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Briefe aus Berlin What’s New in Berlin by Karen Kramer The Strengths of the German Model by Werner Abelshauser Dresden and the MHM by Emily Brodman Alumni Newsletter of the KRUPP INTERNSHIP PROGRAM FOR STANFORD STUDENTS IN GERMANY 6 ’10 Educational Research by Sandy Nader Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung

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Briefe ausBerlin

What’s New in Berlin by Karen Kramer

The Strengths of the German Model

by Werner Abelshauser

Dresden and the MHM by Emily Brodman

Alumni Newsletter of the KRUPP INTERNSHIP PROGRAM FOR STANFORD STUDENTS IN GERMANY

6 ’10

Educational Research by Sandy Nader

Alfried Krupp von Bohlenund Halbach-Stiftung

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Spring quarter students,interns, staff and facultywith members of theKrupp Foundation andthe Stanford Club ofGermany at Villa Hügel,Essen, April 29, 2010.

The photograph on thefront page shows a groupof students on a tour of thesteel factory in Duisburg,together with tour guidesand Dr. Cornelia Soetbeerof the Krupp Foundation.

Im Jahr 2011 wird der 1.000 Teilnehmer des „Krupp Internship Program for Stanford Students in Germany“auf Einladung der Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Hal-bach-Stiftung Deutschland besuchen und als Unter neh -mens praktikant Land und Leute kennenlernen. Das isteine beeindruckende Zahl.

Dr. Karen Kramer und ihr Team sind seit Gründungdieses Programms 1982 für die hervorragende Betreu-ung aller Stipendiaten verantwortlich. Dazu zählt auchder E-Mail-Newsletter „Briefe aus Berlin“, mit dem dieStanford-Alumni seit fünf Jahren ein Forum haben, indem Erfahrungen weitergegeben, Eindrücke geschildertund Erinnerungen aufgefrischt werden können.

Ich wünsche mir sehr, daß damit alle Stipendiaten –ehemalige, diesjährige und zukünftige – im besten Sinneverbunden bleiben.

Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Berthold BeitzVorsitzender und geschäftsführendes Mitglied des Kuratoriums der Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung

vem ber9/wall-commemoration-slideshow-110909. html.In this Brief aus Berlin, Internship Coordinator Wolf-Dietrich Junghanns will update you on the highlights ofthis year’s Krupp cohort, so I will take a moment to fillyou in on the year’s developments in the Academic Pro-gram in Berlin (for which we received a record numberof applications and had long waitlists for some quarters).We congratulate Language Instructor Jochen Wohlfeilon having received the second annual BOSP Award forExcellence in Teaching in recognition of his innovativecourse design and engaged teaching, especially of the ac-celerated German language courses. Many of you werefortunate to begin or continue your study of the Germanlanguage under Jochen's able mentoring. Prof. NormanNaimark, Director of Bing Overseas Studies, shared thegood news with Jochen in person at the Berlin Centerlast December. This year also marks Jochen’s 25th an-niversary with Stanford-in-Berlin.

The H.G. Will Field Trips on European Expansion tookthis year’s students and selected faculty to Vilnius, Is-

The past academic year was another good one at theBing Overseas Studies Program in Berlin. It was the35th year of the Program and, as I wrote to you last au-tumn, the 20th anniversary of the opening of the BerlinWall. Stanford/Krupp alumni on the home campus com-memorated this anniversary with various events, in-cluding a Berlin Wall “happening”. You may have fol-lowed the news reports on November 9th of the wayBerlin celebrated this anniversary: a row of enormous“dominos” was toppled on the 20th anniversary of theexact moment the first border crossing had opened. Iexperienced this delightfully “Berlin” event only vicar-iously, for on that day I was on the home campus withKrupp/Stanford alumni holding a lively retro-demo infront of a massive replica of the Berlin Wall that we’dadorned with graffiti in a long night of Bratwurst, Kartoffelsalat, Bier, and spray paint before carting itto White Plaza where, at noon on the 9th, we tore itdown. To watch our jolly uprising in an archival slideshow go to: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/ no-

Grußwort der Krupp-Stiftung

by Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Berthold Beitz

What’s New in Berlin by Karen Kramer

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tanbul, and Bratislava. In each of these cities, we en-joyed expert lectures and briefings on the challenges fac-ing the expanding EU in a time of fiscal and economiccrisis as well as introductions to and explorations of thehistory and culture of the region.

Thanks to several visiting Stanford faculty members(Carl Weber, Myra Strober, Eric Roberts and LaurenRusk) and visiting scholar Jeffrey Treviño studying the ex-perimental music scene in Berlin, we were able to aug-ment our locally taught offerings in economics, politicalscience, culture and language with specialized offeringsin theater, comparative gender relations, the ethics ofcomputing technologies from a comparative perspective,and a writing course in which students learned to articu-late their experiences in Berlin in short prose and poetry.

You will recall the heritage-protected villa in whichthe Berlin Program is housed, officially named HausCramer (after the family who commissioned it), occa-sionally called Villa Moo (after Herman Muthesius, therenowned architect who designed and built it in1911/12), fondly and most frequently dubbed “The Vil-la” (as though there were only one...) by the Stanfordstudents and faculty for whom this is a home base inBerlin. You may know that in the year 2000 we wereable to purchase the property, which we had leased for25 years, by virtue of the efforts and generosity of HansGeorge Will and emeritus President Gerhard Casper. De-pending on the season, some of you variously played fris-bee or soccer or made snowpersons on the front lawn ofThe Villa. This September, Mr. Will donated a largesculpture by Berlin sculptor Karl Menzen, “Dop-pelschnitt-Transformation”; it enhances the propertybeautifully (and still leaves plenty of room for sports andsnowsculpting).

On the institutional front, this yearbrought a change of leadership onthe home campus. The Burke Fam-ily Director of the Bing OverseasStudies Program, Norman Nai -mark (Robert & Florence McDon-

nell Prof. of Eastern European Studies) stepped downafter many successful years of service in which the num-ber of students studying overseas increased markedly de-spite severe constraints on University and student bud -gets. We welcome new Director Robert Sinclair, theCharles M. Pigott Professor in the School of Engineer-ing, as the seventh Director of Stanford Overseas Stud-ies in 50 years. We are also pleased to welcome the newVice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Olive H.Palmer Professor in Humanities Harry Elam, who suc-ceeds ex-Vice-Provost Prof. John Bravman. Bravmanleft Stanford at the end of the year to begin his new roleas President of Bucknell University.

I cannot close without sharing with you the very sadnews that Hannelore Noack, As-sistant Director of the Programfrom shortly after its founding un-til the mid-90s, died this pastspring. You will find a short obitu-ary for Hannelore, who is fondlyremembered as the heart of theprogram in her years of service toStanford, in this Brief. The an-nouncement of Hannelore’s deathprompted a flood of memories andtributes to her work. I compiledthese as an homage to a womanwhose work helped to make Stan-ford-in-Berlin what it was and is;if you would like to have a digitalcopy, please write to Jutta Ley([email protected]). �

Summer interns infront of the Rosen-zimmer at the intern-ship seminar, August27, 2010.

The Villa received anew piece of art. Thehigh-grade steelsculpture “Doppel-schnitt – Trans-formation” by theBerlin-based artist andengineer Karl Menzen(http://www.karl-menzen.de) wasdonated in September2010 by Stanfordalumnus George Will.

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As an intern at Charité’s “Health and Society: Inter-national Gender Studies Berlin” Program (http://www.charite.de/health-society), I had the opportunity to ex-plore two of my professional interests: marketing andpublic health. The marketing experience of my intern-ship allowed me to develop an improved website fortheir department. I learned firsthand the differences be-tween an American-style website and a German one.German websites tend to be more fact based when itcomes to education programs while American sites areglossier with a picture for every important statement.I had to create a website that blended these two con-ventions while maintaining the Charité’s standards.This also taught me about workplace bureaucracy. Eventhough I got all the appropriate approvals at one level,there were always other conflicting levels that put thewhole project at a standstill. As concerns my interestin public health, I had the opportunity to devise an orig-inal research strategy for the definition of social in-equality. This would be used as the framework for anongoing project by the head of the program. It was ex-tremely satisfying to know that my original researchwas good enough to be used by a professor as the foun-dation of her work.

The highlight of my personal German experience wasGermany’s effect on my identity. From an Americanperspective as an African-American student I do notnecessarily scream international diversity. But in Ger-many, my identity was extremely fluid with people iden-

The last placement cycle brought us 45 new Krupp in-terns and one returning student: Christy Wong (not alanguage student anymore but now a philosophy ma-jor!) who came back to the Zentrum für Zeit-geschichtliche Forschung in Potsdam (http://www.zzf-pdm.de), i.e. a total of 46 internships altogether. Allbut one started in the summer and only one student,Mayra Pacheco (Psychology), was courageous enoughto plan a stay through autumn quarter – she did notwant to leave her start-up project with the Organisa-

tifying me as German, French, Swiss, and Cuban – toname a few. On a few occasions (three to be exact) thisalmost landed me television interviews. During theWorld Cup, an Egyptian television station interviewedme concerning my views of the diversity of Germany’steam. Realizing the nuanced nature of the black Dias-pora internationally was an eye-opening experience.

I lived in the Wedding area during the majority ofmy stay in Berlin. It has a large Turkish populationand by extension a large Muslim population. I had lim-ited experience with the Muslim community before Iarrived in Berlin, but I really had the opportunity toimmerse myself in the Muslim culture and traditionsduring the month of Ramadan. Shop owners greetedme with festive chocolates and I learned various Ara-bic greetings to say during Ramadan. I noticed the nu-ances in wearing various styles of hijabs and it mademe reflect upon Western ideals of conservatism. I hadthe opportunity to learn about the Muslim communi-ty firsthand, which is loving and welcoming, and see itmisrepresented and misunderstood in the UnitedStates over a community center wrongly nicknamedthe “ground zero mosque”. I am grateful for the un-derstanding I gained of the Muslim world in my every-day interaction in my neighborhood.�

Cherrie Randle (Sociology, BA and MA) studied in winter and interned

in summer 2010 in Berlin.

