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“Nosferatu” is a silent German Expressionist horror film in 1922. The director used Chiaroscuro, which is the contrast effects of light and dark to create the scary atmosphere in the movie, although it might not seem to be scary anymore nowadays.

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“Metropolis” is a German expressionist science-fiction film directed by Fritz Lang in 1927. It’s is set in a futuristic urban dystopia with gothic imageries throughout the entire movie. Mainly about the director Fritz Lang's vision of a grim futuristic society.

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Fritz Lang (1890-1976)

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Fritz was an Austrian-German-American screenwriter, filmmaker, film producer and actor.

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Leni Riefenstahl: Olympia - Festival of Nations (1936)

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“Olympia - Festival of Nations” is a documentary sports film in 1936 directed by Leni Riefenstahl.
The 1936 Olympics was very important because Nazi Germany actually planned to use the 1936 Olympic Games for some propaganda purposes. The Nazis promoted a brand new image of a strong, and united Germany while masking the political power's targeting of both Germany's advanced militarism as well as Jews and Gypsies.

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Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003)

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She was Hitler’s favorite film maker that they were in a close collaboration during the production of at least three significant Nazi films, and the two of the, eventually had a friendly relationship. Her positive portrayal of “pure German” in the movie can be seen when she began the camera at the Greek statues and suddenly transform the image to a naked German.

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A picture of Leni Riefenstahl and Adolf Hitler

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Black Forest Cake - "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte"

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Black Forest Cake - "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte"

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The dessert is not directly named after the Black Forest mountain range in southwestern Germany but from the speciality liquor of that region, known as Schwarzwälder Kirsch and distilled from tart cherries.

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The Imperial Abbey of Lorsch founded in 764 AD. It is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany. Today only two  architectural structures from the original site of the abbey remain. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany.

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In 1991, the ruined abbey was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Lorsch Abbey in 60 secs | UNESCO World Heritage

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North Germany is more austere and simple.

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"Oktoberfest" is the largest folk festival in the world. It's held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Oktoberfest is an extremely important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since 1810. The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place in the 16-day period leading up to the first Sunday in October. This longstanding schedule was modified in 1994.

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Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests

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In Germany, the forests are one of the most efficient ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Every year, Germans are able to absorb more than 62 million tonnes of CO2, which is about 7% of the entire country's emissions.

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From the 13th century on, the language suffered official discrimination. Bible translations into Sorbian provided the foundations for its writing system.

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A catastrophic combination of heat, drought, storms, forest fires, beetle plagues and a fungi blight have so far this year destroyed swathes of German forest equivalent to more than 200,000 football fields.

Forests are one of the most efficient ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and in Germany alone they are able to absorb 62 million tonnes of CO ₂ - about 7% of the country's emissions - every year.

But forests have also been at the heart of Germany's cultural identity for centuries, and politicians are now seizing the issue - known as waldsterben (dying forest) - as a top priority.

The agriculture minister, Julia Klöckner, has announced a forest summit next month, at which national forestry and climate experts are to agree on a multimillion-euro action plan. Klöckner has pledged €500m (£460m), to be paid out of the government's energy and climate fund, to finance it.

"Our forests are massively damaged," Klöckner said, visiting Moritzburg near Dresden, which has been badly hit, many of its trees brown and dying, mainly due to drought and beetle infestations.

"Only if everyone unites will we manage the mammoth task that lies ahead of us - to save our forests not only for ourselves but for future generations," she said.

The society for the protection of the German forest, SDW, believes the extent of the destruction goes even beyond the government's estimate. It has said the trees being lost at the most rapid rate are those that make up the bulk of the forests, including spruces and firs, pines, beeches and oaks.

In last year's dry summer and this year's, the forests have been hit by a shortfall of 200 litres of rainwater per square metre, according to SDW, which Germany's meteorological service says is the driest it has been for 50 years.

The association of German foresters (BDF) has said German forests are close to collapse. "The forest is the best way to save the climate, but right now the forest itself is a victim of the climate catastrophe," it said.

A third of Germany is made up of forest, or 11.4m hectares (28 macres) - about a half of which is private property.

