Michael Risch-Janson '08 and Angela Sigl '08 Return from Fulbright Teaching, Wed in Abbey Church

An amazing story ....

• Michael started in German 111 his Freshman year -- and completed the major in four years!
• He double majored in German and Physics.
• He was a participant in the Salzburg Program
• He took a job as a programmer at Securian Financial in Downtown Saint Paul..
• After a year of work in the real world he decided to apply for the Austria teaching Fulbright.
• His girlfriend Angela Sigl (CSB grad, 2008) was also awarded a Fulbright teaching position in Wieselburg because the other American teacher didn't show up!
• Angela and Michael are being married in the Abbey Church by Fr. Mark Thamert on July 3, 2010.
• Congratulations Michael and Angela!

Austrian Ambassador, Christian Prosl, Visits Saint John's University.

Ambassador Christian Prosl is not the first Austrian diplomat to the United States to visit Collegeville, but given his warm reception Tuesday, it likely will not be the last.   Prosl was given a guided tour of The Saint John s Bible exhibition at Hill Museum & Manuscript Library on the campus of St. John's University.

One of our board members is the honorary consul general to Austria ... and former instructor here, HMML Development Director Erin Lonergan said about Ron Bosrock and his invitation to Prosl.  Matthew Heintzelman, curator of the Austria and Germany Study Center, gave a presentation about HMML's Austrian collection in Collegeville, during the 63-year-old ambassador's visit.

A book is more than just a container for text, Heintzelman said. It is the history of how that book was received, how the book was made, what were the economics of the time. 

Prosl, a husband and father from Eisenstadt, Austria, looked at The Saint John s Bible's The Luke Anthology, which featured ink from hand-ground pigments and gold leaf on calfskin vellum.

I heard from my predecessor that there s a wonderful monastery here and wonderful people, and so I came, said Prosl, who arrived in the Twin Cities on a flight from Washington, D.C. The Saint John's Bible is the world's latest handwritten and illustrated Bible, and the first Bible to be commissioned by a Benedictine monastery in almost 500 years.

The Benedictines have been here for the last 150 years, and what they do is a place of culture ... and they show how (to live) a Christian life, Prosl said of his first visit to St. John's.

HMML began converting Austrian manuscripts to microfilm in 1965 in an effort to preserve books and manuscripts in other countries. The most complete of HMML's collections, it contains more than 30,000 manuscripts and other documents pre-1600 work from almost all the Austrian libraries.

It opened doors for us to more than 70 other manuscript libraries and set the standard for the collaboration that has characterized HMML's mission during our 40 years of work throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said the Rev. Columba Stewart, HMML executive director.  Eva Nowotny, a former Austrian ambassador to the United States, visited the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in 2007. 

HMML was founded 40 years ago in response to the loss of manuscripts and books during World Wars I and II.  Austria is a small country. We know we are not the center of the world, and we have no problems and we don't create problems so basically we have a very good relationship (with the United States), Prosl said of his German-speaking country, which has a population of 8.2 million.

The United States first established diplomatic relations with Austria in 1838, and relations between the two have been continuous since, except in World War I and World War II.  He is a very nice person very nice, very nice, Prosl said of President Barack Obama, who the  Austrian ambassador described as being genial and welcoming when presented with his credentials.

In a globalist world, there are two major areas that have the same basic values Europe and the United States and therefore we have to understand each other, Prosl said of U.S.-Austrian relations.

German Major Matt Beck Gives Commencement Address

Philipp Roye and Andreas Raab Give Presentation About Germany and Austria at Local High Schools

Philipp Roye, a first year student from Germany and Andreas Raab, our Fulbright Teaching Assistant from Austria, brought their home countries to a high school classroom in the nearby town of Holdingford. History and geography, customs and traditions, food and clothing, sights, sports, and their home towns were among the topics Philipp and Andreas talked about. Around 30 8th grade students learned about another culture and asked the two presenters many interesting questions. Philipp and Andreas enjoyed their visit and had a great time working with the student group.

  

Senior Matt Beck Awarded Prestigious Fulbright Grant for Research and Teaching in Germany

 

    Note:  Matt will be teaching in two schools in the inner city of Nürnberg, one school on each side of the Pegnitz river.  Here Matt talks about his interest in German leading to being granted this wonderful fellowship. 

