Samuel Beckett German Diaries 1936-1937

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Samuel Beckett German Diaries published by Suhrkamp, English (lots of German terms in it) with German translation. Leseprobe. Übersetzung von Gaby Hartel
Herausgegeben von Mark Nixon und Oliver Lubrich

Guardian article 

I have borrowed Nixon’s book about this project, Samuel Beckett’s German Diaries 1936-1937, 2011, but someone else wants it so I will return it. Nixon the editor, professor of English at Reading University, also compares Beckett’s approach to Germany with Isherwood’s “I am a camera”. Beckett listens

like a fool to 2 hours of Hitler & an hour of Goering (opening of Reichstag. Goering reelected President, laws controlling 4 years plan extended for another 4…the usual from A.H. with announcement of a 20 yr. plan for development of Berlin, ‘rely’ to Eden consisting mainly in repeated assertion that Germany’s policy is not one of isolation; then Goering announcing foundation of 3 years ‘cultural’ prices of 100,000 ? RM & prohibition imposed on any Germans to accept a Nobel Prize

(January 1937)

 

German breadcutting

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A clip of a German cutting a “super accurate” slice of “very hard” bread has gone viral.

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZeqv5_qHpP/

The reaction of some colleagues was “Why don’t they use a bread cutting machine?”

Years ago German bakeries would ask if you wanted the bread cut in a machine. I always said no. No need to let it dry out.

But who else remembers the times when a German woman (usually) would buy a huge loaf of bread and hold it against her waist to cut an even slice? Here’s the first example I found.

Here’s the Wired article in this connection.

Navigating Germany and the UK in a wheelchair

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Christiane Link has written about disability law in the UK and Germany for many years. She is disappointed nowadays when she finds thoughtless provision in what used to be her home country. This is from her newsletter, The Reverse Culture Shock is real – my Berlin experience

Here is what people often miss: Germany does not have anything equivalent to the UK Equality Act 2010. The Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz and even the Anti-Discrimination Act, the main disability equality laws, apply either primarily to federal public bodies or are a paper tiger. Enforcement remains weak and difficult for individual disabled people in a service environment outside employment. It is nothing compared to the UK law. There is no meaningful compensation mechanism for disabled people who face barriers. It’s all very bureaucratic, and organisations rarely get a slap on the wrist. And they know that. You can complain, and you can be ignored or get a very German letter back, and that is largely the end of it. Often, you feel more offended than you were before.

Aubrey Pope, German – Norman Baker on “my best teacher”

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Many years ago I did a PGCE and for my practical I went to the Royal Liberty School in Romford. The German teacher was Aubrey Pope, and he seemed to have a much better idea of how to teach German than the “direct method” we were encouraged to use and which I could never understand (grammar rules should not be taught – doesn’t work for me). Pope would get pupils to drill complex sentences by varying the nouns in them.

The Times Educational Supplement had a series “My best teacher”, where the then MP Norman Baker wrote about Aubrey Pope in a better way than I can.

Aubrey Pope wore John Lennon glasses, a tweed cap and cycled to school on one of those bikes with very small wheels. He rode a bike for environmental reasons, not because he didn’t have a car. He was very “green” long before it became fashionable.

He was unlike any other teacher I ever had. He taught me German and Russian at Royal Liberty school in Essex, and I still remember his first lesson. He taught us a complete sentence in German, which would translate: “After the two children had left the house, they go into the park to play football.”

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