Mini "German Book" Fair

Bookmark of Sliema will be setting up a Mini German Book Fair at our premises on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 7th, 8th and 9th April during which there will be available a variety of graded and original unabridged texts, Leseverstehen exercises with authentic texts from newspapers, posters, menus, etc., Grammar workbooks with audio Cd’s or cassettes, easy-readers, resource material for teachers of German, German for specific purposes such as tourism and industry, activity books, games and many others.  The opening hours are: Thursday and Friday between 4.30 and 7.30p.m., Saturday between 9.30a.m. and noon.   

AN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BE MISSED!! 

Goethe Institute Examinations

The German - Maltese Circle announces that the following Goethe Institute Examinations are due in May/June 2005:  
·   Zertifikat Deutsch (ZD)
·   Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung (ZMP)  

Goethe Institute Certificates are internationally recognised and regarded as reliable proof of qualifications in German.  They not only improve one’s opportunities in the international market-place, but are also accepted as entrance qualifications by most European Institutions and Universities without any further evidence of linguistic capability being required.  
For further information contact our office immediately.    
Application forms for the ZD examination will be available from the office as from Monday, 25th April.  Closing date is Friday, 13th May.  Applications for the ZMP examination will open on Monday, 16th May.   

The Examinations Timetable can be viewed on the Circle’s Noticeboard.    

European Forum Wachau in Lower Austria and Youth Camp in Bremen

Members who wish to be considered to one of the above-mentioned events are requested to contact the office for more details by not later than Wednesday, 13th April.  

The European Forum Wachau (Jugendplenum) will be held in Göttweig (Lower Austria) between the 3rd and the 5th June.  Youths from all the EU countries will participate.  Members applying must be between 18 and 25 yearsof age and possess a very good command of the German language.  All expenses are covered by the organisers.

The Volksbund (German War Graves Commission) are inviting a Maltese youth aged between 16 and 25 years to join the 2005 Youth Camp which will be held in Bremen between the 8th and the 22nd August.  Participants will have the chance to live together  - working and socialising with youths from all over Europe.  Full board accommodation plus excursion expenses are paid by the organisers.  

Exhibition by Matthew Kassar

Matthew Kassar was born in 1968. In 1989 he obtained the Advanced level Certificate in Art from the University of London. In 1991 he achieved the diploma in Art from the Malta School of Art after a four year course. Then in 1997 he completed a one year course in Interior Design. In 2000 he undertook a one year course in ceramics at the school for Crafts in Malta. In 1993 he worked with Italian artist Roberto Cipollone (Ciro) for four weeks at his art studio at "La Bottega di Ciro" in Florence and in 1997 he assisted him in setting up a personal exhibition at the Museum of Fine Art in Valletta, Malta. Since 1989 he has designed various sets for theatrical representations. At present he teaches art at De La Salle College. In June 2001 he won the 1st. Prize in the Malta Biennale.

His latest exhibition “Tangible Illusions” consisting of newspaper collage paintings will be put up at the German-Maltese Circle’s premises between the 8th and the 30th April. 

Corporate members

O.S. Riding Equipment Ltd and Hochschule Bremen are the latest to join as a Corporate Members of the German-Maltese Circle this year.  A big thank you to these “members” who are sponsoring our work.

German Language Courses

The third term of our German language courses will commence after the Easter holidays on Friday, 1st April.  Students are reminded that no one will be allowed to sit for the end-of-course examination unless he/she has an overall attendance record to lessons of at least 60%.     

Tourism minister AND Travel operators hosted in Berlin

Malta’s Ambassador to Germany Mr. William C. Spiteri and Mrs Spiteri hosted a reception at their Zehlendorf residence in Berlin on the occasion of the annual International Tourism Bourse (ITB), one of the world’s leading travel exhibitions, which Minister of Tourism and Culture, the Hon. Francis Zammit-Dimech, attended for the first time in his capacity as Malta’s Minister of Tourism.  Mr Romwald Lungaro Mifsud, Executive Chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority, accompanied the Minister. 

A large number of Maltese hoteliers, travel agents, representatives of the Gozo Tourist Council and other tourist industry operators attended the reception, which has developed into an annual tradition.  In fact, this is the third reception held by Ambassador and Mrs Spiteri to thank travel agents, tour operators and hoteliers for their continued support for the Embassy’s tourist promotional activities. Last year, many quality hotels as well as some English language schools collaborated with the Embassy by providing gift vouchers for one-week stays for two persons in Malta to be awarded as prizes during these promotional activities.  In 2004, the Embassy participated in no less than ten events, held in Berlin, Hanover, Stuttgart, Cologne, Mainz, Erfurt, and Potsdam, where Malta was the sole ‘guest country’ for the third consecutive time.  During these promotional activities, information stands were set up, and large quantities of tourist information and hotel brochures were distributed to the German public. 

The Malta Tourism Authority and Air Malta in Frankfurt also collaborated with and supported the Embassy in its activities.  The German travel industry, amongst which were leading travel operators Frosch Touristik (FTI) and Thomas Cook, were also represented at the reception.  Also present was Malta’s Hon. Consul in Bremen, Dr Thomas Stöcker.  Maltese wine, pastizzi, and other delicacies specially brought over from Malta were served to the guests.

Maltese Pianist Anne Borg enthrals an audience of 600 in Berlin

Maltese pianist, Anne Borg, who lives in Saarbrücken, enthralled a 600-strong audience during a very successful concert organised by the Embassy of Malta and held in Berlin on Thursday 17 March at the Representation office of Saarland in Berlin.  The hall was filled to capacity, with many people standing.  Prof. Borg performed Frédéric Chopin’s Prélude cis op.45 and Three Mazurkas op 50 and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition to rapturous applause by the audience. 

The choice of venue for the concert reflected not only the fact that Prof. Borg has been resident in Saarland for many years (Prof Borg has been teaching the piano at the Hochschule für Musik des Saarlandes since 1978),  but also highlighted the excellent relations between the Embassy of Malta in Berlin and the Saarland State Mission in the federal capital.   In May last year, in his capacity as chairman of a group of Ambassadors, the ‘Group of Thirteen’, Malta’s Ambassador in Berlin, Mr. William C Spiteri, had led a visit of the Group to Saarbrücken, aimed at establishing relations with the region.    

In November 2004, on the initiative of Ambassador Spiteri, a representative of Malta Enterprise, together with the President of the Maltese-German Chamber of Commerce, Mr Henry Borg, visited Saarbrücken, where meetings were held with local business leaders and with the Saarland Chamber of Commerce, in a bid to attract trade and business to Malta.  Later on, and precisely, on 4 December 2004, Ambassador Spiteri was the guest speaker at a dinner organised at the Saarland Representative Office, during the annual meeting of Parliamentarians from Saarland and from the Moselle region in France.  In January this year the Saarland Mission in Berlin hosted in its foyer a photographic exhibition by Maltese photographer, Darrin Zammit Lupi.  The piano concert by Anne Borg is, therefore, the latest in a string of promotional events coordinated between the Maltese Embassy and the Saarland State Mission in Berlin. 

In short speeches they made before the concert, Ambassador Spiteri and State Secretary Monika Beck (a good friend of Malta, who also visited the island last year) highlighted links between Saarland and Malta.   During the lavish buffet reception, which immediately followed the one hour concert (this buffet was provided by the Saarland Mission who, incidentally, also met travel and accommodation expenses for Prof Anne Borg), Maltese wine, made available by the Embassy of Malta, was served to the many guests.  A very attractive tourism and information open stand, with attractive tourist posters was manned by a young student, dressed as a Knight of Malta, who distributed brochures to the many guests.

Dieter Salto 
Member of the German-Maltese Circle  -  Interviewed by Ingrid B. Kidder

Many members of the German-Maltese Circle have met Dieter Salto and his wife Elke on numerous occasions at the Messina Palace. Now, in February of this year, and to our great regret, the couple have decided to move back to Hamburg, where their children and grandchildren are living. They leave with good memories from Malta, but also with happiness in re-joining their family, whom they have been missing more and more over the years. 

Dieter and Elke Salto grew up in Meldorf, a small town in Dithmarschen on the coast of the North Sea, an area north west of Hamburg in the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein. They met while still at grammar school, then called “die Meldorfer Gelehrtenschule” (a school for scholars); the school – originally a monastery school - celebrated its 450th anniversary some years ago. They have been married for over 47 years, and they have two daughters and a son.  

However, before I tell you more about Dieter’s life story, let me share with you some of the information he gave me about the very special characteristics of the area of Dithmarschen. As is well known, earlier in history, Central Europe consisted of many different kingdoms, principalities, and all kinds of big and small states. However, already in the thirteenth century Dithmarschen became a “Freie Bauernrepuplik” – a Free Farmers’ Republic. These farmers were their own rulers, with a council of 48 elected members, while elsewhere in Europe farmers lived in serfdom. Yet their lives weren’t without wars either. In February 1500 they fought a glorious battle at Hemmingstedt near Meldorf against the principalities around them, while 1559 they were conquered by the Danes and were made Protestants. Dithmarschen even belonged to Russia for a short time, due to the fact that the Duke of Holstein-Gottrop became Tsar Peter III of Russia in 1762. Later, following succession the area fell back to the Danish crown, and eventually became the property of Prussia in 1867. It remained German ever since, being part of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein under the motto “up ewig ungedelt” (for ever undivided). The language spoken in Dithmarschen did not change much – it is a special dialect of the original language “Niederdeutsch” (Low German), and which is also so typical for Dieter Salto. 

