Department Events

The Baader Meinhof Complex – German movie night

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The German department will show Uli Edel’s film The Baader Meinhof Complex (with English subtitles) on Monday, November 28, at 7:00 p.m., in Fisk 210. The film is based on Stefan Aust’s book of the same title. Prof. Leo Lensing will give an introduction to this thought-provoking film.

Germany in the 1970s: Murderous bomb attacks, the threat of terrorism and the fear of the enemy inside are rocking the very foundations of the yet fragile German democracy. The radicalised children of the Nazi generation lead by Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof and Gudrun Ensslin are fighting a violent war against what they perceive as the new face of fascism: American imperialism supported by the German establishment, many of whom have a Nazi past. Their aim is to create a more human society but by employing inhuman means they not only spread terror and bloodshed, they also lose their own humanity. The man who understands them is also their hunter: the head of the German police force Horst Herold. And while he succeeds in his relentless pursuit of the young terrorists, he knows he’s only dealing with the tip of the iceberg. Written by Constantin Film

Prize-winning novelist, playright, and screenwriter Christopher Kloeble to read at Wesleyan

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The German Studies Department and the Writing Center invite you to meet Christopher Kloeble on Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at 6:00 p.m., in the Shapiro Center/Allbritton 311. Join us for stories by Christopher Kloeble and a sneak preview of his latest novel, Almost Everything Very Fast, which will be published in March 2012. Mr. Kloeble will read in English and German. English translations will be available for the parts he reads in German. A discussion will follow.

Christopher Kloeble grew up in Königsdorf, a small town in Bavaria. He has studied in Dublin and at the Literary Institute in Leipzig. Recently, he also attended the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. For his debut novel, Amongst Loners, published in 2008, he received the Juergen Ponto-Stiftung Prize. A collection of 11 short stories followed a year later. His plays have been staged in major theaters in Vienna, Munich, Leipzig, Heidelberg and Nuremberg. The film,Inclusion, for which he wrote the movie script, will air on December 12, 2011, on BR-alpha, a German television station owned by the regional broadcaster Bayrischer Rundfunk. Kloeble lives and works in Berlin.

Study Abroad in Regensburg

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Interested in studying abroad in Regensburg, Germany?

Join us for an informal information session on Wednesday, September 21 from 5-6 p.m. in Fisk 414. You will meet former Wesleyan students who have studied in Regensburg and our German exchange student Stefanie Schaffler. We will start with a presentation on living and studying  in Regensburg and then will have time for questions.

Celebration and Prizes

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Anya Olson ’11 and William Krieger ’11 present their Honors theses in Uli Plass’ garden to a spellbound audience.

Anya Olson “Gender and Society in Selected Works by Irmtraud Morgner, Christa Wolf, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Heinrich Böll”

William Lawrence Krieger, IV: “Framing the Dilettante: The Art of Martin Kippenberger”

Anya received a Baden-Württemberg scholarship and will be studying in Tübingen next year. Will received a Fulbright scholarship to study and do research at Humboldt University in Berlin next year.

Will Krieger, Profs. Leo Lensing and Arne Höcker "im Gespräch."
Teaching Assistant Anna Huber and recently reappointed professor Iris Bork
Alexandra Scherbl, Maddie Smith-Huemer, Anya Olson, Catie Steidl

 

We celebrated the following German Studies Majors

Matthew Alexander – COL Short Story Prize

William Krieger – Fulbright Fellowship, Beulah Friedman Prize, Blankenagel Prize

Benjamin LaFirst – Fulbright Teaching Fellowship to teach English at a high school in Linz, Austria, Prentice Prize

Anya Olson – Baden-Württemberg-CT Sister State Exchange, Scott Prize

Catherine Steidl – Baden-Württemberg-CT Sister State Exchange, and Blankenagel Prize

In the back, BBQing - our host and recently tenured professor Uli Plass (right)

The German Consulate Book Awards were presented to

Isadora Danim, Mari Jarris, Steven Le, Hannah Overton, Oscar Takabvirwa, Alexandra Scherbl, and Carmen Yip

Prize-winning Austrian novelist Andrea Grill to read at Wesleyan

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The German Studies Department and the Shapiro Creative Writing Center invite you to meet Andrea Grill on Monday, February 21, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. in Downey House Lounge. Come listen to her stories and participate in the discussion to follow.

Andrea Grill will read from her latest novel Das Schöne und das Notwendige (Beauty and Necessity), and other stories in German and English.

In her latest novel, published in 2010, Andrea Grill discovers a new aesthetic for transnational capitalism. In her story two poor but clever friends have an idea how to turn “straw into gold.” Their scheme has only one problem, they need an Asian civet cat. But where can they find one, and will it survive in a small apartment on the fifth floor?

Andrea Grill was born in Bad Ischl in 1975 and studied in Salzburg before earning her doctorate in Biology at the University of Amsterdam with a dissertation on “The Evolution of Butterflies Endemic to Sardinia.” She writes prose, poems and essays and translates from Albanian. In 2010, she was a Max Kade Scholar at Rutgers University, New Jersey.