Waltraud Wolff: 50 - jähriges Dienstjubiläum

Many of our readers know our hard-working and very dedicated teacher WALTRAUD WOLFF.  A couple of weeks ago she celebrated her 50th Anniversary as a teacher with her very close colleagues.  This is the speech she delivered before hosting her guests to a very nice dinner at The Circle’s Bar & Coffee Shop.  Picture shows the Circle’s President, Mr Friggieri presenting a bouquet to Frau Wolff. 

Liebe Anwesende,
ich möchte meine kleine Party im Kreise meiner lieben Gäste eröffnen und mich dafür bedanken, dass Sie mich in Malta so herzlich aufgenommen haben und meine Einladung gefolgt sind.  Es ist mir eine besondere Freude, meine 50 – jähriges Dienstjubiläum mit Ihnen zu begehen. Ich will hier keine großen Reden schwingen, stattdessen halte ich es mit Friedrich Schiller, der da sagte: ,,der langen Rede kurzer Sinn” (aus Piccolomini). Schon als Kind war es von jeher mein Wunsch, Lehrerin zu werden.  1956 beendete ich am Adolf – Diesterweg - Institut in Putbus auf Rügen mein Studium.  Ich nannte mich nur als Lehrer, aber in Wirklichkeit war ich nur der Rahmen, in dem noch die Einfassung fehlte.  Ich wusste von Anbeginn, dass ich einen steinigen, weiten Weg vor mir hatte.  Ich musste ins kalte Wasser springen und so stand ich 1956 das erste Mal vor einer Klasse auf ziemlich wackeligen Füßen.  Jeder von uns kennt dieses mulmige Gefühl.  Schritt für Schritt wurde ich durch pädagogisches Geschick, ständiges Lernen und harte Arbeit das, was ich heute bin. Gestatten Sie mir bitte, werte Gäste, dass ich hier an dieser Stelle ein Zitat des großen Pädagogen Adolf Diesterweg anführe, das mein Zeugnis ziert: ,, Der Lehrer is nur so lange fähig, wahrhaft zu erziehen und zu bilden, als er selbst an seiner wahrhaften Erziehung und Bildung arbeitet.’’ Dieses geflügelte Wort wurde das Leitmotiv in meinem Lehrberuf, der mich erfüllte.  Für mich war es das beste Rezept, und wenn man alle Zutaten sorgfältig vermischt und das Gericht täglich mit Liebe und Heiterkeit serviert, dann erobert man wirklich alle Herzen im Sturm, ist nach 50 Jahren endlich eine Lehrerpersönlichkeit und passt in den Rahmen. Ich danke Ihnen für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit und wünsche uns allen ein paar unterhaltsame Stunden.  Werte Gäste, ich bitte Sie nun, mit dir auf dieses Ereignis anzustoßen.  Sehr zum Wohl!

Deutsche Auszubildende zu Besuch auf Malta
Teilnahme an einem EU-Projekt

  

Eine Gruppe von 13 Auszubildenden vom Oskar Kämmer Bildungswerk (OKB) in Braunschweig nahm vom 13. März bis 03. April an dem EU-Projekt „Leonardo da Vinci“ auf Malta teil. Das Projekt umfasste einen Sprachkurs sowie Betriebspraktika in Maltesischen Partnerbetrieben.  

Die Teilnehmer setzten sich aus jungen Erwachsenen im Alter von 19-26 Jahren zusammen, die sich in einer kaufmännischen Ausbildung befinden. Die Gruppe wurde von zwei Mitarbeitern des Oskar Kämmer Bildungswerkes betreut. Das OKB ist eine gemeinnützige Bildungs- und Jugendhilfeeinrichtung mit Hauptsitz in Braunschweig. Für die Mitarbeiter steht die berufliche Förderung junger Menschen im Mittelpunkt ihrer Arbeit. Die Arbeitsschwerpunkte sind u. a. Berufsvorbereitung, Berufsausbildung sowie berufliche Rehabilitation. Finanziert wird die Arbeit überwiegend von der Bundesagentur für Arbeit. 

Die EU-Kommission finanzierte den Aufenthalt auf Malta durch die Fördermaßnahme „Leonardo da Vinci“. Die berufliche Mobilität bildete den Schwerpunkt des Projektes der Braunschweiger Gäste. Zur Vorbereitung auf die betrieblichen Praktika absolvierten die Teilnehmer einen ausgezeichnet organisierten Englischkurs beim Britannia College in Valletta. Anschließend erwarben sie Arbeitserfahrungen bei Maltesischen Partnerbetrieben. Bei folgenden Unternehmen und Einrichtungen konnten die Teilnehmer neue Arbeitserfahrungen sammeln: MCAST, Playmobil, Hot Set, Britannia College, German Maltese Chamber of Commerce, Mosta Technopark, Boutique Claudia, UWT Level Control und Matotech. Während ihrer Praktika konnten die Auszubildenden u. a. das Maltesische Arbeitsleben kennen lernen, welches sich von dem in Deutschland unterscheidet. 

