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A vigil for the victims of the shooting. Source: Focus.de
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Weekly Poll
Is far-right extremism becoming a bigger issue in Germany?
YES NO NOT SURE
Last week, we asked whether Erling Haaland would continue his amazing form.
62% of you answered 'yes'.
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Arts & Culture
Deutsche Bank bins masterpieces amidst efforts to stay afloat
The renowned art collection of Deutsche Bank has been squeezed amidst the context of major cuts within the organisation both to major artworks and 18,000 jobs; a fifth of its global workforce.
The bank is struggling to cope with fines relating to misconduct relating to the 2008 financial crisis and the fallout of a collapsed merger with Commerzbank last year.
Consequently, Deutsche Bank has deaccessioned in private sales for undisclosed amounts works by Nolde, Mondrian, Pechstein and Richter, whose triptych masterpiece Faust, 1981 was sold off the wall of the New York office’s lobby.
Still plenty remain (around 55,000 works down from 59,000) to consecrate the walls of the bank’s new Berlin gallery, the Palais Populaire, which opened in 2018. The bank’s collection is valued at $500 million, somewhat, dare we say it, paltry when considering the sheer volume of the collection, but representatives cite its ongoing commitment to supporting emerging artists.
The real incentive will be, of course, that at least a few of these will turn out to be the next Richters and Pechsteins, seeing exponential returns on those investments in a few decades time. That is, if the bank manages to persevere through its not-so-minor rocky patch.
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Liz Christensen, Deutsche Bank’s senior art director with Gerhard Richter’s Faust. Source: Bloomberg
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Sport
Nkunku stars in stunning Schalke smashing
Former PSG midfielder Christopher Nkunku assisted an incredible FOUR second-half goals in Gelsenkirchen to help RB Leipzig hammer Schalke 5-0. The title-challengers showed no signs of tiredness after their impressive midweek 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur, as Marcel Sabitzer opened the scoring inside one minute, with his 25-yard shot deceiving young Schalke goalkeeper Alex Nübel.
Across the Bundesliga
Bayern Munich continue to be the Bundesliga pacesetters as they picked up another three points against a plucky Paderborn on Friday. The victory was far from comfortable, as the relegation battlers frustrated the German champions, with the scores level with only a few minutes to go. But Robert Lewandowski latched on to Serge Gnabry’s cross to net his second of the game and secure a 3-2 result. Hans-Dieter Flick’s men will face Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday in London.
After the world watched Erling Haaland at his ruthless best with a double against French giants PSG during the week, there was no surprise to see the Norwegian superstar on the scoresheet once more. The teenage striker got the second goal of Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win against Werder Bremen, with his incredible start to life in Germany showing no signs of letting up. Hoffenheim grabbed a 92nd minute equalise to rescue a point against Borussia Mönchengladbach, as both sides remain in the race for European qualification.
Elsewhere:
Whilst most German clubs remain fan-owned, the franchise-funded success of RB Leipzig has led to fury among certain sectors of the sport’s supporters. See here for more on how the East German club became the most hated in Germany, despite only being formed 11 years ago.
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Game of the Week
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Bundesliga Standings
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Germany in the UK
The White Rose Project has several events coming up from February 22nd, 2020, starting with a lunchtime lecture about the White Rose Resistance with Dr. Alex Lloyd at the University of Oxford and ending on March 18, 2020 with a symposium at St. Edmund Hall.
The Goethe Institut in London is holding its monthly Friday Book Club again on February 28, 2020 from 4-5:30pm. This time the discussion (in German) will be about Hans Fallada’s classic, Alone in Berlin (Jeder stirbt für sich allein).
Deutsche Runde at the Goethe Institut, Glasgow is hosting a German-language exchange of ideas on March 5th, 2020 from 1-2:30pm on the topic of mythical forests in Germany.
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Music
The song of the week is ‘Nur für dich’ - Wise Guys (2004)
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Word of the Week
Tomaten auf den Augen haben
Phrase: to be oblivious to what is going on around you
This colloquial idiom literally translates as ‘to have tomatoes in your eyes’. It is used to refer to the idea of being too distracted to notice or be aware of what is happening around you.
- Hat sie Tomaten auf den Augen? Sie merkt nicht, was sie macht! = Is she blind? She’s not paying attention to what she’s doing!
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