The crisis is being keenly felt, not least after a recent survey on national identity in which 50% of participants cited forests as being central to their idea of heimat or sense of home.

Germans have for centuries had a mythological, even spiritual, identification with their forests. Woodlands have formed the inspiration for much German music and literature -most famously the 19th-century folk tales of the Brothers Grimm. In everything from Red Riding Hood to Hansel and Gretel the forest is portrayed as a place of foreboding and threat and as well as retreat, safety and learning.

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Hansel and Gretel. Photograph: Chronicle/Alamy

For German romanticists in the late 18th century, the forest was an important symbol of unity and purity, the word waldeinsamkeit, forest loneliness, embodying the sense of inner peace to be found in the forest. This was later exploited by the Nazis, who encouraged the idea of the forest as a sign of German cultural solidity, encouraging people to plant German oaks to honour Adolf Hitler.

The tabloid Bild recently published an ode to the German forest, calling it "part of the German soul".

"It is, alas, not some made-up fairytale ... that our forest is in a state of emergency ... and if we don't do something to save it and ourselves, we might end up with the story: 'Once upon a time, there was a place called the German forest,'" the paper stated.

Experts are divided over the best plan of action. Solutions range from introducing more robust tree species to naturally allowing forests to adapt to the conditions. The opposition Greens are calling for a return to primeval forests - woods left to their own devices, after researchers at Zurich's Technical University calculated that there was room on the planet for a third more forests than at present without encroaching on urban or agricultural spaces.

While owners of private forests are tending towards planting Douglas firs and northern red oaks, the Association for Environmental and Nature Protection in Germany, a leading NGO, says non-native species are an ecological risk.

The trees that are most under threat are said to be spruce, beech, ash, Norway maple and sycamore. Those most able to weather the climate crisis are robinia, plane, and sweet and horse chestnut trees.

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Beech trees - one of the most threatened species - in a forest in Warburg, western Germany. Photograph: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images

Among those likely to be increasingly imported in future are Turkish hazel, Italian maple, silver lime, and Lebanon cedar. The challenge is to find species able to cope with hot summers as well as harsh winters.

Klöckner believes that as many species as possible are necessary, referring to experts who say nature cannot be left to cope on its own. "We need mixed forests and trees that are adapted to their habitat," she said.

Tanja Sanders, an expert in forest ecology who researches what the forest of the future might look like, said: "Forests are a vital part of our lives. They form groundwater, give us wood, filter the air, reduce CO ₂ and the temperature and offer space for species conservation and human relaxation. But we must face up to having to say goodbye to the forest as we've known it."
Topics

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'Part of German soul' under threat as forests die

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A catastrophic combination of heat, drought, storms, forest fires, beetle plagues and a fungi blight have so far this year destroyed swathes of German forest equivalent to more than 200,000 football fields.

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officially the "Federal Republic of Germany", lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps, Lake Constance, and the High Rhine to the south.

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A country’s cultures are limitless. Unique cultures should be protected from globalization so that people can remember their culture. In order to preserve the culture, it’s all our responsibilities to make efforts and take some action about it. In this online Kaleidoscope project, I will be presenting the “Cultural Museum in Germany” for everyone around the world to enter through an open platform for different kinds of creative investigations, Padlet. Padlet allows people creating their own online space to organize information and demonstrate their ideas.

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Martin Luther (1483-1546)

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Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace on a rough hill in southwest Bavaria. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and in honour of Richard Wagner.
The castle was meant to be a home for the king until 1886 when the king died. Neuschwanstein is a worldwide symbol of the era of Romanticism.

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My goal in this project is to provide a virtual Museum that everyone can experience online. So that people have the opportunity to be more aware of the threatening cultures. And I also hope that people can understand the importance of preserving the numerous cultures around the world from the negative effects of cultural imperialism and globalization.

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Otto Dix was a remarkable German painter and artist of the 20th century, his ruthless realistic depictions of German society represents a turn-away from the ideas of Romanticism. His arts reflect the harsh realities of   German society in a non-sentimental perspective.

