Miep Gies: Anne Frank's Arrest

Erzählung (Retelling)

Auschitz Survivor Raps at Age 89

Europe

Amid the Rap Music, Echoes of an Orchestra Playing in a Dark Past

Survivor of Auschwitz Ensemble Teams Up With German Hip-Hop Duo

JUNE 27, 2014     The Saturday Profile        By SALLY McGRANE

  Video

Play Video|0:51

Esther Bejarano, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, may be the last thing you’d expect in a hip-hop singer. She uses her music to spread a message against fascism.

Credit Heribert Proepper/Associated Press

BERLIN — AT various points during shows, the German rapper Kutlu Yurtseven gestures to a bandmate sitting demurely off to the side. That’s the cue for 89-year-old Esther Bejarano, a diminutive woman with a snow-white pixie cut, to jump in with a song. “When will the heavens open up, again, for me?” is one favorite, the refrain of a local carnival tune. “When will they open up?”

It is an unusual pairing. Ms. Bejarano is one of the last surviving members of the Auschwitz Girls’ Orchestra, the only all-female ensemble among the many Nazi-run prisoner musical groups in the camp system. Among other duties, the Girls’ Orchestra was responsible for playing the marches that imprisoned women had to keep step to as they went out to work in the morning and, even more cruelly, as they returned, half-dead, at the end of the day.

Five years ago, hoping to reach more young people with her story and her message of tolerance and anti-fascism, Ms. Bejarano teamed up with Microphone Mafia, a German hip-hop duo with Turkish and Italian roots. They have released their first album, and have been playing concerts throughout Germany and Europe ever since.

The music combines songs like the poignant Yiddish resistance song, “We’ll Live Forever,” composed in the Nazi-run Jewish ghetto in Vilna just before it was liquidated, with rap passages about current problems like racism that, in Ms. Bejarano’s view, show that the lessons of the Holocaust still need to be learned.

Performances always begin with Ms. Bejarano reading aloud from her autobiography, which tells the story of a life shaped by two forces: the Nazis and music.

Ms. Bejarano was born Esther Loewy in Saarlouis, in what is now southwestern Germany, in 1924. Her parents had met in Berlin as teenagers, when her father was hired as a piano teacher for her mother, and the two fell in love. “I picture it as having been very lovely,” Ms. Bejarano said with a smile.

Hitler’s rise to power put an end to what Ms. Bejarano described as “a lighthearted childhood.” By the time she was 16, she was separated from her family and interned in a Nazi work camp outside Berlin. Her parents, she learned later, were deported the same year to Riga, Latvia, where they were shot.

In 1943, she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her hair was cut off, and she was tattooed and forced to do backbreaking labor. For extra food, she sometimes sang songs by Schubert, Bach or Mozart for barracks leaders.

The Nazis regarded camp orchestras as status symbols, and, within a month of Ms. Bejarano’s arrival in Auschwitz, Maria Mandl, the SS commander in charge of the women’s camp, decided that she, too, wanted one.

When approached, Ms. Bejarano said she could play the piano. There was no piano, she was told, but they needed an accordion player. “I had never held an accordion in my hands, before,” Ms. Bejarano said. “But I said I could play one.”

It worked, and she was accepted into the orchestra. “To this day I can’t believe that I did it.”

 

In addition to entertaining SS officers with popular ditties or classical selections, the Girls’ Orchestra also had to play for new detainees arriving for the gas chambers. Often, people smiled and waved at the musicians. “They must have thought, ‘Where music is playing, things can’t be that bad,’ ” Ms. Bejarano said. “They didn’t know where they were going. But we knew. We played with tears in our eyes.”

BECAUSE fewer female than male prisoners could play musical instruments, members of the orchestra received somewhat better treatment than their male counterparts, and Ms. Bejarano was able to survive two serious illnesses.

After six months in Auschwitz, new regulations allowed her to transfer to a labor camp because she had a Christian grandmother. During a forced march in the last days of the war, she and several friends hid in the woods and escaped. After a few harrowing months traveling Germany on foot, dodging Russian soldiers and searching for her family, she acquired false papers and boarded a ship headed to what was then British Palestine. There, she reunited with her sister, Tosca.

While some who played in the camps and survived never touched an instrument again, for Ms. Bejarano, there was never any question: As soon as she left Germany, she began training as a singer. “Some people say, after Auschwitz, you can’t write any more poems, there can’t be music, beautiful pictures,” she said. “I think that’s completely wrong. We have to express to people what happened to us.”

For many years, though, Ms. Bejarano was unable to talk about her time in the camps. In Israel, where she settled, she sang in an award-winning workers’ choir, and gave hundreds of concerts as a soldier in the army. She met and married Nissim Bejarano, a truck driver whose family had immigrated from Bulgaria. They had two children. She taught local children to play the recorder.

