FROschTOsch

by Rudi Floren (BvA)

Recently, German politicians decided to shut down all nuclear power plants until 2022. 7 of our oldest reactors are brought down now. The rest will follow between 2015 and 2022.

The whole story started as the dramatic catastrophe in Japan happened. Many German activists saw new ways to enforce their sakes. The problem was, no-one knew how the hole in the Germans’ energy need should be filled. The first answer was: renewable energies.

But how? To fill the hole we have to invest a lot of money to build wind or water turbines. Or rather solar pannels? All these techniques are not yet as efficient as nuclear power.

The other problem is that the more effective off-shore wind turbines are only buildable in the north of Germany. But the energy network is not  extended enough from the north of Germany to the south. We have to build 3600 km of new power lines. This is very expensive.

A new problem is that these power lines don’t pop up out of the ground in one second. It is a process. As long as we don’t upgrade the equipment we are dependent on energy from our neighbours.

But is that the solution?
France produces a lot more energy by nuclear power. Some reactors are placed near our border, in the middle of an earthquake region.

And Romania has built a new nuclear power plant …… yes, .. in the middle of an earthquake region.
Some of the German nuclear power plants were safer than those earthquake endangered reactors!!!

It is a vicious circle. We want to get rid of nuclear power because of its risks, but now the risk is – in some ways in the next years – higher than before.

We will see what the future will bring.

by Frauke Brecko and Ailish Eickhorn (BvA)

In April 2011 the attention of the world was focused on Japan. 25 years after Tschernobyl, another power plant catastrophe occured in Fukushima, Japan, because of a tsunami in combination with an earthquake.

For weeks the news were dominated by new reports from the nuclear power plant. The operator company TEPCO and the Japanese government gave many contradictory statements and annuled them again concerning the dimension of the catastrophe.

In Germany this catastrophe broke loose a heated discussion about energy politics. Not long ago the German government had decided in favour of a lifetime extention for the German nuclear plants.

The people in Germany are quite concerned about nuclear energy as is proven in the election results in Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. The Green Party had the highest voting results in their history.

These days German politicians discuss to reinstall the older version of energy politics which included a sooner withdrawal from the nuclear energy programme and greater sponsorship in alternative energies.

But Germany, Austria and Switzerland are the only European countries which decided to withdraw from the risky technology of nuclear energy. Also countries which just have the financial opportunities to afford nuclear power plants now try to gain profit from it. Therefore they conceal the dangers of nuclear energy.

This is the case, for example, in Belarus and Czechia where people still suffer the most from nuclear radiation. Only some people try to give the majority of the population an idea of the dangers.

In Germany at least, the catastrophe in Japan, which cost again many lives, exert  influence on politics. It is not forseeable yet in which dimension, but it happens.

 by Niklas Altgen (BvA)

It’s the year 2006, summer, Germany. The whole world was looking to my country. One huge event took place in the summer of 2006 in Germany: the FIFA World Championship. An event, when the whole world was looking onto Germany for a month. A world championship always has a political implication somehow. What I mean is the patriotism that you feel especially at this time. More than in “normal” times. When your country is playing, you walk around covered all over with flags tattoos or face paintings in your national colours. Usually, nearly everyone has got a flag in his window or these funny flags for the outside mirrors of his car.

Well, that’s what it is like in most of the countries, which take part in the tournament. But not in Germany. For many years it wasn’t acceptable for many Germans to show such big patriotism, because of our history. This has changed with the 2006 World Championship. Germany was a complete black-red-gold country for a whole month. Everyone was proud to show “See, I’m German and love my country.”. I mean, why shouldn’t it be okay as a German to show, that you’re proud to be German? Every time I’m in England, I can see lots and lots of English flags or the “Union Jack” in the windows, even when there is not any kind of tournament.

And I think that is okay. You should be proud of being what you are and you should be able to show it, without having a guilty conscience. You don’t do anything wrong or forbidden, do you? I’ve seen every single match of the German team on the public viewing screen in the park with thousands of other fans. Everywhere, virtually on every single square centimetre of the park, you could see flags. Not just German flags, also English, Polish or Argentinean flags, depending on what country our opponent in the match was. This was an absolutely gorgeous and overwhelming atmosphere. We were partying peacefully together with the other fans and had so much fun. No one had problems with the patriotism of other nationalities.

Nowadays, that should be normal. Even for us Germans with the load of our history. You see, the thing with history is, that it is history. We are living now and shouldn’t let us control by our history for all times. That’s why I think that it is totally correct and acceptable, that even we Germans may show our love for our country.

