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Emergency workers assess the scene of the accident. Source: DPA PICTURE ALLIANCE / ALAMY LIVE NEWS
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Arts & Culture
Düsseldorfer Kunststreit: donated monument pits artists against city council
Düsseldorf’s city council has gone against the advice of the city’s Art Commission, a board made up of artists and politicians, to accept the donation of a monument dedicated to reunification.
Designed by the sculptor Thomas Schönauer, a Düsseldorf-born artist, the 30-metre-high column is to be built on the banks of the Rhine. The Art Commission made no aesthetic protest but advised that the design of such a monument be decided democratically through an artistic competition.
FAZ calls such a reason ‘unconvincing’ - is there not something meaningful about such a generous donation, should Düsseldorf’s citizens not be grateful?
This rejection of a valuable sculpture reminds of the 2018 debate in Paris surrounding Jeff Koons’ gift to the city, with specific instructions that Bouquet of Tulips should be placed in the prominent position of the Palais de Tokyo’s central square.
French cultural personalities signed an open letter condemning Koons’s gift as ‘shocking’ on many levels, namely symbolically, democratically, architecturally, artistically, technically and financially.
Unsurprisingly, the Düsseldorf Art Commission’s letter doesn’t quite rise to French levels of indignation. The commission criticises the monument as ‘backwards-looking’ since it reduces the development of unification to a linear, simplistic and already-complete process.
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Thomas Schönauer's design - a monument to Germany unity. Source: Faz.net
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Sport
An Incredible week for brilliant Bayern Munich…
Both in Europe and domestically, German champions Bayern Munich reminded the world of their attacking prowess, finishing February with dominating wins over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and a solid Hoffenheim outfit.
Across the two games, the Bavarian giants scored NINE goals, with Serge Gnabry grabbing three of those. The former Arsenal winger got two in three minutes against the Blues, before Robert Lewandowski netted the third to put Hans-Dieter Flick’s men in a very commanding position ahead of the second leg. Frank Lampard’s side were resistant for the first 50 minutes, but had no answers to the pace, movement and combination play of Bayern.
On Saturday it took Gnabry just two minutes to get on the scoresheet, and the visitors had three within 15 minutes against a rattled Hoffenheim. By the hour mark, Bayern were 6 goals to the good in an assertive display, with Philippe Coutinho getting two and 18-year-old Joshua Zirkzee scoring on his first start in the Bundesliga.
… which ends on a farcical note
The match, however, ended in an unbelievable fashion. After the travelling Bayern fans held up banners in protest against Hoffenheim president Dietmar Hopp, the two teams simply passed the ball between one another for the last 15 minutes of the contest in retaliation. Read more on this political battle between players, fans, officials and boards.
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Game of the Week
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Bundesliga Standings
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Weekly Polls
Do you agree with the Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim players, who stopped playing after Bayern fans lifted an offensive banner aimed at Hoffenheim's owner?
YES NO NOT SURE
Do you think Düsseldorf should go ahead with the monument’s construction?
YES NO NOT SURE
Last week, we asked whether Is far-right extremism becoming a bigger issue in Germany?
92% of you answered 'yes'.
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Germany in the UK
Hans Fallada’s classic novel, ‘Alone in Berlin’ has been adapted into a play at the Oxford Playhouse and is showing March 24-28th. Tickets.
Timur Vermes’s book, ‘The Hungry and the Fat’ was reviewed in The Spectator last week. So too was Uwe Schüttes’ ‘Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany’ and Daniel Steuer’s ‘Metternich: Strategist and Visionary’.
Frühlingsfest Ipswich has teamed up with a German brewery for this event which takes place on March 21st in Christchurch Park, Ipswich. Join in and enjoy German beer, music and street food!
The God of the City (Der Gott der Stadt) is a novel by German author Christiane Neudecker, published in 2019 and the winner of the ‘US Jury pick’ award. Set in newly reunified Berlin it follows a group of competitive drama students as they prepare to stage their own bizarre version of ‘Faust’.
The People vs Fritz Bauer (‘Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer’) is showing at the Institut Francais in Edinburgh on Tuesday, March 3rd. The film tells the story of the man who brought high-ranking German Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann to justice in 1957.
Join the German Department Research Seminar at King’s College, London on March 18th to explore the production process of chronicles from the 15th Century. The focus is on ‘How to write a chronicle. (Hi)-storytelling in 15th century Nürnberg’.
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Music
The song of the week is ‘Santiano’ - Santiano (2012)
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Word of the Week
in Lohn und Brot bleiben
phrasal verb: to stay in a job
This idiomatic colloquialism is used to refer to staying in employment. It literally translates as ‘to stay in wage and bread’.
- Sie mussten sich entscheiden, wer in Lohn und Brot bleiben würde und wer zuhause bei den Kindern bleiben würde. = They had to decide who would stay in employment and who would stay at home with the children.
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