Newlyweds should not be sad.  But the hustle and bustle of the capital city of Austria could not overcome the dark loneliness we felt spending our first Christmas together far from family and friends. The traditions of the season we had cherished at home rang hollow in this new city.  A sense of gloom grew within our hearts as the holiday approached.   Life in Vienna had become unbearable.

Sensing our distress, a colleague sent us off to his country cottage in the small Lower-Austrian town of Gars am Kamp.  “It will do your spirit good,” he said.  We spent several pre-Christmas days enjoying the seclusion of the small town with its castle ruins and quaint village streets.  The cottage was just what we needed:  simple, even primitive, no TV, no distractions, just work to be done, togetherness, cooking, reading and time to focus.  The basics.

As our return to Vienna neared, that familiar sense of gloom returned.  Christmas Eve, December 24^th, our train tickets were purchased and punched.  It was time to go “home” to small apartment the 8^th District, to our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, to our shared loneliness.  We boarded the train, breathed the crisp air deeply one last time, and said a melancholy goodbye to Gars.

The train was hot and stuffy as people rushed to get home for Christmas Eve festivities. A woman across from us fell asleep and nearly missed her station – she looked exhausted from work and Christmas preparations.  As we pulled into a station just outside the city, something odd happened which changed the mood both inside the train and within our hearts.   Snow fell softly outside, but through that darkness we could see new passengers boarding carrying lit candles.  The soft glow illuminated the platform and then the drab compartment of our train.  As we rode on through the darkness it was as if our train was spreading light into the dark Austrian countryside.  People smiled and softened visibly.  The light of those candles brought on board by these new travelers had changed things.

When we arrived at the Franz-Josefs Bahnhof we were greeted by more candles and even a small choir singing Christmas hymns:  “Stille Nacht” – “Silent Night”.  Someone told us that these candles were the “Friedenslicht,” the “Light of Peace,” which had originated in Bethlehem and had journeyed from hand to hand on its way to Austria for Christmas Eve.  We too lit a candle and exited out into the cold sharing our light with several others who had come just to light their candles and lanterns at the station.  As we walked the deserted streets back to our apartment, we noticed the candles burning in windows across the city.  How could we feel lonely and gloomy on this night of light?  We lit our wreath with that precious Light of Peace and knew that the spirit of Christmas had been brought to us in a very special way, far from home, and yet together, and truly united with so many throughout the whole world.

“Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

                      “Light unifies people.”   2011 Motto of the Light of Peace.

When I finally pedalled my old bike into the courtyard of the all-male Bergstrasse dormitory it seemed as if the whole building was pressed around the small television set up in the basement community room. Everyone was intensely focused on the set and my questions posed in fluent but less than perfect German were met with impatient hushes.  This was no time for questions, every word from the TV reporter was like a coveted secret.  

It was the first and the last time I watched TV in that room, but the images I saw left me dumbfounded.   East and West Berliners were gathering in droves around the border crossing outposts.   They were dancing and hugging and passing champagne bottles through the crowd.  And they were talking to reporters.  Microphones were pressed toward glowing faces which told the world of the euphoria all could see but which we were only slowly beginning to understand.  What had just happened?  In a matter of hours the world had changed and we were so close, we were nearly there – not even 500 km away from the most momentous historical event of our lives!

I had seen these same militarized passages between east and west on a school trip from Hamburg to Berlin in my first visit to Germany in 1986. Those memories mixed with the images I saw on TV that Thursday night in November and they moved me to tears.  Now, the images of those border crossings opening and hoards of people moving like a river through them again brought tears to my eyes.  And mine were not the only moist eyes in the room.  

Slowly, we began to talk and retell our own personal stories and connections to East Germany.  My school trip was hardly worth mentioning.  Wolfi had grown up in East Germany until his father escaped and was somehow able to bring the rest of the family.  Most of his relatives were still in the East.  My roommate and his brother, two up-and-coming entrepeneurs with an inborn spirit of innovation and adventure, also had stories, but more importantly, they had a plan.  We had to get to Berlin!  That very weekend!  Another friend had a small Renault and we would pack 5 guys in and leave in the morning.  We could sleep at an Aunt’s house.  Within 24 hours we would join the dancing masses on the streets of Berlin.  We would be part of this historical moment!

That night was restless – I could not fall asleep and when I did the images of dancing Berliners filled my dreams like sugar-plum fairies leaping across the stage.  The euphoria of the moment and the weight of the historical moment was beyond my comprehension.  The next day I would be in Berlin!

