KUrier Volume 5, Issue #2

Newsletter of Germanic Languages and Literatures The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS Editor: William Keel • Layout: Pam LeRow

KUrier Vol. 5, No. 2, Summer 2017

Undergraduate Studies 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 2017 Five German Studies majors presented their research at the 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The students conducted their research as part of the senior capstone course they took in spring, GERM 580: Contemporary GermanSpeaking Europe. The Symposium “celebrates the diversity of undergraduate research and creative activities on campus.”

• Eric Alseth, German Studies and Global & International Studies major, “New Pollution: The Effect of Rising Temperatures on the Rheingebiet” • Lauren Cassidy, German Studies and Global & International Studies major, “Germany’s Response to Russia in Crimea” • Courtney Frets, German Studies major, “In Times of Fading Light (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts) and the German cultural memory of the German Democratic Republic” • Juliana Hacker, German Studies major and Business minor, “Phase-Out of Nuclear Energy: Good or Bad?” • Caroline Huff, German Studies and Spanish major, “Digitalization of Incunabula”

Lorie Vanchena, Stuart Day, and K. Barbara Schowen

Congratulations went to Caroline Huff, who won an Outstanding Presentation Award.

At the Symposium Banquet, Stuart Day, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, presented Lorie Vanchena with the K. Barbara Schowen Undergraduate Research Mentor Award for her “extraordinary commitment to mentoring undergraduate researchers.” This award is named after Professor Emerita of Chemistry K. Barbara Schowen, whose efforts to promote undergraduate research at KU led to the development of the Undergraduate Research Symposium and the Undergraduate Research Awards. Vanchena received $1000 with the award.

Alum Mitchell Pruett; Undergraduate Research Assistants Ashley Yoder and Drew Crist (back), presenters Caroline Huff, Juliana Hacker, Lauren Cassidy, Courtney Frets, Eric Alseth

May 2017 Recognition Ceremony for Majors & Minors in German Studies The Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures celebrated the academic achievements of graduating German Studies majors and minors at our annual Recognition Ceremony and Reception on May 14. We were pleased that so many family members and friends joined us in the Centennial Room for the event.

After a welcome from Professor Nina Vyatkina, Chair of the Department, the ceremony began with the induction of new members into Gamma Pi, the KU Chapter of Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society. Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society “seeks to recognize excellence in the study of German and to provide an incentive for higher scholarship. The Society aims to promote the study of the German language, literature and civilization and endeavors to emphasize those aspects of German life and culture which are of universal value and which contribute to man’s eternal search for peace and truth.” Dr. Andrea Meyertholen conducted the initiation ceremony for seniors Eric Alseth, Caroline Huff, Juliana Hacker, and Nick Skornia. The students, who pledged to continue pursuing their interest in German language and culture, each received a certificate and honor cords from the national organization.

Reinstating the tradition of nominating a colleague for Honorary Membership in Delta Phi Alpha, we selected Professor Arienne Dwyer, who was in Paris a research meeting and could not join us. Professor Dwyer is an anthropological linguist and co-director of the KU Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities. She speaks fluent German and collaborates with scholars in Germany on numerous projects. She has been a long-time friend of our department, serving on committees and attending talks.

Mr. Jim Morrison presented certificates to Eric Alseth, Courtney Frets, and Juliana Hacker, all of whom passed the Goethe-Zertifikat B2, an internationally recognized exam requiring advanced skills in German.

2

We then recognized Juliana Hacker, who was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. PBK is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa embraces the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression.

The following students were honored for completing a major or minor in German Studies: Eric Alseth majored in German Studies and Global & International Studies. He earned certification in the Global Awareness Program, passed the Goethe B2 exam, and was inducted into Delta Phi Alpha. He survived (his word) an adventurous study abroad semester in Moscow. For his senior capstone project, Eric researched thermal pollution in Germany’s Rhine River and gave an excellent presentation on his work last month at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. He plans to teach in City Year or join the Peace Corps. He would like to study in Germany and pursue a career in the Foreign Service Office or working for an NGO. Casey Boyd completed his German Studies major and earned certification in the Global Awareness Program. For his senior capstone project, he researched the continuing impact of a right-wing terrorist group in Germany. The day after Commencement, Casey was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army. After completing the Infantry Basic Officers Leadership Course he will move back home to Chicago to pursue a career in event production, while serving in the Indiana National Guard. He plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in German Studies.

