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| September 2005 Newsletter |
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Wahlparty Open House |
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| Federal Elections in Germany – Open House at the German-Maltese Circle |
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| Innovate - Connect! |
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The project, the fifth of its kind, is aimed to set a mark for mutual activities in today’s times within Europe - this time between Hesse and Malta - "innovate – connect" will take place between 30th September and 2nd October 2005 in Lohra-Damm near Marburg under the management of the project partners "Lather® Kommunikation" and "Music in Management". The three-day event is designed to promote inter-cultural communication and cooperation between people of various cultural, commercial, political, scientific and religious organisations by the use of the following elements: an International Management Forum, a Political Reception, a Charity Concert, a Get-together, an Art Exhibition and an Ecumenical Church Service. For more information one can send an email to: info@musik-im-management.de
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| Der Schriftsteller Thomas Mann |
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Vor fünfzig Jahren, am 12. August 1955, verstarb Thomas Mann. Aus diesem Anlass werden überall in der Welt Veranstaltungen organisiert, Lesungen gehalten und Filme gezeigt, so z.B. auch vom Fernsehsender Television Malta. Thomas
Mann wurde 1875 in Lübeck geboren. Bereits als Schüler verfasste
er Prosaskizzen und Aufsätze für die Zeitschrift ‘Der Frühlingssturm’.
1895 gibt er seine Stellung bei einer Versicherungsgesellschaft
auf, um als freier Schriftsteller zu arbeiten. 1901 erscheint sein
Roman ‘Die Buddenbrooks’, für den er 1929 den Nobelpreis für
Literatur erhält. Aus seiner 1905 mit Katia Pringsheim
geschlossenen Ehe gehen sechs Kinder hervor, darunter die
Schriftsteller Erika, Klaus und Golo Mann. Zu Beginn des Jahres
1933 begibt er sich auf eine Europareise, von der er nach der
Machtübernahme der Nationalsozialisten nicht nach Deutschland zurückkehrt.
1938 emigriert er in die Vereinigten Staaten. Zwischen 1940 –
1945 werden über die BBC seine
monatlichen Radioreden “Deutsche Hörer!” ausgestrahlt. 1949
besucht er Deutschland nach dem Krieg zum ersten Mal wieder und
1952 siedelt er von den Vereinigten Staaten nach Erlenbach bei Zürich
um. 1955 erhält er den Orden Pour
le Mérite für Wissenschaft und Kunst, wenig später
stirbt er in Zürich. In
der Bibliothek des Deutsch-Maltesischen Zirkels finden Sie nicht
nur seine gesamten Werke, sondern auch seine Biografie (deutsche
und englische Textfassung) und eine CD mit einer Aufnahme von
1932, in der Thomas Mann über seinen Roman ‘Die Buddenbrooks’
und sich selbst spricht. Siehe
auch: |
| New in the Library – Kafka (DVD) |
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In KAFKA the director Steven Soderbergh produces a fantastic collage using motives from Franz Kafka’s novels. Kafka works in a strong hierarchical and bureaucratic insurance company. His day-to-day routine gets disrupted when his colleague Edward is murdered. He starts his own investigations, becomes involved in a dangerous conspiracy and makes some terrifying discoveries. Technical details: Region2/Audio - German and English/Subtitiles: English, German for persons with impaired hearing.
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Dr.
med. Maria Gatt
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Of
course I wanted to know more about a person with such radiating
impulsiveness. And as her life’s story unfolded I got
impressions of Maria’s most eventful and scintillating youth,
adolescence as well as adulthood. She was born in Rabat, her
parents resided there before moving to Great Britain where her
father, a medical doctor, specialised as an obstetrician and
gynaecologist. Back in Malta the family moved to San Gwann and
Maria attended junior school at The Convent of Sacred Heart.
After
the family had returned to Malta the local political scene changed
and eventually lead to the “Doctors’ Strike” in 1978. This
prompted the family to settle in Saudi Arabia. And with some
whimsical smile she added that while en route to the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia her brother Christian was nearly born on the plane,
respectively some few minutes after landing at a close by hospital
in London. Maria’s
father worked for five years in the Royal Hospital in Tabuk in the
northern part of Saudi Arabia. This was an opportunity to meet
people from various cultural backgrounds and from all walks of
life. Maria said: “Although we were missing our home country,
our family and friends, we enjoyed the stay and the different
outlooks in Arabia.” Adding: “If the local
International School had been of a higher standard, I would have
liked to stay there too”. But her parents envisaged a better
senior education for their daughter and sent her to boarding
school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Woldingham, Surrey.
Boarding
school taught Maria to be very independent and to take care of
herself. She learnt to play the piano and recorder as well as
being active with dancing, singing and drama, pursued hockey,
netball, tennis and gymnastics. However, her greatest strength was
swimming with which she won numerous trophies and medals and was
captain of the school swimming team. In short, she was a bundle of
energy waiting for the world to open its doors.
In
1983 all family members united again and returned to Malta where
she
In
1992 she reached Angola in Africa just before the outbreak of the
Civil War. Here she stayed with the nuns of St. Dorothy helping to
empty a container which had been sent from Maltese organisations,
distributing its contents of food, clothing, medicine, even school
desks and an organ, though the latter was never able to utter a
sound due to lack of electrical wiring… These nuns had a station
in Alto Liro, in the hot coastal Province of Benguela, where they
were working in local clinics, and administering prophylaxis
against malaria. Their provisions were next to none, and doctors
and most staff had left the nearby hospital under the threat of
war. The patients were in a pathetic condition and any help was
less than scarce. “It was a hard time for me, mainly as I had
practically no means to offer relief to these poor sufferers, not
even words, as we did not speak the same language.” Maria looked
very sad when she said this. On
completing her nursing degree in 1993, her infinite hunger for
more experience and more learning instigated her to take off
immediately, this time for a four months’ working stay at the
MAYO Medical Centre in Rochester, Minnesota, and at Luther College
in Iowa, USA. Following this she also served at St. Mary’s
Hospital in London where she received her British registration as
a nurse. Back in Malta next to her nursing assignment she was a
part time lecturer in nursing with the University. However, she
felt another urge growing in her: to be able to do more for the
patient, hence her decision to study medicine. As a result she
graduated as a Medical Doctor from the University of Malta in
2001, and has now been working as a General Practitioner in Malta
for the past two years. 
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Maria
Gauci (second
on the right) from Victoria (Gozo), a member of the German-Maltese
Circle and Principal in the EU Affairs Directorate within the
Ministry of Finance was selected to attend a Seminar in Munich
held in July aimed at enhancing her knowledge of the German
language and culture.
The course was organised by the Goethe Institute and was
open to personnel from EU Affairs Departments from 20 EU Member
States and accession countries.
Maria has followed a three year course in the German
language organised by the Circle in Gozo and has attended another
intensive course also at the Circle prior to her joining this
Seminar in Germany. |
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Yet
another globetrotter in our midst - a young lady who joined the
German-Maltese Circle two years ago in order to learn German; her
name Maria Gatt, speaking her native Maltese, as well as English,
Italian, and a sprinkling of Spanish, French and Arabic. Why
German in addition? Well, just by chance she discovered an
advertisement for German tuition by the German-Maltese Circle in The
Sunday Times two years ago and thought this was a new and
interesting challenge. She enrolled with the German-Maltese
Circle, passed her O Levels this year with a “1” and plans to
carry on with the Zertifikat Deutsch next year. She considers
German an important and versatile language, and she eventually
wants to be able to read German literature in its native version. 
completed senior school and studied for her B.Sc. (Hons)
degree in Nursing at the University of Malta. While completing her
studies she worked during the holidays at various missionary
stations all in dire need of support. Her first experience in 1990
was particularly challenging when she was working in different
homes with Mother Theresa in Calcutta, India. This made a very
deep impression on her. She remembers as specially hopeless a home
for the dying in the slums of Calcutta. One year later Maria went
to Moscow as Mother Theresa had told her she would be opening a
home for the elderly there.