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| May 2004 Newsletter |
Events
- News - Information |
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May 23rd : Election of a new Federal President |
The German Basic Law devotes an entire chapter to the role of the Federal President but the duties of the "first man of the state" both at home and abroad go far beyond those bestowed upon him by the constitution. The titles "supreme federal notary", "first representative of the State" and "figure of integration" all describe aspects of the role of the Federal President. The Federal President as head of state occupies the leading position from the point of view of protocol. He is the constitutional organ who represents the Federal Republic of Germany both at home and abroad. The classic
functions of the Federal President as head of state include: Other important tasks include proposing the Federal Chancellor for election, appointing and dismissing the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers, dissolving the Bundestag (Federal Parliament), promulgating (signing) and publicizing laws, appointing and dismissing federal judges, federal civil servants, commissioned and non-commissioned officers and exercising the power of pardon on behalf of the Federation. Two main candidates are in the running to become the next Federal President of Germany, the head of state, to be elected by the Federal Convention on May 23. The ruling coalition of the SPD and the Greens has nominated Gesine Schwan, President of Viadrina European University in Frankfurt (Oder). The Christian Democrats/Christian Social Party and the FDP have agreed on Horst Köhler as their candidate, who was until March 4 Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, headquartered in Washington, DC. They are running to succeed Johannes Rau, who has announced he would not seek a second term as Federal President. The Federal President is elected to a five-year term by the Federal Convention, which meets only for this purpose and will be made up of the 603 members of parliament and an equal number of individuals selected by the state parliaments, according to proportional representation. The CDU/CSU and FDP will control the majority of votes in the Federal Convention. The post war Federal Presidents were: 1949 Karl Arnold
(as president of the Bundesrat, acting) |
| Gozo represented in Bernburg |
 The
Ambassador of Malta, Mr William Spiteri, was invited by the Lord Mayor
of Bernburg (a city in the eastern region of Saxony Anhalt), Mr Helmut
Rieche to meet the seventeen international students in landscape architecture,
who had made a study of landscaping in Gozo, following the signing
of a Cooperation Agreement with the University of Malta.
Mr Spiteri was met by Prof. Erich Buhmann, Programme Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture, himself a landscape architect, who had led the group to Gozo some months ago. The group of students, who are in the final semester of their MA in landscape architecture, made a power-point presentation to a large audience of their proposals for Gozo, which they had also made to Mrs Giovanna Debono, Minister for Gozo. The President of the University, Prof. Dieter Orzessek, was also present, and spoke enthusiastically about the students’ works and explained, why Gozo had been chosen for the Masters project work. He augured that some of the ideas and proposals would be realized. These included ideas on water management, parking, transport, agriculture, the creation of bird sanctuaries and the environment in general. Mr W. Spiteri, who addressed the audience and debated with the students some of the proposals, also signed the Golden Book of the City of Bernburg. He was also handed a copy of the Cooperation Agreement signed between the University of Anhalt and the and the University of Malta on 24th September 2003. Mr Detlef Bischoff, Honorary Consul of Malta in Magdeburg, who
had been instrumental in arranging for the visit to Malta of the
MA students, was also present. |
| Eviga – ETC Malta Project - Project Manager: Dieter Windisch |
A group of trainers from Berlin will visit Malta from May 2nd to May 9th 2004 in order to talk to teachers, instructors and trainers about the setting up of a uniform curriculum that should enable the establishment of vocational activity in the non-medical social sphere. The group of German visitors will be hosted by the Maltese Employment & Training Corporation (ETC) in Hal Far. The main topic will be on how untrained workers could acquire a theoretical and practical knowledge qualifying them to work within non-medical activities in the social service sector. The Protestant Association for the Promotion of Initiatives against Unemployment Berlin-Steglitz (eviga) has been offering for more than five years now appropriate measures and contacts of up to one-year for untrained people to train and qualify themselves in this sector. The curriculum consists of 240 units and is designed to enable students to apply their theoretical knowledge right away. The situation of the elderly does not differ much throughout Europe. This is characterized by their solitude, especially when there are no friends or relatives who might be able to help with little favours, a visit to the doctor, or who could accompany them for a walk or to a cultural event. Therefore the need for these ordinary services will increase along with the question of how well the social workers are theoretically and practically qualified. Three corporations from Malta, Germany and Sweden will together face this question. Taking into account their individual framework they will examine how a common European minimum standard could be created on the basis of national standards. The objective will be to integrate these standards for the creation of a common directive. The
German visitors’ program should be an important step towards
this aim. Discussions with experts from both countries and visits
to social facilities offering employment in this sector will be
on the agenda together with talks with relevant ministries. In 2005
a common proposition developed by Malta, Germany and Sweden should
be worked out for a European directive on minimum standards in the
non-medical sector of social services. |
| Dr.
