final thoughts

When I first registered for this class I figured since I knew about the language and how to speak it I would learn more about the culture that is also my culture. I grew up in a German household and know a little about German culture but not as much as I would have liked. Professor Roland Specht- Jarvis was a fantastic professor and I loved coming into class to hear the random antics Germans would do. He taught us about the growing problems in  the US and in Germany and I appreciated learning about it. It was kind of like a political science class but more interesting.

The class started with a big project on the states of Germany which helped my understanding of where everything was and how they ran their states compared to how states are run in the US. My group was small so it was easier to have everyone get together and work as a group. We had two people that’s why.

The entire class was a huge history lesson on Germany and I loved every  minute of it! I would love to take another class on it and learn more.

In general I loved the course and enjoyed the projects. I hate to say that I didn’t  like the blogging though. I would have preferred to have written papers, I’m a paper person. It makes me feel more secure having to write it down. 

Himmel und Erde
Heaven and Earth

A traditional German dish that is more popular in Lower Saxony, Silesia, Rhineland and Westphalia. Its been around since about the 18th century and the name came from the main ingredients, apples of heaven and earth.
It consists of black pudding, fried onions, and mashed potatoes with applesauce. I've had this dish numerous times in my childhood because I grew up with Opa and Oma and they usually served it with Brats or fish. I didn't like it as a kid but I've grown to love it! It's one of my favorites when I visit my grandparents.

RAF assignment

The people apart of the Rote Armee Fraktion were the first generation of children post Hitler Era. The people in charge of school and government were the same people who were in charge during Hitler’s Regime. Everything the youth was told was that Hitler was bad but they saw the government to be just as fascist as it was under Hitler. This is obviously untrue but this is how the children saw it. And so when as seen in the movie the student at the Vietnam protest was shot and killed it triggered a string of protests and then as seen in the movie the main characters are convicted of Arson. The three of the four who do not return to court go on the run underground forming the Rote Armee Franktion


Reasons for formation:

· The June 2 1967 protest in Iran where fake supporters beat the protestors and the death of the German student Benno Ohnesorg, who was shot in the head by a police officer
· The student protest movement in West Germany similar to the Vietnam protesting in the U.S.
· To fight against oppression in West Germany and to end fascist Imperialism.
· The perception of West Germany being a police state/police brutality.


Generations of the RAF:

· The first generation is considered Baader and the founders.
· The second generation is considered when the group became established and had a larger following.
· The Third generation is considered 80's to the 90's and were the most extreme and was the nearing to the end of this group

The end of the RAF:

· West Germany's police and government soon realized the threat of this group and knew it needed to bring an end to these extremist groups. They either captured or killed enough group members for this group to lose favor with public and lost is following/disbanded.

Similarities and Differences:

· The guerilla style attacks are what we call terrorism in the present time. 

· Today's terrorism and the RAF were and are willing to fight to the death.
· Both have used terrorist bombing in the U.S. and West Germany.
· Both have had a large scale attacks on the governments in the attacks of 9/11 and German Autumn.

Badaar Meinhoff Complex reaction

At first I didn’t think I would like the movie at all. It seemed like a bunch of young drug abusers. But after watching it for a while I thought the movie was very engaging and had my full attention. I thought that the movie was very informative to that extremist group. In the beginning of the movie, I sided with the group’s cause, due to the mistreatment of the people. The violence that was done to the protestors sparked this group into overdrive. It gave them all the reason they needed to fight back with violence. The group then formed into a terrorist cell and went to a camp to receive training in their new means to fight back, which became terrorism, which is kind of illegal. They were highly organized when they started striking their targets at first. As police efforts to capture and put down this group, their forces began to spread out and thin down. This means they wouldn’t be able to strategize to their full extent. The newly tightened grip the police had on the group made them more violent, in most cases they fought until they were dead or severely wounded. As the police action escalated so did the violent tendency of this group escalated as well. My opinion of this group then changed from being a backer to someone who thought they were too extreme and too violent of a group to support what they were doing. I think they for the most part lost sight of their goals and ideals that were the bases of groups beginning. As the movie progressed, I saw that they lost some of their supporters and each act they did, they thought they needed to respond with a higher act of violence. This is similar to U.S. media with the wars and terrorism as time progressed. I enjoyed the movie immensely.

Berlin Calling

Berlin Calling


1. Drugs meant a lot to Ickarus because they were a means for him to escape reality and get inspiration for his music.

2. They were taking the drugs to feel the music and have a good time. They took them before and during the bathroom shows.

3. Why does the subculture Ickarus focus on drugs when he relapses and has the inability to work successfully? The shows wouldn’t be considered raves int the US. Drug use isn’t hard to see during a concert.

4. The club and drug scenes are similar in the US. Its very easy for someone to get the same illicit drugs here. I have been going to concerts and clubs for a while and there is always someone somewhere doing drugs and passing them out.

5. The culture could make a change. If this culture is used to party all the time there will be no time for real life responsibilities. Every character tries to make fast money and parties hard. Nobody is putting effort into their life they all just wanna party.

6. One who flew over coco’s nest.

7. I thought the movie was interesting and different. It reminded me of the first german movie I’ve ever seen which was Lola Rannt. It surprised me that the drugs were so popular in this movie to try and escape what was in his mind.

Five Talking Points of All Quiet on the Western Front

• The disillusionment with society war brings
• A novel that no main characters survive
• Characters who die inside before they die for real the killing of innocence in battle
• the realization that those fighting the war are all people when the Frenchman is killed

All Quiet on The Western Front: Chapter Three Analysis

Chapter three of All Quiet on the Western Front begins with new recruits piling into the war camp. Now with the younger “infants” as referred to by Kropp, make Paul and his friends feel like seasoned veterans. Kat then gives some of the new soldier’s beans he got from the cook. He then tells the new soldier that if he wants more food from Kat he needs to bring him tobacco. Kat then goes on to express the idea that if everyone in the army was given equal pay the war would end shortly. Paul and his friends then go on to make fun of their old drill sergeant Himmelstoss and talk about humanity and its beast nature. They toss around the idea that if a man is pushed far enough he will become an animal, no longer civilized.

They then go on to say that the army is just a man in power over another man. Kat feels commanders have too much power in war. Himmelstoss is a postman back home yet in time of war the power gets to him making him a relentless jerk. The men in conversation, Haie, Paul, Kropp, and Tjaden have a grudge against Kimmelstoss and so plan some vengeance on him. One night they all get together and corner Himmelstoss covering his head with bed blankets and start to beat him. They take his pants off and whip him. After this they all ran away and Himmelstoss never found out who were apart of the attack on him.

This is the first chapter of the novel to begin to develop characters. Because of this I began to develop a sense of empathy for the characters eventual deaths. Kat is also seen as a hero type bribing for extra food and plotting against Himmelstoss. He is a tragic character being he is eventually killed. He is symbolic of a free spirit. He is a self-aware person despite being changed by war. He is characterized as resistant to being dehumanized through the war effort. He is raising questions for why the men are fighting and offers solutions for these problems. Then the beating at the end of Himmelstoss suggests that these men although disgusted by this mistreatment by their superiors, are also capable of terrible things such as beating Himmelstoss. This chapter’s essence shows these men slowly breaking down. Slowly becoming dehumanized.