News

** On Wednesday, March 19, Bristol Hannover Council's Ann Kennard convened a host of groups and individuals from Bristol engaged in teaching and learning the German language for a meeting over Kaffee and Kuchen in the Folk House with the GermanAmbassador Miguel Berger. The Ambassador visited the city to celebrate #ShoutOutForGerman, a campaign to highlight the benefits of learning the German language. A mixed group of all ages and levels of language proficiency drawn from the population of Bristol succeeded in convincing the Ambassador that German is alive and kicking in the city. In...

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** On Monday March 3 the BHC and its guests gathered once again at the Black Swan for the traditional celebration of Rosenmontag. Ann Kennard explained that the occasion traditionally marked the start of Lent. The Lord Mayor and his consort joined more than 30 members and friends for our celebration and a good time was had by all. Everyone enjoyed the German-style buffet, and chatted and drank while the Karnevalsmusik played and pictures from Germany with merrymakers in colourful costumes came through on the TV. Our German guests guided us through traditional Karneval songs, whilst...

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** On February 27 BHC members linked up with the German Historical Institute in London for a talk by Professor Maren Röger (Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe) on (Cold) War Games: Scenarios on Both Sides of the Iron Curtain. Germany was and remains to this day a country where games particularly board games are very popular.  Games in West Germany were often played by all the family but In East Germany they were mainly designed to educate children. During the Cold War these games took on a deeper ideological meaning. From the 1960s onwards in East Germany games...

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** Former BHC chair Ann Kennard was invited recently to an event at the German Embassy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the destruction and ultimate journey of renewal of the city of Dresden. After an introduction by the ambassador, Miguel Berger, the Dean of Windsor, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, recollected his time as Bishop of Coventry from 2008-2023, during which time there were many visits of youth groups, school and cultural groups to and from Coventry’s partner city, Dresden. . Ambassador Berger speaking . The two main speakers were Edmund de Waal, artist, potter and author,...

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** BHC has relaunched its Facebook page. Catch up on all our forthcoming activities and find out more about the things you missed. For all things Hannover related in Bristol and most things German follow BHC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=bristol%20hannover%20council

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** On February 25, financial journalist Wolfgang Munchau talked to the members of the British German Association about his recent book 'Kaput!' on the decline of the German economy.   Wolfgang mostly avoided re-telling the now familiar critique of Germany in the Merkel era: overdependence on Russian oil and gas, too focused on boosting exports of machinery to China, insufficient investment in critical infrastructure . He timed the most recent decline from 2018. Although Covid masked the effects, stagnation is now incontrovertible. In a world which has rapidly embraced digital Germany has remained...

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** BHC members were invited, on Thursday February 20, to an online book talk with Herman Beck on Before the Holocaust: Antisemitic Violence and the Reaction of German Elites and Institutions during the Nazi Takeover. The  event was jointly organised by the Leo Baeck Institute and the Wiener Holocaust Library. Hermann Beck, a Professor of History at the University of Miami, has spent the best part of 14 years researching the topic in archives all over Germany. He documented  a great wave of violence against Jews in the Spring of 1933 when the Nazis came to power. This violence has previously...

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FEB 18: Lucy Noakes (Essex) and Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck) in conversation at the GHIL . ** Despite some initial challenges with the technology, several BHC members were able to participate in this excellent session with two leading historians from Britain and German contrasting the memories of the war in both countries. Lucy Noakes characterised popular memory in the UK as 'resentful winners'-we were ostensibly the victors but had not come out on top economically like Germany. Frank Trentmann said that memory in Germany is complicated by the division of Germany. In West Germany the central...

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** BHC member Michael Bloom gave a fascinating talk on January 28 about his Jewish great uncle Horst Berkowitz. Dr Berkowitz lived in Hannover for most of his life. He was the youngest volunteer for the German army in the First World War and was heavily wounded in France. After the war he qualified as a lawyer and had a successful practice in Hannover until the Nazis seized power. Perhaps partly due to his service in the First World War, Horst's life was spared, although he was subject at one point to imprisonment in Buchenwald concentration camp. Some of his relatives emigrated to England,...

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** For those of you who do not like to travel too far during the winter months when the days are short, the Bristol-Hannover Council has just the thing?. During February, we are curating three on-line talks from leading academics on topics which I know will appeal to our members?.  The talks are hosted by our friends at the German Historical Institute in London and the Leo Baeck Institute. You can attend as many as you like. They are all free of charge, but in some cases require you to register in advance on-line. Don't worry, the process is very simple?.   If you have never been in a Zoom...

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