German Language Blog

As I announced some posts ago, Joachim Gauck was elected yesterday. After Christian Wulff, he is the new president of Germany. The 11th by the way. Hopefully he will stay longer as his forerunners Wulff and Köhler.

Christian Wulff (Foto by Martina Nolte)

As some of you already might have heard through the media, German Bundespräsident Christian Wulff has resigned some days ago. This is the result of a discussion in Germany that lasted for weeks!

Christian Wulff was accused of several faux pas, especially by the Presse (press). It all began with a false statment that he made in front of the „Landtag“ of Lower Saxony. He was asked if there is some business relation between him and Unternehmer (businessman) Egon Geerkens. He answered no, but later on, a famous German newspaper found out that Wulff borrowed 500.000 EUR from Geerkens wife to built a house. And Geerken even admitted that Wulff was involved in the execution of this credit.

When Wulff recognized that the Zeitung (newspaper) would publish this story, he called the chief editor and tried to avoid or delay the announcement. But they wouldn´t. Quite contrary, and so a little scandal was perfect.

From this day on, Wulff was on every front page and the affair was the topic of hundreds of talk shows all over Germany. But not enough. New researches have been started and other details showed up that didn´t support Wulff at all. Several Urlaubsreisen (vacation trips), payed by managers and businessmen have been critisized. But Wulff always said that these trips have been made on reasons of friendship and have nothing to do with his Amt (charge).

Anyway, I think things have been gone too far, already by that time, to re-establish confidence in Wulff and so people started to demand his Rücktritt (resignation). When several prosecutions announced that they would research against Wulff in a matter of acceptance of benefits by a public official, he finally resigned on February 17th 2012. In a short speech he said, that researches would proof his Unschuld (innocence). But he also said, that he has made some mistakes and that the charge of a Bundespräsident should no longer be associated with lies and corruption.

Joachim Gauck (Foto by J. Patrick Fischer)

I personally don´t judge if he is guilty or not. There are as well a lot of people who say that he is just a victim of the media. Anyway, after weeks of Aufregung (agitation), the whole thing is over now and hopefully, politicians as well as citizens can concentrate on other things again (that are way more important in my opinion).

Ups, I almost forgot to mention another detail about the whole thing: It is proposed by all political parties, that Joachim Gauck should be the next Bundespräsident of Germany. He already has been a Kanditat (candidate) in 2010 when Wulff has finally won after three election rounds.

Some vocabulary of this post:

der Bundespräsident – Federal President
die Presse – press
der Landtag – parliament of a land
der Unternehmer – businessman
die Zeitung – newspaper
die Urlaubsreise – vacation trip
das Amt – charge
der Rücktritt – resignation
die Unschuld – innocence
die Aufregung – agitation
der Kandidat – candidate

self-portrait 1894 (source: Wikipedia)

Today I want to introduce another German character to you. This one is for sure not as bekannt (famous) as Albert Einstein for example. But anyway he made his contribution to German poetry, humor and language.

Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch was born on April 15th 1832 in Widensahl. He was one of the most influentual humorous Dichter (poets) and Zeichner (drawers) in Germany. His first picture story was released in 1859. Already in the 1870´s he was one of the most famous characters in Germany. At the time of his death, he was seen as a „Classic of German humor“ who reached a great popularity with his satiric Bildergeschichten (picture stories).

Today he is also seen as a Pionier (pioneer) in comic strips. Some of his most famous Werke (creations) are:

- Max und Moritz
- Die fromme Helene
- Plisch und Plum
- Hans Huckebein, der Unglücksrabe
- Die Knopp-Trilogie

Many of his two-liners like „Vater werden ist nicht schwer, Vater sein dagegen sehr“ (To become father is very easy, but to be a father is not easy at all) or „Dieses war der erste Streich, doch der zweite folgt sogleich“ (This was the first coup, but the second one will follow immediately) became  figures of speech in German Sprachgebrauch (linguistic usage). His satires mock attributes of certain people or groupings. So he often offends the self-satisfaction and doubtable moral opinions of Spießbürger (philistines) and the bigotry of civil and clerical persons with his picture stories.

Busch was an earnest and close-mouthed man who lived many years in provincial Zurückgezogenheit (reclusiveness). He didn´t cherish his own picture stories. For him they were just a way to earn some money to advance his financial situation after unfinished studies of arts and a long lasting financial Abhängigkeit (dependency) on his parents.

Max & Moritz, the most famous characters of Wilhelm Busch

His attempt to become a serious painter failed with his own demands on quality. So he destroyed most of his paintings. That things that were left couldn´t be related to a special style. His lyrical compositions and Prosa (prose) unfortunately were not accepted by the audience because the people clearly associated Wilhelm Busch with his picture sories.

The failure of becoming a serious artist was something that bothered him until his death in Mechtshausen on January 9th 1908. He stopped working long before that, because based on using eyeglasses and having a shaky hand, he was feeling old.

Some vocabulary to this post:
bekannt – famous
der Dichter – poet
der Zeichner – drawer
die Bildergeschichte – picture story
der Pinoier – pioneer
das Werk – creation
der Sprachgebrauch – linguistic usage
der Spießbürger – philistine
die Zurückgezogenheit -  reclusiveness
die Abhängigkeit – dependency
die Prosa – prose