    I started taking German as a junior at Pierz Healy High School, where it was the major language of study. Because of block scheduling I was able to take four courses in two years. I came to St. John's somewhat misguidedly to play sports, but I later realized the importance of academics and also the friendships that I have made here. So far, my best experience in German has been studying abroad in Ingolstadt, Germany. I lived with a host family and worked in an after-school program. At this program, I worked with a variety of immigrants who were struggling. My experiences in Germany eventually became the groundwork for my senior thesis, which I am presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Montana. I am most proud of how far I have been able to come in four years - I'm certainly much more aware of the world that I was as a freshman, and I'm much more able to critically think about language, education, and politics.

    I've also found that the German major here is a great chance to foster community. This past fall, my roommates and I had Fr. Mark, Fulbright Teaching Assistant Andreas Raab, and our faculty resident over to make Wienerschnitzel. Events such as this are unique opportunities to get to know professors and other German majors better.
    My senior thesis synthesized many of my interests. Because of my experiences in Ingolstadt, I knew that I wanted to research possible improvements to the situation of immigrants in Germany. I ended up combining aspects of Marxist theory, Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy, and theories of second language acquisition. In the future, I see my self completing a Ph. D. or Ed. D. in education, most likely focusing on critical pedagogy or culture and teaching.
    Right now, I'm student teaching to get ready for my career in education. At the beginning of this semester, I taught at St. John's Preparatory School with Emmy Sack. Emmy was a wonderful mentor; in two months, I was able to greatly improve as a teacher. It was also quite strenuous - writing lesson plans for four different courses each day adds up quickly!
     Fulbright is an experience that will certainly help me in my future. Not only will I be able to improve my German, I'll be able to see a different educational system. It'll also give me some time to mature before I begin my career as a teacher.

Matt Beck

Six Seniors Complete Final Presentations with Honors

Christen, Dan, Jay, Teresa, und Greg -- Wir sind so stolz auf euch!

TERESA M. WALCH    Supporting a Myth: The Effect of Vienna’s Post-World War II Monuments on Austrian Identity, 1945-1955. (Mark Thamert, OSB, PhD, Modern and Classical Languages).   Although many Austrians participated in the crimes of the third Reich, Austria was labeled as the first victim of German aggression in the Allied Moscow Declaration of 1943. In order to conform to this victim myth, postwar Austrian political elites created and used a distinct, non-German identity to serve their own political agendas. Provincial and locally-sponsored Austrian memorials disputed the official memory that was supported and sustained by politically-sponsored monuments in Vienna during the initial postwar decade. This study delves into Austria’s post-World War II monument culture, specifically focusing on Vienna’s monuments and memorials, and it analyzes Austrian political elites’ utilization of these sites of memory to support the official postwar Austrian identity.

CHRISTEN BECKSTRAND   Music as Political Tool: The Role of Music as Propaganda in Nazi Germany (1933-1945).  (Dr. Andreas Kiryakakis, Modern and Classical Languages).  The Third Reich (1933-1945) drew upon many aspects of German nationalism to solidify its control, including German musical culture, which played an important role in the regime's overall propaganda effort. Exploiting the Germanic musical culture, the Nazi party won “acceptance by creating the proper emotional atmosphere,” wherein the acceptance of the Nazi party and Nazi ideals was simple and natural for the German public (Moller, 44). The Third Reich worked to promote the purity of German culture and the credibility of the Nazi Party by exalting the past Germanic (Aryan) musical greats, censoring new musical material, and excluding Jews from the musical scene. As a musical, emotional, and political movement, the Third Reich successfully infiltrated the German Volk through a popular vein: the love and appreciation for Germany’s composers and the tradition of German dominance in the musical movement.

MATTHEW T. BECK  Immigration and the German School System: a Freirean Perspective.   (Dr. Anna Lisa Ohm, Modern and Classical Languages).  During the economic boom of the 1950's, Germany welcomed guest workers from other countries to help rebuild its economy. Since then, the children of many of these immigrants have struggled to succeed in school. In order to improve their situation, I suggest that a combination of Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy, multicultural education, and collaborative dialog may help immigrant children acquire both the language skills and the cultural knowledge necessary for academic success. In this project I draw upon theories of second language acquisition; works by educational theorists from Germany, America, and Canada; and the experiences of German educators.

GREG SANDQUIST   The Berlin airlift: the start of the US-German relationship. (Dr. Anna Lisa Ohm, Modern and Classical Languages).   From June 1948 until 1949, the city of West Berlin suffered under the hands of the Soviet blockade of all Allied supply lines through the Soviet-occupied zone. The Berlin Airlift in the end was a success, but many Americans and Germans were extremely worried that it would fail in the beginning stages. During the 11 months of the Airlift, the US came to understand its previous enemy as a mutual partner and friend. After 50-60 years of almost being forgotten, interest in the Berlin Airlift exploded in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Anniversaries were being celebrated and the veterans who participated in one of America’s finest hours are passing on, but Americans are also seeking answers in a previous era, the era of the “Greatest Generation,” when the US found solutions instead of being the problem.

