For all soccer fans November 10th 2009 was a horrible day that shocked Germany and the rest of many soccer interested countries. Robert Enke, national goalkeeper and captain of his Mannschaft (team) Hannover 96 committed suicide due to depressions that he was suffering from for many years.
He kept his Krankheit (disease) hidden from the public and only his Ehefrau (wife) Theresa and closest friends knew, which is why everybody was devastated by the sad news. Robert Enke was nowhere near as glamorous or controversial as other soccer players like David Beckham, Oliver Kahn or Eric Cantona. His lifestyle was einfach (simple) and instead of having a penthouse in the most expensive part of Hannover he lived on his little Bauernhof (farm) where he and his wife took care of abandoned animals.
The German Bundesliga and its fans experienced a lot of grieve but also came together in honoring and remembering this down to earth guy who was simply sick but too embarrassed to actually consider the right Behandlung (treatment) which would have put his soccer career in jeopardy which he feared.
Since his death his team Hannover 96 has lost eight games and tied one. The team is playing against the Abstieg (relegation) and will most likely lost that fight. Robert Enke will always be remembered in Germany as the good Kumpel (pal) who you just wanted to be your friend and who did not care about any kind of self glorification. Depressions took a great person from us all.
Die Mannschaft – the team
Die Krankheit – the disease
Die Ehefrau – the wife
Einfach – simple
Der Bauernhof – the farm
Die Bundesliga – First German soccer division
Die Behandlung – the treatment
Der Abstieg – relegation
Der Kumpel – good friend, pal
Die Tochter – the daughter
Comments:
SteveK:
Sad news.
I have a vocabulary question:
What is the difference between using
Die Ehefrau
or
Die Frau?
Thanks
holger:
Steve,
the expression “die Frau” can mean both. Technically, it only means “the woman” but is used for wife as well when the “Ehe” (marriage) is skipped. Frau as in Ehefrau is best determined if there is a “meine” (my) in front of Frau. Out of the context it is indicated that the wife is talked about.
SteveK:
Thanks Holger. Similar to Marita on another thread, I’m not receiving updates to comments here (even though it does say I’m “subscribed to this entry”. I’ll keep checking on posts that interest me, but it would be good to know what’s happening. Do you know what email address the updates are sent from? Perhaps it is being filtered as spam…
Thanks,
holger:
Hi Steve,
I have to admit I do not know how the updates are generated. I will follow up with the IT guys to see what is going on.