But, in 1960, after much soul searching, the Bejarano family left for Germany: Her husband had fought during the 1956 Suez crisis and was morally opposed to further armed conflict with Israel’s neighbors. Settled in Hamburg, Ms. Bejarano had no time for music. She cared for her small children and later, with her husband, ran a laundry service.

It was not until the 1970s that she decided to break her silence, after witnessing the German police shield right-wing extremists against protesters. “The next day, I joined the Association of the Persecutees of the Nazi Regime,” she said. There, other members encouraged her to tell her story, and to return to music.

SHE spoke at schools. She joined two bands, singing Jewish resistance and antiwar songs with her children. She delivered protest speeches at neo-Nazi marches. A recurring nightmare of being trampled by Nazi soldiers’ boots finally ceased. “I freed myself, inwardly,” she said.

Rap is still not her favorite genre, but Ms. Bejarano likes her bandmates’ lyrics and is glad for the chance to reach a younger audience. Last year, for example, she spoke out against the tragedy near Lampedusa, an island off the coast of Italy where hundreds of African migrants fleeing war and poverty drowned en route to Europe.“You have to help people like this,” she said. “I know it from my sister Ruth. She made it to Switzerland, but the border guards turned her back. The Germans shot her.”

The plight of modern-day refugees is just one of many problems that keeps Ms. Bejarano singing — in Yiddish, Hebrew, German, English, French and Romany, the language of the Roma, or Gypsies. “I use music to act against fascism,” she said. “Music is everything for me.”

Christa Spannbauer, a filmmaker and journalist, said that the musicians’ work makes it easier for young people to engage with the past constructively. “If you just see the documentaries, you lose hope,” said Ms. Spannbauer, whose own father was in the Waffen-SS as a teenager. “But when you see the courage of the people who survived, it gives you hope in humanity and strength to act. The kids see her and say, ‘O.K., we want to do something.’ ”

Last year, Ms. Bejarano added the Order of Merit, one of Germany’s most important medals, to the many honors she has received. Soon, she and the band will head to Istanbul. “I am always on the road,” she said, shaking her head.

For Mr. Yurtseven of the Microphone Mafia, every concert with Ms. Bejarano is an inspiration. “Sometimes I’m kind of tired,” he said. “Then I look at Esther, and think, ‘O.K., don’t tell yourself you’re tired. She’s 89 and still fighting for a better world.’ ”

A version of this article appears in print on June 28, 2014, on page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Amid the Rap Music, Echoes of an Orchestra Playing in a Dark Past.

"VERGESSEN kann man nie,"  so, Esther Bejarano im Interview.

The rise and fall of the shopping mall

Yahoo Online
Finance

By Nicole Goodkind June 27, 2014    Daily Ticker

 

One of the most iconic pieces of Americana, the shopping mall, isn’t really American at all. In fact, the first mall was created by an Austrian refugee who wanted to recreate an American version of downtown Vienna.

Victor Grün escaped to America from Nazi Austria in 1938 with “an architect’s degree, eight dollars, and no English.” By the late 1940s, World War II was over and the American economy was in full swing. Suburban sprawl and consumerism were the new normal, and this bothered Grün. “[Strip malls are] avenues of horror… flanked by the greatest collection of vulgarity—billboards, motels, gas stations, shanties, car lots, miscellaneous industrial equipment, hot dog stands, wayside stores—ever collected by mankind,” he wrote.

Grün conveived of a central, indoor shopping location that would allow Americans to get out of their cars and socialize. He envisioned a crop of apartment towers popping up around the mall, the creation of an urban downtown within the suburbs - that's not what he got.

Grün designed the first shopping mall in the USA which opened in Edina, Minnesota in 1956. The Southdale Shopping Center cost $20 million to create and had 72 shops, cafés and even a zoo. More than 70,000 people attended the mall on opening day. Copycat malls began to spring up around the country following Grün's formula, plain exteriors with inward-facing stores, multiple floors looking down into a central atrium and high windows.

The mall was a success, and they grew in number quickly, partially because builders found they could benefit from tax breaks granted by suburban municipalities, but also because of something now dubbed "the Grün effect."  When shoppers entered malls their senses were thrown off and they were dazzled by the new environment. Because of this, they would stay longer and shop more, often forgetting the purpose of their trip in the first place.

By 1960 there were 4,500 malls in America accounting for 14% of all retail sales. By 1975 there were 16,400 malls making up 33% of all retail sales and by 1987 there were 30,000 malls accounting for 50% of all retail dollars spent. The mall had taken over America.

Mall culture had truly arrived in the US. Films and TV shows proliferated the idea of the “valley girl,” and the “mall rat.” In 1992, at the height of mall culture, The Mall of America, not too far from the first mall in Edina, Minnesota, opened its doors. The Mall of America occupied 78 acres making it the largest mall in the USA. On opening day The Mall of America had 330 stores, an amusement park, and employed 10,000 people.

By the mid-1990s, however, the concept of "the mall" had hit its peak. 140 malls were being built a year, creating too much competition, and discount stores like Marshall’s began popping up, attracting bargain hunters away from the confines of the mall.