Courtney Frets was a German Studies major and completed her Business minor in August. She also passed the Goethe B2 exam. Courtney presented her semester-long research project at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in April: she explored the notion of Real Socialism in a recent novel that traces the fate of a multi-generational family in East Germany. In August, Courtney began teaching German at Washburn Rural High School in Topeka. She would like to pursue a graduate degree in German Studies.

Averi Gengler completed a German Studies major and a minor in Linguistics, and she earned certification in the Global Awareness Program. She spent two summers studying in Germany, which she describes as transformative experiences. For her senior capstone project, Averi researched a controversial railway and urban development project in Stuttgart, Germany. In her current job with a company subcontracted by the government, she helps people purchase health insurance. She wants to pursue a professional career that encompasses her interest in business, insurance, and politics.

Juliana Hacker completed a German Studies major and Business minor, and she earned certificates in the University Honors Program, the Global Awareness Program (with Distinction), and the Service Learning Program. She is a member of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars, Phi Beta Kappa, and Delta Phi Alpha. Moreover, Juliana graduated from the College with the designation of Distinction. The senior capstone project she presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium argued in favor of Germany’s nuclear energy phase-out. She will be working as an au pair in Germany for a year after graduation. She hopes to pursue graduate work in Philanthropic Studies or Public Administration with an emphasis in Non-Profit Studies.

Caroline Huff majored in both German Studies and Spanish and completed certificates in the Global Awareness and University Honors Programs. She is member of Delta Phi Alpha.

Her senior capstone project on digitized collections of incunabula (books printed from 1455 to 1500) earned her an award for best presentation at the Undergraduate Research Seminar.

Caroline, whose current job at the Dusty Bookshelf downtown lets her indulge her love of books, plans to pursue a graduate degree in Spanish literature degree in South America. Eventually she wants to work as an ambassador or interpreter.

fully transition to the University of Kansas campus, complete their degree, and transition into the next chapter of their lives.

Reece Petty could not attend the ceremony. He completed a major in Film & Media Studies and minors in German Studies and Psychology. He earned certificates in the University Honors Program and Global Awareness Program.

Nick Skornia combined a German Studies minor with a Finance degree from the School of Business. He is a member of Delta Phi Alpha, the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He graduates tomorrow Magna Cum Laude from the School of Business. After graduation he traveled in Asia before starting a position on July 1 in investment banking with Moelis & Co in Chicago.

Matthew Styers completed a major in Psychology and a minor in German Studies. He also earned certification in the Global Awareness Program. After graduation he plans to travel in Europe, move to Berlin, and complete an MBA. Andrew Crist was this year’s recipient of the Exter Award for Outstanding Service to the Department. Drew served as Student Assistant at the MKC for three years. He performed his duties without fail: preparing the apartment for guests, cleaning the apartment after guests, and setting up for events. He

Brandon Keenan, who could not attend the ceremony, completed a German Studies minor and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the History of Art and in Visual Art. He also completed the Research Experience Program in Visual Art. Kennedy Lee, who also could not attend the ceremony, completed a major in Linguistics and a minor in German Studies.

She earned certification in the Global Awareness Program.

Roy Parker completed a Bachelor of General Studies degree in History and a German Studies minor. During his senior year Roy served as Vice President of Student Veterans of America and was involved with the opening of the Lieutenant-General William K. Jones Veteran and Military-Affiliated Student Center on our campus. He is actively seeking employment with the federal government, preferably in Germany. This summer he will work in the nationally recognized Center, which provides services for military-affiliated students to help them success-

did a lot of heavy lifting, literally: packing and moving boxes in and out of the building, transporting boxes of books from Wescoe to the MKC, and moving collections within the building. He continued the work of cataloging collections housed at the Center. He was professional at all times. Drew started as a German Studies major but then decided to complete a double major in Mathematics and Economics; he has also earned an Undergraduate Certificate in the University Honors Program.

He did spend a year studying in Germany before coming to KU and he completed a business internship in Germany.