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Martin Luther  was the founder of Protestantism in Europe. He had come to believe that Christians are saved through faith and not through their own efforts. This turned him against many of the major teachings of the Catholic Church.

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This is a very interesting animation on YouTube that explains clearly on the major incidents Martin Luther have had in his life.

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A Fun, Animated History of the Reformation and the Man Who Started It All | Short Film Showcase

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A bilingual sign in Bautzen

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It was Hitler's political heartland that's very alpine. In 2017, 28.2% of the total German population is Catholic. Catholicism is also the largest religious group in Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg.

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This is one of the North German's Jokes toward South German. South Germans are conservatives

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Neuschwanstein Project Drawing (Christian Jank in 1869)

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Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His works include epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of different styles. Neither is he a philosopher by today’s most common definitions, he was a man of great learning and wisdom, whose active life serves as the outward expression of his personal thoughts.

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Fußball-Club Bayern München is a German sports club in Munich, Bavaria. It can be known as the most successful club in the entire German football history, have had won a record of 19 national cups and 29 national titles.

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Especially spoken around the Rhine estuary.

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Franz Beckenbauer

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Traditional folk dancing has almost been forgotten. The young generation particularly no longer identified with them.

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He is widely regarded to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. Franz Beckenbauer was born and raised in Munich. Twice named European Footballer of the Year, Beckenbauer appeared 103 times for West Germany and played in three FIFA World Cups.

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Horse race at the Oktoberfest in Munich, 1823.

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Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck was a conservative German statesman who planned and direct to unite Germany in 1871 and he served as its first chancellor until 1890, in which capacitance he dominated European affairs for two decades.

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"It was built in 1866 by the shy king Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat away form public life."
It's actually pretty ironic as the castle is open to the public shortly after the king's death.

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Visit an Immense, Real-Life Fairy-Tale Castle | National Geographic

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Caspar David Friedrich was a German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of 19th-century, his generation.

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For decades, this is actually an English comedy which has been shown on German television networks every New Year's Eve.

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Beethoven was a German pianist and composer. He was considered as one of a greatest composer of all time. In his lifetime, he was in the transition between the classical and romantic eras in classical music.

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Stefanie Maria Graf is a German professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 and won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Her 22 singles titles put her second on the list of major wins in the female competition. In 1988, she became the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player to have won each Grand Slam tournament at least four times.

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Professor Katharina Mayer suggest the reason behind the languished dance culture.
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She said "Bavaria’s traditions are closely intertwined with Christian culture. Dancing was therefore regulated and domesticated through church traditions. This gave Bavarian dance a rather provincial, old-fashioned image. It fell asleep and was almost lost,"

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Munich, six o'clock in the morning. Thousands of people are congregating in the Englischer Garten park. The sun rises in the Biergarten below the Chinese Tower. All eyes are on one woman: dance teacher Katharina Mayer. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Then the music starts - and the 40-year-old begins to dance. She twists and turns in time to the music, and invites everyone to join in. Soon the whole crowd is dancing - at Munich's Kocherlball ( Date 2019: 21 July from 6.00 to 10.00 o´clock), the biggest and most popular open-air dance event in the Bavarian capital.

Traditional folk dancing is alive and well in Bavaria.

For dance teacher Katharina Mayer, imparting the joys of Bavarian dance is both her job and her passion. The Alpine and Bavarian dance music culture of the 19th century is an important part of regional identity. In the beer tent at village festivals, at weddings and birthdays, at official celebrations such as Maypole dancing and parish fairs, and at the "Kathreintanz" (Dance of St. Catherine): people all over the region pair up and whirl round dance floors across the state to the beat of traditional tunes played live by skilled musicians. Traditional folk dancing is alive and well in Bavaria.