The demographics of the suburbs also changed as money started moving back into the cities. Between 2000 and 2011 the number of suburban poor grew by 64%, double the rate of the city. In 2008, the U.S. toppled into a crippling recession and in 2011, for the first time in over 100 years, urban population growth outpaced suburban growth.

Around this time online retailers like Amazon.com took a 6% bite out of brick-and-mortar business.  Put all of this together and it meant bad news for the shopping mall. Retail analyst Green Street Advisors predicts that half of American malls will close within the next 10 years, and even Southdale, our nation's first mall, has 18% of its stores unfilled.

Victor Grün ended up renouncing the mall, saying he hated what they stood for; publicly he refused to “pay alimonies for these bastard projects.”  It looks like 55 years later, he’s finally getting his wish.

Ich Tarzan, du Jane (Trailer)

Und wer spricht Deutsch für Jane?
Erkennst du sie?  Sie heißt Lena Meyer-Landrut!

HIER IST DER TRAILER!

Union Berlin's stadium turned into giant living room

filled with fans' couches 

for World Cup viewing party!

By Brooks Peck June 13, 2014 1:04 AM Dirty Tackle

(Reuters)

A German event agency had a brilliant idea — to invite fans to Union Berlin's stadium to watch World Cup games. But instead of having them all sit in those hard stadium seats, they allowed people to bring their own sofas as they turned the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei (Stadium near the old Forester's house) into a giant living room complete with 38,000 square feet of retro wallpaper around the 700-inch screen.

Dubbed the World Cup living room and inspired by fans chanting about the stadium being their home at Union Berlin matches, 780 sofa were registered and set up on the pitch with end tables and lamps for a delightful evening of World Cup viewing.

(AP)

According to 3News, 12,000 fans were expected to attend the viewing party for the Brazil-Croatia match with 3,000 watching from their sofas. But this will go on for the entire World Cup. Or until Germany lose and people start throwing couches at the screen.

Prior meeting: USA v GERMAN, World Cup Quarter Final: 2002

Fabulous game!
 


Thorsten Frings' handball would have been caught using today's cameras, for a potentially different outcome.

Where were these games held?  In Asia (S. Korea and Japan).  

What will happen between these two teams in Brazil in 2014???

Just Add German summer photo contest

Hallo Schüler.  Hier kann man auch SommerPlussPünkte bekommen! 

Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2014
From: "Liamkina, Olga" <Olga.Liamkina@newyork.goethe.org>

Dear Colleagues,

The Goethe-Institut’s Just Add German invites you and your students to take part in the German Traces Photo Contest!

For a chance to win an iPad Air, iPod Shuffles, or iTunes gift cards, have your students showcase local German-American connections in their hometown with a photo and short description!

Deadline is September 30th, 2014.

Details: www.justaddgerman.org/contests

<http://www.justaddgerman.org/contests>

A service of the Goethe-Institut New York

Aber wo denn?  Was könnte man hier fotografieren?   Hier ein paar Ideen...
          (What could one photograph from this area with German ties for this contest?  Here are a few ideas....)  

•   Habt ihr etwas cooles aus Deutschland bei Euch zu Hause?  (Amalia erzählte von einer geliebten Deutschen Fruchteismaschine, zum Beispiel;      (Anybody besides Amalia have a favorite German item at home?)
•   Es gibt doch ein Ratskeller in Charleston, nicht wahr?  (Anybody have plans to check out this place this summer?)
•   Ich finde eine Deutsche Fahne im Kieferpark (Quonset Point) bei der Firma Supfina. 
      (This is where I hope to be watching some upcoming World Cup games....we'll see about that.  I remember how cool an experience this was for me in 2002  when I watched a game at a neighboring company, EWAG, which has since been bought out and moved on.)   
•   Wo es früher Jamestowns "Reeducation Camps" gab könnte ein paar sehr interessante Fotos machen. Mehr HIER BEI DEUTSCH-HEUTE  (vom 1. Juni 2014)
•   Und wer unter uns schaut das WM Spiel USA gegen Deutschland am Donnerstagnachmittag nicht an!?    (Who amongst us will not be tuning into the USA v. Germany game this Thursday afternoon?)   --rsb

Ode an die Bienenkönigin

Hier ist nur das Lied, von den Bienen. nicht die ganze Folge.
(This is just the song segment from the cartoon, not the entire episode.)

Dass sie alle tief singen?  Lustig, nicht wahr?

Why there are so many German players on the 2014 USA World Cup Team

I've added photos and notes to an extent where I've now lost the original article.  I'll post it preliminarily, but return to edit it as soon as I have the source.  --rsb

Five German-Americans, 21% of the entire team, made the U.S. 23-man roster for the World Cup in Brazil.  There's also an Icelandic-American and a Norwegian-American, in addition to players of Colombian, Mexican, and Haitian descent. 