Minh Dan Vuong(Economics) on the SAP grounds in Walldorf in August 2010.

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Status Report on the Krupp Internship Program by Wolf-Dietrich Junghanns

The Intersection of Interests at the Crossroads of Culture –An Internship Experience in Berlin by Cherrie Randle

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tionsbüro Friedensfestival Berlin 2011 (http://www.friedensfestival.org), the organizers of peace festivals inBerlin and beyond. Given the fact that, at least in Ger-many, die Krise is over in statistical terms of economicgrowth but not yet on the labor market, we can be quitepleased with this number which brought us close to the1000th Krupp intern, whom we will welcome in 2011!Continuing good relationships to many former hostshelped us in this regard.

However, we again had a mixture of old and new hosts(this time 16). The latter were found both in Berlin suchas the Migrationsrat Berlin-Brandenburg (http://www.mrbb. de) (Tabatha Robinson: IR, Anthropology), and in

“pro vin ces” like the Europäisches Forum für Migra-tionsstudien (http://www.efms.uni-bamberg. de) in Bam-berg (Joseph Camp: Political Science, English), the Uni-ver sitätsbibliothek Leipzig (http://www.ub.uni-leip zig.de) (Courtney Crisp: English, Afri can-American Stud-ies), or the software developer SAP (http://www.sap.com/germany/index.epx) in Walldorf, south of Heidel-berg (Minh Dan Vuong: Economics). The latter place-ment is an example of Nachwuchsentwicklung throughformer Krupp interns. In this case Shailendra Bhum-ralkar (Electrical Engineering), who participated in theBerlin program in 1985–86 and who now works for SAPin California, took the initiative to connect us with theSAP headquarters in Germany – Shailendra, thank you!

Aside from some slow-down effects of summertime onthe internship business (Entschleunigung can be a virtue,you know), also quality-wise we can be pleased with ourplacements both in the sciences & technologies (22

placements) and in the humanities & social sciences (24placements). As always, it is impossible to mention andto acknowledge in this short space the work of all in-terns. I limit myself to mentioning a few finished pro -jects and would like to foreground the field of hands-onengineering and especially design. Somehow, probablyfor no particular reason except for curiosity and lust foradventure on the part of the applicants, it was an un-usually good year for design, though the placement ofstudents of Stanford's very theory-orientated design cur-riculum can be problematic.

Of course not every internship results in deliverables,given the long-term character of many projects or theirfleeting, communicative nature. And some students arestill finishing up their projects on the home campus or

Mayra Pacheco (Psychology) withsome collaboratorsduring the Friedens-festival Berlin 2011in August 2010 atAlexanderplatz.

Andrew Cooper(Design) cutting foamfor model building.Internship withMehnert-DesignGmbH & Co. KG,Berlin, August 2010.

On the right:No nonsense! “AWorking Class Herois something to be...”:Ziyad Abdel Khaleq(Electrical Enginee-ring) and AmerHandan (PoliticalScience) are gettingready for the steelfactory in Duisburg.

Tabatha Robinson(2nd right; IR, An-thropology) with hercolleagues from theMigrationsrat Berlin-Brandenburg, Berlin,August 2010.

Robert De Santiago(ArchitecturalDesign) with themodel he built of ahouse in Hamburg.Internship withLüthjeSoetbeerArchitektur,Hamburg, August2010.

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waiting for colleagues in Germany to complete them.However, some results are already available to the pub-lic: Nathaniel Nelson (Drama, German Studies) helpedour performance duo “plan b” to produce video trailerswhich everybody can watch now: http://www. planbper-formance.net/news.htm. Cherrie Randle (Sociology)helped the organizers of the master's program Healthand Society: International Gender Studies Berlin at theCharité to develop a web page which combines blandGerman matter of factness with American showmanship– she can tell you that the introduction of new forms ofpresentation to such an institution is no trifle: http://www.charite.de/health-society. And Amer Handan (Po-litical Science) at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswär-tige Politik (http://www.dgap.org) managed not only tosupport EU development efforts in the Western Bal kansbut was also able to write a paper about “Visa Liberal-ization in the Western Balkans: Conditionality and Visa-Ghettos”: http://aussenpolitik.net/themen/eu/bal kan/visa_liberalization_in_the_western_balkans-condition-ality_and-visa-ghettos.

Now, one of the conspicuous particularities of the Ger-man educational system and of the foundations of theGerman economical model is the duale Berufsausbildungabout which you can read at the end of this issue. In thisyear we had two students who had a chance to test thesystem and learn what it can mean to be an Azubi in aWerkstatt or even Lehrwerkstatt: Emily Cooper followedBrian Padden (2009) as an intern with ELHA-MASCHI-NENBAU Liemke KG (http://www.elha.de) in Hövelhofnear Paderborn and Bielefeld. The company was initial-ly recommended to us by Professor David Beach fromthe Stanford Department of Engineering, and in 2003

Irving Hu was our first intern there in the beautiful sandylandscape called Senne where the river Elms springs up.Emily (Mechanical Engineering), in addition to someCAD work, also donned a Blaumann, the typical boilersuit, and learned hands-on how to take apart and as-semble machines. Her comment: “After so much theo-retical work in school, I really appreciated a chance todo some practical work and see the other side of ma kinga machine. I will definitely use the skills I learned in thefuture. Often the people assembling the machine wouldcatch mistakes in the technical drawings or need to con-sult with the engineers in the office. It was a good op-portunity to see the relationship between the designersand the assembly workers. I also feel more capable asa designer because I can better see how the machinefunctions as a whole.”

Diane Lee (Product Design) went even farther back tothe basics in her internship at the cabinet TischlereiGmbH (http://www.cabinet-gmbh.de) in Berlin, aboutwhich she writes in this Brief. Other designers who triedto close the gap between classroom and daily businesspractice were Matthew Blum with the design companyLUNAR EUROPE (http://www.lunar-europe.com) inMunich, one of our new hosts thanks to Matthew's owninitiative (Lunar was actually founded in Palo Alto in1984), Andy Cooper with our tried-and-true host Meh -nert Design (http://www.mehnertdesign.de) in Berlin,Caro line Shen with the equally loyal workshop of Ol brishb (http://www.olbrish.de) hand bag design, and Kris tinLin with Room Division (http://www. roomdivision. com),also in Berlin, which opened to us a completely new field:light design with LEDs – see her report in this issue aswell.

Finally, our architecture studentsfound direct applications of theirskills in Berlin: Paul Corteza, our sec-ond intern ever with the small officeof Duane Phillips Architektur undStädtebau (http:// www.dp-arch. de),and in Hamburg where we have nothad an intern for quite a while: RobertDe Santiago worked at the somewhatlarger office of LüthjeSoetbeer Ar-chitektur (http://www.lsarchitek tur.com). Both companies provided won-derful working opportunities and wehope to continue our cooperation withthem. Both the introduction of the Ar-chitectural Design major and the (ascompared to the 1990s) improvedbuilding sector should allow us toplace more students in this field and

Facade of the Haus derEssener Geschichte/Stadtarchiv (source:Haus der Essener Ge-schichte/ Stadtarchiv).

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also in the growing field of sustainable construction.More internships are presented on other pages of this letter.

And what is new in Essen? Last year we reported aboutthe re-design and addition to the Museum Folkwang(http://www.museum-folkwang.de), which was finan cedby the Krupp Foundation and opened in January thisyear. In May, during our annual visit to the Villa Hügel,our group was fortunate enough to enjoy not only a din-ner but also a guided tour through the new rooms andthe spectacular and very successful opening exhibition“Das schönste Museum der Welt” – Museum Folkwangbis 1933" which reconstructed the collection which oncerendered the museum one of the most important muse-ums of modern art worldwide. European, American andAsian museums now loaned back works of art which hadbeen dispersed over the world after the Nazi campaignagainst “Entartete Kunst” in 1937. The current high-light is the show “Bilder einer Metropole. Die Impres-sionisten in Paris” (until January 30). But whatever ison display when you return to Essen – the old and thenew capacious, brightly lit rooms are worth a visit in andof themselves.

Another addition to Essen’s architecture also has aKrupp connection: The ThyssenKrupp Quartier, the newheadquarter of the ThyssenKrupp AG, which was inau-gurated in June, is an achievement both of urban devel-opment – the “campus” of over 568 acres includes forinstance a park and is partly open to the city instead ofbeing fenced in – and of architecture, with an energy-ef-

ThyssenKruppQuartier: Q1 (source:ThyssenKrupp AG,Essen).

ThyssenKruppQuartier: Q1, detail ofthe facade (source:ThyssenKrupp AG,Essen).

Future interns (and one actual intern,Alexander Romanczuk,with the Gymnasiumund Realschule der

Jüdischen Gemeindezu Berlin) in the newfoyer of the MuseumFolkwang in Essen,April 29, 2010.

7 http://thyssenkrupp.com/quartier

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As a design major I came to Germany with the desireto gain competence in an area outside the more theo-retical offerings at Stanford that would build core com-petence in one type of natural material: wood.

On my first day at cabinet Tischlerei (http://www.cabinet-gmbh.de) in Berlin-Wedding, I learned theword Montage – a “putting together” – and experi-enced one, too. Montage, in the carpentry sense, in-volves carefully loading the van, going on the road, andinstalling customers' furniture (ranging from book-shelves to closets to entire kitchens) in their homes. Go-ing on Montage showed me the adventurous life of thecarpenter, and I treasure the experiences I had through-out Berlin from each one.

My time in the workshop was a different, but just asexciting, “putting together”. From the carpenter mas-ters, I learned foundation woodworking skills by hand,which I applied in making small products. I quicklylearned to recognize various types and properties ofwood. Throughout the summer, I assembled a strongersense of what it means to become a carpenter, not onlythough the various processes of furniture building, butespecially the patience needed from hard, often physi-cal work, day to day, and week to week.

I have always wanted to work in a carpentry work-shop to learn practical skills to build my own home. Ifeel so fortunate to have had so much hospitality and

kindness from Herr Blaser and allof the carpenters, which made foran incredibly meaningful summer.

