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| February 2005 Newsletter | ||
INNU
MALTI, die Nationalhymne der Republik Malta |
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von Reinhard Popp |
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This
is a very interesting course running for four consecutive
Wednesdays with sessions of 90 minutes each introducing
participants to the German poet and writer and Nobel Prize Winner Heinrich
Böll.
Short stories of this German author form part of the syllabus
of the MATSEC Advanced Level and also of the syllabus of the Third
Year students taking German at the University of Malta.
For this reason, apart from the biography of Böll, the one
short story prescribed for the Advanced Level as well as some
stories pertaining to the University students will be discussed
during this course.
Course material will be handed to those attending.
Dr
Günther Jacobs and his wife have donated a DVD player to the
German-Maltese Circle as a token of appreciation for the warm
welcome extended to them by the administration and members
throughout these past years. |
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Neu in der
Bibliothek : KUBUS Nr. 64
Der
Maler und Filmemacher Strawalde wird im ersten Film vorgestellt.
Aufgrund seiner von der ‘Norm’ in der DDR abweichenden Arbeiten
und Einstellungen wurde er von oben immer wieder angefeindet, gedemütigt
und verboten. Heute ist er einer der bekanntesten und hoch geachteten
Künstler, ausgezeichnet mit dem Filmband in Gold und dem
Bundesverdienstkreuz. | ||
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Tritratrallala
are the opening words of the “Polizeikasper” or
“Verkehrskasper” or simply “Kasper” when he enters the stage.
Kasper is a puppet and resembles Punch or a Joker. Fifty years
ago the first police puppet theatre of Schleswig-Holstein was
established. Now there are around 80 all over Germany. They visit
Kindergarten and schools to educate children especially regarding
traffic rules and on the danger of traffic. He is very popular not
only amongst children but it seems also among adults. When the
Ministry of Home Affairs of Schleswig-Holstein announced their
decision to close their theatre because of financial constraints there
was so much protest that the decision had to be revoked! | ||
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Renate
and Paul Guillaumier |
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  Renate
and Paul Guillaumier can be observed and are most welcome guests at
practically every Maltese - German event and often enough they even
take part in the respective organising activities. Paul, a Maltese
from Hamrun and Renate who was born in Westphalia in north-west
Germany live a happy so called ‘mixed marriage’ for everybody to
see. How did they meet? I wanted to know.Well, forty seven years ago the very young and adventurous Renate came with her sister with an exchange group from Bielefeld to Malta to improve her English. They travelled by train through half of Europe to Syracuse and boarded the “Star of Malta” (some readers might still remember the ship), eventually entering the Grand Harbour of Malta. The girls lived with a Maltese family in the latter’s summer house in Bugibba. It was situated opposite to the islet reputedly the place where St. Paul was shipwrecked in the year 60A.D. This house had no electricity but was equipped like all typical Maltese houses with a balcony. And - wall to wall there was another summer house also with no electricity and also with balcony, on which a serious-looking young eighteen year old boy named Paul sat reading even at night by the light of a paraffin lantern. Sensing my quest for romance, Paul felt obliged to explain something and uttered: “This was the way we were making each other’s acquaintance”… Alas, after Renate’s return to Germany the relationship slowly went out of steam. However, in 1958 Paul participated in the First International Bible Contest in Jerusalem, and he remembers very clearly, how on the flight home, he decided that the following year he would go and see Renate in Germany. He did so according to plan and he proposed to her there and then – to which she accepted. Yet, like in a slow motion picture, she first wanted to finish her studies and to write her Erstes and Zweites Staatsexamen (first and second teaching examination) to become a primary school teacher (Volksschullehrerin). She also qualified as an English Language Teacher. Paul returned to Malta and the engaged couple communicated by postal letters and tapes until they eventually got married in 1966. Before this, in 1963, Paul had bought their dream house in Rabat, which had to be altered and refurbished to their liking. As a result they could only move in five years later. Renate settled very well in her new Maltese surroundings, learning Maltese mainly from her mother-in-law, as well as by simply listening to and mixing with the people in the neighbourhood and shops. The locals referred to Renate as “Il Germaniza tal-kantuniera” – the German lady from the corner house. She quoted her father’s good advice as to how to learn a language: “If you want to learn a new language, you either fall in love with somebody who speaks it, or else read a thriller in that language”. Well, she chose the first option – and incidentally so did Paul! In addition to learning continuously from Renate and her family during his visits to Germany, Paul took a three months’ intensive course in German with Herr Lenicker. Moreover, whenever he happened to be visiting Germany, Paul watched German television. Within a few years he gained a working vocabulary, which gave him a practical knowledge of the language. At the outset, he also enquired his father-in-law: “Dr. Wegner, what must I do to understand the German culture?” The reply was: “Read Goethe and Eckermann’s conversations with Goethe”. And Paul’s love for Goethe remains to this day, owning Goethe’s complete works in German and an English translation. Paul's young life became somewhat traumatic, when it was explained to him, that after finishing his secondary education in 1956, he had to join his father’s company which he did in 1957. Until then he had occupied himself with