When he took over as coach in 2011, Jurgen Klinsmann said, "Soccer in a way reflects the culture of a country."  Three years later, he's taking a team to the World Cup that's fittingly diverse and multicultural.  The German-Americans are the biggest bloc of dual-nationals on the team.  Jermaine Jones, Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Timmy Chandler, and Julian Green are all in Brazil.

This German influx isn't random, and it has little to do with Klinsmann being a German soccer legend. The U.S. has had tens of thousands of troops stationed in Germany for 60 years. Of the five German-Americans in the U.S. squad, four were born in Germany to American fathers in the military. The fifth, the Tampa-born Green, is also the son of a U.S. solider.

There's a large pool of U.S.-eligible players living in Germany and benefiting from the cultural and developmental advantages it has over the United States when it comes to soccer. Assuming coaches and scouts can identify and recruit German-Americans in Germany at a young age, it's a valuable pipeline for the U.S. soccer program.

Fabian Johnson (of Munich)  is starting for the U.S. in Brazil
Kevin Johnson/Getty Images

Has played for 1860 Munich (2006-09), Wolfsburg (2009-11) and Hoffenheim (2011-14), and in February agreed to sign with Borussia Mönchengladbach for next season.

 Julian Green was born in Tampa and at age 2 moved to Berlin.  He's 18 years old, and has just joined Bayern München last November.   REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad  

 

Because of the wealth of talent in Germany, these dual-nationals have a much better chance of playing regular, international soccer on the U.S. team. As a result, guys who have spent most of their lives in Germany — which all five of the players on the 2014 World Cup roster have — are committing to the U.S. more than ever.

 This German influence isn't new.  The U.S. captain at the 1998 World Cup, German-born Thomas Dooley, couldn't speak English when he committed to the U.S. team for the first time.  But since Klinsmann took over in 2011 the number of German-Americans has increased. Youth coach Thomas Rongen told the New York Times in 2011 that it's just a coincidence that more German-Americans are committing to the U.S. now that Klinsmann's coach.

Indeed, Klinsmann has been aggressive in pursuing dual-nationals from Mexico and Scandinavia and anywhere else where you can find a good soccer player with an American passport.  Clearly Klinsmann's celebrity status in Germany — as well as his boundless enthusiasm — are an asset when recruiting German-Americans.   But these charms are helpful no matter where a player is from, and it just so happens that the largest concentration of U.S.-eligible players in Europe is in Germany.

John Brooks   (20)  Hometown:  Berlin

Here he's just scored the go-ahead goal against Ghana in the first game of the 2014 World Cup.
Helped Hertha Berlin in 2012-13,  earn its promotion back to the Bundesliga.

Timmy Chandler  (24)   Hometown:  Frankfurt, Germany  Tore meniscus in left knee against Bayern Munich on Feb. 8, had surgery and returned to action April 26.

Jermaine Jones   (33)  Hometown:  Frankfurt    

Shown here after scoring the go-ahead goal against Portugal, in Game 2 in Brazil.

Made debut for German national team as a substitute against Austria on Feb. 6, 2008, then appeared against Belarus on May 27 and England on Nov. 19 — all exhibitions. Was among Germany coach Joachim Loew's final roster cuts for the 2008 European Championship, and in 2009 he asked FIFA for a change in affiliation last summer. ...(U.S. debut in October 2010.  Played for Eintracht Frankfurt (1999-04, 2005-07), Bayer Leverkusen (2004-05), Schalke (2007-14), Blackburn (2011) and Besiktas in Istanbul (2014).

Language Learning and the Law

From Wikipedia:


Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923),^[1] was a U.S. Supreme Court case that held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

On May 25, 1920, Robert T. Meyer, while an instructor in Zion Parochial School, a one-room schoolhouse in Hampton, Nebraska, taught the subject of reading in the German language to 10-year-old Raymond Parpart, a fourth-grader, the Hamilton County Attorney entered the classroom and discovered Parpart reading from the Bible in German. He charged Meyer with violating the Siman Act.<sup>[3]  **

**</sup>
On April 9, 1919, Nebraska enacted a statute called "An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska," commonly known as the Siman Act. It imposed restrictions on both the use of a foreign language as a medium of instruction and on foreign languages as a subject of study. 

• With respect to the use of a foreign language while teaching, it provided that "No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language other than the English language." 
• With respect to foreign-language education, it prohibited instruction of children who had yet to successfully complete the 8th grade.

Meyer was tried and convicted in the district court for Hamilton county, Nebraska, and fined $25 ($294 in today's dollars). The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed his conviction by a vote of 4 to 2. The majority thought the law a proper response to "the baneful effects" of allowing immigrants to educate their children in their mother tongue, with results "inimical to our own safety." The dissent called the Siman Act the work of "crowd psychology."^[3]

Meyer appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. His lead attorney was Arthur Mullen, an Irish Catholic and a prominent Democrat, who had earlier failed in his attempt to obtain an injunction against enforcement of the Siman Act from the Nebraska State Supreme Court. Oral arguments expressed conflicting interpretations of the World War I experience. Mullen attributed the law to "hatred, national bigotry and racial prejudice engendered by the World War." Opposing counsel countered that "it is the ambition of the State to have its entire population 100 per cent. American."^[4]

Majority opinion

In his decision, Justice McReynolds stated that the "liberty" protected by the Due Process clause "[w]ithout doubt...denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men."

