Leberkase

Leberkase, is a specialty food found in southern Germany. In English, Leberkase means, "Liver Cheese", but in Bavaria, it does not contain liver or cheese.

Leberkase is a traditional German food made from mixed ground meats baked into a loaf, much like meatloaf here in America. Traditionally, the main ingredients are liver,pork and/or corned beef. However, the amount of liver that it contains varies from place to place.

You may look at this with a disgusting look on your face, but don't think of it has a meatloaf. It is actually more like ham and it can be eaten the same ways.

This was my favorite dish when I studied abroad in Germany and it was made by my host mother the exact same way it is shown in the picture.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leberkäse

http://www.germanfoodguide.com/wurstdetail.cfm?wurst_number=15

Classroom Discussion

1. They organized their protest by accepting members who were willing to fight back in the same ways and beliefs as their own. They protested against newspaper statements along with television prodcasts. In there protest they also used articles in newspapers and television prodcasts. With their actions, they killed cops and political members. In addition they trained as guerrilla fighters, bombed military bases and police stations.

2. At the beginning, its seemed as the group had something logical to fight against and knew what they were doing to get across to others. They all had common goals and a purpose to what they were trying to do. The group became more violent and started losing control of their purpose and themselves. They basically gave up and most were killed or caught and thrown in jail. As newer groups began to protest they soon found out the newest generation didn't have goals at all. The new group merely became terrorists and killing innocent people just because they could. They didn't so much have a meaning for it.

3. I do believe his determination and rudeness was a factor in him having a role as the leader of the group. Because of his determination and rudeness, others began to listen and follow him. He had a sense of what he was talking about it and he had plans which ultimately lead to his leadership of the group.

Rote Armee Fraktion/Red Army Faction

The Red Army Faction formerly the Baader-Meinhof Gang. They aimed to eliminate Western influence and capitalism, using terrorism to stimulate worldwide Marxist-Leninist revolution. They were well-known for attacking U.S. military targets in Germany in hopes of eliminating U.S.-German cooperation. They also engaged in large terrorist operations in order to secure the release of fellow imprisoned members.The RAF war founded by Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof. The Baader-Meinhof Gang was established in 1968 during the student protest movements in response to post-Nazi Germany during the 1960s. The RAF was Germany’s most violent and notorious left wing group in history.

The RAF had three generations.. It started with the first generation the original founders such as; Andreas Baader and his followers. By 1972, a large number of the core members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang had been captured and imprisoned. However, the second generation appeared and there were other young terrorists available to swell the dwindling ranks of the Gang. These revolutionaries mostly had similar backgrounds to the first generation. They were middle class and mostly students. Most of them joined the Gang after their own groups disappeared. The third generation was active mostly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Tom Vague says they were more vicious than their predecessors and says that they perhaps didn't have as much cause as the earlier generations to rebel.

The group announced an end to its terrorist campaign in 1992, and several of its surviving militants were arrested and tried. However, the group formally disbanded in 1998, though arrests and trials continued.




http://vkb.isvg.org/Wiki/Groups/Red_Army_Faction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_Red_Army_Faction

Baader- Meinhof Complex

In the beginning of this movie I was not very engaged. The moment the extremist began to protest against the German government was when it got interesting. It reminded me much of the other movies and photos when the same thing was happening here in America during the Vietnam War era. Riots became an everyday occurance and the voices of outsiders and extremists were non-existent. German authorities went above and beyond what I believe was the necessary action. Extremist were being physically abused and even killed in the chaos. As the movie went on extremist took a similar approach as the German government. They began to form organized groups with well planned out actions to counter the German authorities and make their actions heard. However, towards the end, those groups started to get a little too complacent and began to lose complete control of their organized plans. Each member slowly were taken to jail or even killed. The movie was interesting. It put in prospective what I was too young to see. Little did I know, these revolts took place around the world and not just here in America. Its unfortunate we did not make it to the ending.

Berlin Calling

1. Personal Reaction

The movie is full of emotions and awesome electronic music. The club scene is associated with drugs, but it is not a movie about drugs either. Yes the main character is a drug addict DJ who has mental issues. The movie explores the life of an artist, their choices, their complete loneliness, creativity and above all his relations to other people. I thought this movie was great for a low budget film and the soundtrack is pretty good as well.
2. What do drugs mean to Ickarus?

They mean a release from the outside world and also his past and music. It seems to put him in a calm state so he can make and perform his music.

3. Why, when, and how are his fans taking drugs, and which drugs do they take?

The drugs seem to make the audience become more easily transformed and get into the music. They take the drugs before, during, and after the show.  They buy them from dealers at the show and continually take them at the show. They take all sorts of drugs, but the common ones throught the movie were crystal, keta. MDHD, and ecstasy.

4. While we can see that his drug habits get him ill and into a psychosis, and while we witness his relapse and inability to work successfully, why does the subculture Ickarus is in focus on drugs?

In that atmosphere the drugs are the culture. The atmosphere is surrounded by drugs in which so is Ickarus. Because the drugs surround those people and everybody takes them, others seem to have the need to take them also. Maybe the drugs are the culture of that type of music as how the music is played and how the drugs make those people feel during the shows.

5. Compare the standards you know from your home society with the people you see depicted in this movie. Which are the stark differences and contrasts?

The clubs we have here in America are what I think are far different. I don't think the drug seem is as prominent as what they are in Germany. I could see how and maybe and underground club or something of that nature would be more closely related. However, there maybe drugs going around in the area of downtown St. Cloud on a Thursday night but it is not publicized the same way. It's not out in the open.

6. Germany is considered a strong industrial nation the world over. Do you think that the youth culture as depicted here could change that? How about work ethics of Ickarus and of Alice, the label director who fires and then re-signs him?

Yes I do think this culture could change that. Its like the trickle down effect.  If this culture is used to party all the time there will be no time for work or responsibilities. In the direction the economy has gone with lack of people in the work force today that is very well possible. All are just trying to make fast money, make a name for themself and party. Nobody is willing to put in any effort to their life, its just one big party to all of them.

7. Which similar "cult movies" of US origin have you seen, if any?

I would have to say maybe Pulp Fiction, Out Cold, or Half Baked.

The German Literature Expansion on the 18/19th Century

Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 he had won the Noble Prize. He was known for his series of symbolic and ironic novels. His work was noted for its insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul used modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer. Mann was a member of the Hanseatic Mann family, and portrayed his own family in his book Buddenbrooks.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, Mann moved to Switzerland. A few years later when World War II broke out in 1939, he fled to the United States,Thirteen years later he returned to Switzerland in 1952. He would never again live in Germany.

In 1930 Mann gave a public address in Berlin titled "An Appeal to Reason", in which he strongly denounced National Socialism and encouraged resistance by the working class. This was followed up by countless essays and lectures atttacking the Nazis. Due to his unliking of the Nazis policies his son advised him not to return and in 1939 the Nazi government took away his German citizenship. During the war, Mann made a series of anti-Nazi radio-speeches, Deutsche Hörer! They were taped in the USA and then sent to Great Britain, where the BBC transmitted them, hoping to reach German listeners.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann

20th Century Sports- 1936 Olympics

I will be expanding on the topic of the 20th Century Sports particularly on the 1936 Olympics which was held in Berlin, Germany. I chose this because I enjoy watching the Olympics and I was interested in how Hitler tried to hide all the propaganda and ensure how Germans and foreigners envisioned the German race.

In 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. Two years later, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's democracy into a dictatorship.

In April 1933, an "Aryans only" policy was instituted in all German athletic organizations. Jewish or part-Jewish and Romani (Gypsy) athletes were systematically excluded from German sports facilities and associations.

In August 1936, the Nazi regime tried to hide its violent racist policies while it hosted the Summer Olympics. Most anti Jewish signs were temporarily removed and newspapers toned down their harsh slander. Thus, the regime exploited the Olympic Games to present foreign spectators and journalists with a false image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

Forty nine athletic teams from around the world competed in the Berlin Olympics, more than in any previous Olympics. Germany had the largest team with 348 athletes.

Germany skillfully promoted the Olympics with colorful posters and magazine spreads. Athletic imagery drew a link between Nazi Germany and ancient Greece, symbolizing the Nazi racial myth that a superior German civilization was the rightful heir of an "Aryan" culture of classical antiquity. This vision of classical antiquity emphasized ideal "Aryan" racial types: heroic, blue-eyed blonds with finely chiseled features.

After the games, Hitler pressed on with his plans for a German expansion. Persecution of Jews resumed. Two days after the Olympics, Captain Wolfgang Fuerstner, head of the Olympic village, killed himself when he was dismissed from military service because of his Jewish ancestry.

Sources: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005680