Tag Archives: Second World War
The German Word ‘Volk’ Posted by Constanze on Jun 9, 2021
Guten Tag! We have talked before on the blog about words with loaded meanings/stigma attached to them – such as this post, German words associated with Nazism. Today we’re going to look at another such word in more detail. It’s a very small, simple word, but sometimes even these words have a surprising amount of…
75 Years Ago: The Nuremberg Trials Posted by Sten on Nov 23, 2020
Last Friday was the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Nürnberger Prozesse (Nuremberg trials). It was a series of Strafprozesse (criminal trials) to bring Nazis to justice. The Prozesse are seen as the beginning of the Völkerstrafrecht (International Criminal Law) and were an important marker how justice can be served to people that have such severe crimes…
German History: The White Rose Movement Posted by Constanze on Oct 28, 2020
Guten Tag! It’s been a while since I’ve done a travel/history post, so that’s what today’s post will be about! Today we’re going to München, Germany to learn about Sophie Scholl and Weiße Rose (White Rose), a political movement from 1942. Weiße Rose was started by a group of students at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Ludwig Maximilian University…
The Curiosity of the German Word “Wehrmacht” Posted by Sten on Sep 17, 2020
You may have heard of the German word die Wehrmacht (armed forces), which was what the German armed forces were called during the Second World War. When trying to pronounce the word, you may have gotten close to something that sounds like “Warmacht”, which may have lead you to conclude that Wehr must mean “war” in German. Not true!…
Germany’s Stolpersteine Posted by Constanze on Jul 8, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we’re travelling around Germany again, this time to look at Stolpersteine. In fact, the Stolpersteine will take us out of Germany, too, and all around Europe. Read on to find out more. In the early ‘90s, a German artist named Gunter Demnig came up with the idea of Stolpersteine, commemorative brass plaques…
The Curiosity of the German Word “Shitstorm” Posted by Sten on Jun 25, 2020
Today we’re looking at a a really fun German word: Der Shitstorm. I already hear you say “but that’s not a German word!” And you’d be right, of course. But hear me out, it gets funkier! But let me first tell you about the curious German word Shitstorm. Merkel said this?! Angela Merkel, the German Bundeskanzlerin, known…
The German Memorial In Viscardigasse Posted by Constanze on Jun 3, 2020
There is a little street in Munich that is home to a subtle memorial with a very powerful history attached to it. In this post I’d like to share with you the memorial in Viscardigasse, Munich, and the meaning behind it. History To understand the memorial that is there today, we must first look at…