Analyzing in that context the liberty of the teacher and of parents with respect to their children, McReynolds wrote: "Practically, education of the young is only possible in schools conducted by especially qualified persons who devote themselves thereto. The calling always has been regarded as useful and honorable, essential, indeed, to the public welfare. Mere knowledge of the German language cannot reasonably be regarded as harmful. Heretofore it has been commonly looked upon as helpful and desirable. Plaintiff in error taught this language in school as part of his occupation. His right thus to teach and the right of parents to engage him so to instruct their children, we think, are within the liberty of the amendment." And further: "Evidently the Legislature has attempted materially to interfere with the calling of modern language teachers, with the opportunities of pupils to acquire knowledge, and with the power of parents to control the education of their own."

And finally: "That the state may do much, go very far, indeed, in order to improve the quality of its citizens, physically, mentally and morally, is clear; but the individual has certain fundamental rights which must be respected. The protection of the Constitution extends to all, to those who speak other languages as well as to those born with English on the tongue. Perhaps it would be highly advantageous if all had ready understanding of our ordinary speech, but this cannot be coerced by methods which conflict with the Constitution​—​a desirable end cannot be promoted by prohibited means."

He allowed that wartime circumstances might justify a different understanding, but that Nebraska had not demonstrated sufficient need "in time of peace and domestic tranquility" to justify "the consequent infringement of rights long freely enjoyed."

SOUNDS LIKE A CLOSE CALL TO ME!  Not sure if other languages besides German have been targeted in this way.   Check out this further article regarding challenges which teaching the German language has had to overcome.  -- rsb

Call To Ban Teaching German Language Split Allentown Board During Wwi School District's Compromise To Keep It As An Elective Was Eventually Overruled By State Legislature, Which Forbid It.

March 27, 2000|by FRANK WHELAN, The Morning Call

 

On the evening of May 27, 1918, a thunderstorm pounded the Lehigh Valley with rain, wind and hail. Inside the Allentown School Board's meeting room, the mood was almost as stormy. The members had the most controversial subject on their agenda that they had ever faced, it combined a volatile mix of patriotism and the teaching of a foreign language.

School Board Chairman J. Dallas Erdman was demanding that the members forbid the teaching of German in the public schools. If not, they would be siding with the nation's foes who were killing Americans at that moment in World War I.

The Catasauqua School Board, Erdman pointed out, had already banned German. It was up to Allentown to follow.

Board members William F.P. Good, Oliver A. Iobst and Charles A. Reber were in Erdman's corner. But members Wilson Arbogast, Harry G. Correll, William J. Dietrich, the Rev. Charles J. Rausch and Oliver T. Weaber could only be pushed so far.

Make German an elective rather than the required high school course it had been since 1858, they argued. But don't do away with the teaching of the language of Luther, Goethe and the German ancestors of everyone in the room.

The board's argument grew heated. When their loyalty was questioned, the dissidents protested. `I am an American," said Rausch after a cutting remark in German by Iobst. `Do you challenge my patriotism?` said Weaber, rising, `menacingly from his chair," the Call reported.

The argument raged on, but the German supporters would not budge. Finally, the board agreed to the compromise of making German an elective. Part of the agreement was replacing the course's textbook, `Im Vaterland," which means `My Fatherland,` with something that sounded less pro-Germany.

The roots of this argument went back to the earliest days of the city and region's education system.  Until the Civil War, German was the first language of the Lehigh Valley. Newspapers were written in it, God's word was preached in it and school children were taught in it. It was not unusual to find rural schools in the Lehigh Valley where Pennsylvania German was the only language spoken into the 20th century.

This was not confined to public schools. Into the 1900s, Muhlenberg College's faculty and administration were deeply divided between those who felt all its courses should be taught in German and those who believed that only its theology courses -- the school was founded to train students for the Lutheran ministry -- should be taught in German.

But after the Civil War, the region was becoming more and more bilingual. English was the language of business and the popular culture that surrounded the Lehigh Valley. It was clearly being heard more often, mixed with the Pennsylvania German dialect, in the region's cities and towns. Perhaps for that reason the city's educational leadership, particularly clergymen, wanted German as a required part of the public school curriculum.

As the German Empire rose to a position of world power, many people in the Lehigh Valley were proud of it and their German roots. Teaching German in the schools was a part of the community's ethnic heritage that few questioned.
But World War I and the anti-German hysteria that followed America's entry in April 1917 changed all that. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage and anybody who spoke the `Hun's` language was as good as a traitor.

The Allentown School Board's decision was made the same spring that the most popular movie in the city was a propaganda film, `The Kaiser -- The Beast of Berlin." Ads for the film in the Call showed a sinister Wilhelm II with blood dripping from his hands.

