Alumni

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 5:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

100 Years Since WWI: Dictatorship and Democracy in an Age of Extremes

Beginning with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the last century saw the rise of Italian fascism and Soviet communism, the world economic crisis, and the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, leading to the horrors of World War II.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Movie Night: Zug in die Freiheit/Train to Freedom

30.September 1989 kurz vor sieben Uhr abends. Fast 4000Menschen drängen sich im Garten der Prager Botschaft. Sie allewarten auf die Nachricht von Hans Dietrich Genscher. Schließlicherscheint er auf dem Balkon. „Liebe Landsleute. Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnenmitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise…“ Der Rest seiner Rede wirdvon lautem Jubelgeschrei übertönt. Es ist der Beginn einer derbedeutendsten Ereignisse der deutschen Nachkriegsgeschichte.Noch am gleichen Abend soll der erste Zug von Prag aus in die BRDfahren. Doch was dann bekannt wird, sorgt für Entsetzen: Die Zügesollen einen Umweg fahren. Sie müssen durch die DDR...

Prague 1989, September 30th. The West German Embassy in Prague finds itself the centre of the world's political stage. Forweeks, refugees from East Germany have been crowding the premises of the Palais Lobkowitz and the surrounding streets.Within days, the fenced embassy compound transformed itself into a vast refugee camp. Wrapped up in blankets and living intents, men and women, young and old, and whole families are waiting for the politicians to act. A few belongings, memories of their past and dreams of a better life in the West is all they bring along...

In German with English subtitles.

Monday, September 22, 2014 8:00 am - Friday, September 26, 2014 9:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes: Spotlights on the History of Europe in the Twentieth Century

Poster for photo exhibition, Dictatorship and Democracy

Revealing a total of 190 rare photographs, newspaper clippings and political cartoons from different European archives, the exhibition "Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes" tells Europe's dramatic story of the 20th century – a past between freedom and tyranny, democracy and dictatorship.

Thursday, March 13, 2014 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00) Thursday, March 20, 2014 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00) Tuesday, April 8, 2014 7:00 pm - 7:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Diefenbaker Lecture Series: Literary Studies in the 21st Century

By discussing the issues and problems that are currently central to their research in German Studies, these leading scholars will explore how literary studies can fulfill the expectations of an academic discipline and connect with wider society.

Whether they arrived in the 1950s on a ship or a few years ago on a passenger plane, German immigrants to Waterloo Region still hold many untold stories in their families that risk being lost if they are not recorded. The Waterloo Centre for German Studies is looking for people of German descent—or their children—who would like to talk about their years in German-speaking Europe, their arrival in Canada during the 1950s, 1960s or later, and their lives in Waterloo Region.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 12:00 am - 12:00 am EDT (GMT -04:00)

Bronsky Reading

The young author Alina Bronsky is the fourth recipient of the Munk-Goethe Writers Residency. Her debut "Scherbenpark" is about 17-year-old Sascha who came from Moscow to Germany. Sascha is a commuter between two worlds and not at home in either of them but sharp-tongued and precocious enough to stand her ground – and to take the reader with her on a constantly accelerating journey.