During the spring quarter, I wasalso fortunate to study at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee (http://www. kh-berlin.de) and complete a se-mester project there as a guest auditor. I worked withan inspiring and dedicated professor and delivered a fi-nal project from the “Digital Writing” class that I took.My studies at Weißensee were so valuable in being ableto experience a more exploratory and individualized wayin which design can be taught. Currently, I am studyingat the Köln International School of Design (KISD) forthe Wintersemester and hope afterwards to completeanother internship in Germany before I return to Stan-ford. �

Diane Lee (Product Design) studied in spring and interned in the summer

of 2010 in Berlin.

Diane demonstrates hernewly acquired planingskills to her supervisorMartin Blaser.

ficient and environmentally conscious design (use of geo -thermal energy and of rain water, heat recovery, etc.).The centerpiece is the building Q1 (energy consumption<150 kWh/m2) with two avant-garde panoramic win-dows as its chief attraction. The windows of 9 cm thickglass provide an outstanding view; they are exceptional-ly transparent and are intended to symbolize such trans-parency in a societal sense. They are 25.60 m x 28.10 mlarge and consist of 96 specially coated panes, each ofwhich is hung up in a frame constructed similarly, it issaid, to the lining of a tennis racket and as light and elas-tic as one. As you can imagine, lots of high-gradeThyssenKrupp steel was used.

It is not widely known what kind of construction steelexactly was used for the facade of the Haus der EssenerGeschichte (http://www.essen.de/Deutsch/Rathaus/ Aem -ter/Ordner_41/Stadtarchiv/geschichte/geschichte_haus_

essener_geschichte.asp), which includes the stacks of thecity archive (17 km of shelves!): Relating (or better: al-luding) to the post-industrial changes not only in Essenbut across NRW – roughly from coal and steel to serviceindustries – the facade of the new building consists of steelwhich is weather-proof but is designed to corrode in a con-trolled way. Of course this design sparked controversy –why spend a large amount of money to demonstrate rust-ing or even decay, while in other places funds are sorelyneeded for rust-protection?! However, in the meantimethe building has received awards for its architecture andlocal people confirm not only its aesthetical quality – itsappearance changes with the weather and time of day –but also the observation of changes of the corroding sur-face. Such irreversible alterations in the progress of timeembody at the very least a reversal of the old Germansaying: Wer rastet, der rostet. �

Montagesommerby Diane Lee

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The music tha”t played on the Regional Express everymorning always reminded me that the train was ap-proaching my stop in Potsdam. From there, it would bean exciting 20-minute walk to the Deutsches Institut fürErnährungsforschung (http://www.dife.de), the GermanInstitute for Human Nutrition. During this walk, I wouldcontinue my engaging discussion with the Peter, the Ger-man student I met on the train once, who eventually be-came a very good friend of mine. Who would havethought that after spending 18 years of my life in Ja-maica, I would wait at a stop light waiting for the ever-present Ampelmann to say “Go” or that I would meet aman on my street who would shout “Guten Morgen” asI walked passed him every day? And, that I would be-come fully immersed in German culture and fall com-pletely in love with it?

I worked in the Department of Clinical Nutrition onthe corner of Arthur-Scheunert -Allee. The people in mylab were very friendly and welcoming. We would all havelunch at the institute’s canteen together. Whenever I wasclueless about a certain menu item, they would often re -commend what would be a good dish to try. They werealways willing to answer my questions about Germanhistory and the German language. On my first day, mysupervisor introduced me to the best bakery in Potsdam,which was a three minute walk from the institute. Verysoon, I found myself at this bakery for breakfast, afterlunch (often accompanied by my supervisor) and on myway home. I was really fascinated by the quality of thebreads, cakes and cookies. On my last day in Potsdam,I got a complimentary cup of cookies for being a veryloyal customer. Towards the end of my internship, my de-partment had an excursion. We all rented bikes and wenton a guided tour of Potsdam. We ended with dinner ata Biergarten. By spending a lot of quality time with myco-workers, I was able to bond and connect with themon a much deeper level. In doing so, I learnt a lot firsthand about the German culture which deeply enrichedmy experience.

My main project involved carrying out Western Blot-ting on samples from cell culture as well as from humanfat cells in order to identify pathways that lead to insulinresistance. The other half of my time was spent workingin cell culture. I extracted RNA from my cultured cellsafter their four week growth period. This research wasvery significant since so many people plagued with dia-betes in today's society need proper nutritional guidance

to aid in the control of their illness. My work in this labgave me a very good introduction to the world of research.It was quite relevant for me since I am currently inter-ested in a career in the pharmaceutical industry, specif-ically in drug development. Before my time in Potsdam,I was not particularly interested in research but this in-ternship has definitely cultivated that interest.

Being the only child in a single parent family, I hadnever lived with anyone but my mother. I was quite an -xious about the idea of living with a host family but theopportunity to live with Sabine, my host mom, for mysix months in Berlin was truly a blessing. She would of-ten invite me to her exhibitions, since she is a painter,or just to go for a walk around the beautiful lakes in thecity. She also took me to some of the most amazing fleamarkets in Berlin. During the World Cup season, wewould occasionally watch games together, both shout-ing “Jetzt!” and keeping our fingers crossed that theGermans would score.

The time I spent living in Berlin and working in Pots-dam was without a doubt the best six months of my life.I have learnt so much about relating to people and un-derstanding their different perspectives on life. It wasalso a time of deep self-reflection that has left me feel-ing so renewed. I had a very rich intellectual and cul-tural experience which I know will be very beneficial forme in the future and as I choose what exactly it is thatI want to do after leaving Stanford. When I arrived inBerlin in March 2010, I had no idea that I would leaveGermany a transformed individual. �

Rashida Ruddock (Chemical Engineering) in her lab at the Deutsche

Institut für Ernährungsforschung Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIFE), Potsdam,

August 2010.

Rashida (ChemicalEngineering) in herlab at the DeutscheInstitut für Ernäh -rungsforschung Potsdam-Rehbrücke(DIFE), Potsdam,August 2010.

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My Life Changing Experienceby Rashida Ruddock

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My internship was with “Olbrish b. Ideen in Leder”(http://www. olbrish. de), a leather handbag design com-pany in Berlin that produces hand-made bags from theirWerkstatt in Kreuzberg. Their specialty is minimal,clever design, resulting in bags that surprise you whenyou explore them.

My main project was to come up with a handbag con-cept, make models of it, draw it on the computer withthe CalCAD program, and eventually come up with a fin-ished product. The goal was to have a finished (or atleast, mostly finished) prototype for the FrankfurterMesse at the end of August. Otherwise, I was free to

learn about the company and the workshop – I definite-ly took advantage of being able to ask many, many ques-tions. I was also asked to help with the new website thatthe company would be implementing, but unfortunatelythe timing of the project did not work out within thethree months. On occasion I was also asked to utilizePhotoshop skills for editing photographs of products.

The technical skills I acquired may not necessarily bedirectly applicable to other things I plan to do in the fu-ture, but the experience of understanding how the entiredesign process works – from concept to physical prod-uct – is knowledge and skill that I am so grateful to havehad. Learning about how the company works and howthe company began and grew was also extremely valu-able to me and I believe it will be useful to me later. Themost valuable thing to me was the insight that I havelearned about the process, and I can apply this processto my own future as a designer. Having the hands-on ver-sion of this process is on a completely different levelfrom learning the theory in class. I guess you could alsocall it highly inspirational and motivational and gave methe feeling that it is possible to do something if I just go

and do it. Producing a final product isn’t just magic; it’spossible for me!

Aside from learning all the technical details that gointo creating the physical handbag, one of the most in-spiring things to me was how the people who worked inthe company were busy but in high spirits, and the soundof laughter was never far away. I loved how playfuleveryone was.

At the beginning I was nervous about working only inGerman, but it turned out to be one of the most benefi-cial experiences I could have had. When I arrived inBerlin, I wasn’t sure I would be able to speak Germancomfortably; by the time I left, I was confident that Icould make my way around with German, even if I didnot speak perfectly and lacked vocabulary. I had stud-ied much more French throughout middle school andhigh school, but when I tried to speak it again, Germanwords kept popping up and I started speaking with Ger-man grammar. Apparently I also forgot some words inEnglish because I was only hearing them in German overthe summer...

Outside of work, I definitely recommend finding a WGliving situation for the summer. Spending three monthswith two German girls in Lichtenberg was extremely re-warding. They invited me to meet their friends in Berlinand we hosted flat parties; we would share dinner to-gether after work and chat, and found that we sharedmany hobbies; and generally, I found myself some won-derful, wonderful friends. It was daunting at first toreach out to ads in German, but it paid off.

Ask questions and stay curious! �

Caroline Shen (Product Design, Art Practice, Modern Languages) studied

in Berlin in the spring and interned in the summer of 2010.

Caroline with differ -ent development stages of her bag.

”Made in Berlin“by Caroline Shen

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Our tireless photographerZubair Ahmed (MechanicalEngineering, CreativeWriting) weighs a goat atthe Streichelzoo at the Zoo-logischer Garten in Berlin.

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The question of educational opportunity and outcomes forstudents from immigrant families is currently one of thehottest topics in German educational research. Since only8% of university students come from immigrant families,every student with an immigrant background who gra -duates with a university degree is a precious resource forGermany in its quest to integrate its immigrant popula-tion into a more diverse range of social strata and the la-bor market.1 Although I was aware of the issue of immi-grant integration while living in Berlin during spring quar-ter, my Krupp internship experience over the summer inDortmund gave me the opportunity to investigate the mat-ter from the scientific perspective of a research studybacked by the Institute for School Development Researchat the Technical University of Dortmund.

