Final Overview

Final Report

When signing up for German culture class, I went into it thinking I would learn a few different things about the people, some cultural aspects like holidays and foods. I went into the class thinking it would be what you get out of a “second language” class, with out learning the language. It turned out to be that it was much more than just what I had been expecting. We not only covered the history of the country and its culture, the holidays, foods and such, but also learned about things that are happening today. We learned much about the issues Germany faced, which is not always what you get to learn about when taking a culture class.

            The class began with learning about each of the 16 states within Germany. Each of these 16 states having its own unique identity. Of these states, the ones that stuck out were Bavaria and of course Berlin. Bavaria stands out for the “fairy tale king”, he was the king that built the famous Neuschwanstein castle. The castle is beautiful and looks just like the people call it, a fairy tale castle.  Bavaria also stands out for Munich’s famous Oktoberfest. Berlin of course stands out because it is the capital of Germany. It has a name for itself all over the world. For it was the city/state that was divided for a very long time. The Berlin wall is known all over, and was recently torn down. I learned that those on East Berlin side where not allowed out. The wall was built with the intent to keep the East Berliners in and from fleeing to West Berlin. For the living conditions in East Berlin had become terrible, while that of the West had skyrocketed and the population grew. The wall that so long had separated the two sides was finally torn down around twenty years ago. The east and west unified into one state Oct. 3 1990.

            In class we also were assigned a book. It was titled “All Quiet on the Western Front”. This book showed the life of a young WWI soldier and his experiences through the war. The book not only showed me the life of a soldier, it made me get “inside” the character, almost like you were the character. Each chapter had its own explanation on what it was trying to get across to the reader, it enveloped one with the pure hatrited that was going on at the time. The hatried of those in power, not those actually on the battle ground. For a piece of the book that I remember it said something along the lines of “its not the other man that we are fighting, its something higher, the emporor, or whom ever of power, is the one that wants this war. The other men are just like us, fighting for that man of power.”(All Quiet on the Western Front). It showed me that not all Germans at that time were bad, it was more so the leaders, which just as in any case most of the time, it is the leaders that want the war, not the everyday people.

            History, literature, arts, and industry all of these topics were covered during our time in this class. This part of the class really made me realize how many things actually do come or started in Germany. Bayer, which is a household name now days began its start in Germany. German born, Friedrich Bayer, who invented it in 1897, created Bayer. Also we learned that a lot of the inner working of cars were designed in Germany.

            The class also had a few movies that pertainted to what we were discussing at the time. When we were on the topic of youth, we viewed the movie, “The Baader-Meinhof Complex”. This movie was very insightful to see what the youth of the time period of the Vietnam War was like. The movie focused on the RAF, which was an extremist group focused on changing the current government system. The movie “Berlin Calling” was also one that portrayed youth in Germany. This movie focused on a young dj and his life. It showed how easily excusable drugs and alcohol were to the youth of this culture.  

            This class was informative and enjoyable. It was a great way to learn about another culture, and learn the history as well as the current day issues. The class turned out to be much more than I had previously expected and I enjoyed learning about a culture that seems so far away.