April 02
February 29
4:00 pm Porter House Living Room
The German Theme House at Porter House invites you to a provocative program of songs written during the Weimar Republic of Germany, 1919-1933. Adjunct voice faculty Ann Maggs, accompanied by orchestral director Mark Swanson on piano, and Joseph Silver on drums, will present songs (in English and German) full of cynicism, humor, hope and outrage by composers Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Mischa Spoliansky, and Friedrich Hollaender and poet Bertolt Brecht. While German cabaret and theater were flourishing, the Nazi Party was increasing its power, with Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor of the country in 1933.
Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
February 26
9:00 pm Porter House
The German department is now accepting applications to live in the German House (Porter House) for 2008-09. The applications are available on the Residential Life website here.
Check out the wonderful atmosphere at the German House at the Open House.
February 28 - June 8, 2007
Daniel Kojo exhibits at the Mead Art Museum
The Third Space: Cultural Identity Today is part of a year-long interdisciplinary initiative at Amherst College on the theme of “Art and Identity in the Global Community.” One of the artists in the show, Afro-German Daniel Kojo, is a German Department Copeland Fellow for the 2007-2008 academic year. For more information on this show please click here.
December 6
St. Nikolaus Evening with Baking and German Christmas Music
Join the French and German House in celebrating St. Nikolaus Day. We will be baking from 6-8 PM, and eat and socialize from 8-9. Through the evening, we will play French and German Christmas music and make shoes to fill with candy. You'll have fun and maybe learn a little. Come at any time between 6 and 9. Stay as long as you like!
November 15
Christine Becker joins us for the screenings of "Bronstein's Children"
We are very delighted to welcome Christine Becker, the author's widow and collaborator, in honor of our screenings of "Bronstein's Children" which the Amherst College German Department is showing in cooperation with the DEFA Film Library. Show times are 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm in the Stirn Auditorium and Christine Becker will be present at both screenings.
November 13
Göttingen Abend & Kaffeeklatsch
9:30 pm Porter House
Meet the German faculty and teaching assistents (who come from Göttingen) in a casual and relaxed environment to find out more about this fantastic opportunity to spend your junior year at one of Germany's most prestigious universities. Click here to read more about the program. Refreshments will be served.
November 10
Brecht on Broadway
2:00 pm MHC, Rooke Theater
A comedy by Holger Teschke, translated by Karen Remmler and directed by Joyce Devlin opens the fall season at the Mount Holyoke College Department of Theatre Arts.
The play takes place in October 1947, shortly before the playwright Bertolt Brecht is subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in Washington, D.C., to testify about his political and literary activities in Hollywood during his exile. In the Manhattan apartment of the publisher Dorothy Norman, the German emigrant Hermann Budzislawski tries to prepare Brecht for the hearing. This undertaking is interrupted time and again by unexpected visitors who cause the evening to go in unexpected directions. After the hearing, all the visitors return to Norman’s apartment to listen to Brecht’s interrogation on the radio and to bid him farewell. But before Brecht can leave for his plane to Europe, another visitor arrives and turns the farewell party into a theatrical night.
Holger Teschke wrote this play based on historical sources, which documented Brecht’s time in American exile between 1941 and 1947. The play reflects Brecht’s dream, to conquer Broadway and to revolutionize the American Stage. During his research Teschke found many astonishing parallels between the HUAC–Era and the present political situation, which put the events from the past in a current light. This is a comedy about politics and theatre as well as love and literature in an age of alleged treason.
November 2
Family Weekend
3:00-5:00 pm Barrett Library
Students and their families are invited to join the German faculty for a brunch from 3-5 pm in the Barrett Library. Refreshments will be served. We look forward to seeing you there!
October 23
Heinrich Heine Poetry Jam with Holger Teschke
4:30-6:00 pm MHC, Williston Library, Stimson Room
Heinrich Heine's poetry is as powerful and politically relevant today as it was in the 19th century. The German Studies Department and the German Club at MHC invites you to a poetry bash to celebrate Heine's work. The poetry reading and bash takes place on Tuesday, October 23 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. in the Stimson Room on the sixth floor of the MHC library. Heine (aka Holger Teschke) will read excerpts from the epic poem, "Ein Wintermärchen" and poems from "Buch der Lieder" and "Reisebilder." Students and other Heine readers are invited to bring their favorite Heine poems (in any language) to read aloud. Please let us know if you would like copies of the poems in advance. Light refreshments will be served.