phil. Günter Jacobs - Part 2 Contd.
from Newsletter No.04/2004 The post-war period. His education and career in East and West Germany and his activities in Malta. Interviewed by Ingrid B. Kidder |
 In
Beestland, the village near Stralsund, where Dr. Jacobs was re-united
with his family, life was very slowly returning to some sort of difficult
normality after the horrors of the war. In the same year that young
Günter had crawled through the wooded border of the Russian Military
Zone, he finished his secondary schooling with a so called Sonderreife,
i.e. a special school leaving certificate which allowed him to study
at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University in Greifswald. After six semesters
of Pedagogy, Geography, and Germanic Philology, and at the tender
age of twenty, he became a primary and secondary school teacher (Realschule).
Dr. Jacobs shook his head slowly when he remembered those times: with the “wisdom” of a twenty-year old he had to teach children and even some youngsters who were older than he was, most of whom - due to the circumstances of the times - were “totally neglected, fighting, stealing, no discipline, no desire to learn, undernourished”. Yet, he managed, and well enough, in fact, he was soon appointed Deputy Head, and in 1954, Headmaster and Inspector in charge of several schools of the district. In 1950 he married Felicitas who was a teacher for Russian. When, due to certain ideologies, the political pressure bore down more heavily on the teachers, requiring them to instil the seed of the ruling political party in their schools, Günter and Felicitas Jacobs decided to leave their teaching posts, and return to Greifswald University in order to further their studies. In 1958 Günter graduated as high school teacher.
From then on their lives took a turn to steady normality. Friends in Frankfurt/Main offered them their first lodgings, and he started teaching there in autumn 1958. Günter Jacobs was soon appointed Headmaster in a special school for Reformpädagogik (pedagogical reform i.e. a comprehensive school). In addition he took up his studies again at Frankfurt University in 1966 and obtained his doctorate in philosophy in 1970, his thesis being a noted work on Johann Jakob Willemer, reformist, banker, contemporary and friend of J.W. von Goethe. His wife continued her studies in Russian and History, with English as an additional subject, and from 1963 on, took up teaching posts in Frankfurt, advancing to Oberstudienrätin (senior mistress for high schools). In 1971 the chance to practise the English language brought them to Malta for the first time. They liked the island and the people, and started coming more often for holidays, and eventually acquiring a maisonette in Attard in 1975. Spending more time here after his retirement, Dr. Jacobs made contact with the GMC in 1990 and offered his voluntary services for spracherhaltenden Unterricht (language courses to help participants enhance their knowledge of the language). Since then many grateful students have attended and enjoyed his sessions. He likes to be of assistance to teachers of German in their preparation of lessons for the local schools, and has found many Maltese friends over the years. One of his nephews has even married a Maltese girl. My last question
always concerns the hobbies: Dr. Jacobs likes to go on long walking
tours over the islands and has frequented most of the small and
winding paths the country side offers. Besides this he is very much
interested in German and English literature and loves gardening.
But his life’s real vocation is teaching – “as
long as they want me”. |
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Immediately
after his graduation, with his diploma – and not much more
– in their unobtrusive bags, they travelled to East Berlin
(which was situated in the Russian Military Zone, but had a ‘Western
Sector’) and used the then still functioning escape route
through the city train system (S-Bahn) to West Berlin where
his parents-in-law lived. This was hazardous; if caught it could
have meant very harsh punishment, even costing them their lives.
For camouflage reasons they crossed over separately, first his wife
and then he on the next day – just as ‘normal’
passengers riding the tram. And they made it, like thousands of
others. The operations of the S-Bahn were eventually restricted
to stop people fleeing the East, and the infamous Berlin Wall started
being built in 1961.