The Final Post

German 110 was a pleasant surprise. I will admit that the class hours got to be long but I was use to night classes and the time would sometimes pass faster than normal. I had a great interest in each of the topics we covered. I also thought it was very interesting to have the class divided into groups to teach the rest of the class about the topic and subtopics we were assigned. I loved all of the movies we watched or were given to watch. Professor Roland chose to take a very unique approach to the learning with blogging, which I have never done before.

Throughout this semester, I have learned way more about Germany, it's culture, politics, and history, than I was expecting. This course caught my eye, not only because it was a general elective, but the fact that most of my heritage is German. My mother is 100% German and my father about half German. We have different German traditions we do in our household (more so around Christmas). My mom also likes to bake and eat some traditional German food. My favorite part of the course was when we focused on the youth and culture, especially that of Berlin. It was very interesting to watch the movie, Berlin Calling, and get a glimpse into the fast lifestyle of Berlin. Comparing Berlin to the United States was very different. The culture in Berlin is much more relaxed and open. Things are more culturally excepted there than in the U.S. Berlin would be a very fun and interesting place to visit.

Some of the other topics that we covered were; All Quiet on the Western Front, German political parties, Baader-Meinhof, the 16 German states, German fine arts, media, literature, and etc. Each topic proved to gain more interest from the class. All Quiet on the Western Front, proved to be a very good book too. I sometimes am a little skeptical when professors tell me that I will like their books assigned, but this book did exceed my expectations. Never judge a book by it's cover, right? All in all, this class was very fun and made me have the itch to travel to Germany sometime in the near future. Professor Roland is so knowledgable, not only about Germany, but many other topics. It was great to hear his opinions and facts during class. I am so glad that I decided to sign up for German 112 for one of my general electives. It was an awesome class and took a new refreshing approach to learning in the classroom.

Lebkuchen (For Christmas!)

Lebkuchen (or Pfefferkuchen) is a baked traditional German Christmas treat.

Some facts:

• Lebkuchen was invented in the 13th Century by medieval monks in Fraconia, Germany.
• Due to some historical and ingredient differences, Lebkuchen can be known as honey cake (honigkuchen) or pepper cake (pfefferkuchen).
• Lebkuchen can range from being sweet to spicy. It also varies in shapes and sizes but is generally soft.
• Sometimes the packaging of Lebkuchen is distributed in richly decorated tins, boxes, or chests. These make nostalgic collectors items. 

There can be different recipes and ingredients added to make these cookies. Some people use different types of nuts and glaze. Below is a link to a recipe I found online for Lebkuchen cookies. This recipe received a 4.5 out of 5 stars review.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/german-lebkuchen/

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebkuchen

Class Discussion Questions

1.  The first generation of the Baader-Meinhof group was more organized and thorough with their planning, strategies, and tactics. They had different plans and strategies to follow when it came to the assassinations of government officials, bombing of buildings, kidnapping, or robberies. The first generation wanted to avoid as little harm to the general public as possible. Andreas Baader was the first leader of the Baader-Meinhof group. This is where they first organized the group with more peaceful strategies like, protests, articles, and staged demonstrations. When the second and third generations of the Baader-Meinhof came to be, their planning, strategies, and tactics changed so much from the first's. These generation's attacks were less sought out and more brutal in nature.

2.  The way that I felt about the Baader-Meinhof group changed drastically from the beginning to the end of the movie. In the beginning, I thought the group's efforts and ideas were all easy to associate with and understand. As the movie continued though, my feelings shifted because of all the violence the group was resorting to. I felt the group was losing control and beginning to sink with all of their plans. At the end, there was way too much violence. This lead me to view the group as only a bunch of terrorists.

3.  Andreas Baader was such a powerful member of the group. This leads me to believe that through his determination and rudeness, it made him the group leader. If Andreas Baader would have been shy and polite, he would not have gotten his status and respect compared to his original superior ways. Through his rudeness, determination, and strong leadership qualities, it provided an excellent base for persuading the group members for doing things in his favor.

Rote Armee Fraktion/Red Army Faction

The Rote Armee Fraktion/Red Army Faction was caused because of their political disagreement with the rest of German society. These people felt that their country was heading in a bad direction because the political structure of Germany was like that of a fascist state. They wanted to protest the oppression in Germany and the Vietnam War.

The RAF had three generations. It started with the first generation the original founders such as; Andreas Baader and his followers. The second generation of RAF held power until the 1970's, due to high terroristic actions taking place. The third and final generation was in existence from the 1980's to the 90's. Many of the terroristic actions were gone but the RAF still remained strong.

The end of the RAF came when the government was no longer able to compete against the group. The RAF began to lose credibility and their foundations when the Soviet Union was starting to dissipate. The May Offensive was probably another factor to the end of the RAF since many of the members were discovered and detained that day.

Some of the similarities from then and now is that the terrorism is still of a Guerilla type. This kind of terrorism was found in Germany during the RAF. Both groups thought it was necessary to take the drastic measures of a human life. In return though, each member was committed enough to take their own lives for the cause. The terrorism caused by the group then and now is still considered some of the worst.

http://terrorism.about.com/od/groupsleader1/p/RedArmyFaction.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

Baader-Meinhof Complex

After viewing the movie in class, I felt that my reaction from it was what many other viewers had as well. In the beginning, I was quick to side with the extremists. The extremists faced much abuse from others and the authorities and their voices were all unheard. As the movie progressed though, I then was finding myself to side with the others. I felt this way because the extremists were so organized and had things well planned out in the beginning. Near the end, the extremists seemed to have lost complete control and everything was becoming sloppy and becoming out of their reach. It was also interesting to watch the once strong German government in the beginning of the movie, start to slip once the extremists were becoming a strong group and had well thought-out plans. Towards the end, the extremists' group begins to fall apart and one-by-one members of the group are discovered and either killed or sent to prison. I thought the movie was very interesting. It isn't the type of movie that I would pick out for myself to watch but I thought it was good. The movie has a good image of how the revolt and uprising occurred in Germany. This movie has me very curious to see the ending, since we left class at such a dramatic note in the film.