Tag Archives: history
New German Crime Series: Dark Woods Posted by Constanze on Feb 16, 2022
Guten Tag! A new German crime drama came to our televisions recently in the UK, which is always an exciting event! In today’s post I’d like to talk about the series and the true story it’s based on. The series is called Dark Woods (‘Das Geheimnis des Totenwaldes’ in the original German) and it’s just…
January 27: Commemorating the Holocaust Posted by Sten on Jan 27, 2022
Today is an important day in history. A großer Tag der Trauer (day of great sadness). On this day, 77 years ago, die Rote Armee (Red Army) liberated the Konzentrationslager (concentration camp) Auschwitz-Birkenau. Nothing could have prepared the Russian soldiers for what they found there. They liberated some 7000 ausgehungerte Überlebende (starved survivors), and found unimaginable amounts of remains of one of…
You Won’t Believe These Crazy German Place Names Posted by Sten on Jan 25, 2022
Every country has some strange Ortsnamen (m, place names). Take American Fork in Utah, or Shitterton in Dorset, UK. And we have our own crazy German place names! Here’s a few that where you can visit and you can take your picture next to the Ortsschild (n, place name sign). Oh, and also how you pronounce them properly…
The German Lebkuchenhaus (Gingerbread House) Posted by Constanze on Dec 22, 2021
Guten Tag und Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)! Over the years we’ve made several posts on German Christmas traditions, of which there are many. Today we’re adding one more into the mix and talking about the Lebkuchenhaus – gingerbread house! Made from gingerbread and lavishly decorated with coloured icing and a variety of other Süßigkeiten (sweets)…
Weihnachtsgurke: A German Christmas Tradition, Or Not? Posted by Constanze on Nov 30, 2021
Guten Tag! Can I say the W word yet? What’s the W word? Weihnachten (Christmas), of course! I love writing blog posts even more at this time of year, because so many aspects of Christmas have a connection with Germany and/or Austria, and reading about them really gets me in the mood for Christmas time!…
Did You Know This About Mozart? Posted by Constanze on Nov 3, 2021
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous classical composers of all time. Mozart lived a short life (1756 – 1791), dying at the age of 35. However, he composed more than 600 musical works during his lifetime, with Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Serenade- often called A…
Germany’s Abandoned Amusement Park Posted by Constanze on Jun 30, 2021
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at Germany through the lens of urban exploration. When travelling, I am always fascinated by places that are abandoned (verlassen), eerie (unheimlich), or otherwise strange (seltsam), so I thought I’d write a series of posts on places in Germany that meet that criteria! If you are also a…