The day after the board's decision, the Allentown chapter of the Past Presidents Association of the Patriotic Order, Sons of America, denounced the members and demanded German be dropped.

Eventually, the board's compromise decision was overruled by a higher authority. In April 1919, six months after the war ended, Pennsylvania's Legislature banned the teaching of German in the state's public and normal schools. Although the law eventually lapsed and German came out of hiding, the debate of 1918 is a reminder of how volatile a mix language and politics can be.

The USA Is Looking Good to Advance to the Second Round

• Interesting commentary, even after the considerable upset wtih Ghana tying Germany this afternoon.  What an accomplishment from the USA-Team to collect 3 points from the amazing Ghana team!  --rsb
   
  source:    SLATE's Soccer Blog
  
  
  But There Are Big Problems Ahead By Jeremy Stahl
  

  It was an amazing night, except for that one thing   

  Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

  You don’t have to be a number cruncher of Nate Silver’s caliber to know that Monday was a good day for the United States national team. After being eliminated by Ghana at the last two World Cups, the U.S. defeated their biggest bogeymen 2–1 in thrilling fashion. The win came just hours after Portugal was demolished 4–0 by a typically ruthless German squad.
  
  

  On account of those two results, FiveThirtyEight’s latest statistical projections give the Americans a great shot to advance to the knockout round. Earlier Monday, Silver’s model gave the team a 36.9 percent chance of moving to the second round. Now, the FiveThirtyEight model has completely reversed its projection, giving the USA just a 36.9 percent chance of getting eliminated prior to the round of 16. The reversal of fortune came at expense of Portugal, who is now at the bottom of the group on goal difference and face a 73 percent chance of elimination, and Ghana, which has an 87.6 percent chance of making an early departure.
  
  

  A wild day at the World Cup, though, shows the problem with applying Silver’s statistical know-how to individual soccer matches. Sports, on a game-by-game basis at least, are not nearly as predictable as elections.
  

  • Who would have guessed, for example, that the U.S. would score one of the fastest goals in World Cup history, with Dempsey marking in the first minute. 
  • Or that starting striker Jozy Altidore would go down with a hamstring injury that could keep him out of the rest of the tournament. 
  • Finally, who could have predicted that Portugal would suffer their worst-ever defeat at the World Cup? 
  • And lose two of their starters to injury? 
  • And that Portugal’s star center-back Pepe would head-butt a German player and be sent off in disgrace? 

  --Actually, that one was kind of predictable.
  
  

  Pepe’s red card against Germany means that he will be suspended for the next game against the U.S., improving the American odds even further. Because of the margin of Portugal’s defeat Monday and the importance of goal difference as a tiebreaker, a draw with Cristiano Ronaldo’s team would likely be enough to take the U.S. through to the next round unless something absolutely disastrous happened against Germany in the last game of the group stage.
  
  

  Despite how Portugal looked Monday, it won’t be easy to get such a result. The Americans had their own issues against Ghana, looking sapped after Altidore went down injured. The U.S. conceded a long-overdue equalizer in the 82^nd minute on a lovely strike from André Ayew off of an even lovelier backheel pass from Asamoah Gyan. They were lucky to score the winner four minutes later when 21-year-old substitute defender John Brooks, playing in his first nonfriendly game for the United States, headed home the winner and earned his place among the greats.
  
  

  The U.S. got the result, and that’s what matters, but it looks like the national team’s defensive and possession woes from pre-tournament friendlies have returned. The team was all too dependent on Ghana’s poor finishing and Tim Howard’s marvelous goalkeeping. From the moment Altidore was taken off of the pitch, Ghana dominated the game. The Black Stars had 59 percent possession to 41 percent, 21 shots to eight, 13 deliveries into the penalty area to six, and 65 dangerous attacks to 22. The last 15 minutes were more even, and the U.S. did come up big when it counted.
  
  

  But that won’t be enough against even a weakened Portugal. If Altidore misses the next two games, Jürgen Klinsmann might even regret his decision to leave Landon Donovan home.
  
  The likeliest replacements for Altidore are Chris Wondolowski, Aron Jóhannsson, and Julian Green, none of whom will scare any of the United States’ upcoming opponents. The Icelandic-American Jóhannsson disappeared for long stretches of the game against Ghana—according to one analysis, the team only had two touches within 20 yards of Ghana’s goal after Jóhannsson came on. Green—who just turned 19 and is completely untested—is mainly at this World Cup for experience and maybe as part of a deal to get him to play for the United States over his native Germany. Wondolowski is a classic goal poacher and would make more sense as a late substitute than a starter.
  
  

  The U.S. bench is so thin in the attack that it’s hard to say what Klinsmann should do. Perhaps the best of a bunch of not-so-great options is to play Dempsey as a lone striker and replace Altidore with midfielder Graham Zusi, leaving the likes of Jóhannsson and Wondolowski to come off the bench. (Landon Donovan, we miss you!) But after a night like Monday, maybe it’s too soon to start second-guessing the German coach. Instead, let’s continue to revel in one of the most thrilling nights in U.S. soccer history. The second-guessing can wait a few more hours.
  