Während ihres Maltaaufenthaltes sammelten die Auszubildenden aber nicht ausschließlich berufsbezogene Erfahrungen. An den Wochenenden standen Exkursionen auf dem Programm, um sich mit der Geschichte und der Kultur Maltas zu befassen. Hierzu gehörten u. a. die prachtvollen Sehenswürdigkeiten der Hauptstadt Valletta und ein Ausflug zur Nachbarinsel Gozo mit dem faszinierendem „Azur Window“. Außerdem wurden die Feierlichkeiten zum „Freedom Day“ in Vittoriosa besucht.  Ein besonderes Highlight bildete das Treffen mit Herrn Merten, dem deutschen Botschafter auf Malta. Neben Informationen über die Aufgaben und Tätigkeiten eines Diplomaten, stand der Gedankenaustausch über die gesellschaftspolitische und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Maltas im Mittelpunkt des Besuches, den der Deutsch Maltesischen Zirkel ausrichtete. 

In diesen Räumlichkeiten fand auch der feierliche Abschied des Maltaaufenthaltes statt. Zu der kleinen Feier waren Vertreter der Praktikumsbetriebe eingeladen. Die Auszubildenden betonten, dass sie froh seien, Malta kennen gelernt zu haben. In Deutschland hätten nicht viele Auszubildende die Chance, an einem ausbildungsbezogenen Projekt im Ausland teilnehmen zu können. Sie dankten allen, die dieses Projekt ermöglicht hätten. Ein spezieller Dank erging an die Partnerbetriebe des Projektes, weil sie die deutschen Praktikanten überaus freundlich und hilfsbereit betreuten. So war es möglich, eigene Englischkenntnisse zu verbessern und neue wertvolle berufliche Erfahrungen zu sammeln. Daher sei das Mobilitätsprojekt ein Erfolg geworden. 
  

Günter Schlichte                                     Member of the German-Maltese Circle
                                                 Contributor to the German-Maltese Circle Newsletter
                                                                                  Interviewed by Ingrid B. Kidder

The attentive reader of the German-Maltese Circle’s Newsletter will remember Günter Schlichte’s occasional essays, or even a poem written by him. He and his wife Christine have been fairly frequent visitors to Malta since 1995, the year they also visited for the first time the German-Maltese Circle admiring the Palazzo and getting to like the members they met. When asked what attracted him to Malta, he handed to me a note which he had prepared for the interview, and I quote: “The constructive attitude of most Maltese, their positive and inquisitive minds, their love for culture and their determination to work hard for a better Malta and a good standard of living.”  Yet, he also added a few negative aspects, and I quote again: “There should probably be even more attention to detrimental effects on the environment, more sensitivity to the limits of traffic capacity and the search for long range alternatives to prevent an eventual collapse.” 

For a few years Mr. and Mrs. Schlichte even owned a flat in Malta, catering for longer stays, however, they sold it due to the disturbing lengthy construction works going on in the neighbourhood and chose to settle for good again in Cologne by the River Rhine. 

Mr. Schlichte says of himself: “I have had an interesting life”, which in retrospect he likes to divide into various phases. The first of these phases covers the time immediately after World War II. Born into a farming family near Bielefeld in the “Lipperland” (the very fertile agricultural area bordering the river Lippe, a tributary of river Rhine), it was an easy decision to become a gardener, a profession he liked and carried out for seven years until 1951. Then in his early twenties he decided to change into business and became a salesman for a branch office of the German Ford Company in Bielefeld, subsidiary of the US Ford Motor Company. As a consequence of this “foreign” influence the connection to the wide world lured him away. He left his home pasture to explore the North American world and found work at the Headquarters of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, USA.  

However, after two and a half years he left this position in order to return to Germany. So to say “on the way” he travelled through some Central American States i.e. Panama, Costa Rica and Guatemala, where he was most impressed “by the vastly different living standards, prosperity and poverty levels” as he put it. “Costa Rica”, so he remembered, “at that stage (1959) was proud to have more teachers than soldiers”.  

In the same year he found employment in Germany with the Export Sales and Marketing Department at Ford Cologne, which he regarded as a very challenging position. After some years he was offered a promotional transfer to become Business Manager in charge of Personnel, Finance and Fabrication Services at the Ford Cologne Design Offices. This position was followed by a five years’ stay in Essex England as Business Manager for the European Design Offices of Ford of Europe. After some more years working for Ford in Cologne and Argentina the “Ford Phase” came to an end when at the age of 55 he was offered early retirement, which he accepted.  