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Bavarian dance: history brought to life | Bavarian - traditionally different

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Munich, six o'clock in the morning. Thousands of people are congregating in the Englischer Garten park. The sun rises in the Biergarten below the Chinese Tower. All eyes are on one woman: dance teacher Katharina Mayer. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

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Oompah dominants over South Germany. It is the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument, which is a form of background ostinato.
(The Video in "Lifestyle")

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Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German actress, songwriter, and singer. Hagen is best known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the punk and new wave movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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German National Anthem - Deutschlandlied | Epic Version

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Murray Perahia – Beethoven: "Moonlight" Piano Sonata No.14 In C Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2

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She represents the golden age of Berlin cabaret (a culture period)

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In Germany a percentage of 65 to 70 of people recognize themselves as Christians, 29% of which as Catholics. There is also a Muslim minority of 4.4%. A number as high as 36% do not identify themselves as having any religion or belong to another than Christianity or Muslim.

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Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

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This well-known and especially Romantic masterpiece illustrates a young man stands upon a rocky precipice with his back to the viewer

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Max Ernst was a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism.

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The tune of the German national anthem was composed by Austrian Joseph Haydn in 1796, and was first performed for the birthday of Holy Roman emperor Francis II in 1797 .

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The Elephant Celebes

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The Mud Olympics has 2 mottos:

Dirty sport for a clean cause.

Strong against cancer.

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German cuisine tends to be pretty heavy on the basics. Perhaps that is why there are several traditional festivals in Germany dedicated to the country’s staple crops. Some people might say that onions are too frivolous for a festival. But it's actually an event celebrating music, beer and tradition but with onions done up like elaborate corn dollies hanging from every stall. It lasts for three days nowadays.

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It is the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga. On the top of Heiligenberg Mountain in Heidelberg, a massive open-air amphitheatre lays in damage. The ruins are the Thingstätte, and they are one of the only remaining relics of architecture built by the Nazis in the area.

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The Thingstätte is no longer in use, and today is only visited by hikers. That is, except for on the night of April 30th each year, when people hike up the mountain and gather inside of it.

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It was invented by desperate fishermen in the past that they needed to use ingredients that wouldn’t decay on their long journeys across the sea. The ingredients include ground beef, onions, potatoes and pickled beetroot.

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This slime is Schmalz, which is fat, often taken from pigs, that’s melted, mixed with onions and other ingredients and set to harden into a cream afterwards.

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While you can find Schmalz in many German regions, Bavaria is particularly known for its Griebenschmalz, which is the same slimy substance with pork speck in it.

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German schmalz is rendered animal fat and griebenschmalz is rendered animal fat to which cracklings have been added. Pork is the most common schmalz in Germany and other parts of Europe (it is known as in Poland), while schmalz made from chicken or goose fat is the most common among Ashkenazi Jews.

Schmalz, also written as schmaltz and shmalz, is most often used as a bread spread, instead of butter. While it sounds strange to the uninitiated, a layer of schmalz, sprinkled with salt on top of fresh, German bread is heavenly.

Schmalz is used in a multitude of ways in the German kitchen. It is layered over potted meats, stirred into cabbage dishes, and used for browning onions. Often eaten with the cracklings left in, where it is known as griebenschmalz. Schmalz can also be flavored with apples and onions.

Schmalz is better than bacon fat for many things because it does not add salt to a dish. While high-quality schmalz and griebenschmalz can be purchased in Europe, it is harder to find in the U.S. You can make your own schmalz with a little time and a few pounds of pork fat, by following this recipe. Once you make it, you'll see how versatile an ingredient schmalz can be.

1. Cut fat trimmings into small pieces (1/4-inch squares). If they still have a little meat on them, that is fine.

2. Place trimmings in a large skillet with high sides over low to medium heat. You may use a lid at any time to help them heat up but do not use a nonstick pan.

3. Heat and stir until the trimmings start to melt. Continue to heat and stir for 1 hour or more, until the pieces turn into brown cracklings (g rieben).

4. If you are adding the apple and onion, peel them both, finely chop, and add at this time. Keep cooking the fat until the apple starts to turn golden brown, 15 minutes or more.

5. You can add salt if you wish, but it is more common to salt the rendered fat when spread on bread just before consumption.

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How to Render Pork Fat to Make German Schmalz

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German schmalz is rendered animal fat and griebenschmalz is rendered animal fat to which cracklings have been added. Pork is the most common schmalz in Germany and other parts of Europe (it is known as in Poland), while schmalz made from chicken or goose fat is the most common among Ashkenazi Jews.