In this sense, we are allowed to say:

I love England

Kocham Polska

Ich liebe Deutschland

by Philip Kulej (BvA)

From the 8^th up to 13^th June the German Comenius group of Langenfeld had a visit to their partner city Gostynin in Poland. When we arrived at the hostel in Gostynin, I went towards my room.

But after  ten minutes, Mrs. Arnold called me and asked me to come down to her and Mrs. Śniecikowska – she is the wife of the major of Gostynin and our hostel leader.

Because my whole family is from Poland I know this language and could help to translate a few things at the morning for example when the breakfast should start. After our breakfast we went to the school, the Liceum Tadeusza Kościuszki in Gostynin and had there a German-Polish guide who showed us the school. I understood  everything the Polish students talked about  us .

On the trips to Plock, Torun and the old town of Warsaw, the Polish students got to know me better and were surprised when they heard I can speak Polish. So sometimes I had to translate  between the German and Polish students when they had problems to communicate in English.

One afternoon Mrs Arnold, Martin and I met  the mayor and his wife at the hotel by coincident and had a difficult conversation about the Polish and German school system. The conversation was very intensive and long. So I had sometimes difficulties to translate things but Martin can speak Polish too, so we helped each other and had a successful conversation.

At our last breakfast in the hotel we had a special guest, the mayor Mr. Włodzimierz Śniecikowski,  who talked to  us about the history of Gostynin  and other things. All in all my  unexpected translator job in Poland was very exciting and was a lot of fun.

by Philip Kulej (BvA)

Deeply religious? Hospitable? Ambitious?  Those are only a few of the best known prejudices about Polish people. But how much of it is reality? Only clichés or even more?  This and also the differences and similarities in comparison to the German culture, I, as a student with parents from Poland, would like to discuss in the following article.

The first prejudice is, that Polish men are much more religious than German ones and I have to admit, that it is even more than a cliché, it’s definitely the truth. Religion has a huge priority, especially in the previous generations of the Polish. During visits to the part of my family who is still living in Poland, it is quite usual to go to church every Sunday and there are only very few excuses, whereas in Germany, church only plays a minor part and  isn’t  that important in everyday life. In my life religion does exist, because of my parents, who have shown me the importance of faith and the Christian traditions. I don’t have to go to church every week, but on Christian holidays, church attendance is an inherent part.

In addition, they say that the Polish are a very sociable and hospitable people, that they are also rather active.  And I can say: It is no lie. While Germans, for example, prefer celebrating in a relaxed way, Polish parties are much louder and livelier.  So Germans can be characterized as showing a more silent and reserved behaviour, but nevertheless I can say that they know anyway how to have fun.

But the Polish and the Germans have something in common, too. One example for it is the precision and their conscience. Both of them take their work as well as other tasks very seriously, they are ambitious and perfectionists.

To sum up, I can say, that I can identify with both cultures and I wouldn’t like to miss one of them because both of them are enriching my life.

by  Jessica and Denise   (BvA)

Shopping in England is just great. For example “Primark”. Primark is a big shop for clothes, jewellery and so on. In Germany we just have two shops of that chain; they are in Frankfurt and Bremen.

But in Germany we’ve got a lot of H&M shops. That’s our Primark. But it’s more expensive than Primark & the quality isn’t as good.

We think that Primark is a nice shop and we spent a lot of time in it when we were in Birmingham.

In England they also have some H&M shops but not so many as Primark.

It was a new experience to see a shop in England because they’re different from ours in Germany.

by Meike & Katrin (BvA)

The 12^th grade went to Berlin by train from 3^rd to 7^th October 2010. We split up in two groups because the German Railway didn’t allow 90 people in one train.

The first evening we went to the Brandenburger Gate because of the German Unification Day. There was a fair all the way down to the Column of Victory where we went in little groups of 3 or 4.

The next day we visited the Parliament Building, the Reichstag Building, with the whole group. We listened to a lecture about the building and after that we met Ms. Noll and talked about her work as the MP of our home region. Then we went to the top of the building with its glass dome.

For lunch we all went to the 12 Apostle, an Italian restaurant. The afternoon was free to explore the city or go shopping. In the evening we had time to party which we took advantage of thoroughly.

On Tuesday we all had to go on a 2-hour-trip on the River Spree which runs through the city. For lunch we could go on our own or with the teachers, but we had to meet at the museum “Story of Berlin” in the afternoon at 3 o’clock. After the museum we had free time until the next morning. In the evening some of us (60 people) went to a brewery which actually was more like a bar.

On Wednesday we went to museums in small groups. There was the Art Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Nature and the German History Museum. After that we had free time again.