reading for Advanced Level English Literature, Economics, Economic History and European History. Paul also developed a liking for Biblical Studies, i.e. Old and New Testament Archaeology and Theology, in addition to Ancient and Classical History. His dearest dream had been to enter the University of Malta taking as many historical subjects as possible. However, he reluctantly had to drop all these studies (at least during the day!) since he opted to join his father’s glass and mirror and later, also aluminium business, which took him often for months to building sites in North Africa and the Near and Middle East. His biggest interest though remained the Biblical Studies, into which he continued and continues to delve in to this very day. In 1987, Dr. Heinz Warnecke (a German expert on Classical Geography) had written his thesis on “Die tatsächliche Rom-Fahrt des Apostels Paulus” (“The Real Journey of the Apostle Paul to Rome”) in which he alleged that St. Paul was in fact shipwrecked at the Greek Island of Chepalonia. Two years later, the then German Ambassador Dr. Gottfried Pagenstert – a very enterprising gentleman, organised a public debate at Messina Palace to which he invited Dr. Warnecke himself. The panel chaired by the Rev. Prof. Maurice Eminyan, with the late Rev. Prof. Carm. Sant, Rev. Father John Sammut, and Paul Guillaumier as discussion partners successfully refuted this theory. Subsequently, the panel contributed to a book based on the proceedings of the debate entitled “St. Paul in Malta. A Compendium of Pauline Studies”, edited by Michael Galea and Rev. Can. Ciarlo. It is recorded that this debate attracted the largest ever audience to the German-Maltese Circle’s premises with people spilling outside the Hall where the discussion was taking place to the stairway and even in the entrance hall! Paul explained how in fact the Pauline tradition came to Malta in the early Middle Ages when the local Muslim population was being converted to Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church. Before the Muslim occupation of Malta in 871 A.D., which brought the demise of Christianity in Malta, the Maltese islands had been under the hegemony and rule of the Byzantine Empire whereby the Byzantine rite was practised. Paul Guillaumier is presently studying the theology of the Pauline shipwreck on Malta, as well as the onomastica of Punic and Roman Malta with its Semitic background. Renate and Paul have one daughter, Colette, who was born in 1967. She was brought up with the three languages of her parents who spoke mostly English and German to her. Therefore, in order to perfect her Maltese she was sent to a Government school. Colette also followed a course at the German-Maltese Circle which lead her to the Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache. She was even coached in Advanced Level German Literature by today’s president of the Circle, Mr Albert Friggieri and eventually she studied Clinical Psychology at Konstanz and Tübingen in Germany. From the very beginning of her life in Malta, Renate Guillaumier was an active member of the St. Barbara Gemeinde (the German Catholic Parish in Malta), which had been formed by the Rev. Father Eminyan in 1966. She has been the lector during mass for the last four decades and serves on the Church Council of which Paul is Chairman. She takes care of all Church activities during the year, may it be Christmas with its breakfast after the Midnight-Mass, Easter, dinners, or the children’s St. Martin procession. Family gatherings and spiritual retreats which used to be held at Mount St. Joseph, a Jesuit Retreat Centre, are also part of her duties. However, her real vocation is teaching German. She began soon after Colette was born, teaching on behalf of the Emigrants’ Commission, children of German parents, mixed parents, of the staff of the German Embassy and of the Deutsche Welle – then still on the hills of Delimara. Renate still considers teaching her vocation in which she finds great satisfaction. Looking back on his life Paul says: “I have started my own European Union when I met Renate and we have lived the EU ever since! |
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| Gesichter - Spiegelbild der Seele? von Günther Schlichte | ||
 Wie
unterschiedlich sie doch sind, wenn du sie aufmerksam und nicht
gleichgültig ansiehst. Du versuchst vielleicht zu erkennen, was aus
ihnen spricht. Vieles lässt sich in ihnen lesen, so. zum Beispiel
die Stimmung,
Zustimmung oder Ablehnung. Es ist nützlich für die eigene
Orientierung. Gesichter sind wertvoll.
Sie sagen uns vieles über diejenigen,
zu denen sie gehören.
Das glauben wir jedenfalls. Ihre Unterschiede sorgen dafür,
dass „Doppelgänger“ ziemlich selten sind.
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Gesichter drücken etwas ganz Bestimmtes aus. Der Ausdruck
kann sich von einer zur anderen Sekunde verändern. Er ist
beeinflussbar, manchmal gegen den eigenen Willen.
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Nur wenige Menschen haben ein „Poker face“.
Auch
vertraute Gesichter können variieren, uns von Zeit
zu Zeit anders erscheinen, als wir sie in Erinnerung hatten.
Der Ausdruck des Gesichts verrät in der Regel etwas über die
Person und ihre Gefühle.
Ein Gesicht ist schon allein deshalb beachtenswert.
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Jeder Mensch hat sein ureigenes, unverwechselbares Gesicht.
Nicht immer ist es das Spiegelbild der Seele. |
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| Auch
von Günther Schlichte . . . . . . . . |
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Der
Zug: Der
schnellste und wirksamste Zug ist der Durchzug. Dieser kann aber
leicht zu Erkältungen führen. -
Manche Menschen stellen ihre Ohren immer dann „auf Durchzug“,
wenn sie nicht hören wollen. Sie verstehen dann nur „Bahnhof“! Zwischenmenschliche
Beziehungen und die
Antenne: Es gibt
Signale die verschickt werden, den Empfänger aber nie erreichen.
Begegnungen:
Es ist gut, wenn sich
Menschen finden, die sich etwas zu sagen haben, auch wenn sie hin
und wieder schweigen. Erinnerungen: Erinnerungen sind besonders wertvoll, wenn sie anregen und nicht aufregen. |
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