Let's learn about Austria!

Danke, Geography Now! Host Paul Barbaros



Classroom link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKsGmyhsKFA

Fossilfund: Südelefant, Steppen- oder Wollhaarmammut?

Der Stoßzahn wird vorsichtig freigelegt und für die Bergung vorbereitet. 
Bild: APA/NHM WIEN/URSULA GÖHLICH   ----------Die Presse.com  29. August 2016

Noch rätseln die Forscher, zu welcher Art von Mammut die zwei Stoßzähne und die Wirbelknochen gehören, die auf der Autobahnbaustelle im Bezirk Mistelbach gefunden wurden.

29.08.2016 | 16:40 |   (DiePresse.com)

So selten kommt es gar nicht vor: Zirka die Hälfte aller fossilen Skelettfunde in Österreich werden rein zufällig entdeckt. Das gilt auch für jenen, der sich – wie nun bekannt wurde – Mitte August in der Nähe von Bullendorf (Bezirk Mistelbach, Niederösterreich) ereignete. Bei Vorarbeiten für den Bau der Verlängerung der Nordautobahn A5 sah ein Experte der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, die routinemäßig solche Baustellen untersucht, etwas aus dem Hang hervorblitzen: die Spitze eines Mammutstoßzahns.

In einer mehrtägigen Notgrabung durch das Team der Geologisch-Paläontologischen Abteilung des Naturhistorischen Museums (NHM) wurden – mit Hilfe eines Asfinag-Baggers – dann zwei mächtige, zirka 2,5 Meter lange Stoßzähne und einige Wirbelknochen geborgen. Zu welcher Art von Mammut sie gehören, ist aber noch ungewiss.

In Frage kommen für Ursula Göhlich, Paläontologin und Expertin für fossile Elefanten im NHM, drei verschiedene:
1. Die spektakulärste und älteste Variante wäre ein Südelefant. Er war de facto unbehaart und lebte vor drei Millionen bis 700.000 Jahren in ganz Eurasien, hatte eine Schulterhöhe von fünf Metern und wurde bis zu acht Tonnen schwer.
2. Ähnlich groß, aber jünger und etwas behaarter wäre Option Nummer zwei: das Steppenmammut (1,7 Millionen bis 500.000 Jahre).
3. Möglich wäre drittens auch, dass die Knochen zu einem „klassischen“ Mammut gehören, dem zotteligen Wollhaarmammut. Es lebte in unseren Breiten vor 150.000 bis 15.000 Jahren. Es war mit einer Schulterhöhe von 2,5 Metern und einem Gewicht von bis zu 6 Tonnen deutlich kleiner.

Bild vergrößernDas Paläontologen-Team des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien bei der Bergung eines der Stoßzähne. Der Fund wurde mit Gips ummantelt. / Bild: APA/NHM WIEN/URSULA GÖHLICH 

Warum die Identifikation so schwierig ist? „Weil die Backenzähne fehlen. Die braucht man, um die Mammuts zu unterscheiden“, sagt Göhlich. DNA-Proben sind bei nicht tiefgefrorenen, so alten Tieren übrigens sinnlos. Aufschluss über das Alter können aber die Sedimentablagerung rund um das Skelett geben. Die Fundstücke selbst sind sehr empfindlich – vor allem die Stoßzähne. Die würden „förmlich explodieren“, wenn sie an der Luft trocknen, so Göhlich. Für den Transport wurden sie in Gipsbandagen, die feucht gehalten werden müssen, eingewickelt. Im NHM werden sie zum Präparieren in eine „Art flüssige Kleberlösung“ eingelegt. Erst dann startet die wissenschaftliche Untersuchung. Welche Art es letztlich ist, wird man erst in einigen Monaten wissen.

