were employed, to begin with. Ickarus would definitely not be considered a stand-up employee, and would probably not make it in an industry job. Alice seems like she could contribute more to the industry, however I question why she didn't fire Ickarus sooner, and why she decided to re-sign him after his outburst. Giving people like that second chances does not usually pay off.

6. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

This movie reminds me a lot of Requiem for a Dream, which is a movie that follows three people and the extents they go to to get their drug fix, even after being thrown in jail. One man goes so far to get his fix that his arm becomes infected and eventually needs to be amputated. 

German Literature/Media

German Health/Women

German Industry

18th Century Fine Arts, Music, Theater, and Dance

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFypQbPUhCU

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSulR9Fymg

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All Quiet On The Western Front- 5 Main Points

• This is a story about war, you can't expect a happy ending. 
• The book humanizes the act of war. It's no longer a battle that is happening way over there, it is a battle the reader is now apart of, personally.
• If Paul Baumer were to have survived the war and made it back home, I personally believe he still would not have had a happy ending. 
• Paul has lost the ability to live in normal society. He cannot deal with the elders regarding him as a "hero" and he struggles with empathizing with normal civilians.
• This book could be about anyone in the war- German, Russian, French, anyone.

Paul Baumer

Paul Baumer is the narrator of the book, All Quiet On The Western Front. The book is narrated in 1st person, set up to be like a diary of Paul’s experiences during war. When we start the story, he is a 19-year-old boy just graduated from high school with a mother, father, and older sister. Due from intense pressure from society, Paul enlists in the German army along with 27 of his other classmates. Paul begins the story with several friends, still a little green around the gills and optimistic about life. Most of the book is filled with Paul’s philosophical thinking, reflecting on the war and what it has done to him and the other men in his platoon. He talks about not only the physical limits he is pushed to, but also the psychological limits he experiences. Paul struggles with trying to keep his sanity while battling in a war he is losing, as well as dealing with the brutal situations which come with trench warfare.

Paul Baumer is a kind and gentle young man, but because of the war and the pain it
induces, Paul learns how to disconnect his mind from his heart. By doing this, Paul becomes
unable to feel the heartache of his comrades’ deaths, as well as the ability to conjure the idea of
a future without war. The most disheartening thing that Paul loses because of the war was his
capacity to feel at home among his family and town that he once loved so much.

"Just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line . . . so we turn into wags and loafers
when we are resting. . . . We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with
feelings which, though they may be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place
here.”

Paul speaks of how the war turned him into an animal during battle, because he could only rely
on his most basic instincts, or else he would surely die.

Chapter 12 All Quiet On The Western Front

By Chapter Twelve of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer is disillusioned with his role in life and the role of his life as it used to be. All his adult life he has been entrenched in a war that has basically consumed everything about the world as he knew it and destroyed his perception of what everyone else would see as a normal and functioning society. As seen in the chapter where he visits home, Paul actually misses the battlefield when he is gone. He can no longer function under the normal pressures of society as his body has gotten used to being in high pressure situations all the time. 

“Everyone talks of peace and armistice. All wait. If it again proves an illusion, then they will break up; hope is high, it cannot be taken away again without upheaval. If there is not peace, then there will be revolution.” 

            And even though he’d miss the battlefield, it has grown old. Watching people die and living in constant fear that he could be the next to go.

“It cannot be that it has gone, the yearning that made our blood unquiet, the unknown, the perplexing, the oncoming things, the thousand faces of the future, the melodies from dreams and from books, the whispers and divinations of women; it cannot be that this has vanished in bombardment, in despair, in brothels.”

            It is possible though, that he still believes in the innocence of youth. That even though his classmates and other soldiers his age and younger have had to live and die on the battlefield, they still contain traces of the young men that they were. Hope for the future and hope of a future love still being held close to their hearts. 

“There are not many of the old hands left. I am the last of the seven fellows from our class.”

            He is the last surviving character that was introduced at the beginning of the novel, which makes sense he being the narrator and all. Of course that all changes on the backside of the last page when we learn he died on the quietest day of the year in what is possibly the least descript death of a main character ever. What killed him? A sniper? Too much gas inhalation? A ninja? Maybe even a bee sting? It is unlikely however, that it was as is shown in the movie. There were no birds or drawings involved.

German Social Democratic Party (SPD)

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I worked on studying the SPD German political party. I looked up some of the more basic and background information on the party, but waited to get together with the group before I looked up anything in depth. Getting all 8 people together was difficult, and in the end we weren't able to find a time that worked for everyone so we had to rely very heavily on exchanging emails to get our presentation put together. Everyone in the group was able to work really well together and we shared the work load equally.

For references, we relied mostly on wikipedia since it had all the information compiled together on one page. We double checked on our facts and comparing what one person found with another so that all of the information matched up and made sense. A good majority of the websites we tried to access were German websites, which made navigating through the page difficult.

The SPD is a more liberal, left-wing party. I think that if I were living in Germany, I would most likely vote for the SPD. I like their beliefs on economics and their stance on social welfare as well.