Next Blog:  “I’m in a road movie to Berlin”

“The most memorable night of my life began in a German disco” I know, this sounds like the beginning of a cheap romance novel, but this is the story of how I heard about the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9th, 1989. At the beginning of that night I was looking for some distraction in the Dionysian atmosphere of an improvised Disco sponsored by a women’s dormitory (remember, I was living in an all-guys dorm) at the end of the Hauptstraße in Heidelberg. Actually, I had just rolled in on my WWII vintage bicycle from the “Teestube zum ewigen Leben” – a weekly bible study held in defunct tea room. Maybe it was the tea, but I was pretty mellow – a rarity for me during the fall of 1989. Nursing a beer and scanning the room for familiar or friendly faces, slowly losing myself in the music, maybe I was even dancing a little, a woman suddenly came up to me and pulled my ear to her lips. I don’t know what I was expecting next, but what followed was beyond my most exaggerated fantasies…. “Die Mauer ist offen, die Mauer in Berlin ist offen” she yelled into my ear. My brain did not comprehend and this had nothing to do with the German. The wall in Berlin was open? The wall has fallen? What? I honestly thought that she was drunk beyond good sense.

But as the “drunk” girl (“We’ll always have Heidelberg!”) joyfully passed on to the next guy with a beer, my mind raced and my mellowness expired. I got on my surplus bike and pedaled away from the smokey disco with images in my head that made no sense to me. As I crossed the old bridge over the Neckar, the famous castle of Heidelberg at my back and rode along the banks of that river to the Kennedy bridge, I was a little angry, a little worried, a lot excited: Uncertain. This was before cell phones and the internet. What in the world was happening?

I found out when I got back to the all-male dormitory in the Bergstraße. A silent group watched the images on TV with an intensity I had never seen before. This night was different than any other. This was a night on which history was being made.

NEXT BLOG: TV Images and Sugar Plum Fairies: Berlin In Sight!

Bundesbank Executive Member Thilo Sarrazin

The controversial comments this week by Bundesbank (German Central Bank) executive member, Thillo Sarrazin, have sparked a debate in Germany which now must transcend the obvious charges of racism and xenophobia.  While Sarrazin’s comments absolutely betray his less than noble feelings towards Arabs and Turks living in Germany (they “constantly produce little girls in headscarves”), the issue of how German society will come to terms with an increasing non-German population will remain explosive unless it is tackled head-on.  Currently nearly 20% of Germany’s residents are of non-German descent (16 Million out of 82 Million).  Nearly half of these first and second generation immigrants have adopted German citizenship (many of the original “Gastarbeiter” and their children), however, the question of these immigrants’ “real” integration into society remains hotly debated.  Some schools in Berlin have even resorted to a “German Language Guarantee“, creating special classes in which a majority of German-speaking students will be guaranteed in order to ward off the fears that children attending the school might be overwhelmed by languages other than German.

These are growing pains of a traditionally homogenous nation quickly becoming a nation of immigrants, and Germany would do well to look to its great ally in the west, to learn from the United States’ mistakes and successes in immigration and integration politics.  With any luck, and a good share of hard work, Germany will become stronger by respecting diversity, embracing change and celebrating a commonly held love for freedom and democracy.  Whatever German “Leitkultur” is today, it is certain to be radically changed by the demographics of tomorrow.  And the sooner Germans accept this, the sooner they can begin to emphasize and cultivate those elements of their culture and society (strong education, an inquisitive nature and innovative spirit) which continue to make Germany a leader in the world today.

Herta Müller. German-speaking recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2009.

The announcement of Herta Müller’s Nobel Prize for Literature to be presented in Stockholm this December brings the number of German-speaking authors having received the prestigious award to three in the last 10 years:  Günter Grass received the award in 1999 and the Austrian Elfriede Jelinek claimed the prize in 2004.   The Nobel Prize is awarded generally to candidates who have bestowed ”the greatest benefit on mankind” – and specifically in literature to those who have written ”in an ideal direction”.   

These specifications may be vague, but what is clear is that the members of the Swedish Academy have seen fit to identify German-speaking authors with disproportionate regularity as having leading voices in world literature.  This should be no surprise to anyone familiar with German literary tradition over the past 1000 years, but it bears repeating that the German language and culture are still sources of valuable treasure to world culture today, and provide yet one further example of why learning German and about German-speaking countries is by no means a superfluous activity.

“Der Bauchladen” – a Time-Tested Tradition

American visitors to Germany might be dismayed when going to the cinema and finding an unusual pause between the commercials and the start of the movie. In many Kinos (cinemas) you can still find a salesman/woman walking down the isles during the intermission selling everything from sweets and ice-cream and popcorn to sodas and beer (yes, beer – this is Germany, after all) right from their Bauchladen (literally, “stomach store”). This is standard point-of-sale marketing bringing the product to the customer in his/her time of greatest want/need. So why not bring that same customer lunch on his way between meetings on the open street?

