Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ukraine, & the Baltic States

Today, a smorgasbord of culture. For those of you who are not completely exhausted from learning, you may find these resources here helpful in setting your fiction, poetry, plays, and essays in a European setting. Since we are running out of time to cover the entire world in this course, we will only briefly glimpse at a very rich and extensive culture. For your benefit click on these links and learn about these cultures. Some of their literature can be found in the packets of reading as well.

Czeslaw Milosz is one of Poland's best loved poets. His poems can be found here.
Forget by Czeslaw Milosz

Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.

Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.

The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.

Learn a little about Poland!  and Polish Culture and some cuisine...

Germany:

Part of writing is discovering new things. Research often leads to new ideas and excitement. Use the websites above and below as a background for your research during this unit. You may be surprised where it takes your writing and subject matter.

The following website is a wonderful stating point for the uninitiated. It's filled with pictures and information about German History stretching all the way back to the medieval period. Peruse it as you see fit. You will no doubt learn a lot if you do.

German History in Documents and Images.

How to use this as a writer?

1. Pick a picture. Write about it. or Choose someone in the picture and pretend to be that person. What might he/she say? Create a dramatic monologue or first person POV story using this person's fictional voice.
2. Choose a period of time. Research it. Gather facts in your notebook. Use some of these facts in a story, play, setting, etc.
3. Choose a picture. Describe it in a poem.
4. Create a character. Put your character in one setting (including time period); then move the action forward to another parallel time period. Do this again (at least 3 times). Try to find similarities between time periods and conflicts, plot elements, etc.
5. Learn a period of German history. Comment on it in a personal essay or memoir.
6. Choose an important event or person from German history. Write about it in a poem, play, or short story.

Just a few ideas.

Key moments in German History:

• First World War
• Weimar Germany
• German Propaganda Images
• East/West Germany - a country torn in two
• The Fall of the Wall
• Images of the Wall

Pop Culture articles

Article on German filmmaker & auteur: Werner Herzog

German Newspapers/News sites on line: (in English)

• Germany Info suitable for writer/research
• The Local
• German (and Europe) Gay Rights Movement

The first gay-themed film in the world was the German silent film Different From Others (1919) starring Conrad Veidt.

World War II propaganda films:

These next clips are shocking at times, but they give a good sense of World War II.

German National Anthem
Joseph Goebbels Speech
Goebbel Talk about German Culture
Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia" (1936)
Leni Riefenstahl: The Last Days of Leni Riefenstahl
Night of the Long Knives
Hitler Speech (one of many)
German Cartoon (1940)

Austria & Hungary:
Austria: Top 10 Interesting Facts & 7 Facts About Austria
Austrian contemporary poet: Jorg Piringer and Modernist poet Franz Werfel
Hungarian Poet: Janos Pilinszky
Picture Poems by Lajos Kassak
Hungarian Cuisine

Sweden & Switzerland:

• Switzerland Top 10 Fascinating Facts
• Friedrich Durrenmatt
• Swedish Culture

• Both Lagerlof and Lagerkvist won Nobel Prizes for their work (not too shabby):

• Selma Lagerlof
• Par Lagerkvist
• Perhaps the most important and influential filmmaker in Sweden is Ingmar Bergman. His films are artistic masterpieces and generally regarded as excellent the world over.

Here's a few clips of various famous films by Bergman (this is a must-see for students interested in studying film):

• The Seventh Seal (1957)
• Wild Strawberries (1957) Italian dubbing.
• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
• The Silence (1963)
• Persona (1966)
• Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
• The Magic Flute (1975)
• Autumn Sonata (1978)
• Fanny & Alexander (1982)
• Saraband (2002)

Other Western European Cultures:
Belgium & The Netherlands (and more info on the Netherlands)

Spain & Portugal:
Spain has an incredibly old history. From cave paintings found at Altamira to our contemporary period. The Romans and Carthaginians fought over Spain in the 3rd century B.C. Part of the Roman Empire Hispania rises and falls at the same time, being overrun by the Vandals in 409 A.D. (later repelled by the Visigoths who rule until the 8th century, followed by the Arabs). During 711-1492, Christians begin to reclaim the area at first slowly, until the Umayyad loss of power in 1031. You probably know what happens leading up to 1492 with the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1469.

Still curious about Spain & Spanish Customs? Watch this.

Spain suffered a vicious civil war between 1936-1939. The Spanish Civil War divided the country as tens of thousands of civilians were killed for their political or religious views. Those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious conservative Nationalists after the war. Some Leftist Spaniards fled to refugee camps in Southern France. The overthrow of the democratic government allowed dictator General Francisco Franco to rule the regime. During his reign, during the White Terror and the Red Terror, an attempt to genetically cleanse Leftists, including Catholic Priests and school teachers, anywhere between 200,000-350,000 people died, although this number is debated. You can learn more about the Spanish Civil War here. Parts II and III can be found here as well. (This is a high school student's work...something to strive for...)

Our first stop will be with Spanish Civil War poets Juan Ramón Jiménez & Miguel Hernandéz.
Juan Ramon Jimenez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1956.

Portugal (culture & history)

Czech Republic
Czech history in 5 minutes (animated short)
Czech cuisine
Milan Kundera (writer)

And something from East Europe: an introduction to the Baltic States, Baltic States: Culture and images from the Baltic States:
Estonia: Estonian Literature
Latvia: Famous Latvian Authors/Filmmakers
Lithuania: Famous Lithuanian Writers
Belarus: Belarusian Writers
Ukraine: Ukrainian Authors