AllThingsGerman.net

I should have been on Rügen today

June 17, 2020 By Graham Leave a Comment

Normally this is the week in June when I travel to see the Störtebeker Festspiele on Rügen and write about other places on the island to visit.

Not this year. The corona pandemic means that the theater is closed. So there will be no press preview to visit, no day on the green at the Bodden in Ralswiek, and no Erdbeerbecher in “Zum Störti”.

But until a few years ago the theatre produced DVDs of the performance, and these often pop up on ebay. I recently found the 2010 edition there, and since that is the year before my first visit to the island, it is one that I have never seen. So I will at least have a new play to see. It won’t be the same, though.

Filed Under: Corona Tagged With: Ralswiek, Störtebeker Festspiele

Coming out of Lockdown

June 1, 2020 By Graham Leave a Comment

It is now eleven weeks since Germany went into lockdown, and tomorrow is a big day because the schools re-open for the those years that been at home for the full eleven weeks, including the first years at the primary schools.

With the exception of the Easter holidays, our daily schedule has meant that we spend the mornings working, with myself working online and remotely for my clients and both my children doing their schoolwork which they either receive in advance by e-mail or through a portal that the primary school started using a few weeks ago.

Sometimes they had videos to watch that explained what they had to do, some lessons even took place using Zoom, and sometimes the work had to be sent back by a specific deadline.

A playground in Oberursel after they re-opened in May 2020

Playgrounds in Oberursel re-opened a few weeks ago

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Corona Tagged With: Lockdown

VE75 in Oberursel

May 8, 2020 By Webmaster Leave a Comment

Whilst the UK commemorates the 75th Anniversay of VE Day, Germany calls it the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation from National Socialism.

Commemoration events in Oberursel were held at the Opferdenkmal (memorial to victims of the National Socialism) and at the stone in front of the town hall, which contains a quote from Richard von Weizsäcker, who was Germany’s President at the time of the 40th anniversary.

“Wir Gedenken in Trauer aller Opfer des Krieges und der Gewaltherrschaft. Nur wer die Vergangenheit verleugnet, ist in der schrecklichen Gefahr, sie zu wiederholen.”