Lecture

Be it the depictions of castles and seductive sirens along the Rhine River in the poetry and prose of Brentano, Eichendorff, and Heine, the paintings of artists like Runge and Friedrich, or the fairy tales told by the Brothers Grimm, the German Romantics created landscapes whose images continue to resonate in the popular imagination.

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.

Twenty-five years ago and after protests and peaceful demonstrations, the Berlin Wall opened, the East German government resigned, and German unification was on the horizon. The year 1989 was an eventful year for East Germans: protests during the local elections in spring; the flight of thousands via Hungary and Czechoslovakia in summer; anti-government protests in Leipzig and other cities and towns in fall, and the fall of the Wall in November.

Mat Schulze, prof in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and director of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, was a student in Leipzig in 1989. He will talk not only about the political developments that year but also give an eyewitness account of protests, civic rights actions, and demonstrations in Leipzig.

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.

Identität / Ethnizität / Authentizität: Fragen der Selbstdarstellung im türkisch-deutschen Kabarett

Erol Boran (University of Toronto)

Co-sponsored by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies

Professor Barbara Schmenk gave a lecture on "Internationalization, autonomy, globalization: Some thoughts on weasel words in language education" based on her recent book: Schmenk, Barbara (2008) Lernerautonomie. Tübingen, Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Poster: German Language and (Dis-)Unity Poster (PDF)

German Language and (Dis-)Unity: German Twenty Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Why It Happened, What It Changed

James M. Skidmore (University of Waterloo)

Poster: 2010 Diefenbaker Lecture Series Poster (PDF)

In February and March 2010, the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and the Waterloo Centre for German Studies hosted the 2010 Diefenbaker Lecture Series.

Poster: Ethnic Cleansing 1945 - 1948 Poster (PDF)