After finishing school the young Dieter was employed by the Amt für Post und Fernmeldewesen (Federal Authority for Post and Telecommunications). He started off at the local office in Meldorf,  later studied at the Fachhochschule (Technical College) in Hamburg and graduated as Diplom-Verwaltungswirt (Qualified Administrator), working as a civil servant for the meanwhile privatised German Telecom AG until his retirement. 

Dieter and Elke Salto lived in various villages in Dithmarschen where their two daughters were keeping their horses, while the son discovered sailing as his hobby and in fact got his first sailing license at the age of twelve. He enticed father into the boat too, with the result that the two men became great pals, even sailed regattas on the North Sea and the Baltic. They eventually trailed the boat to the Mediterranean - making San Remo their summer quarters and thoroughly exploring the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas, though for some reason they never sampled Maltese waters. 

One autumn day of the year 1993 – with winter on the door step -  when Elke was still running her shop for Ladies’ fashion in Heide (Dithmarschen) and Dieter was still working at the Telecom Administration, they booked a holiday trip to Malta. Except for the promised sunshine they knew nothing about this island, and Dieter Salto raved: “We were most pleasantly surprised and fascinated by the friendliness of the people and the helpfulness of the first taxi driver we encountered.” The atmosphere, architecture and the sound of the Maltese language – in short – it was love at first sight and within the week they bought an apartment in Sliema! 

They moved in a few months later, using the flat at first for short holidays only. But as soon as Dieter went into early retirement and Elke gave up her shop, after having run it for more than 25 years, they took up their ordinary residence in Malta – except for the hot month of August and the family month of December. When making some inquiries at the Malta Tourism Authority, Dieter met Corinne Gauci who not only turned out to be their next-door neighbour but also introduced them to the German-Maltese Circle.        

Membership and some cooperation began, i.e. Dieter Salto even made a film on the Dithmarschen landscape which he donated to the German-Maltese Circle and which is available from our Library.  Dieter Salto said: “We loved going to the German-Maltese Circle, took part in so many very nice and educational events, meeting many interesting people, and I even won a German-Maltese Circle competition!”  In the required essay he had compared the islet of Filfla with the German isle of Helgoland in the North Sea, and his composition was rewarded with a Lufthansa return-ticket to Germany. 

Dieter Salto’s greatest hobby today is history, century-old connections and inter-weavings between Malta, Germany and Denmark. He did considerable research – especially in the National Library of Malta - on the scholar Carsten Niebuhr, who came to Malta as a member of a research team from Denmark, stopping here on the way to Yemen.  Alas, Niebuhr as the only survivor of this expedition - all the others had died of malaria - continued the research journey alone. On his return he settled and spent the last thirty years of his life until his death in 1815 in Meldorf in Dithmarschen. This was a reason for Dieter Salto to follow his former fellow citizen’s footsteps on Malta, where the latter had made excursions to St. Paul’s Bay as well as a trip via Mdina and Rabat to Buskett. Niebuhr’s impressions of Malta are documented in a travelogue of 1774, and in numerous scripts preserved at the National Library of Malta. Needless to say that Mr. Salto was a very frequent visitor there and literally left no page unturned which concerned Carsten Niebuhr’s stopover in Malta. 

And while Dieter deciphered difficult old texts in Gothic handwritings, his wife Elke pursued her own hobby i.e. painting Maltese landscapes and recapturing Maltese buildings as they might have looked during Niebuhr’s times, for example, so he told me, the old St. Paul’s Chapel at St. Paul’s Bay and even the former Del Monte Gate and surroundings (later replaced by the Victoria Gate) then the only entrance from the Grand Harbour to Valletta. 

The couple has now left and hopefully they are happy in Hamburg. Dieter Salto showed me a shark’s tooth which he wears on a necklace and said: “This is a serpent’s tongue. Scholars called these fossils “Glossopetrae”. And the Maltese call it ‘Ilsien San Pawl’ – St. Paul’s tongue. I hope it will bring me good luck, sparing me from snakebites, poison and all sorts of fever!” – In this way he takes an old Maltese custom to modern Hamburg reminding him of Malta every day. 

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