  Jeremy Stahl is a Slate senior editor. You can follow him on Twitter.
  
  

The Liberal Arts Majors That Pay the Most

Education

Salaries / Starting Salaries  1:46 pm ET  May 15, 2014 By Lauren Weber

Parents, don’t despair. Even if your child spends four years of college reading Hungarian poetry or delving deep into the Faulkner oeuvre, he or she can still earn a decent salary shortly after packing up the senior-year dorm room.

So says the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which reports that the top-paying liberal arts majors for 2014 graduates are foreign languages and literature (average starting salary $46,900) and English ($42,200). The results are based on job offers that students accepted earlier this year and were reported by employers in February 2014 primarily through a variety of government surveys.

The lowest-paid? Criminal justice and corrections ($36,200). Even visual-arts majors did marginally better.

“Employers hiring foreign languages and literatures majors did so primarily to fill elementary and middle school teaching positions,” according to the organization, which primarily represents companies that recruit on college campuses.

Indeed, the educational services industry regularly scoops up the most new college grads, said NACE, which found that schools and other employers in the field hired 463,500 individuals awarded bachelor’s degrees in 2014, with an average starting salary of $40,894. The next biggest employer for this cohort was health-care and social assistance organizations, which hired 296,000 graduates (average salary $42,623).

Employers hired English majors to work as teachers, editors, writers, managers, paralegals, and legal assistants, NACE said.

In all, the average salary for all humanities and social-science majors was $38,365, up a healthy 3.5% from 2013. Engineering majors—the highest-paid of those tracked by NACE—saw their pay rise by just 0.3%, to $62,719.

For all U.S. nongovernment workers, average weekly earnings rose by 1.5% from February 2013 to February 2014, according to the Department of Labor.

Artwork reenacted! De Nachtwacht (Night Watch)

by Rembrandt van Rijn; in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum



 Note:  Beethoven's ,,An die Freude" (Ode to Joy) has become the Anthem of United Europe.  
 Do sing along:

1. Freude, schöner Götterfunken,
   Tochter aus Elysium,
   Wir betreten feuertrunken,
   Himmlische, dein Heiligthum.
   Deine Zauber binden wieder,
   Was die Mode streng getheilt;
   Alle Menschen werden Brüder
   Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

CHOR:  Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
              Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!
              Brüder - überm Sternenzelt
              Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.

Germany Smashes Three Solar Energy Records in Just Two Weeks!

by Kevin Lee, 06/20/14

In just two weeks Germany has managed to break three solar energy records!

First the Fraunhofer ISE solar energy research institute that monitors solar output in the country noticed a rise to a record 24.24 gigawatts around midday on June 6, 2014.

During the same week, solar power systems around Germany generated a total of 1.26 terawatt-hours of energy.

And on the following Monday, German solar power took center stage once again by accounting for 50.6 percent of total electricity demand, which means half the total energy powering the country came from photovoltaic panels.

Read more: Germany Smashes Three Solar Energy Records in Just Two Weeks! | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Easy vocab; good message; minor key Peter Heppner revisited

Last October I blogged several Heppner songs, and today came across the printed songtext copied out for sharing in class.  We never got around to it.  I'm now wondering why not.  Did I consider the song too dark?

The few strong verbs add interest:  verderben ( to ruin),  (auch im SPRUCH: "Viele Koeche verderben den Brei") and sterben ( to die)  rhyme, als in 3rd person singular forms:  ...

I'm reposting it, so that you can let me know what you think of this song.  (I'm including the entire old post, even the text from STEPINTOGERMAN, below.  Visit that site to find a nifty animated version of the song -- which at YOUTUBE is only a single still shot.) -- Danke!



Jetzt in den TOP TEN in Deutschland.

Glaubst du diese Musik ist gut genug in den Top Ten zu sein?

Peter Heppner  Meine Welt  Songtext   (Farben sind gefärbt...)

Für den Mund nehm‘ ich Rot
Und für die Augen Blau.
Deine Haare mal‘ ich bunt,
In Gelb und Lila, Grün und Grau.
Ich weiß auch, dass das nicht stimmt,
Aber es sieht doch lustig aus.
Ich mach‘ das so, wie‘s mir gefällt,
Denn ich mal‘ ja meine Welt.                 [ malen = to paint]

Meine Welt…

Ich mal‘ ein Auto,
Das nicht stinkt und keinen überfährt.
Einen Herrscher,                                    [ der Herrscher = ruler; tycoon] 
Der mal nicht durch die Macht verdirbt.     [verderben ( to ruin)]
Ich mal‘ einen Baum, den keiner fällt.
Ich mal‘ Geld, das keiner zählt,
Und dann mal‘ ich noch einen Krieg,
In dem keiner jemals stirbt.                         [sterben ( to die)]

Meine Welt…
Und die Liebe, die wird rot,
Und der Hass schwarz wie der Tod.
Ich mach‘ das so, wie‘s mir gefällt,
Denn ich mal ja meine Welt.