„Eine große Sache“

Die Stoßzähne und Knochen werden Teil der Sammlung des NHM, die nicht öffentlich zugänglich ist – außer bei „Hinter den Kulissen“-Führungen. Eine solche ist für November geplant. Hier sollen die Stoßzähne bereits zu sehen sein. Funde von Mammutskeletten gab es in Österreich immer wieder, ein vollständiges wurde nie entdeckt, nur Teile. Insofern seien die beiden gefundenen Stoßzähne „eine große Sache“, sagt Göhlich.

Bild vergrößernUm welche Mammut-Art es sich handelt, muss erst geklärt werden. / Bild: APA/NHM WIEN/URSULA GÖHLICH 

Wiederholung aus Österreich: Was kann ich auf Deutsch?!

LINK HERE TO REVIEW MATERIALS

Sound of Music remake

DW Film

Gets new twist but keeps the kitsch

'The Trapp Family' is certainly one of the German movies which had the most after-effects in Hollywood. Now a remake tells the story of the singing 'Sound of Music' family from a different angle. Will it work in 2015? 

In 1956, the film "The Trapp Family," directed by Wolfgang Liebeneiner and starring Ruth Leuwerik and Hans Holt, became one of the most popular films in post-war Germany. The film also had a sequel, "The Trapp Family in America," which was released in 1958.

Most notably, the story of this singing family became a legend in the US, as it was turned into a Broadway musical and an extremely successful film, both called "The Sound of Music."

"The Trapp Family" was based on the memoir of Maria-Augusta von Trapp, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers," which describes how the family escaped from Austria during Nazi rule to live in the US. The book became a bestseller.

A few years later, Broadway producers became interested in the story. The musical "The Sound of Music" premiered in New York in 1959. It ran for almost 1,500 performances. Then a London production of the musical was just as successful. The story has fans in many other countries, too, especially in Asia.

The German actress Yvonne Catterfeld is Maria von Trapp in the new film

The most memorable and famous version of this story comes from Hollywood. The film director Robert Wise adapted the musical, casting Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in the lead roles. The nearly three-hour musical drama obtained five Oscars and smashed box office records in several countries.

Fifty years later, a German remake is being released, and premiered Monday (02.11.15) in the Gloria Palast in Munich, which is where the original film was also screened for the first time.
Filmmaker Ben Verbong tells a slightly different version of the well-known story. In the original film in 1956, the memories of the Maria von Trapp led the narrative: This time it is the oldest daughter, Agatha von Trapp, who is at the center of the story. The emotional core of the film remains similar to the original - a remix of kitsch sentimental drama.

This is what it looked like in the 50s

This remake will probably not be as successful as the original version. In the 1950s, moviegoers in Germany were yearning for entertainment after the war. This new movie was filmed in the style of a German evening soap - directly in English, apparently to conquer an international audience.  

The film "The Trapp Family - A Life of Music" directed by Ben Verbong, starring Matthew Macfayden, Eliza Bennett, Yvonne Catterfeld, Cornelius Obonya, and Rosemary Harris is released on November 12 in Germany. A worldwide release is expected for the Christmas holidays.

25 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Border patrol guards had lost permission to shoot at will at border crossings in the spring of 1989.  This inspired East-Germans to abandon their apartments and risk everything to live elsewhere.  For better or worse, these people felt a need to leave the guided life available to them under Russian influence, and instead, wanted to be in charge of their own futures. 

25 years later, there are plenty of people who miss the security they had under communism.  The term for this is "Nostalgie,"  or nostalgia for the East (Ost).

Differences between the two styles of government are becoming even more clear now, with

• the border disputes between Russia and the Ukraine;
• attacks by radical islamic organizations against capitalist democracies;
• Edward Snowden finding shelter in Russia after his revelations;

25 years ago the threat of losing everything were clear.

Here is a 2 minute news clip, which follows the emotions on both sides of this historical event from the perspective of the Soebel family.  They were on a camping trip in Hungary 25 years ago, read about the offer to pass through a gap in the wall that afternoon on a flier posted to a tree in their campground, and took up the offer!  Guards did not fire upon the picnickers in Hungary, who on the afternoon of August 19, 1989, slipped through a momentarily-opened border with Austria.  Rather than just freeing a handful of citizens, hundreds slipped through that brief gap, setting the tone for what was soon to follow.