In the course of carrying out this study, I was re-sponsible for every step of the research process: the lit-erature review, questionnaire development, data collec-tion, data analysis, and a final presentation and write-up of my results. The first part of my internship consistedof a literature review in which I studied a model of mo-tivation first developed by Eccles and colleagues in1983.2 The model proposes that achievement motivationconsists of two parts: First, a person’s expectations ofsuccess at an endeavor, which reflects his or her com-petence beliefs, and second, the extent to which the per-son values the task as important, interesting, useful, orcostly. Once I understood the concepts of this model andhow it could be applied to the “task” of graduating froma university, I picked five outcome variables that wereof particular interest to me in predicting dropout andpersistence: Learning motivation, satisfaction with theuniversity experience, emotional exhaustion, effort, anddropout intention. In order to measure these constructs,I had to develop an original questionnaire in German byboth translating questionnaires from previous studiesand developing my own items based on the theoreticaldefinitions of constructs in which I was interested. Thiswas an especially demanding part of the project and ne-cessitated both the help of my coworkers at the Instituteand several volunteers who agreed to complete the ques-tionnaire for me as pilot subjects.

Collecting the data for my study was both stressful andexciting. My supervisor at the Institute first got in touchwith her colleagues who were currently teaching so Icould survey their students; yet to diversify my sample

to include more than just social science and educationmajors, I also visited a large physics lecture and walkedaround campus distributing the questionnaire to stu-dents who were hanging out on campus. Doing this re-ally forced me to come out of my shell and speak Ger-man to complete strangers and in front of large groupsof people, which I would never have done had I not need-ed a sample size large enough for quantitative analysis.Using this combination of surveying classes and ap-proaching people on campus, I finally managed to col-lect valid data from 252 university students.

The data analysis process was completely new to meas an English major and was excellent preparation forthe quantitative research I am doing this year in the un-dergraduate honors program with the School of Educa-tion. Over the course of my analysis, I learned how touse two different statistical programs to perform analy-ses that began with simple t-tests and ended with themore complex technique of multi-group path analysis.My analysis was guided by two primary research ques-tions: Are there mean-level differences between studentswith and without an immigrant background concerningtheir expectations of success, values, satisfaction, learn-ing motivation, emotional exhaustion, effort, anddropout intention? How do these variables fit togetherinto a model predicting effort and dropout intention forboth groups, and do any differences between thesegroups emerge concerning these relationships?

At the end of my internship, I had to present my re-sults in front of a group of about twenty researchers andfaculty members at the Institute. The presentation wasa twenty-minute overview of my research complete withliterature, hypotheses, design, methods, and results,which was by far the longest and most complex presen-tation I had ever given in German. Put briefly, I foundthat students with an immigrant background held a high-er importance value for their university educations, al-though they also perceived higher costs of going throughwith their studies. In terms of the relationships betweenthe variables, students with an immigrant backgroundwere both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to puteffort into their studies. This has important implicationsfor ways to improve instruction for students with an im-migrant background by leveraging both their sense of auniversity degree’s utility and their interest in the sub-ject matter of their majors.

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Investigating Dropout and Persistence among German University Students with an Immigrant Background:

A Summer Research Internship Experienceby Sandy Nader

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This final presentation and the ensuing write-up wasan invaluable experience for me as a student researcher.I was able to get feedback from knowledgeable facultyacross disciplines from statistics to psychology after mypresentation, and I have been working ever since with apost-doc and my advisor to complete the research write-up to submit for publication at an international educa-tion journal. Ultimately, my experience in Dortmundgave me a glimpse into the life of a researcher and en-couraged me to continue doing educational research thisyear and into my future as a graduate student. Most im-portantly, however, I feel like I have been able to givesomething back to the German community by con-tributing a piece of a very important puzzle the countryis trying to solve in terms of immigrant integration. Iam looking forward to reading other ways in which thequestion of equitable education for students with an im-

migrant background in Germany will be tackled in theyears to come. �

Sandy Nader (English, German Language and Literature) studied in

Berlin in the spring and interned in Dortmund in the summer of 2010.

Notes:

1 For statistics concerning the situation of university students with im-

migrant background in Germany, see BMBF [Bundesministerium für

Bildung und Forschung]. (2007). Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Lage

der Studierenden in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2006: 18.

Sozialerhebung des Deutschen Studentenwerks durchgeführt durch

HIS Hochschul-Informations-System – Ausgewählte Ergebnisse.

Bonn, Berlin: BWH GmBH.

2 For more on this model, see Eccles, J.S., & Wigfield, A. (2000). Ex-

pectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. Contemporary

Educational Psychology, 25, 68–81.

Filmtips

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Vincent will meerhttp://www.vincent.film.deDas Roadmovie ist einer der erfolgreichsten deutschsprachigenSpielfilme des Jahres. Vincent leidet am Tourette-Syndrom, Alexan -der ist zwangsneurotisch und Marie magersüchtig. Alle drei flüchtenaus einer Klinik nach Italien, ans Meer. Geheilt werden sie nicht,aber sie verändern sich. Mehr wird hier nicht verraten.

Die Fremdehttp://www.diefremde.de Der bei der Berlinale uraufgeführte und mehrfach ausgezeichneteFilm diskutiert das Thema menschlicher Selbstbestimmung anhandeiner jungen deutsch-türkischen Mutter, die mit ihrem Sohn aus einermißglückten Ehe in Istanbul zu ihren Eltern nach Berlin flieht. Siehofft, sich durch Ausbildung und eigene Arbeit ein neues Leben auf-bauen zu können, doch die Rollen- und Kulturkonflikte spitzen sichnoch einmal zu. Die Hauptdarstellerin, Sibel Kekilli, geboren 1980 inHeilbronn und bekannt geworden durch Fatih Akins „Gegen dieWand“ hatte lange Zeit große Schwierigkeiten, in Deutschland alsdeutsche Schauspielerin Rollen außerhalb von Migrations- und In-tegrationsgeschichten zu bekommen. Inzwischen darf sie in hei-mischen Mainstream-Produktionen wie dem „Tatort“ mitwirken.

Filmheft: http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/W4QLS0,0,Die_Fremde.html

Mahler auf der Couch http://www.mahleraufdercouch.deDas ist ein amüsanter Fin de Siècle-Film, den man auch ohne tiefereKenntnisse der Psychoanalyse und von Mahlers Musik genießenkann, wegen dieser Musik – wie für den Film geschaffen – und derausgezeichneten Besetzung. Die Tragikomödie ist verspielt, bleibtaber sehr nah an den verbürgten Ereignissen und Zeugnissen (Briefe,Tagebücher): Die Dreiecksaffaire der Mahlers und Walter Gropius’wie die daraus folgende Konsultation Freuds durch Gustav Mahlerim August 1910, Mahlers Todesjahr, sind gut belegt. Wem die Ge-staltung der Alma Schindler-Mahler-Gropius-Werfel zu modern er-scheint, der studiere die Zeugnisse über diese kluge und an-spruchsvolle Frau.

Die Friseusehttp://www.friseuse.film.deDoris Dörrie goes East again, diesmal nicht nach Japan („Kirsch-blüten – Hanami“), sondern nach Berlin-Marzahn, um die Ge-schichte der arbeitslosen und alleinerziehenden „Friseur-Meisterin“zu erzählen, die sich als „Friseuse“ versteht, aber wegen ihres statt-lichen Körperumfanges keine Arbeitsstelle findet. Die Alternativeist das eigene Geschäft – in einem ehemaligen „Asia-Imbiß“ (soetwas gibt es!) –, vor dem jedoch der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen liegt: Banken, Behörden, Berater... Daß mitLeidenschaft und Kreativität der Einstieg in den Salon-Kapitalismusgelingen kann, ist natürlich ebenso ein Klischee wie „Marzahn“. Ka-thi hat ein lebendes Vorbild in Berlin, dem manches, was im Filmgezeigt wird, tatsächlich passiert ist (wenn z.T. auch nicht imMarzahner EASTGATE, sondern im KaDeWe). Die Regie überdreht– noch eine Klamotte über „den Osten“ –, dennoch gilt dieSozialkomödie wegen der Genauigkeiten im Drehbuch und derHauptdarstellerin als sehenswert.

Goethe!http://wwws.warnerbros.de/goethe/Max Schmeling – Eine deutsche Legendehttp://www.maxschmeling-film.deVor 80 Jahren war die public persona Max Schmelings, von 1930 bis1932 erster und bis heute einziger deutscher Weltmeister imSchwergewichtsboxen, der Anti-Goethe, besonders für die In-tellektuellen der Weimarer Republik, die in ihm wie überhaupt im„Sportbetrieb“ eine Bedrohung von „Geist und (deutscher) Kultur“erblickten. Heute dagegen lautet der Sieger Goethe, und zwar durchK.o. in der 1. Runde – so wenig Publikum fand der wahrscheinlichschlechteste „Biopic“ des Jahres, der nicht erwähnenswert wäre,würde er mit dem „Idol“ nicht über eine dramaturgisch immermögliche Vermischung von „Dichtung und Wahrheit“ hinaus revisio-nistische Erinnerungspolitik betreiben: Schmeling nur als Opfer derNS-Politik und Widerstandskämpfer gegen sie. Goethe erleben wirin der „Sturm und Drang“-Phase des „Werthers“: das verliebteGenie, hier noch ein Jura-Student und Praktikant, in einer produktivverarbeiteten Lebenskrise und in Rebellion gegen gesellschaftlicheKonventionen. Kritiker sehen in der von einem Fernsehsender fi-

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nanzierten Darstellung Goethes als Pop-Star des 18. Jahrhunderts,die ebenfalls sehr frei mit der Geschichte umgeht, eine Variation auf„Shakespeare in Love“, die Deutschlehrer nun vielleicht ihrenKlassen vorführen werden, bevor sie zur Behandlung des alsschwierig geltenden „Faust“ übergehen (müssen). Goethe wurdealso vom Sockel gehoben, Schmelings bereits unübersehbarer So-ckel noch erhöht. Boxer sind sportlich wie sozial (auch) „Durch-brecher“-Figuren und ohne diverse Teufelspakte selten erfolgreich,und damit dem „Faust“ näher als Kalauer über Faust-Kämpfergewöhnlich wissen wollen. Schmelings Leben, auch ohne Be-schönigungen ungewöhnlich reich und interessant, muß weiterhinauf eine spannende deutsche Verfilmung warten.

