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Our activities for December

German Film Evening showing “Nirgendwo in Afrika”
Introduced by Frau Sirka Facklam
Friday, 12^th December at 6.30p.m.
Director: Caroline Link (2001)
Plot: Just before the outbreak of World War II, the German-Jewish Redlich family manages to escape the Nazi terror at the very last moment.  Five year old Regina begins a new life with her parents, Jettel and Walter, on a small isolated farm in Kenya, where they lead an impoverished existence far removed from their roots in Germany. While Regina discovers the magic of Africa, a foreign continent full of strange people, her parents become desperate in the face of poverty and isolation. For Walter, his inability to cut Germany out of his heart tortures him far more than their economic plight. This remains so even when he becomes certain that the rest of his family in Germany has been murdered by the Nazis.

Based on the autobiographical novel by Stefanie Zweig, “Nirgendwo in Afrika” (Nowhere in Africa) focuses on the family's sense of loss, their gradual adjustment to Africa, and their ultimate love for this undiscovered country. “Nirgendwo in Afrika” won the OSCAR for the best foreign language film in 2003.

Entrance is free. 
Members of the German-Maltese Circle and their friends are welcome!

Dr Günter Jacobs is pleased to announce that his next conversation meetings aimed at students with a good command of the German language will be on Fridays, 5th and 19th December at 6.30p.m.
 

Notices

  Attention all Members!!  -  Ex
The last day of this term will be Friday, 19^th December 2008.  Students are informed that lessons will then recommence after the Christmas  and New Year holidays on Monday, 5^th January 2009.  The office and Library will be open only in the mornings during the period 22^nd till the 30^th December.  The Circle’s Bar & Coffee Shop will remain open for lunches and snacks.

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP for 2009 NOW.  For €11,65 for one whole year! Mail  a cheque (payable German-Maltese Circle) or come personally to the office!  You will continue receiving the Newsletter, join our activities,  use the Library services, and much more!  Those who are attending our courses have had their membership renewed already.cit
ing Events for May at Messina Palace

The Christmas Market Stall

The German-Maltese Circle for the second year running organized a very successful Christmas Market Stall at Messina Palace between the 24^th and 27^th November.  The Stall was manned by Bernd and Anna Ritschel assisted by several members of the Circle’s Committee.  Over 200 schoolchildren who are learning German in State Schools were brought over for cultural visits to the GMC by their teachers.  Their visits coincided with this Christmas Market Stall and so these kids had the chance to sample typical German delicacies like Marzipan, Lebkuchen and Stollen.  Many members and others also came to buy from this Christmas Market Stall – everyone was satisfied and requested a repeat for next year!

The German Language Certificate Giving Ceremony

The German Language Certificate Giving Ceremony was held at Messina Palace on Wednesday, 26^th November.  80 students attending our language classes for adults and for schoolchildren were presented with their Goethe Institute Certificates ranging from A1 to C1 levels.  This year it was the turn of Dr Gunter Jacobs to present these Certificates along with book prizes donated by the German Embassy.  Dr Ulrich Hackenbruch, Cultural Attache at the German Embassy also addressed the audience and he also kindly performed a Bach Suite on his Violincello.  The Evening ended with a Glühwein and Bockwurst Reception.  272 members  enrolled for our German Language classes last scholastic year while 392 kids followed courses organized for them both during the winter and the summer semesters.

Helgoland - Germany's "Filfla"
by Uta Barz
- aged 16, a junior member of the German-Maltese Circle and a pupil at a school in Karlsruhe

“Grün ist das Land, rot ist die Kant`, weiß ist der Sand. Das sind die Farben von Helgoland.“
(Green is the land, red is the edge, white is the sand, these are the colours of Helgoland.)
These three typical colours can be found also in the flag of the island: the first green stripe stands for the green grass on land, the red one in the middle for the reddish cliffs and the white one for the white sand. 

Last summer my family and I day-tripped to the only German island on high seas: Helgoland. This island, the main island and its neighbouring island called Düne (Dune) belong to Schleswig-Holstein and are situated in the southeast of the North Sea. While walking around I noticed quite a lot of analogies concerning Helgoland and Filfla. Of course on Helgoland people don’t speak English, but German and North Frisian (a West Germanic language). However, there are other examples of parallelism: Helgoland and Filfla are both rocky cliffs situated far away from the main country. The latter might be the reason why there is special fauna, which can’t be found anywhere else on the mainland but only on these islands: Seagulls and other bird sanctuaries on Filfla; and lobsters, different kinds of seals and also a sanctuary of northern gannets on Helgoland. Although nature is protected on Helgoland,  this island - in contrast to Filfla - is not completely a nature reserve. But there are still other analogies, as in the past both islands were used as bombing targets and last but not least both islands have a British colonial history. 

I would now like to write something about the British past of Helgoland: Napoleon had conquered large parts of the European continent when he was at war with Great Britain. As the British did not want Napoleon to attack them from this post, in 1807 they occupied the island, and called it Helgoland. A Governor made Helgoland a British colony and a centre for spies and smugglers working against the continental commercial blockade of the French.  

Under British rule the island’s flag was changed a bit as the Union Jack was added to the original stripes in the upper left corner of the flag. But this was not the only change. The island became a popular seaside resort for rich people and many German writers and artists. 41 years later, some German revolutionaries enjoyed more political freedom out there. Even the text of the current German national anthem was composed on Helgoland during its British days. 