JAY M. RANFRANZ   How Far is Too Far? A Comparison of Nazi Eugenic Movements during World War II with Today’s Developments in Modern Eugenics.  (Mark Thamert, OSB, Ph.D., Modern and Classical Languages).  Scientific breakthroughs in the field of genetics during the 21st century have greatly contributed to the science community and general public, but where could these technological advances lead? With new information about the role of genes in human development, classic eugenicists have turned to genetic engineering to manipulate the human genome in hopes of improving the human race. The problem is that even though the science behind this practice has changed, the ethical dilemmas have remained. Modern eugenicists argue that exterminating “bad” genes from the population will better humanity as a whole. This movement is eerily similar to the Nazi Party’s support of racial hygiene. Modern eugenics is morally indefensible based on its close resemblance to the Nazi eugenic movements of WWII, which has already been accepted as wrong. Science pushes the limits of what ethicists deem morally right or wrong, so the question is, How far is too far?

DAN SALAY   The significance of the word Volk [German People] from the Romantic period to today (Dr. Anna Lisa Ohm, Modern and Classical Languages)  The words DEM DEUTSCHE VOLKE [To the German People] stand over the main entrance to the Reichstag building in Berlin. The interpretation of Volk has transformed since the time of the romantics. The placement of these words on the Reichstag in 1916 stirred early debates about the true meaning of Volk for all Germans. The word Volk has undergone changes that carry both positive and negative connotation connected directly to the history of German politics and culture. Beginning in the Romantic period, and following through the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, the Cold War, and up to today, Volk has gained no universally accepted definition regarding its proper usage for the modern day. Its presence on the Reichstag publically presents the question of its meaning to this day. This unresolved question generates debate and remains a thorn in the side of Germany’s identity and its position in the world.

Carolyn Haupert Takes Job in Germany Starting in September

Dear students taking German!  Here is my news ...

     I have just accepted an au pair position in Bamberg, Germany starting in September and going through the following August. I will be living with a family and helping with their two children while they help me with my German. I will be taking language classes at the University of Bamberg and oboe lessons with a teacher from Nuremberg. I am looking forward to immersing myself in German language and culture.

     I got the job by posting a profile with an online au pair agency. I found the agency on goabroad.com, which I found on the school's career center webpage.

     Best of luck in your German studies!  I hope German speaking countries will also be part of your plans after college!

     Carolyn Haupert

Celebrating the end of a successful year!

German Students at Saint Ben's and Saint John's

Take a peek at our wonderful students!

CLICK these LINKS:

http://germanmajors-2010.blogspot.com/2010/03/german-majors-2010.html 

 http://germanmajors-2010.blogspot.com/2010/03/german-majors-2011.html

Top Minnesota High School Students and Teachers Come to Saint John's for German Awards Banquet

 

On Saturday, April 25, thirty Minnesota high school German students received awards for their superb work in German language and culture studies in German.  Top Minnesota German teachers were also recognized at this event.  They represent the best of German teaching nationwide:  

Dear Teachers: We are deeply grateful for your daily energy and contributions to the success of German Studies in Minnesota! We cannot thank you enough.

•    Kathy Bauman at Century High School in Rochester 
•    Josh Grossman at John Marshall High School in Rochester
•    Michael Thompson at Mayo High School in Rochester
•    Emmy Sack from Saint John's Preparatory in Collegeville
•    Jutta Crowder at St. Paul Academy
•    Maureen Curran at Mounds View High School in Arden Hills
•    Barbara Melbye Janssen at Wayzata High School in Plymouth
•    Miriam O'Brien at Marshall School in Duluth
•    Judy Zewers at Coon Rapids High School in Coon Rapids
•    Laura Welch at Irondale High School in New Brighton
•    Deborah Winkelman at Northfield High School in Northfield
•    Rosemarie Hogan at Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley
•    Gretchen Ortenzio at Minnetonka High School in Minnetonka
•    Cheryl Wason at Farmington High School in Farmington.

_______________________

Pictured here are colleagues Isolde Mueller and Shawn Jarvis from SCSU who organized the administration of the oral and written national exams, and Lisa Ohm, German Professor and Chair of MCL for Saint Ben's and Saint John's who helped host the event.  Thank you all for a most wonderful event!