After thirty years of professional life with the Ford Motor Company, Mr. Schlichte found himself in a position to re-orientate his life in such a way as to be able to utilise his multiple experiences gained in the positions held, as well as sharing his skills in the English language. So he started his own business as freelance Management Consultant, adding lecturing and organising workshops for General and Personnel Management. During this period he also worked for five years in the office of the Bonn based “Senior Expert Service”, which is a voluntary institution sponsored by German industry to assist predominantly companies, institutions and governments in developing countries. Another aim of this association was - especially shortly after the German Unification – the adaptation of the East German systems to those practised in former West Germany. However, Mr. Schlichte also offered his own workshops and seminars widely over all Federal States of Germany as well as in Malta, where surely some of his participants will still remember his initiatives. 

Today Mr. and Mrs. Schlichte try to live a somewhat quieter life and just follow their common and diverse interests. Mrs. Schlichte had studied and worked in Paris and London and had been a teacher of English and French in Bonn. Now they both enjoy their halcyon days, the contact with son and daughter and their grandchildren – and every now and then some splashes of activity. Because, such is their motto: Wer sich nicht bewegt, bewegt auch nichts. – He who does not move will not be able to move anything else.
 

Heitersheim - Malta’s twin state in the old German Empire
by Dr. Wolf-Dieter Barz 
(Translated from the original German version by Albert Friggieri)

Few people in Malta and Germany are aware of a very special tie which linked the two countries in early modern history. Heitersheim, the so-called “principality” of the Knights of St. John - or the Knights of Malta - was the twin state to the island of Malta when both were governed by the Order.  The territory of Heitersheim, with its residential centre which bears the same name, lies between the German town of Freiburg and the Swiss city of Basle, within sight of the Upper Black Forest. Both Malta and Heitersheim share a common Roman past as evidenced by the Roman villas found in both places.  

By the late Middle Ages, a commanderie of the Order had developed in and around Heitersheim. In 1428 this became the seat of the German Grand Prior of the Order. The Grand Prior’s role was to function as a kind of mediating authority between the whole of the German langue and the government of the Order, which later was to establish itself in Malta. However, it was only in 1505 that the decision to set up residence was actually carried out. Gradually an attractive residential castle, surrounded by a moat, was built. Because of his many successful military exploits against the Muslim forces in the Mediterranean, the Swabian knight and later Grand Prior of the Order in Germany Georg Schilling von Cannstatt was given the title of Prince by Emperor Charles V. With the title came the right to sit in the Imperial Diet or the Reichstag (“Reichsfürstenrat”).  Schilling von Cannstatt had been instrumental when Charles V gave Malta as a fief to the Knights. 

In this way Heitersheim became a kind of principality. Like the Grand Masters of Malta, the princes of Heitersheim were allowed to unite their family coat-of-arms with that of the Order. Later, both coat-of-arms were decorated with a crown closed with rings, originally a symbol of princely or royal sovereignty. However, despite this symbol, from today’s point of view it is very difficult to figure out the constitutional status of Heitersheim and Malta, because the territories remained under the supremacy of Austria and the Empire (in the case of Heitersheim) and of Sicily (in the case of Malta). On the other hand, the inhabitants considered the Principi di Malta and the Princes-Grand Priors of Heitersheim as their respective territorial lords. After all, they were the ones who ruled over their subjects’ everyday lives; they were the ones who imposed taxes and enacted  laws, and it was their law courts that passed judgment.    

Some Heitersheim princes have their names engraved on their marble gravestones in Saint John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. It was 200 years ago, in the summer of 1806, that following the French seizure of power and with Napoleon’s blessing, the Grand Duke of Baden became the sole sovereign of Heitersheim. The last prince received a pension and, unlike Hompesch, the last Grand Master in Malta, was allowed to go on residing at the palace. In Malta, the red flag with the white cross was lowered in 1798. Eight years later, it stopped fluttering in Heitersheim too.    

With its epithet of “Malteserstadt” (town of the Knights of Malta), Heitersheim  - nowadays a mostly rural community of about 5,000 inhabitants -  is proud of its tradition of having been a territory of the Order. In the vaulted cellars of the old chancellery of the Order one can visit the museum of the Knights of St. John and of Malta. The local vineyards are naturally called Maltesergarten and the town’s coat-of-arms is similar to the Maltese merchant shipping flag – the white eight-pointed cross on a red background.  Many questions relating to Malta’s German “twin state” remain unanswered. One of the most exciting issues is whether, besides the evident historical connections, there are common deeper structures between the two territories of the Order.

The Teabag

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