Good ideas are never easy to come by – but ingenuity and creativity matched with good old-fashioned hard work and a focus on the basics often prove profitable – even in (especially in) tough market times. Hats off, Mr. Rohloff!

Franka Potenta in "Lola Rennt" (1998)

On Sept. 21, the hit TV series “House” premiered its 6th season with a blockbuster 2-hour episode featuring Dr. House detoxing in an asylum and struggling to regain his sanity while connecting on a more human level with patients, doctors and supporting cast.  Why this even hits my blog-radar has purely to do with WHO was included in that “supporting cast”, and that who was none other than German filmstar Franka Potente. 

Now, Franke is not unknown to American audiences.  Her 2002 co-starring role in The Bourne Identify solidified her international acting career which launched in earnest with the 1998 Tim Tykwer German drama Lola rennt.   Since the Bourne films Potente has become a recognizable face on the American big-screen.  Now, her face is equally recognizeable on the small screen.  Microbloggers on Twitter were filling up the airwaves with tweets like “OMG, Lola is on #House!”. 

Franka Potente plays, Lydia, the sister-in-law of one of House’s asylum-mates and falls into a sensual relationship with the obstinate physician.  Whether or not the Lydia role will become a recurring figure in the series remains to be seen.  But Potente’s acting is as powerful as ever and as a foil to Hugh Laurie’s intense figure she offers a female role in which he finally meets his match.

Now to the elephant in the room:  Why is Franka Potente, without argument the hottest female actress in Germany, playing the small screen in America?  Answer:  “House” is popular not only in America, but in Germany and truly around the world.  Playing opposite Hugh Laurie is obviously a star on her résumé and the role highlights Potente’s dramatic acting skills.  But does this mean that Potente will be making a harder run at Hollywood in the coming years?  Or, perhaps closer to the truth, is this simply a confirmation of the growing globalization of world cinema (i.e. “Inglourious Basterds“)?  Potenta’s coming films provide part of the answer.   Two American films due for release late in 2009 and early in 2010 both play in settings outside of America (Shanghai plays in China and The Cheeseburger Manifesto plays in Romania) while a third, Wave, a 2010 French/Belgium production, plays on the west coast of Africa.

Without question, “Lola” is on American TV and Franka Potente is here to stay.  She will likely continue to make films in Germany, but her international appeal and high degree of recognition makes her perfect for the growing global cinema market.  Look for much more from “Lola”!

Laban's Dance School 1929 in Berlin

Born in Pressburg (today Bratislava), Laban was an Austrian-Hungarian dancer who revolutionized dance theory and choreography in the early 20th century.  Laban founded dance schools throughout Germany in the 1920s and his fame soon brought him to Berlin in the 1930s where worked with Josef Hubert Pilates (yes, THOSE Pilates) and took over leadership of the Berlin State Opera Ballet.  Laban’s new theory of expressive body movement (Ausdruckstanz) revolutionized modern dance and he even impressed the Nazis who enlisted him to choreograph the 1936 Olympic Games opening ceremonies.  Soon, however, Laban fell out of favor with the Nazis, and fled Germany to continue his work in the U.S. and England.  Today, Laban Movement Analysis is a basic element of study for any serious dancer.  In honor of Rudolph Laban, and as part of Butler University’s “Mahler Project”,  a 500 person Laban Movement Choir, under the direction of Prof. Cynthia Pratt, recently performed in the Butler Bowl (football stadium).  An aesthetic feast for the eyes – below a sampling:

For a scientific discussion see Laban Movement Analysis

Shock-Effect:

It has been said that Americans have only a 6 second attention span. For this video you will need a bit more than 12 seconds of patience, but the message is clear (translation below, video first!):

For you non German readers, the translation: “You have never been so awake” – an ad for a Caffine-based energy drink.

The Creative Touch:

This ad effectively presents a theme familiar to the eyes and ears of the younger set.

The spoken word is cut to the bare essentials “1,323 Liters of playing capacity” -  “Jazz” is the market name for the “Fit” in Germany, but in either language, the ad says:  “Let’s play!”

Sex Sells:

Obviously!  But the text seems to be just plain lewd until the advertiser is revealed at the end.

The printed words on-screen translate: “We’re stacked” – literally, “We have a big pile of wood stacked in front of the cabin”. The advertiser is a wood products warehouse.

Politically Incorrect:

German advertisers take far greater liberty pushing the border of what is tasteful and acceptable. Would this even be possible in America?

Viral Marketing:

The internet is a great place to experiment and “viral marketing” has taken off across the web. Here are my two all-time favorite examples, both from German car companies: