Thursday, December 8, 2011

20th Century Inventions


Otto Hahn(the first man to split the atom.) German chemist and Nobel laureate who pioneered the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. "The father of nuclear chemistry" and the "founder of the atomic age". Discovered nuclear fission. separation of many elements and kinds of atoms which arise through fission.. He was born on 8th March, 1879, at Frankfurt-on-Main. He attended the secondary high school there until he matriculated.
From 1897 Hahn studied chemistry at Marburg and Munich, taking his doctorate examination in 1901 at Marburg and submitting to Professor Theodor Zincke a thesis on organic chemistry. In 1913 Hahn married Edith, née Junghans and they had one son, Hanno, born in 1922, killed by accident in 1960


Hugo Junkers (3 February 1859 – 3 February 1935) was an innovative German engineer, as his many patents in varied areas (gas engines, aeroplanes) show. In 1915, he pioneered the first great change in aviation materials and design technology, away from wood and fabric materials braced by wire rigging, towards all-metal, cantilever-winged monoplane aircraft that had little to no external bracing.

Hugo Junkers is mainly known in connection with aircraft bearing his name. This includes such he reluctantly developed for the German Empire during World War I, later in minor association with Anthony Fokker, as well as civil aircraft designs during the Interwar Period produced by Junkers Flugzeugwerke (Junkers Aircraft Works). Junkers, a pacifist and not on good terms with the Nazis, died in 1935 and was not involved in the development of Junkers military aircraft for the Third Reich's Luftwaffe before or during World War II.


Richard Hellmann: Hellmann's (Blue Ribbon) Mayonnaise, 1905.
Alzheimer was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria. His father served in the office of notary public in the family's hometown. In 1901, Alzheimer observed a patient at the Frankfurt Asylum named Auguste Deter. The 51-year-old patient had strange behavioral symptoms, including a loss of short-term memory. This patient would become his obsession over the coming years. In April 1906, Mrs. Deter died and Alzheimer had the patient records and the brain brought to Munich where he was working at Kraepelin's lab. In mid-December 1915, Alzheimer fell ill on the train on his way to the University of Breslau, where he had been appointed professor of psychiatry in 1912. Most probably he had a streptococcal infection and subsequent rheumatic fever and kidney failure. He died of heart failure at the age of 51 in Breslau, Silesia. ALzheimer was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist and a colleague of Emil Kraepelin. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin would later identify as Alzheimer's disease.

Wernher von Braun(inventor) and Walter Robert Dornberger (co-inventor): (6 September 1895 - 27 June 1980) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World Wars I and II. He was a leader of Germany's V-2 rocket program and other projects at the Army Research Center. The V2 rocket was a single-stage rocket fueled by alcohol and liquid oxygen. It stood 46.1 feet high and had a thrust of 56,000 pounds. The A-4 had a payload capacity of 2,200 pounds and could reach a velocity of 3,500 miles per hour. It was the world's first launch of a ballistic missile and the first rocket ever to go into the fringes of space.

Albert Einstein was born March 4 1879  and died  April  18 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics. The word Einstein now is related with genius. Einstein merited awards and honors, including the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Theory of relativity and E = mc2
Neutrinos are faster then light. Proving this theory wrong.

Quantized atomic vibrations

General relativity and the Equivalence Principle


General relativity (GR) is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein between 1907 and 1915. According to general relativity, the observed gravitational attraction between masses results from the warping of space and time by those masses. General relativity has developed into an essential tool in modern astrophysics. It provides the foundation for the current understanding of black holes, regions of space where gravitational attraction is so strong that not even light can escape.

Modern quantum theory

CAR INDUSTRY
In 1916 BMW was founded, but didn't start auto production until 1928. The collapse of the global economy during the Great Depression in the early 1930s plunged Germany's auto industry into a severe crisis. While eighty-six auto companies had existed in Germany during the 1920s, barely twelve survived the depression, including Daimler-Benz, Opel and Ford's factory in Cologne. In addition, four of the country's major car manufacturers — Horch, Dampf Kraft Wagen (DKW), Wanderer and Audi — formed a joint venture known as the Auto Union in 1932, which was to play a leading role in Germany's comeback from the depression.
Currently, six German companies dominate the automotive industry in the country: Volkswagen AG, BMW AG, Daimler AG, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Adam Opel AG and Ford-Werke GmbH. Nearly six million vehicles are produced in Germany each year, and approximately 5.5 million are produced overseas by German brands.
Germany is one of the top 4 automobile manufacturers in the world. The Volkswagen Group is one of the three biggest automotive companies of the world




Wednesday, November 30, 2011

20th Century Arts

20th Century Arts
By: Robert Niehoff, Angela Balcome, Starsha Vang, Tim Cox, Amber Vroman, Brett Clark-Hedlof, Hui Zhang, Yunfei Hua and Zhen Gu
Cinematography
Created during the 19th Century
Originally geared towards the upper class it wasn't long before the lower & middle were enjoying films as well
German Expressionism of the 1920s is said to have influence classic Hollywood film noir.
The Jazz Singer (1927) First full length film with synchronized dialogue


Nazi Regime and After
No films could be made that contradicted the ideas of the Nazi Party
Triumph of the Will (1935) Propaganda film created by Leni Riefenstahl of the Nuremberg Rally
Many of the films during this time were propaganda, racist, or comedies
Films and Information
1920s
Nosferatu (1922) ‘Dracula’
Redone in 1979 by Werener Herzog
1950s - Attendance was at an all time high during 1956             Main Genres: Heimatfilm ("homeland film"), romance, musicals, comedies
1960s - Less movie patrons             Main Genres: westerns, crime, thrillers, porn
1970s - New Cinema Era             Main Genres: Literature to Film, Feminist films
1980s -  Renewed international recognition for German films
Das Boot (1981)      
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Wings of Desire (1987)
1990s- Focused on independent films and horror movies
Lola Rennt (1998)
Dance
Schuhplatter
Bavarian/Austrian folk dance.
Originally, young men danced to impress marriageable young women.
The dance was a free of rules, but now the dance used traditional steps of a rhythmic hitting the thigh, knees, soles of the feet, and stomping of the feet.
Modern Dance
Rudolf von Laban and his student Mary Wigman had major influence
Began as a dance of experiementation.
Mary Wigman opened a school of dance in Dresden in 1920. However, the Nazis closed her school.
She reopened her school in 1948 in Berlin.
Early 20th Century Music
Cabaret
Rose during Weimar Republic (1920s)
Popular in night clubs
Type of stage entertainment
Similar to Burlesque
Swing
Banned by Nazi Germany because it was associated with “American ways” and promoted sexual promiscuity
Ernst Hermann Meyer
·    Born in Berlin on December 8th, 1905
·    At 11 he started composing
·    Get his PhD at Heidelburg University
·    He was Jewish so he went to the UK so he didn’t get killed by Nazi’s
·    He was one of the most influential music figures in the GDR
·    He was the head of the German Society of Composers and Musicologists, professor of musicology at the Berlin Humbolt University, chairman of the German Handel Society and founder of the annual Handel Festival which is still celebrated in some parts of Germany
·    Some of his works include: Symphony for strings, symphony in b flat and sonata for viola and piano (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrL8iTEeA2o&feature=related)
·    He died October 8th, 1988
Carl Orff
Born in Munich on July 10th, 1895
·    He started taking interest in music as early as five, at 16 some of his music was published
·    He participated and nearly died in ww1
·    He not only wrote music but he also wrote stories and plays
·    He co-founded the Gunther School for gymnastics, music and dance. He worked with mostly beginners and this is how he started to share his ideas of conducting
·    The first way he started this was with Elementare Musikubung, this ended up being too complex for the teachers to follow. He then created Schulwerk, which was much easier to do and get the kids involved in. This helped combine instruments, music and dancing.
·    Later on he created Musik fur Kider which also helps get children up and moving.
·    A lot of his accomplishments were geared towards teaching children and ways of getting them involved in music and such.
·    His most famous piece is his Carmina Burana sometimes known as O Fortuna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkgcUEGEZv4&feature=fvst)
·    The translation of this song is pretty depressing. It basically about trying to overcome and failing miserably (http://www.puremango.co.uk/2008/03/o_fortuna_translation/)
·    He died March 29th, 1982


Modern Music
Rammestein
formed in 1994
sold 15 million albums worldwide.
Industrial Metal Genre.
Du Hast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My0HQ0QkGLQ
Rap music did not come about until the late 1980s, emerging most in 1995-early 2000s
Bushido- Nie Ein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA7EB-J9TuA
                Expressionist Art                 Movement
This type of art distorted color, scale and space to convey their feelings about what they saw. 
Mostly from Dresden and Munich
Influenced from Van Gogh's evocative canvases

Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//German_film_history
http://worldfilm.about.com/od/germanfilms/tp/germanfilms.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Germany#Cabaret
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism#Theatre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammstein#cite_note-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_hip_hop
http://www.ranker.com/list/german-expressionism-paintings/reference

Thursday, November 17, 2011

20th Century Government

Weimar Republic (1918-1933)
The Weimar Republic is referred to as a period in German History between 1918 and 1933 when the government was a democratic republic governed by a constitution that was laid out in the German city Weimar.
-during this time period there was 6 chancellors
-made to replace the imperial government
-officially named Deutsches Reich meaning/translated to the german Empire or Realm
-they wrote a new constitution which was adopted August 11, 1919
-it was over thrown by the Nazis

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic
The hyperinflation was a three-year period in Germany between June 1921 and July 1924.  The hyperinflation episode in the Weimar Republic in the 1920's was not the first, nor the only in Europe.  Many of the economic behaviors now associated with hyperinflation were first documented in Germany.  Hyperinflation is widely believed to have contributed to the Nazi takeover of germany and Adolf Hitlers rise to power.
-Dawes plan:
relied on money from US in 1924 but soon realized they couldn't pay back such a large sum of money
-Young plan:
reduced payments to allow better payment plans.  Lowered to a half billion gold marks which in 1929 was about 8 million in the US. now days it is 103 billion.

The Treaty of Versailles
The treaty of versailees is one of the most controversial international agreements.  Many people have tended to blame the rise of the Nazis on versailles.
-financial impact:
the treaty blamed Germany for the first world war.  As a result of this Germany was also held accountable for the cost of the war.  The treaty dictated that compensations would have to be paid to the Allies.  That they would have to make monthly payments that would total 6,600 million Euros.
-Political Impact:
The treaty triggered a number of political reactions.  First, the government of the day resigned, having refused to sign the treaty agreement.  Second, the incoming government had no choice but to sign the treaty.  For doing so, they were accused by some of stabbing the German people in the back.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

20th Century Writers and Poets

20th Century Literature and Poems

Writers and Poets of 20th Century Germany
By: Matt Dehn, Miranda Scherer, Lacey Harp, Robert Niehoff, 
Tom Monson, Angela Balcome, Tim Cox and Starsha Vang
Pre war(1900-1914)
Expressionism
Built up emotions that lead to war

Reaction of Conditions
New Objectivism
A better lifestyle?

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/230881/German-literature
War Era 1915-1945
Much written about this era!

Expressionism Era Effected

NAZI CONTROL
Book Burning Hyperlink
POST WAR(1945-1959)
Much writing about holocaust survival

Aftermath of War

Depressing
Hans Fallada
Born in Greifswald in 1893
Pseudonyms come from Grimm Fairy Tales
Died in 1947 at 54 years of age
Works include
Little Man- What Now?
Alone in Berlin
Little Man- What Now?
Published in 1932
Made into a Movie- released in US in 1934
Alone in Berlin
Published in 1947
Based on true story
Became bestseller in US/UK when translated into English
Thomas Kling
Poet
Wrote Manhatten Mouthspace about 9/11 disaster
Died in 2005
Anna Seghers/ Netty Reiling
Born as Netty Reiling in Mainz
Studied Philology (study of language), History and Sinology (study of classical language and literature) at Heidelber in Cologne.
Published Die Gefährten in 1932 warning about fascism. Leading to her arrest and later working for an anti-fascist magazine.
In 1950 she was a co-founder of the GDR.
Died in 1983
Günter Eich
Born February 1, 1907 in Lebus, Brandenburg
Served in German Army during WWII
Poet, Playwrite, Author
Died 1972
Works of Günter Eich
Rebellion in der Goldstadt (1940)
Züge im Nebel (1947)
Abgelegene Gehöfte (1948)
Träume. Vier Spiele (1953)
Das Jahr Lazertis (1954)
Botschaften des Regens (1955) 
Stimmen (1958)
Zu den Akten (1964)
Anlässe und Steingärten (1966)
Maulwürfe (1968)
Ein Tibeter in Meinem
Büro (1970)
Nach Seumes Papieren (1972)
Erich Remarque
Born 1898
Wrote All Quiet on the Western Front after his experience on the Western front
Left Germany in 1931
In 1933 the Nazi’s banned and destroyed all copies of All Quiet on the Western Front
In 1943 the Nazi party arrested his sister for ‘undermining morale’. She was sentenced to death by guillotine
Other Works of Erich Remarque
The Road Back 
Three Comrades
Arch of Triumph
A Spark of Life
Time to Live and Time to Die
Christa Wolf
Born March 18, 1929 in Brandenburg
Literacy Critic, Novelist, Essayist
One of the best-known writers from East Germany
First recipient of the German Book Prize
Best known work was with Der Geteilte Himmel (1963)
Anne Frank
Born June 12, 1929
German-Jewish teen, forced into hiding during the Holocaust
Spent 25 months above her father’s office in Amsterdam
In March, 1945, 9 months after she and her family was found. Anne Frank died of typhus at the age of 15.
Her Diary was published in 1947, later becoming one of the most widely read books in the world
Aldona Gustas
Born in Lithuania March 2, 1932
Moved to Berlin in 1941
Published 11 books of poetry between 1962-1980. 
Main theme being Love
Received Rahel Varnhagen Medal in 1997. 
Erich Kastner
Born in Dresden on February 23, 1899
Author, Screenwriter
Satire
Humorous Poetry
Children’s Literature
Drafted in WWI at 18 years old
Published Emil Und Die Detektive (1928)- Best-known children’s book
Novel Fabian (1931) made into movie released in 1980

Alfred Döblin 
Worked at Journalist in Berlin
Won Fontane Prize for Die drei Sprünge des Wang-Lung (1915)
Was German Army doctor during WWI
Became President of German Writers Association in 1924
Most famous work was Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929)
Worked for MGM Studios in USA in 1940 before moving to France in 1945
Sources
http://www.lituanus.org/1981_4/81_4_07.htm#Ref
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldona_Gustas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Doblin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Doeblin
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_K%C3%A4stner
http://www.mertin-litag.de/authors_htm/Hilsenrath-E.htm 
http://www.nndb.com/people/079/000163587/
 http://www.mscd.edu/~mdl/gerresources/frauen/aseghers.htm
 http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2010/04/national-poetry-month-.html
http://klappentexterin.wordpress.com/category/fundstucke/page/2/  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_Wolf
http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Christa_Wolf
http://www.thewiplist.com/celebrity/Christa+Wolf_10634129/
http://hansfallada.com/
http://hansfallada.com/wp-content/themes/arthemia/scripts/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Fallada_1_DW_Kultur_818266g.jpg&w=300&h=275&zc=1&q=100
 http://germany.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=2219
http://www.annefrank.com/who-is-anne-frank/ 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Maria_Remarque
http://www.annefrank.com/who-is-anne-frank/
 

Monday, November 7, 2011

20th Century Roles of Men and Women

20th Century Roles of Men and Women in Society
By: Tom Monson, Miranda Scherer, Robert Niehoff, Matt Dehn,
Tim Cox, Angela Balcome, Sarsha Vang, Monica Riebe, Brett Clark- Hedlof
Military Roles
Men
All men age 18-23 were obligated to go through a nine month training before going into war
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
Some men were forced into war through guilt or shame of their family and friends during WWI and WWII
All major German military and political leaders were men
Women
During WWII, Hitler stated that women’s role in German society during the war was summed up and circumscribed by the three "K" words: Kirche, Kinder and Küche. (church, children and cooking)
Also, women were meant to bear “Aryan” children and were taught to do so through aggressive propaganda.
In 1975, German women were sought out to join the military
Political Roles
1919- Women receive the right to vote
1949- Basic Law made men and women equal
1977- Women gain right to equality in marriage.
Domestic Roles
In WWII Women took on the more traditional roles that men had filled.
During WWII Women tended to the sick and wounded, buried the dead, cleared the streets of rubble and ruins and salvaged what they could.
Domestic Roles in East/West Germany
West Germany
Basic Law (1949) declared men and women equal
After WWII women became homemakers and mothers again
In the early 1980s women qualified for admission in colleges/universities
East Germany
1975 women were the majority of secondary school graduates
Women remained working
East Germany relied on women due to the number of males fleeing to West Germany
Business Roles
Primarily male driven
Germany’s Chancellor is a Woman, Angela Merkel
Deutsche Telekom was the first DAX (blue chip stock companies) company to pledge to raise the percentage of women at mid to high level management to 30 percent
Education Roles
Early 20th century: mostly males went to school with intentions of going to university.
Mid-1960s women accounted for nearly half of all secondary school graduates with intentions on studying at institutes of higher learning in the GDR.
1975 Women make up the majority of secondary school graduates.
Women in West Germany did not qualify for admission into universities until the early 1980's.
Sources
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

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Berlin Calling

1. What do drugs mean to Ickarus?
       For Ickarus, drugs are a means of relaxation. They help gain a sense of freedom from stress and responsibilities.

2. Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?
       His fans take drugs during the concerts and when they go to clubs and hear his music to heighten the experience. This way they can 'feel' the music as well as hear it. His fans are either taking pills or snorting the various drugs they ingest. They are typically using MDMA, Cocaine, Ketamine, Extacy, and various other amphetamines.

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?
     They may feel that in order to enjoy themselves and the music fully, they must be on some sort of drug. The subculture that they have involved themselves into revolves around drugs and drug use. It becomes increasingly difficult to stop this drug use due to the dependence on the drug itself as well as their involvement with the people and the friends they make while on the drugs. They become both chemically and emotionally dependent. 

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 is definitely partying and drug use in our culture, as well as sexual activity. Though, here it is not as obvious or shown. Sex and drug use seems to be more private here than it is in Europe. The drug scene in clubs is more open in Europe than it is here. We are also not as open with our own sexual experience here as in Europe.

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?
     The lifestyle that they have are not helpful to Germany's Industrial Economy. They would rather do drugs than work. Alice does seem to have a stronger work ethic, sense of responsibility and will power than Ickarus does. 

6. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?
     I cannot think of any "cult movies" from the US that I have seen. 


I enjoyed watching Berlin Calling because I am a music fan. The movie does seem to focus on drugs and the party scene but that was not the focal point. Ickarus's variable states made the movie more entertaining because of his unpredictability due to his drug usage. One thing that was striking to me was that, although he was dedicated to his work, it seemed as though drug use was a part of that. It was where he got his most creative but they were also so destructive to him as well.
The major cultural differences that I noticed was the openness to drug use and sex in public spaces. Though this may be more prevalent in larger cities, I personally have not seen it done publicly like it was depicted here. The main characters in this movie seemed to be what may be called sensation seekers. That is, they don't feel they are truly alive unless they have their adrenaline pumping or some sort of drug in their system. It seems as though in the US these people find their needs as sensation seekers met through base jumping or some other thrilling activity, not through drug use. Yes, drugs are used very widely in America, just as they are in Europe. The stark contrast is that it seems that the drug use is less public and done more privately. 
Overall I enjoyed this movie and, if not for the subtitles, would probably watch it again. Generally speaking when I am watching a movie, I don't want to be reading as well. It takes away from the full effect of what the movie truly is showing.



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Chapter 6 and Albert Kropp

Chapter 6

In chapter 6 the 2nd Company returns to the front a few days early. On their way they pass by a schoolhouse that was destroyed. When they reach the front lines they discover that the enemy has strengthened their lines and their gun barrels are wearing down. Paul talks about how he had left one trench to visit some friends and when he returned to his original trench he saw that it was completely destroyed, so he went back to the other trench only to see that it too caved in. Food starts to become scarce and attempts to bring more food to the troops fail, rats begin to eat their rations as well. Morale is low and some new recruits try to leave. Some of the people in the Company restrain them, one escapes but before he can be brought back he is hit by a shell and dies. As the battle continues people on both sides of the fight are dying. Paul figures many of the new recruits in the death toll as they do not know much about fighting and die faster than those who are more experienced. Paul finds Himmelstoss in a trench and tries to force him out of it to press forward. Himmelstoss resists until a lieutenant comes and orders them both out. They find some new recruits and try to teach them tricks to stay alive, and when the fight continues the recruits do everything wrong and die. Haie dies along with them. When the 2nd Company retreats to the back only 32 of the original 150 are still alive.

Albert Kropp

Albert is one of Paul’s old classmates who is in the Second Company. Albert is an intelligent, speculative young man, and is described as having the clearest head of the group. Albert is of Paul’s closest friends during the war. Near the end of the novel he has an amputation. He contemplates suicide because of the amputation, but the novel seems to suggest that he does not due to the camaraderie he has with those in the military.  He analyzes the causes of the war, which leads to many of the most critical antiwar sentiments throughout the novel.