Nun wirst du sagen,
Dass das grenzenlos naiv ist.
Und dass ich die Welt nicht machen kann,
Wie‘s mir beliebt.
Und doch träum‘ ich immer noch,
Dass endlich was geschieht.                  [geschehen ( to happen)]
Und träumen,  träumen darf ich ja wohl noch.

Meine Welt…

Und die Liebe, die wird rot,
Und der Hass schwarz wie der Tod.
Ich mach‘ das so, wie‘s mir gefällt,
Denn ich mal ja meine Welt.

Nun wirst du sagen,
Dass das grenzenlos naiv ist.
Und dass ich die Welt nicht machen kann,
Wie‘s mir beliebt.
Und doch träum‘ ich immer noch,
Dass endlich was geschieht.
Und träumen darf ich ja wohl noch.

Peter Heppner       © Mathias Bothor/Universal Music2
-----------------------
 Text kommt aus der StepintoGerman Website:

“Und träumen darf ich ja wohl noch.”   This line from Peter Heppner’s song “Meine Welt” (“My World”) is a slightly defiant way of saying “You can’t stop me from dreaming!”

 This statement perfectly applies to Peter Heppner’s career that has had many ups and downs over the years but is nevertheless a success story – certainly also because this singer has never stopped dreaming.

Peter Heppner was born in Hamburg in 1967 and started out as a composer, songwriter and singer in the duo “Wolfsheim” in the late 1980s. The electro-pop and dark-wave band landed its first hit in 1991 with the English-language single “The Sparrows and the Nightingales.”

Many more records and sold out tours in Europe and the United States were to follow.

Besides this project, Peter Heppner has collaborated with a wide variety of artists. Whether it’s on the song “Wir sind wir” (“We are who we are”) that he cut with star DJ Paul Van Dyk, “Glasgarten” (“Glas garden”) with the Dark-Wave band Goethes Erben (“Goethe’s Heirs”) or the duet “Haus der drei Sonnen” (“House of the Three Suns”) with the 80’s icon Nena – Peter Heppner worked with many stars before launching his solo career in 2008.

His debut with the appropriate title “Solo” entered the German charts’ top ten and was followed by “My Heart of Stone” in 2012. Besides being heavily influenced by electro-pop this record boasts a wide stylistic and emotional variety including rock, new wave, dance floor as well as ambient sounds. “I wanted to present songs that open doors”, says Peter Heppner when talking about the album. The catchy “Meine Welt” has certainly opened an exciting and new chapter of his career.

T-Mobile Werbung (ad) mit Humor?! Und wie!

Danke, Valentin Moller ! 

Deutsche-Telecom Firma  (company) heisst jetzt:  T-Mobile. 

Stress relief? Yodel, like Jimmy and Brad

Ha-ha!

Mehr (10x) Lieder von Disney

Mit Leidern aus:
König der Löwen,
Pocohantes,
Schöne und das Biest,
Dornröschen,
Arielle, die kleine Meerjungfrau,
Aladdin,
Toy Story.

Danke Nancy.  Du hast so viele schöne Links heute gefunden!  Mal sehen wie viele ich posten kann.   rsb

URI Rams do well !

Greenwood, Cameron Shine in Big Night for Former Rams

KINGSTON, R.I. – In a remarkable night for Rhode Island alumni, Geoff Cameron helped the United States Men's National Team defeat Ghana, 2-1, in the World Cup and Nick Greenwood earned the victory in his Major League Baseball debut.

Cameron started in the middle of the U.S. defense that played well in front of keeper Tim Howard. He also drew the attention of the Ghana defense, helping clear space for John Brooks to head in the game-winner for the Americans in the 86th minute.

ESPN.com's Jeff Carlisle rated Cameron’s performance a 7 out of 10. Only Howard and Brooks received higher grades in Carlisle’s report. Cameron – who helped lead Rhode Island to the 2006 Atlantic 10 championship – is the second URI men's soccer player to appear in a World Cup as Andy Williams competed for his native Jamaica in 1998.

The Attleboro, Mass. product will be back on the pitch Sunday when the USMNT plays Portugal (ESPN, 6 p.m. EST).

Following the Team USA win, Greenwood made his big league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball. He entered the game against the New York Mets as a relief pitcher in the top of the fourth inning and pitched 3.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out three batters. Greenwood fanned seven-time all-star David Wright for his first career strikeout.

The Southington, Conn. native exited the game in the top of the eighth inning, heading back to the dugout while nearly all of the 42,808 fans at Busch Stadium rose to their feet to give the rookie an ovation. St. Louis would hold on for a 6-2 victory, securing Greenwood the first win by a Cardinals relief pitcher making his Major League debut since 1988 (John Costello).