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/2220970/25-Jahre-Paneuropaeisc
hes-Picknick#/beitrag/video/2220970/25-Jahre-Paneuropaeisches-Picknick

BERLIN IN PHOTOS TODAY 

20 second video:  Berlin today:


Pilpop filmt Berlin (in Miniatur?)  "Little Big Berlin"


"I dedicate this film to Berlin where I have been living for 19 years now. While the architecture of Berlin is stunningly beautiful, only its inhabitants make Berlin the unique city that it is. In every corner there is something new to discover. And the best thing to do is to film it.
Filmed with my beloved Sony HC9. Edited with Sony Vegas Pro 9.The miniature effect is called tilt-shift, which originates from a particular lens that was used to photograph architecture. The miniature effect is a by-product of that. It can also be achieved by digital postprocessing.
Music: "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Lisz "
-- Does life in Berlin seem that much different than our own?  Different in which ways?


All sorts of press infos regarding the Fall of the Berlin Wall can be found here: 
HIER GIBT ES ALLERLEI PRESSEMATERIAL ZUM MAUERFALL

Conchita delights fans with free concert

From AUSTRIA's THE LOCAL
"Austria's News in English"

                                 Conchita Wurst singing at Ballhausplatz. Photo: APA

Published: 19 May 2014 10:05 GMT+02:00

Ten thousand admiring fans crammed into central Vienna's Ballhausplatz on Sunday afternoon to hear Conchita Wurst's first public performance since her Eurovision win in Copenhagen last weekend.

• Conchita receives invites and death threats (15 May 14)
• Conchita: Poster girl for a more liberal Austria (12 May 14)

An eclectic crowd - young and old, straight and gay – many wearing fake beards, cheered and waved rainbow and Austrian flags as Conchita took to the stage.

Humbled by the attention, Wurst opened and closed the show with her winning ballad, Rise Like a Phoenix, as well as a stirring rendition of Cher's hit, Believe and her 2012 Eurovision entry, That's What I Am.

Fans enthusiastically sang along to a karaoke version of Phoenix, following the English text from a giant video screen.

"It was only a week ago. This is unbelievable. It means so much to me that I am not alone. It's beautiful to believe in a future without discrimination and hate, and I'm honoured that next year the Song Contest will come to Austria," Conchita told her enraptured audience.

Ukrainian students, Katya and Valeria. Photo: Kim Traill

Longtime supporter, Christina Pichler, travelled from Burgenland with her mother for the spectacle, which was broadcast live on ORF.  "It's absolutely incredible. She is really uniting everyone. By creating this figure of Conchita, she is showing there is major rethinking and change going on in Europe and all over the world, including in countries where this topic is so negative," Pichler told The Local. 

Ukrainian students, Katya and Valeria, were equally awed. "We think she's great. We were unsure about her at first, but now we're used to her."  But they don't expect their friends in Ukraine to understand their enthusiasm for Austria's new heroine.  "We know when we post pictures on Facebook and people back home see we were here, they will say 'Ugh, how could you?'"

Prior to her performance, the newly crowned Queen of Austria met with Chancellor Werner Faymann and Minister of Culture, Josef Ostermayer, at an official reception at the Federal Chancellery.  "You have made Austrians very proud by what you have achieved at the Song Contest," an impressed Faymann told Conchita.

"Conchita stands for openness and freedom, and I wish that all of Europe will have such an image," he added. 

Wurst, wearing a figure-hugging white dress, appeared overwhelmed by the media attention, as she clutched her Eurovision trophy.  "I feel a freedom that means more to me than winning the Song Contest. Thank you, thank you, each and every one of you," she said.  "Austria has sent a signal to the world. This is overwhelming." 