Jud Süß – Film ohne Gewissen http://www.jud-suess-film.deOskar Roehlers Versuch über die Rolle des Schauspielers FerdinandMarian in dem antisemitischen NS-Propagandafilm „Jud Süß“ (1940,Regie: Veit Harlan) gilt als gescheitert. Zum einen wegen fragwürdigerGeschichtsdeutungen – Marian wird zum Opfer stilisiert –, zum anderenwegen fehlender ästhetischer Mittel gegen die suggestiven histo -rischen Propagandabilder. So entstand der Vorwurf des „Exkulpations-kinos“, für die das Buch des Berliner Medienwissenschaftlers FriedrichKnilli „Ich war Jud Süß – Die Geschichte des Filmstars FerdinandMarian“ (2000, 2010) mißbraucht wurde (durch den Tod des RegisseursFrank Beyer 2006 kam es nicht zu dessen Verfilmung). Lehrreich sindimmerhin die Kontroversen um einen Film wie diesen.

Online-Referenz zum Buch von Friedrich Kinilli:http://www.ich-war-jud-suess.de

20xBrandenburg http://www.20xbrandenburg.deBei den Feiern zum 20. Jahrestag der Deutschen Vereinigung be-schäftigten sich die Medien weniger mit prinzipiellen historischen Be-wertungen als mit biographischen Vergleichen, Reflexionen und Ge-schichten. Ein Beispiel ist die anläßlich des gleichzeitig began genen20. Geburtstages des Landes Brandenburg produzierte RBB-Dokumentation, die in Episoden von jeweils 15 min ganz verschie -dene Brandenburger/innen portraitiert. Die Gesamtregie hatte An-dreas Dresen (u.a. „Halbe Treppe“, „Sommer vorm Balkon“, „WolkeNeun“). Die empfehlenswerte Produktion ist im Internet und, mitZusatzmaterial, auf DVD zugänglich.

RUHRhttp://www.schafoderscharf.de/ruhr.htmlDie Dokumentation James Bennings (USA) besteht nur aus sechskurzen Kameraeinstellungen von jeweils etwa 10 min (ein Autotunnel,die automatisierte Produktionsstraße eines Stahlwerkes, ein Wald-stück nahe dem Düsseldorfer Flughafen, das Freitagsgebet in derDuisburger Merkez-Moschee, die Reinigung von Richard SerrasStahlskulptur „Bramme für das Ruhgebiet“ in Essen, eine Straße ineiner Essener Arbeitersiedlung) und einer Einstellung auf denKühlturm einer Kokerei von 60 min. Wie in frühen Kurzfilmen vonWim Wenders fragt man sich anfangs: passiert hier noch etwas odereher nicht?! – Bis man entweder entnervt aus dem Kino flüchtet oderzur Ruhe kommt und sich der „Ästhetik der Erscheinung“ (MartinSeel) hingibt und dem Dampf des Kühlturms so interessiert folgt wiedem Flug der Plastiktüte in „American Beauty“. Die fraglose visuelleSchönheit des Ruhr-Gebietes kommt einher mit dessen Sound, einemzum Teil infernalischem Industrie- und Verkehrslärm – die Urwald-geräusche von heute. Benning hat erstmals außerhalb Amerikas ge-dreht und auch zum ersten Mal digital. Die Aufnahmen selbst werdensicher einmal dokumentarischen Wert bekommen, ihre Re-präsentativität für das heutige Ruhrgebiet ist beschränkt, dafür istder „Struk turwandel“ schon zu weit fortgeschritten. Soziologischinteressanter und repräsentativer war wohl der am 30.8. vom ZDFgesendete Episodenfilm „Zeche is nich – Sieben Blicke auf das Ruhr-gebiet 2010“.

Diskussion über die Digitalisierung in RUHR:http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/1414ZDF: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek (Trailer)http://daskleinefernsehspiel.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/24/0,1872,7931160,00.htmlBewegte Stadtbesichtigung statt Standperspektive:http://www.sightjogging-im-ruhrgebiet.de

TANZTRÄUME – Jugendliche tanzen „Kontakthof“ von Pina Bauschhttp://www.realfictionfilme.de„Kontakthof“ ist eines der erfolgreichen Stücke der WuppertalerTänzerin und Choreographin Pina Bausch (1940 – 2009), das 1978seine Uraufführung mit professionellen Tänzern erlebte und das sie1998 noch einmal mit Senioren und 2008 mit Jugendlichen inszenierte.Der im Gestus verhaltene Film dokumentiert die einjährige Proben-arbeit bis zur triumphalen Premiere. Man kann Pina Bausch hier nocheinmal erleben. Wichtiger jedoch sind die Themen des Stücks und derArbeit an ihm: die Entwicklung von Leibsein und Körperlichkeit durchdas Erlernen von Berührungen, das Spiel der Geschlechter, das Ver-hältnis der Generationen, der Umgang mit Tod und Krieg, die In-tegration von Flüchtlingen aus dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien. Nichtüberraschend zeigt sich, daß die Jugendlichen durch Tanztheater mehrlernen können als in traditionellen Tanz- und Benimmschulen. WimWenders lange vorbereiteter, aber erst 2009 begonnener 3-D-Dokumentarfilm „Pina“ soll 2011 ins Kino kommen.

Immerguthttp://www.immergut-derfilm.deIn Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, findet seit 2000 das vomBerliner Verein Immergutrocken e.V. organisierte Indierock-Festi-val „Immergut“ statt, das für seinen familiären Charakter gerühmtwird – mehr als 5000 Karten werden prinzipiell nicht verkauft. DerFilm über das 10. Festival im Mai 2009 will „Werte und Gefühle[transportieren], die mehr und mehr ins Hintertreffen geraten“(Filmwerbung). Er wird wohl nicht so berühmt werden wie „Full Me-tal Village“ über das Heavy Metal-Festival in Wacken, doch auch erdokumentiert nicht bloß Musik- sondern Lebenskultur.Der Verein: http://www.immergutrocken.de

Neukölln unlimitedhttp://www.neukoelln-unlimited.deWeniger idyllisch geht es in diesem Bericht über das Leben von Ju-gendlichen „mit Migrationshintergund“ in Berlin-Neukölln zu. Zweiseit ihrer frühen Kindheit dort lebende Geschwister aus einer libane-sischen Familie versuchen mit HipHop- und Breakdance Karriere zumachen und für ihre seit 20 Jahren bloß „geduldete“ Familie dasdauerhafte Bleiberecht in Deutschland zu erkämpfen. Das Vorhabenist auf die Gemeinschaft der Familie gerichtet und erzeugt doch zu -gleich Spannungen unter deren Mitgliedern. Der Film, der an das Kreuzberger Projekt „Prinzessinnenbad“ erinnert, wurde für seineDifferenzierungen gegen das negative Klischeebild von Neukölln undgegen unqualifizierte Debatten über „integrationsunwillige Aus län -der“ gelobt. Die Berliner Teenager kommen selbst zu Wort und be-weisen die Existenz von „Multikulti“-Leben. Nur ganz ankommenmüssen sie noch dürfen.

Die Eroberung der inneren Freiheit – Sokratische Gespräche unter Gefangenenhttp://www.realfictionfilme.de„Im Jahr 2000 ließ sich die Haftanstalt Berlin-Tegel auf ein weltweiteinmaliges Experiment ein: Schwerverbrecher betreiben Philosophie.Ein Jahr lang begleiten die Filmemacherinnen Aleksandra Kumorekund Silvia Kaiser Langzeitinhaftierte, die mit Hilfe von [...] ,Sokra -tischen Gesprächen‘ beginnen, sich selbst und ihr eigenes Wertesys-tem zu hinterfragen. Ein schwieriges Unterfangen, denn diese ERO -BE RUNG DER INNEREN FREIHEIT geschieht inmitten der gewalt-

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tätigen Atmosphäre des Gefängnisses – gegen innere und äußereWiderstände.“ (Aus der Beschreibung des Verleihs RealFiction) Dieseandere Art eines Gefangenenexperiments ist bloß ein Beleg für dasgewachsene Interesse an Wertefragen, die uns letztlich alle betref-fen. Ein anderer, ebenfalls mit Extremen provozierender philosophi -scher Versuch – nicht in der Tonne oder in einer Zelle, sondern aufeinem Pflaumenbaum – ist das nun auch in Deutschland erfolgreicheJugendbuch der dänischen Autorin Janne Teller: „Nichts. Was imLeben wichtig ist“.

WDJ

Filmportaledeutscher und internationaler Filme, Filmliteratur u.a.:http://www.filmportal.dehttp://www.film-zeit.dehttp://www.kinofenster.dehttp://www.bpb.de -> Publikationen/ FilmhefteDeutsches Fernsehen in den USA:http://www.germankinoplus.comBerliner Filmfestivalshttp://www.festiwelt-berlin.de

B E R L I N A L E F E A T U R E

”Frauenzimmer“ takes a unique approach to an un-orthodox topic: prostitution. What is interesting aboutthis documentary by Saara Aila Waasner is not so muchthe topic as the way in which the topic is handled; Waas-ner focuses on how being a prostitute affects one's dai-ly life. Each of the three portrayed prostitutes is proudof her profession and is older (49, 59 and 64 years old)than the general public imagines prostitutes to be. Likemost other people, each of the three prostitutes has afamily and some are in relationships. Their familiesknow about their profession, and one woman’s daugh-ter laughs about how she often responds to the ques-tion, “What does your mother do?” with the blunt truth,which always gives her something to discuss. In thesefamilies, prostitution is not treated as a disgraceful job.One woman talks about how she had been depressed,but upon discovering her sexuality and subsequently,prostitution, her depression dwindled. A particularly in-teresting contradiction occurs when a client has left oneprostitute for another, and the first prostitute calls thesecond a “whore”; though she would call herself awhore, she also uses the word in a demeaning manner.Though this scene creates comic relief, it emphasizesthat at least some prostitutes are conflicted – proud ofthemselves, but contributing to and perpetuating thestereotypes associated with their profession. Prostitutesare painted as individuals who are not reducible to theirjob – as normal people whose job happens to be prosti-tution. An important moment in the documentary iswhen the camera focuses on one woman’s smiley facesocks. These socks could belong to anyone in the audi-ence, but happen to belong to this particular woman,who happens to be a prostitute. Waasner’s documen-tary succeeds in making prostitutes real, relatable peo-ple for the audience by reminding viewers of how they

share the same family structure, ideals, and habits withthe general population. �Link: http://www.kino-zeit.de/filme/trailer/ frauenzimmer

Meghan Bowler (Bioengineering) studied in winter and interned in the

summer of 2010 in Berlin.

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stop, Landsberger Allee/Danziger Straße, September2010 (WDJ).

Advertisement for the Berliner Stadtreinigungsbe-triebe (BSR), Berlin, tram

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B E R L I N A L E F E A T U R E R E V I E W B E R L I N A L E F E A T U R E R E V I E W

Frauenzimmer by Meghan Bowler

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This past summer I interned with agisra e.V. Köln(http://www.agisra.de), an information and counselingcenter for migrant and refugee women in Cologne, Ger-many. Women came to agisra seeking help for a wide range of problems, including threats of forced marriage,domestic abuse, financial troubles, and forced prostitu-tion, and we sought to provide support and empowermentfor those seeking assistance. As staff members and in-terns, we always dealt with our clients in an encouraging,firm, and empowering manner and created a safe space,both physically and emotionally.

The workplace was a dynamic one, and each day differed from the last. On a daily basis, I answered thephone, took messages from women who called and wan-ted to schedule appointments, answered the door for wo-men who had come for appointments, played with chil-dren while their mothers received counseling, and gene-rally helped with office management. A number of timesI sat in on Beratungen, counseling appointments, whichgave me insight as to how the agisra staff members in-teracted with the women who came seeking help. In thesecond half of my internship I scheduled more Beglei -

As an intern at ROOM DIVISION (http://www. roomdi-vision.com), I worked harder than anticipated and ac-complished projects I would not have thought possible atthe start of the summer. Even though I was only there forthree months, the work that I was given made me feel asif I were a contributing and important part of the com-pany. My bosses gave me real client projects to work onand encouraged me to contribute my own ideas to eachproject. They were extremely supportive, and even though there were many stressful times during the in-ternship when I had to meet many deadlines, my workwas worthwhile and the experience rewarding.

During my time at ROOM DIVISION, I learned how touse 3D modeling software, such as Google Sketchup and3Ds Max, and I also learned how to make professionalpresentations. I spent my time designing and renderingdifferent spaces, adding LED lighting, and creating a“feel” of what the completed space would look like. Frommaterials to specific lighting effects, I had a voice in thedecision process. In fact, one of the most amazing expe-riences during my internship was when I got to meetclients in person in the spaces that they wanted to re-de-sign. I was able to talk with them directly about what theywanted to do with their spaces as well as their design pre-ferences. In addition, I also got to directly show them mypreliminary ideas for the space and receive feedback abo-ut my work. Those instances made me feel genuinely im-portant to the company. I was grateful that my bosses tru-sted me to take on these real projects and allowed me toincorporate my own ideas for designing the spaces they

were working on. In ad-dition to the rich expe-rience in my internship,working in Berlin wasreally beneficial for me. Ihad been in Berlin in theautumn, but I experien-ced a different Berlin inthe summer. It was help-ful that I didn’t have tostart over in a new citylearning new U-Bahnstops and bus stops; how -

ever, the environment around me changed drastically. Suddenly, there were tables and chairs popping up alongrivers and outside of restaurants. People were more re-laxed and with the sun setting late, you could make themost out of your days. At the beginning of the summer,I told myself that I would travel to other countries or evenaround Germany, but in the end, I found it hard to leaveBerlin and go anywhere else. Ultimately, I was happywith my decision to stay only in Berlin for the summer. Imet a lot of local people and made a few close friends inthese three months, all of whom were eager to talk to meand help me speak better German as well as show mearound their city. After this summer in Berlin, I startedto feel like a true insider and resident of the city. �

Kristin Lin (Product Design, Music) studied in autumn 2009 and interned

in the summer of 2010 in Berlin.

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Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht by Kristin Lin

The Plight of Migrant Women in Germany:Immigration, Assimilation, and Belonging by Marta Hanson

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tungen, accompanying women who spoke little or no German to various government offices, welfare organi-zations, or doctors' appointments and providing transla-tion when necessary. Both experiences pushed me to moredeeply appreciate the range of issues women face as mi-grants in Germany, and the degree to which being a mi-grant can negatively affect daily life.

An ongoing project was my translation of agis-ra’s 2009 Tatigkeitsbericht, the annual activities report,into English. This 30+ page document included an aca-demic article on the problems of young women facing thethreat of forced marriage, updates on various staff mem-bers, lists of events and outreach work agisra had donein the past year, and contact information for many part-

ner organizations. My English skills won me this parti-cular project, which ended up being quite rewarding notonly because I learned detailed information about the in-ner workings of the organization, which I found fascina-ting, but also because it allowed me to tangibly contri-bute to the organization during my weeks there. Addi-tionally, I translated the agisra website into both Englishand Spanish.

Perhaps my favorite part of my time at agisra was theextensive work I did with the Mädchentreff, an after-school program for young women with migrant and/or refugee backgrounds. I helped out with their specialsummer program, which included a Schifffahrt on theRhine, a ropes course, a climb to the top of the KölnerDom (the enormous Cologne cathedral) and a number ofother events. It was a great way to meet and befriend these young women from diverse backgrounds and inte-ract with a different subset of the German population.

I enjoyed working with agisra immensely, and it pro-ved to be both a challenging and rewarding experience.The women who make up the organization were some ofthe most driven, caring people I’ve met, and every daythey amazed me by the amount of dedication they gave

both to their work and to the empowerment of all the wo-men who came in. The agisra work environment was ajoyful one, which I appreciated. I felt like I was part ofa community. The other interns and I bonded well, andall of us as a staff were intentionally caring and suppor-tive of each other. This connection and support amongthe staff members and interns proved especially impor-tant considering the gravity of the work we faced eachday with our clients. Additionally, the whole staff was in-credibly supportive of my ever-increasing German skills,and wouldn’t hesitate to point out grammatical mistakesor gently correct my choice of words!

As I’ve reflected on and processed my experience thissummer, I’ve realized more and more what a challengingand changing journey it was. The work I did brought tolife issues I’d only studied academically, which was aninvaluable experience: it combined my passion for wo-men’s rights and social justice with my love of languagesand interest in a global perspective, thus bringing to -gether many themes that have permeated my undergra-duate work. I saw the real effects of my efforts, too, in-cluding sounding out words with a Jordanian grand moth -er who finally defied her husband and decided to learn toread, and chatting with Israeli sisters who had decidedthey, not their father, would one day choose their hus-bands. Through my work I realized the value of under-standing people as individuals rather than as anonymo-us figures within larger social trends, and I saw first-handthe importance of offering both support and empower-ment to people seeking help. This internship pushed meto explore how my studies will shape my actions and howmy actions, in turn, will shape the world. �

Marta Hanson (American Studies, Feminist Studies) studied in spring

2010 in Berlin and interned in the summer of 2010 in Cologne with

agisra e.V. Informations- und Beratungsstelle für Migrantinnen und

Flüchtlingsfrauen.

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IN MEMORIAM

We are sad to inform you of the death of Hannelo-re Noack, Assistant Director of the Berlin Programuntil her retirement in 1995. Hannelore’s death prompted many tributes. Alumnus Wade Frenchwrites, “Hannelore was a force you felt when youwalked in the door. Life was never a chore, alwaysa challenge to be savored. She was kind and gene-rous, quick to find a solution. She’d take on Stan-ford, the Berlin Senate or even the East Germangovernment to get what was needed. But she alsosensed just how much support each person neededand offered just that much, encouraging you to gothe rest of the way on your own.” Prof. Larry Fried-lander recalls, “I met Hannelore in 1982 when Iarrived, nervous and eager, in Berlin for the firsttime. Germany was an overwhelming experience forme and those initial months were difficult. Hanne-lore guided me through that time. Through her Icame to appreciate the extraordinary and deligh-tful qualities of the Berliners, of which she was thevery best exemplar. She combined absolute ho nesty,directness, and practical smarts with a huge lovingheart. Hannelore told the truth as she saw it, buther insight into the world’s foibles was temperedwith compassion and insight. I would sit with herand pour out my thoughts and confusions, and sheunfailingly brought me down to earth with her wryobservations and her kindness.” Prof. Bill Eddel-man says it in a word: “There are certain words thatshe would say and the most memorable to me was‘ach mensch’: She always said that with a smile andI have always felt that the word ‘Mensch’ definedher as a wonderful example of the goodness and basic humanity that she represented. It was a privilege to know her and the world is a lesser placewith her passing.” Karen Kramer

Shakespeares SonetteLucas Garron

Es klingt verrückt: Shakespeares Sonette deutschWie kann mann die doch treulich übersetzen?Doch vom Berliner ’nsemble ’zähl ich euch,Und einer Nacht, die kann ich nie vergessen.An dem „Theater am Schiffbauerdamm“Auf dem Balkon rechts vorne hochgehoben;Wir rückten uns da ganz nach vorne an,Und sah’n ein Auftritt, der war groß zu loben.Zum Ansehen wars grotesk und gar bizarr,Und Shakespeares Worte locker übersetzt,Aber wurd er nicht dadurch zum Narr,Denn diese Leistung galt auch auf das Jetzt.

Im Allgemein war’s grossartig gemacht,Aus folg’n’den Gründen, förmlich ausgedacht:

Auf Deutsch war’n all die Worte schlau gewählt,Bedeutsam, klar, und mäßig ausgesprochen.Betrachtbar, szenisch, greifend lieb erzählt,Mit Kommentar auch lustig unterbrochen.Die Bühne war zu mancher Zeit absurd,So wie die übertrieb’nen Requisiten.Ein schicklich dunkler Stil vermittelt wurd,Um darin uns’re Ohren anzubieten.Obwohl Motive manchmal schier undeutlichVon uns’ren Augen ins Gehirn verflogen,Ist solch ein Schleier etwa Shakespeare-bräuchlich,Aufmerksamkeit wird doch dadurch erzogen.

Und durch dies alles war die Nacht’s sehr wert,Das hab’ ich hiermit hoffentlich erklärt.

Theater class was the last class I expected to take in Germany;I'm a mathematician and computer scientist! Never theless,I'm happy that the Berlin class offerings led me to enroll ina contemporary German theater course with Karen Kramer.In OSPBER 101A, we attend weekly showings of varioustheatric productions on historic stages around Berlin, meetto discuss them (along with lovely lessons on cultural and philosophical context), and get to practice our German skillsby organizing our thoughts into small essays about our thoughts on the pieces.One of the productions we attended consisted of scenic ren-dering of Shakespeare's sonnets by the Berliner Ensemble.The sonnets were beautifully translated into German, andwere incorporated into Robert Wilson’s wild stage settings ofElizabethan caricature, and other references. This art, I decided, deserved more than the usual essay reflection in German, so I attempted to use the same Shakespearean sonnet form to compose a review of the performance. The subtleties of German expression made for a nice exercise incomposition, and in the end I think I managed to convey oneof my many delightful experiences from studying abroad. L.G.

Lucas Garron (Computer Science, Mathematics) studied inBerlin in autumn quarter of 2010.

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The production processes of German companies may beexpensive, but they are tailored to the needs of theirclients and are effectively customized and post-indus-trial. For a long time this model appeared to be too in-flexible and expensive when compared to the global com-petition. As a result, fewer and fewer companies werewilling to make the significant investments in human resources necessary to maintain a highly qualified staff.A much-vaunted German specialty – vocational trainingthat meets the needs of a high-quality, post-industrialproduction process (nachindustrielle Qualitätsproduk -tion) – was on the verge of extinction. Looking at Amer-ica’s example, many companies believed it no longermade sense to train their own employees and decided itwas more cost-effective to recruit qualified workers(Facharbeiter) and technicians on the labor market. Buteven during the boom that preceded the financial crisisit was evident this strategy wouldn’t work. It has becomeincreasingly clear that qualified workers capable of handling post-industrial, customized work cannot befound on the global job market. Rather, the training ofsuch workers is a key factor in the competitive advan-tage of German industry.

A Long-Term Investment Pays Off Over TimeThe central role of skilled workers has a long traditionin Germany. For over a hundred years, the most impor-tant German export sectors – mechanical engineering,chemicals, vehicles and electrical engineering – have de-rived the bulk of their added net value from high-quali-ty, post-industrial work. For this reason over two-thirdsof the work force, from tradesmen to top managers, isengaged in skilled or highly-skilled professional work.This demonstrates the central role of the so-called“dualen Berufsausbildung,” or dual system of vocationaltraining (Berufsausbildung), for the overall organizationof the economy. Vocational training programs are fund-ed both by the state, which is responsible for vocationalschools, as well as by the companies themselves. The re-sulting system allows companies (working together withtrade unions) to determine the content of courses and to tailor the curriculum to the technical needs of theirsector.

This assumes, however, that companies can afford tofinance such a system in the long run – after all, the benefits of an investment in vocational training are onlyreaped over time. A coordinated policy on wages is essential to avoid the constant poaching of trained

employees. Cooperative working relationships are alsonecessary to ensure the loyalty of highly qualified – andtherefore powerful – permanent staff (Stammbeleg -schaften). Ultimately, even competitors need to work to-gether on issues of technology transfer and standardi-zation in order to set generally accepted standards forapprenticeships and examinations.

Vocational training programs were originally intro-duced in the late 19th century. In subsequent years, thereform of these programs was the subject of repeateddiscussion. Finally in 1936, all companies in the metaland construction industries with ten or more employeeswere required to offer a number of trainee positions(Lehrstellen) commensurate to the company’s size andorganize vocational programs. The monitoring of the in-dustry’s vocational training programs was the responsi-bility of the respective chambers of commerce and in-dustry.

After the War, Vocational Training Declined in PopularityWith the passing of the “Reichsschulgesetz” (ImperialEducation Act) in 1938, the Nazi regime finally pushedthrough mandatory industrial vocational training, re-quiring all middle-school graduates to complete somekind of professional training. Within just a few months,even small companies had established trainee positions(Ausbildungsplätze) and apprenticeship workshops(Lehrwerkstätten). Between 1937 and the end of WorldWar II, almost all male middle-school graduates (as wellas a growing number of female graduates) went on tocomplete a three-year apprenticeship.

In the post-war period, vocational training started tobecome less attractive. More and more companies turnedto large-scale assembly line production methods à la Hen-ry Ford. This means of production was oriented towardsan untrained workforce. These workers were in short sup-ply and therefore comparatively well-paid. Accordingly,more and more young people preferred learning on thejob to completing a proper apprenticeship.

At the same time, the recruitment of untrained la-borers from abroad was becoming common practice. Inthe 1960s, the chambers of commerce and industry al-most went so far as to stop requiring apprenticeships forskilled workers. They began to issue a series of certifi-cates over the course of vocational training after eachof which the students could break off their course ofstudy.

The Strengths of the German Model by Werner Abelshauser

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In doing so, they were following a widespread beliefthat standardized mass production and the automatedfactory were the production methods of the future,which, sooner or later, would replace the German mod-el of customized high-quality production.

The Culture of Skilled Work in Germany Must Be RevivedBut even while the vocational training law was beingchanged in 1969, a new industrial model had begun toemerge, with the result that the approach based on thespecially-trained worker survived. In the early 1970sthe labor market had already begun to change dramat-ically. Fordian mass production methods became lessfeasible in Germany, with the result that there were few-er and fewer jobs for less-qualified workers. Once again,skilled workers were in demand. Since then, they haveformed the backbone of the German exporting power-house (Exportweltmeisterschaft). Indeed, it is preciselythose sectors with a culture of skilled workers – me-chanical engineering, electrical engineering, automotiveengineering – that dominate German exports. If one ex-cludes the agricultural and commodity markets, Germanexporters head 40% of all world markets. These are,above all, markets for customized high-quality work, thedomain of the skilled worker.

The quality of work is, in other words, vital to the Ger-man economy. As recently as the 1950s, the percentageof low-qualified or unqualified workers was only 20%,

whereas today it is 30%. This group of people cannot keepup given the level of global competition. Even a high rateof growth cannot change much in that respect, as speedygrowth exacerbates the lack of skilled workers ratherthan reducing the number of unemployed – somethingthat became clear in the boom preceding 2008. Germanyis not likely to become a low-wage country.

The best strategy would be to allow this sector to shrinkto an economically supportable size as quickly as possi-ble, creating more highly qualified jobs instead. WereGermany to reduce its percentage of unskilled workersto a level that is once again appropriate to its industries’means of production, the problem of unemploymentwould be solved. The message that can be taken awayfrom this diagnosis sounds simple, and it gives hope:Since the 1980s, the number of low-qualified workers inGermany has shrunk by 1% every two years. �

Prof. Dr. phil. Werner Abelshauser teaches Economic History at the

Universität Bielefeld.

Links: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de

http://www.abelshauser.eu

Translated from the German by Sylee Gore, by courtesy of the author. The

text originally appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung,

July 11, 2010, Nr. 27, p. 42 (serial: „Wie wir reich wurden“ (41)); see

also: http://www.faz.net/s/RubB9F638BB4E3A44949DD29BE54AD

9AE55/Doc~EFFF6DA69EA724E9D93F05FB55E205AEF~ATpl~E

common~Scontent.html.

The Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDS) provides internships and practicaltraining opportunities in business, engineering, finance, tourism, IT, me-dia/communications, international relations, the nonprofit sector, Germanstudies, economics and other fields for up to 12 months: http://www.cdsintl.org

The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the GermanCommittee of the International Association for the Exchange of Studentsfor Technical Experience (IASTE) helppeople find internships: http://www.daad.de, http://www.iaeste.de

The German-American Fulbright Commission has special programs for U.S.citizens, e.g. grants for teaching assistantships at German high schools:http://www.fulbright.de

The International Cooperative Education (ICE) helps arrange summer jobsand internships: http://www.icemenlo.com

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. (KAS) provides stipends to German and international graduate students for further education andgraduate work, especially for young people who want to become leadersin the fields of politics, business, science, media and culture:http://www.kas.de (see: Service, Stipendien)

YOUNG GERMANY, a career, education and lifestyle guide, lists institutions offering research scholarships: http://www.young-germany.de

The Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung offers fellowships for U.S. scien-tists and scholars:http://www.humboldt-foundation.de

The Foreign Policy Internship at the American Academy in Berlin: for gra-duate students in their Public Policy Program (background in US foreignpolicy and international affairs is preferred): http://www.americanacademy.de

The Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program enables young profes-sionals from the US to spend a year working in their field in Germany: http://www.bosch-stiftung.de

The Bundeskanzler-Stipendium für künftige Führungskräfte scholarshipis offered in cooperation with the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung:http://www.humboldt-stiftung.de/web/bundeskanzler-stipendium.html

The Bundestagspraktikum, formerly called the Internationales Parla-ments-Praktikum, is now a grant. The Internationales Parlaments-Sti-pendium (IPS) lasts five months and includes meetings, seminars and aninternship with a parlamentarian: http://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/europa_internationales/internat_austausch/ips/index.html

How to come back?Tips for recent alumni:

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I spent my summer in Dresden surrounded by both his-tory and reconstruction. I mean this quite literally – Iworked at the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bun-deswehr (http://www.militaerhistorisches-museum. bun-deswehr.de), and lived in Neustadt, a lovably grungyneighborhood, one of the few quarters of Dresden leftalmost untouched by the firebombing in World War II.My WG (co-op) building was almost a hundred years old,and every day at work, I surrounded myself with oldbooks, photos, and documents, yet so much of Dresdenwas brand new. I had to find new bike paths to workevery few weeks to circumnavigate ever-increasing con-struction sites. I apologized when I took a friend fromhome sightseeing, and we couldn’t get a good picture ofa cathedral spire because a crane, building condos near-by, towered in the background of every shot.

It can be confusing to visit Dresden, and not just be-cause of that Saxon accent. Altstadt, the city center, isin fact the newest part of the city, with every building afew decades old at most. During my first weekend inDresden, I explored the monuments and churches alongthe Elbe in Altstadt. Most of them are within walkingdistance of each other: towering restorations, with onlythe occasional plaque commemorating the February1945 firebombing. The most striking was Frauenkirche,a gigantic church completely destroyed in 1945 and re-built since unification precisely as it once had been inthe 1890s, with blackened stones from the rubble mixedin with white sandstone. I mentioned Frauenkirche tomy WG-mates later that evening. One of them scoffedand waved her hand. “It’s like Disneyland,” she said,“It’s a fantasy. And all just to make tourists happy.” Shehad a point – some of the buildings around Frauenkirchewere actually restored to look even older than they werein 1945. Walking the cobblestone streets felt like a timewarp, with no mention of the darker side of Dresden’shistory.

This is a complaint one hears about Frauenkirche andDresden’s Altstadt, but it’s also a complaint one hearsabout museums or monuments in general, especially mil-itary memorial culture. I have visited American war me-morials, museums, and battlefields, and it’s easy to befrustrated by their whitewashed history and heroic over-tones, the way Frauenkirche frustrated my WG-mate.The goal of the museums seemed to be to honor the pastand make visitors feel good about it, not to comment on

20

Dresden and the MHMby Emily Brodman

Buchtip

Franz Neckenig: Stil-Geschichte der KunstBerlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 2010, 384 pp.

Franz Neckenig, fondly remembered for his unforgettable

lectures and tours at Stanford-in-Berlin from the founding

of the program in 1975 until his retirement in 2007, has just

published his magnum opus “Stil-Geschichte der Kunst.

Eine ganzheitliche Methode.”

Franz explores the influences under which artists work, the

means of expression at their disposal, and the functions an

artwork can have. Art comes into being in a specific social

context and is a repository of historical givens. A concept

of style that takes this into consideration, instead of limit-

ing itself to a repertory of forms and themes, furthers an

integrative understanding of art. The application of this

method is demonstrated using examples of works from all

genres and periods – from book illustrations of the Middle

Ages to works of the Italian Renaissance, from the Baroque

and Roccoco to the art of the 19th century to contemporary

architecture and painting. The book is pitched at beginning

students of art history and the interested layman, but is also

suitable to supplement the study of history, culture and so-

cial sciences. Of course it also contains a chapter on Her-

mann Muthesius’ architectural and garden plans for “Haus

Cramer” (1911–12), Stanford’s campus in Berlin. Franz in-

terprets the plans as a melange of many stylistic elements:

from medieval castle, the Renaissance and Baroque, to New

Sobriety. Crafts and machine culture, the historical and the

modern, are combined in a fashion remarkable for the time.

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history or explore its underside. As an American and assomeone with mixed feelings towards the military, I wasworried I would be out of place among the historic uni-forms and weapons in the Dresden museum. I was wor-ried I would spend the summer researching and organ-izing objects to tell a story that glorified or romanticizedan army, a history, and a heroic picture of the military,none of which were my own.

I quickly learned that the easy, heroic answers are thelast thing the Military History Museum wanted. WhileDresden’s Altstadt’s reconstruction could be describedas “prettification,” the MHM’s restoration overtly em-

braces the darker aspects of Dresden and German his-tory. The MHM is currently redesigning both its per-manent collection and the building itself. The 1870s-eraoriginal, baroque building received a very modern up-grade from American architect Daniel Libeskind – a five-story steel-and-glass wedge bisects the original classi-cal columns and arches, visually ripping the classic build-ing in half and sharply uniting Old-Dresden andNew-Dresden in a single building. The original buildinghas a longer and more complicated history than manyAmerican cities; since 1897, the old armory has beenhome to a military museum in some capacity, operatingunder five different socio/political systems. When themuseum reopens in late 2011, it will be one of the largest

museums in Germany, but also one of the most themat-ically ambitious. Even though the Bundeswehr heads themuseum, the museum takes a very critical position to-wards war, the army, and the role of violence in society.My internship was in the redesign department, a teamof ten historians, museum educators, and Bundeswehrofficers.

On my first day, my boss walked me through the tem-porary exhibit and explained his vision for the redesign.As a German museum, he emphasized, there is no sim-ple way to talk about the military, and everyone knowsit. My boss emphasized that critical reflection was themain goal of the redesign (unlike the “Disneyland” ofAltstadt, I inferred). Military history is not just heroesand gadgets or dates and battle names. It’s the historyof violence in society, and if we study this history, we canbetter understand both war and humanity. We walkedby the exhibit on World War II, which included tanksand canteens and machine guns, but also half a dozenwhite flags hanging in a row, something I had never seenbefore in a military museum.

In my eleven weeks at the museum, I found myself re-considering what it means to organize or visit a militaryhistory museum, from my boss' broad mission statementsto the minutiae of organizing a collection with millionsof objects. I was lucky enough to see exhibits in all stagesof planning – I would perform the final edits on Englishtranslations of object text for hundreds of objects oneday, and email American vendors to buy possible objects

On the left:Emily with (from the left)Daniel Rorke (Biomecha-nical Engineering, Music;internship with the Cha-rité Berlin, Julius WolffInititute/ Dept. of Traumaand Reconstructive Surgery), Ron Pomper(Human Biology, intern-ship with Werbellinsee-

Above:Eine Baustelle: the reconstruction of the “MHM” building.

Below:Old Dresden and “publicviewing” at the Elbe during the World Cupgame Argentinia v. Germany (0:4).

21

Grundschule in Berlin-Schöneberg) and Alex Romanczuk (Mathema-tics, Comparative Literature, CS; intern-ship with the JüdischeGymnasium, Berlin) justbefore investigating thesecrets of steel produc-tion at the ThyssenKruppplant in Duisburg.

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the next day. I watched cranes place a U-Boot from the1860s into storage and helped catalog a shipment of dis-sected carrier pigeons for an exhibit on animals and themilitary. I tried to mediate a 30-minute debate over thetranslation of a map legend into English – “sites of massviolence” or “places of mass violence” or “mass vio-lence occurrences”?

I spent the most time preparing an exhibit on the 21stcentury – objects about cyber warfare, conflict in Dar-fur, and the latest technology from American weaponscontractors. The museum faced complicated questions.Some were merely practical – how can one display theconcept of cyber warfare in a museum without rentingout dozens of computer screens? Where can one find andpurchase a demilitarized GPS-powered missile? Otherquestions were more challenging. How does one tell thestory of the 1990s Rwandan genocide, especially in aGerman history museum? How does one frame the Sep-tember 11 attacks – as an attack against America,against Western culture, as a declaration of war? Howcan one best quantify or discuss the environmental andecological cost of war? Can a museum (or should a mu-seum) avoid political messages in an exhibit about thewar in Afghanistan? Is it possible to acknowledge indi-vidual heroism or technological accomplishments thatoccurred during a war, without necessarily praising thewar itself?

Living in Dresden helped me begin to understand whythese questions are so important. Whenever Dresden, orany place with a traumatic past, rebuilds, it creates itsown narrative and relates to its citizens and visitors whatit hopes to remember, how it wants to remember thepast, and what it hopes to forget. I better understandwhy my WG-mate was so unnerved by the “theme park”qualities of Frauenkirche and the Altstadt. It upset her

to think that Dresden was choosing to skate by its mostdifficult history – both the 1945 firebombing and itsThird Reich history before – but it would upset many toreflect only on these dark parts, without rememberinghow beautiful Dresden once was.

I better understand what challenges the MHM faceswhen it rebuilds. It can’t default to the aesthetic displayof weapons and uniforms but it also can’t default to justdisplaying lists of atrocities committed and lives lost towar over the centuries. My coworkers taught me it wasboth impossible and irresponsible to write a history thatincludes only the heroes, or only the victims or perpe-trators, or only the good or bad. The goal of the muse-um, they taught me, should be to teach the circumstancesof a particular event in order to better comprehend thebroader patterns behind history: to know the facts of acertain war in order to understand war and society ingeneral.

Maybe it was this attitude that led me to look so close-ly at every new Baustelle and every old DDR-building orAltstadt restoration. All together, they present a narra-tive of a city with a long, tragic, and bizarre history.Just like all the different pieces of Dresden and the dif-ferent pieces of the Libeskind architecture, the MHM’sredesign hopes to fit together all the different parts ofGerman history, of military history, and the history ofviolence, to tell a complicated story. I still can’t com-pletely understand it, just like I still can’t completely un-derstand the Saxon accent, but I couldn’t imagine fac-ing such questions and problems in any place other thanthe MHM. �

Emily Brodman (History) studied in Berlin in spring and interned in the

summer of 2010 in Dresden.

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ImpressumKrupp Internship Program for Stanford Students in GermanyStanford in Berlinhttp://www.stanford.fu-berlin.deinternship@stanford.fu-berlin.dePacelliallee 18–20, D-14195 Berlin

Published with generous support of the:Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Essenhttp://www.krupp-stiftung.de

PHOTO CREDITS: Zubair Ahmed (5), Alfried Krupp von Bohlen undHalbach-Stiftung (1), Konzept und Bild/ Cathrin Bach (3), MeghanBowler (1), Emily Brodman (3), Andrew Cooper (1), Robert De San-tiago (1), Marta Hanson (2), Haus der Essener Geschichte/ Stadt-archiv (1), W.-D. Junghanns (3), Karen Kramer (2), Sandy Nader(1), Franz Neckenig/ Dietrich Reimer Verlag (1), Mayra Pacheco(1), Cherrie Randle (1), Rashida Ruddock (1), Caroline Shen (1),ThyssenKrupp AG (2), Minh Dan Vuong (1).

Proofreading: Sylee Gore (English, History, 1999), Berlin (see her Berlin blog: http://www.berlinreified.com).Design: Sonja Hennersdorf, Avenir Medienbüro, Berlin.

Alfried Krupp von Bohlenund Halbach-Stiftung