The last evening we all went to the brewery again, this time with the teachers, which was a little bit boring so that after about half an hour most of us left to go somewhere else. Some of us went to another bar with the teachers which was lots of fun.

The next day we left Berlin by train again in two groups.

All in all we had a great time and got to see a lot of the City of Berlin.

by Marlon Ulbort / Christoph Leppin (BvA)

As a German, you have to live with something unusual. There is no way to live without it, and surely we Germans would do so, if it were possible. Sometimes, Germans do not want to be German. We try to adapt, speaking English fluently, without a noticeable accent, just to hide our German roots during vacation and to be protected against the others’ prejudices.

We are tired of excusing for our history.

Sure, things should better not have happened at all, but history did take place. And history takes a special place in every German’s life. We have to cope with history and get along with what our forefathers did. Get along with something you would never have done yourself. Something you are not guilty of. Sounds impossible. Yet that is our reality.

I have got the feeling that when people from all over the globe think of Germany, they just see the dark light our past has brought upon our amazing country. A country of poets and inventors, revolutionaries and artists. Our recent past is to blame for a stereotype no German wants to be linked with. A reputation no German likes to joke about.

It is a strange feeling. A feeling you are born with. Like your own localized original sin. A sin committed by Adolf and Eve. In a way you feel guilty, asking yourself how this could have happened. Simply believing that the answer is that certain totalitarian regime, dictated by only one sick, messed-up soul, that made the whole world clash in war. That answer seems acceptable but it is not. You are German, in the same way as your forefathers were, and the whole world shares this mutual thought. It is personal. Sometimes it feels like you are to blame for the mistakes of the past.

When we met Dr. Lipski and Mrs. Funk we tried to find out how to cope with our German heritage. Both of them were born into the German community in Gostynin, Poland, which had been settling there 200 years before. Dr Lipski talked about his way to live with German history. He said that he also was a victim of the regime which terrorized the whole world. He lost a family member during this time, killed by the SS. Dr. Lipski said he and his family were victims in a special way. Dr. Lipski was a small boy when the NSDAP ruled over Germany. He was not able to realize what was wrong and he was not able to revolt. And still, he feels he has to justify himself – justify himself like all Germans have to do at least once in their lifetime.

I do not know what my great grandfathers did in this war and unfortunately, I cannot ask them, they are dead. Their children, my grandfathers and mothers keep silent in which way my family got involved in this war. I just hear my grandfather’s agitated tales of his escape with his family from the frontlines. It is like a black spot in their memory, nobody wants to throw some light inside, and maybe nothing is inside. I will never know, my parents will never know. And the people who know, died in silence.

I’m not the only German having this black spot in his family. And maybe my generation has many more black and dark spots in their families than the generations before us. And maybe a big part of my generation does not know about a dark shadow in their past. But these shadows stay in the reputation we Germans have to live with.

I just know I am not guilty. The only thing I can do not to get identified with the German Nazi past is to show the people a better view of myself and the country I live in. It is not a matter of ignorance when I say I am tired of excusing for German history. It is just because nobody can excuse what happened and every attempt to do so is a disgrace for us. No German will ever find peace with this part of German history unless we bring light to the dark holes. Maybe the ignorance of the actors of these times passed these spots on to us. Maybe these spots are just illusions. But I will never know.

by G. Fiedler (BvA)

On March 23, 2010 the FROschTOsch project meeting had the privilege to welcome two very special guests, Ms Erna Funk and Dr. Stephan Lipski. They were both born into the German minority in Gostynin before World War II and told the FROschTOsch team about how Germans came to live in Poland 200 years ago, what life was like as a German among Polish neighbours and what they experienced under Nazi German occupation.

2 Germans born in Gostynin report

von Denise Grohmann (BvA)

Vom 11.02 – 17.02.2010 feierten wir deutschen Karneval. Man kann überall feiern, Hauptsache man hat Spaß. Alkohol spielt ebenfalls eine große Rolle Alle verkleiden sich, von Hexe bis zur Prinzessin. Karneval startet am 11.11. um 11.11 Uhr, aber wir fangen erst wirklich an zu feiern an Altweiber. Karneval endet an Aschermittwoch.

In der Schule wird auch sehr gerne Karneval gefeiert, denn diese Feier lieben die Deutschen. Das schlechte an Karneval ist aber, dass sehr sehr viele Leute zu viel Alkohol zu sich nehmen und dann Schäden davon tragen. Im Großen und Ganzen ist Karneval eine sehr fröhliche und tolle Zeit für jeden.