Österreich gewinnt? Ja, es stimmt!

Conchita Wurst:  H

Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, popularly known as "the bearded lady," won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with the James Bond-theme-like ballad Rise Like a Phoenix, before a global TV audience of about 180 million people in 45 countries.

'It is just a lady with a beard. But it is like we have landed on the moon.'- René Berto, Conchita Wurst's agent

Wurst, sporting high heels, butterfly eyelashes and a full beard, topped the Netherlands' modern-country duo the Common Linnets, who sang Calm After The Storm. Sweden's Sanna Nielsen came in third with her new-age pop song Undo.
"For me, my dream came true," Wurst, 25, whose birth name is Tom Neuwirth, told a news conference after the win. "But for our society, it just showed me that there are people out there who want to go into the future and go on, you know, not stepping back or thinking in the past."

• Eurovision 2014 sees geopolitical tensions creep in

The Danish organizers had declared tolerance a main theme for this year's event, and the rainbow-coloured flag symbolizing gay pride has been flying in many places in Copenhagen during the past week.
"I hope we can change just a few minds," said Wurst's agent René Berto. "It is just a lady with a beard. But it is like we have landed on the moon."
Wurst, Austria's first Eurovision winner since 1966, received the biggest cheers from the audience but also stirred controversy in some countries.
Online petitions were started in Belarus, Armenia and Russia — whose government passed a law last year banning "gay propaganda" among minors — to have Wurst removed or edited out of broadcasts in their countries.
"We did it. It is the most amazing thing. But I knew she would win. I just knew it," Austrian fan Damel Saric told Reuters. "I have travelled to Copenhagen just for this moment."

Geopolitical tensions creep in

The Eurovision competition, which has been held annually since 1956, was created to help foster unity after World War Two and is meant to be non-political. But political strife slipped between the cracks at this year's contest.
Many in the audience booed when the Russian contestants, the 17-year-old Tolmachevy twin sisters, were presented at Saturday's opening ceremony and again when they were awarded points from other, mostly neighbouring, nations.
It was widely speculated that Russia's entry could suffer for the country's annexation of Crimea in March and the government's intransigence on gay rights. Eurovision is hugely popular in the gay community.
"The two Russian girls are sweet, and it is not their fault. But this is a party for everybody. Russia doesn't get that," said one of the booing spectators, a gay Dutch fan who identified himself as Xander.
Ukrainian singer Mariya Yaremchuk, 21, got huge cheers at her performance.
"It could be in the favour of Ukraine, that people vote for Ukraine and people don't vote for Russia because they don't like the political situation," said another Dutch fan, Patrick Van Der Ploeg.
Adding to controversy, organizers said votes from Crimea count as Ukrainian votes, because tallies are based on existing national telephone codes.
Ukraine's song was voted the sixth best of the 26 songs, and Russia's came in at seventh.
Since politics had played a role in the voting in the past, half the points are now awarded by professional judges and half by the public via phone and SMS.

 ----
So kennen die Deutschen ,,Tante Wurst" aus der Fernsehserie "WILD GIRLS"


Hier aus 2007,  singt er als "Tom" (Neuwirth):  

Euro crisis turns German-speaking Italians against Rome

3 October 2012 Last updated at 08:13 ET

By Bethany Bell BBC News, South Tyrol (Alto Adige)

 

Largely German-speaking South Tyrol has been part of Italy since the end of World War I

In the vineyards of South Tyrol's Alpine valleys, the grape harvest is under way.

Alois Lageder's family have made wine here for five generations, but when some of the vines were planted, this region was part of Austria. And most people here speak German, even though it has been part of Italy since the end of World War I.

Mr Lageder says the mix of cultures is an asset.  "We are Austrians, we were Austrians 100 years ago and so we have the Austrian culture, but also the Austrian or German mentality and approach to work," he said.