Bremen, Germany

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwLRhmSc00v99XdS3_-4_HN6Oc7svbjG85kak0NEvI1At6qgggUZe4s2hU6uB1V8RnRhVQNTRNIkzC8AQ0Wk2DyNj746uq-bQEQ73dq8D-eM49ZiRkxuW8l3AIj8RSPZdUnDT-MScm9U/s320/bremen+map.jpg

Population: 660,706
Men: 321,940
Women: 338,766

Size: 126.15 sq miles. (Smallest amongst Germany's 16 States)

http://www.citypopulation.de/php/germany-bremen.php, Aug. 30, 2012

Main Industries

Car Production
-2nd largest in Europe
-Manufactures many vehicle models which include Chrysler and Mercedes Benz
-Has a workforce around 13,000 people

http://wfpquantum.s3.amazonaws.com/images/autos/articles/ultra/fc9d9jo4jhwyr0ywjpnf-6279020.jpg

 

Aerospace and Aviation Industry 
-One of the leading centers in Germany's for aerospace
-employs around 4,000 employees 

(http://www.big-bremen.de/en/daten_fakten_inhalt_text?sv[id]=141678)

Food and Beverages
-Home to many well known names such as Kellogg’s, Kraft, and Anheuser-Busch.

 (http://www.big-bremen.de/en/daten_fakten_inhalt_text?sv[id]=141678)

Information Technology, Mobile and Wireless Technology
-Very technologically advanced city

(http://www.big-bremen.de/en/daten_fakten_inhalt_text?sv[id]=141678)

City GDP: Approximately $39 billion in 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_states_by_GDP

-Bremen consists of two cities. The largest city is Bremen itself, with an estimated population of 547,340 people. The second city is Bremerhaven with an estimated 113,366 people.
-Bremen is located on the northwest side of the Weser River in Germany.
-Bremerhaven has Germany’s second largest port, following Hamburg.
-Bremerhaven's products include: ships, aircraft, steel machinery, electrical equipment, textiles, and beer.
-It is a commercial and industrial center in trading cotton, wool, tobacco, and copper.

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0808837.html, Aug. 30, 2012

A Brief History of Bremen

-In 787 under the rule of Charlemagne, Bremen became bishopric and a base for missionary activity. In 847 it became archbishopric.
-Bremen joined the Hanseatic League in 1358, then the Free Imperial City in 1646.
-In 1806, the Free Imperial City of Bremen became an sovereign state title Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Their currency was the Bremen thaler until 1873.
-In 1827 Bremen bought land from Kingdom of Hanover, where Bremerhaven (literally translates as Bremen's Harbor) was established.
-Bremen became part of North German Confederation in 1867, then an autonomous component state of the German Emprire in 1871.
-Under the Third Reich, Bremen became a regular city in 1935 and wasn't reestablished as a state until 1947.
-In 1949, Bremen joined the Federal Republic of Germany.

http://www.indianchieftravel.com/en/germany/bremen/bremen/bremen-germany-1, Sep. 2, 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen_%28state%29, Sep. 2, 2012 

Places to See

Bremen Town Hall 

-dates back to the15th century  

-one of the most important examples of Brick Gothic architecture in Europe

 http://www.euratlas.com/Atlas/germany_north/bremen_city_hall.jpg

Becks Brewery

-Well known brewery around the world. Dates back to 1879.

 http://cdn-locations-images.tripomatic.com/img-poi9120-qVcwyO-m.jpg

Bottcherstrasse 

-known as the "museum street" 

-very famous for its unusual architecture

 http://www.kunsttrip.nl/images/bremen/het%20bottcherstrasse%20bremen.jpg
http://gogermany.about.com/od/citiesandregions/tp/Bremen-Travel-Germany.htm, Sep. 3, 2012

Bremen Town Musicians
-Featured in Brother's Grimm story
-Rumored if you rub the donkey's leg while making a wish, the wish will come true

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Bremen.band.500pix.jpg/250px-Bremen.band.500pix.jpg

Ratskeller
-Germany's oldest wine  cellar
-Dates back to 1409
-Featured in a verse of a poem by Heinrich Heine
-Setting for Phantasein im Bremer Ratskeller by Wilhelm Hauff

http://www.szenenight.de/images/eventlist/venues/ratskeller_1287058646.jpg

St. Peter's Cathedral
-99 meters tall
-No structure in Bremen is taller than the Cathedral

http://www.bremen-tourism.de/bremen-at-a-glance, Sep. 2, 2012

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/6b/01/3d/st-peter-s-cathedral.jpg

 

Statue of Roland 
-Medieval hero, Bremen's city protector
-Erected in 1404 as symbol of city's freedom

http://www.monkeysandmountains.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/things-to-do-in-bremen_roland-statue.jpg

Gunter Meisner
 -Born April 18th, 1926 in Bremen, Germany
-Played Mr. Slugworth in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971
-Died of heart failure in Berlin at the age of 68

 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0577070, Aug. 30, 2012

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