In 1890 Great Britain exchanged Helgoland for German colonial positions on Zanzibar and in other parts of Africa by the so called Helgoland-Zanzibar-Treaty. But the British came back at the end of World War II when they occupied Helgoland and Northern Germany. The Royal Air Force used the evacuated island as a bombing target and the navy blew up the strong military fortifications, which had been built by Hitler. Helgoland became famous for this ‘big bang’, which was the biggest bombing detonation except for nuclear bombing explosions. Large parts of Helgoland’s surface and underwater structure changed and the big craters can still be seen today. In fact, it would have been accepted even if the whole island had been blown up. So it is not astonishing that the British soldiers called it Hell- go- land (Land going to hell).  

Not before 1952 did Helgoland come back under German rule - and now the inhabitants could return to their island.  Nowadays plans are made to connect the two islands Helgoland and Düne by filling up the channel between them in order to get more space for tourism.

Nadette Refalo
Fulltime Mother
Member of the German-Maltese Circle
Interviewed by Ingrid Kidder

When I asked Nadette about her profession to be mentioned in the title of this text, she replied happily: “Fulltime Mother”. The upbringing of three children has been her daily task for more than 26 years filling her with pride and joy. But let us see how her own life started in the house of her very generous and open minded parents of pure Gozitan ancestry.  

Nadette was born and grew up together with her three siblings in Victoria. Her father, a chemist, owned a pharmacy, which due to its central location had a lot of foreign customers, especially Britons who had settled on Gozo. For the young girl these foreigners were a constant source of interest and inspiration. However, to her great regret her father had to close down the pharmacy due to health reasons when Nadette was about 16 years of age.  

Helping her father with the winding up of his pharmacy she got the first experience of what business was all about. At the age of 17 she decided she wanted to work, preferably in the travel industry. If her parents objected, they did not show it, and, in fact her father accompanied her to the interview when she applied for a position in a Travel Bureau in Valletta! At that time traditions were still very strong, and it was not as common for Gozitan girls to leave the family to work on Malta, but some were already doing so, and Nadette was looking forward to the experience.  She was accepted by the company and worked for them as an office clerk first in Sliema then in Valletta. When opening another office in Gozo, she became the Manageress of the new Victoria branch and considered this to be quite an achievement.  

Remembering she had talked about her husband and her children before we started with the interview, I naturally was eager to hear when and how she founded her own family. And it sounded like one of those fairy tales:  In the house opposite of her parents’ home there lived a family with several children, some older and some younger than Nadette. Apart from calling and waving at each other through the windows, they played together, went to school together and spent hot summer days at the beach, just a happy bunch of kids growing up. Until one day one of the elder brothers, Michael, asked her out to visit the local Festa with him, where fireworks sparkled and the music pounded not only into their ears but obviously also into their hearts! -  He was studying Law at the University of Malta, and in her free time she typed his thesis on wax stencils. Eventually, Nadette gave up her position at the Travel Bureau, Michael concluded his law course and they got married in 1980. With a very happy shine in her eyes she said: “We considered ourselves privileged. We knew each other from earliest childhood, our parents were long standing neighbours and life was – and still is enthralling. No regrets!” 

Michael soon opened his private practice as a Notary Public in Victoria, and she would do the typing for him, then already more advanced with carbon paper for preparing copies. At the time all contracts, mostly Deeds and Wills, had to be handwritten and signed, with all copies being typed and sent to the parties concerned. A difficult concept in the modern computerized world! Until her husband could employ a secretary for his office, Nadette would do this work at home, while raising their first two children in two consecutive years. Nine years later the third child followed. 

While enjoying her status as fulltime mother and dedicating most of her time to the children she also played the piano, caught up with her A Level in English and followed a one year TEFL course in Gozo. After passing her exam, she was approached by various Summer and Language Schools in Gozo to teach English. This she did for about five years until she gradually phased it out. Now she is still asked to give lessons, but generally politely declines, unless it is an emergency. Nadette’s hobbies are sewing and reading. Lately she got absorbed in what she called fascinating African literature; and books are carried in her handbag wherever she goes.  

However, the couple had and still has one other marvellous hobby in common, namely travelling. Although she suffers dreadfully from travel sickness, she confronts it and persists in trying to see as much of the world as possible in the company of her husband. And as soon as the two older children were out of their baby stage and could be left with her parents and sister, Nadette and Michael visited most of the western European states, including Iceland, in shorter or longer breaks, any time of the year.   

When her brother married an Austrian girl, they attended the wedding in Austria, fell in love with this country and discovered soon that the Austrians in those quaint and beautiful villages in the mountains preferred to speak their own language and dialects, but – alas – little or no English. This triggered off an urge in Nadette to learn German at the German-Maltese Circle, first in Valletta and then at the Gozo branch. She added gratefully that from her enthusiastic teachers she learnt so much that by now she feels able to communicate adequately with German native speakers.  

Nadette gave me the impression to be a very happy lady, radiating and spreading positive vibes, who tries to live for today and does not dwell too much on the past nor worry about the future. In conclusion she says: “When my time comes, I want to exit this world having given more than received.” 

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