 

Local wine maker Alois Lageder believes South Tyrol's people are Austrians at heart

"But I think we are lucky because living here in the middle between north and south, we are not too strong or too straight. I think this is our big advantage, that we understand the Italian mentality but we understand the mentality of our big markets like Austria and Germany and Switzerland."
South Tyrol is Italy's richest province, a largely German-speaking part of the country that has autonomous status. Its Italian name is Alto Adige.

But now the euro crisis means the Italian government wants to cash in. It is asking the regional government here to pay more, fuelling resentment of Rome and raising the spectre of separatism.

Tensions German speakers are the local majority in South Tyrol - but native Italian speakers live here too. Relations between the two groups have not always been easy.

The journalist and author Lucio Giudiceandrea says before the region was granted autonomy in the 1970s, tensions sometimes ran to violence. "Germans and Italians lived for many years in conflict with each other because South Tyrol was annexed to Italy at the end of World War I against the will of the local German-speaking population. The Italians were sent here as colonisers and there is a longstanding hostility between the groups," he said. "The autonomy system [set up in the 1970s] gave us the chance to live side by side, but with no great contacts."

Over the years, tensions have eased. Being bilingual is now an accepted fact of life; members of Italy's national police, the Carabinieri, are regularly sent to brush up their German at the Alpha Beta Piccadilly language school in Bolzano.

But these days, Italy's financial problems are reawakening old resentments.

Tax gripes Walking through the affluent streets of Bolzano, with its quaint Tyrolean architecture, it is easy to come away with the impression that South Tyrol is remarkably untouched by the euro crisis.
Unemployment is low and business is thriving. But, as in other wealthy parts of Europe, many German speakers here resent having to bail out southern Italians - whom they see as spendthrift and profligate.

Elmar Thaler, Federation, Historic South Tyrolean Riflemen: 'People are asking why we should have to pay for Italy. We are not actually Italians anyway. '  Up to now, 90% of taxes paid here stayed here. 

But the government in Rome needs cash, and wants more money from South Tyrol. Siegfried Brugger, an MP from the governing South Tyrolean Peoples' party, says that goes against their autonomy agreement. But he says they are willing to negotiate. "We have a lot of problems because we have to give a lot of money to Rome," he said. "But we want to decide ourselves how and where to save and for us it is very important to collaborate with Italy and not to give money without a guarantee."

And some people want to leave Italy altogether. The 500-year-old group, the Südtiroler Schützenbund (the Federation of Historic South Tyrolean Riflemen), has long campaigned for reunification with North Tyrol, which is part of Austria.

Separatism calls In April, the group organised a protest in Bolzano demanding freedom from Rome. It was attended by around 5,000 men and women in lederhosen and traditional dress. The Schützen's leader, Elmar Thaler, says the worse things get economically, the better it is for their cause.

 

Elmar Thaler says South Tyrol should separate completely from Rome. 

 

"People are asking why should we have to pay for Italy?" he asked. "We aren't actually Italian anyway. In this way, the crisis has made many people aware that they haven't got anything to do with Italy."

This is a minority view. Separatism is not the hot political issue that it is in the Spanish province of Catalonia, and the Schuetzen say they are not linked to other Italian separatist movements, like the Northern League.But Siegfried Brugger says many politicians in South Tyrol are watching developments in places like the Basque Country and Scotland very closely.

Lucio Giudiceandrea says the region is at a turning point. "The situation in Italy and all over Europe is no longer certain and the money is no longer freely available," he said.  "I think we have to learn to live with the other group and to see each other not as rivals but as friends. If we don't, for sure we will fall into conflicts. And of course this situation depends only on us."

On a sunny day in Bolzano, the cafes do a roaring trade in cappuccino, as a street musician in a Tyrolean hat with a feather plays that most Austrian of tunes, the Blue Danube. The financial crisis is testing Europe's historic fault-lines.

Mozart und Salz: Salzburg und Hallstadt

Rick Steves bringt uns auch nach Oesterreich: