Final Blog

I am very happy that I chose to take German 110. At first I wasn’t very excited about taking the course, but after the first day those feelings went away. Professor Roland made this class very enjoyable by encouraging the students to be active in class discussions along with the group presentations. When classmates weren’t giving presentations he would lecture on the current topic. These lectures tended to be very informative and sometimes quite comical. Throughout the semester we covered many different topics. A few of the topics that I enjoyed learning about were the 16 states of Germany, its history, its political parties and its culture. Along with that, I enjoyed watching The Berlin Calling, Baader Meinhof, and reading the book, All Quiet on The Western Front.

Towards the beginning of the semester we learned about the 16 states. Professor Roland let the class split up into small groups and then present on a state. The state that my group presented on was Bremen, which happens to be the smallest of the 16 states. The rest of the class presented on the other 15 states which are Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and last but not least Thüringen. A few class sessions later we were told to have read the book called, All Quiet on The Western Front. This book showed the struggles of the young German soldiers during the war and how a generation was essentially lost due to the war. Along with reading this book, I liked watching the movie Baader Meinhof. Baader Meinhof was about the younger generation rebelling against everything that they grew up with. They wanted their voices to be heard. In order to get their voices heard they took part in doing acts of violence. It started out with one act of violence and then that just escalated into bigger and bigger acts of violence. Along with watching Baader Meinhof, I enjoyed watching the movie, The Berlin Calling. This movie was about a young talented music artist who goes on tour. While on tour he abuses many drugs that in turn lead to many problems. Both of these movies kind of go hand in hand by showing how the younger generation of Germany grew up. The last topic that I would like to mention is the history of women in Germany. It was very shocking for me to learn about how they were treated in the earlier years. They were viewed as only being good for three things, caring for their children, going to church, and cooking the meals at their homes. These are just a few of the many topics that I enjoyed learning about in German 110.

With that being said, I am glad I took this course. I learned a lot about the German culture. Before taking this course I didn’t really see myself studying abroad anywhere during college. However, that is no longer the case. I now have a strong desire to study abroad in Germany. If everything works out financially, I am in hopes to be studying in Germany for the fall semester of 2013.  

Questions on Blue Sheet

1. The protests were very organized. They usually private meetings to plan what they were going to do next. At the beginning they planned all of their plans very carefully but as time went on this changed. For example, they had riots and protests where they killed many innocent people. Following that they began to rob banks and assassinate many popular public officials.

2. At first I agreed with almost everything that the group was doing. However, as the movie continued it seemed like everyone in the group went crazy in the head. They no longer thought out and planned what they were doing and instead just did things on impulse which lead to killings of many innocent people.

3. The reason he became the group leader was because he didn't take any sass from anyone and acted very confident. He decided what the group was going to do next no matter if the group agreed with his plans or not. 

4. I was one of the students that stood in the middle. I feel that there are times in which violence is the only option in order to stand up for what you believe in. However, when possible peaceful protests would ultimately be preferred. It just depends on the situation.

Apfelstrudel

Apfelstrudel is a very popular pastry in Europe. A strudel is a very sweet pastry that has an apple filling inside. The dough to the strudel is very thin and elastic.  I have never tried making one of these but it is said to be a hard process. consists of unleavened dough. Once the strudel is done being assembled it is placed in the oven. After its done being cooked the apple strudel is sprinkled with powdered sugar and cut into slices.

 

Baader Meinhof and Rote Armee Fraktion

Badder-Meinhof

I thought the movie Badder-Meinhof was very inspiring. The younger generation basically rebelled against everything that they grew up with. They first tried taking a stand using their voices but then it escalated to violence. After one person did one act of violence it seemed as though the next person outdid the person before with an even bigger act of violence. It didn’t take long for things to get out of hand. An example of this would be when they made bombs and put them under the judge’s car. Some women even went to the extreme of giving up their life and children to help get their voices heard. Although, they wanted to get their voices heard, I do not agree with their actions. Violence is never the answer.

Rote Armee Fraktion

The Rote Armee Fraktion, also known as the Red Army Faction, was developed by students that were trying to fight against the apparent Nazism that they thought was in the German government. Not only did the Rote Armee Fraktion fight against Nazism, but also in Vietnam. 

In the first generation they supported by doing bank robberies and  by taking part in terrorist bombings. Along with that, they kidnapped and killed many popular political and business people. Most of these acts were done in West Germany. Every once in a while they joined forces with different Palestian groups. Following that was the second generation and third generations.

The second generation ran in the middle to late 1970’s. This was all after several former members of the Socialist Patients' Collective joined. Following that was the third generation. The third generation was in existence from the 1980’s to the 1990’s. the end of the RAF came about from and eight page letter that was sent to the Reuters News agency which said that the group no longer was going to be in existence.

I would have to say that similarities with the RAF and today’s terrorist attacks would have to be the bombings. Bombings still have all the time today from terrorists.  Not only that, but they also had one common mission, which was to be heard by all. They both think that they have a great plan that would be great for society. However, with that being said there are a couple differences. In today’s day and age we normally have no idea who is a terrorist and who is a regular citizen. We might have a general idea of where they come from, but that is about it. This is different from the RAF because they were able to tell who did certain attacks. Today we cannot trust anyone. For all we know our neighbor that lives across the street is a terrorist.