3

Our award for Outstanding Academic Achievement honored Al Mauler, who was at the ceremony with his wife Marcy, who was celebrating her birthday! Al retired from KU Libraries in fall 2016, after a career in which German and the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures played a significant role. Al majored in German and earned graduate degrees in German literature here at the University of Kansas; he was also a teaching assistant in the department. Al served as librarian for our Engel Library before working in KU Libraries’ Cataloging Department, where his expertise in German and knowledge of other Indo-European languages were highly valued. He later became the bibliographer for Germanic languages and literatures. Al was a wonderful colleague, and we were thrilled that he and Marcy were present when Courtney Frets received the Al Mauler Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

Selecting just one student for the Outstanding Academic Achievement award was a difficult task; we had several outstanding graduates. Courtney was selected for her stellar performance in her German Studies courses, which we define as

2017 German Studies majors & minors.

4

actively participating in class discussion and producing written work of very high quality on a range of topics such as her autobiography as a learner of German to the future colonization of Mars to deception in the Enlightenment drama Emilia Galotti. She impressed her audience at the Undergraduate Research Symposium with her analysis of a German novel, set in the historical and cultural context of a divided Germany. Her presentation was well structured and supported with excellent graphics. Moreover, she spoke freely, clearly conveyed her argument, and convincingly answered the questions from the audience. She is very skilled at literary analysis and brought a high level of critical thinking to her work in the senior capstone course this spring.

Professor Lorie Vanchena, Director of Undergraduate Studies, concluded the ceremony with the following comments for the students: “It has been a privilege to serve as your advisor and mentor, and it’s been great fun to have you in my classes. Speaking on behalf of the entire Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, we are honored to celebrate your many achievements at the University of Kansas today and we are grateful that you chose to spend much of your time in our program. We hope that your major or minor in German Studies has helped spark a commitment to life-long learning, not just about the language and culture of German-speaking countries, but about all cultures, including your own. We want you to have meaningful, happy, and healthy lives: take your education, your curiosity, your creativity, your compassion for people and for other creatures who inhabit our planet, and your sense of duty to our country and to those who serve it—take all of that and go out and do some good in the world! So much needs to be done.

Please stay in touch; we would love to hear from you. Let us know when we can be helpful. We will miss seeing you in our classrooms and office hours and in the beautiful halls of Wescoe, but please know that our heartfelt good wishes accompany all of you as you move forward.”

Summer Language Institute in Eutin 2017 Normally the number 13 bodes ill will and bad luck, and when bringing a group of 13 students over to Germany for eight weeks, the last thing one wants is a trip cursed with misfortune. After this past summer however, I will be associating this traditionally unlucky number with good fortune, great people, and fun times. I perhaps enjoyed the most good fortune, for I had the pleasure of spending the summer with the 13 KU students who participated in the 52nd year of the Summer Language Institute in Eutin, Germany. For six weeks, we lived with host families in Lawrence’s sister city as the students earned nine hours of KU language credit. Rounding out the group and adding to my good fortune was this year’s assistant, Stephanie Wille, who led the students in a conversation course and helped to ensure that the program ran smoothly and successfully.

and humbled by the show of hospitality, goodwill, and friendship that we experienced during the entirety of our home stay, including our welcome ceremony at city hall and the annual DeutschAmerikanischer Abend.

Such extraordinary opportunities with the welcoming sentiments of Eutin’s citizens testify to the uniqueness and value of this program and the Outside the Elbphilharmonie concert greater sister-city relationship. hall, the new symbol of Hamburg.

After expressing our gratitude by hosting a BBQ/potluck dinner, we bid a (tearful) goodbye to our friends, host families in Eutin—not to mention some of our local favorites like the Döner kebab at Ramazan`s Restaurant, the 1-Euro Shop, the Schlosspark, and of course the Voss-Schule :). Prior to our departure, the group had already journeyed to Berlin for a weekend where we enjoyed the best of the city’s monuments, museums, chocolate stores, and cur-

Many thanks to the Eutin Fire Department, our escort from the Hamburg Airport to Eutin!

Of course, most of the credit for this fantastic summer goes to the students themselves. Wonderful to teach and just plain fun to be around, this year’s group of 13 not only won over Stephanie and myself, but their host families and the town of Eutin as well. Certainly, we had some unique and unforgettable experiences during our daytrips: partying at the Kieler Woche, visiting the Hansa Museum in Lübeck, and being treated to a special tour of the new Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Yet some of the most memorable moments were during our time in Eutin with the host families. While some students went to medieval festivals, played with puppies, and attended Zumba classes, others played soccer, participated in the local Schützenfest, and met long-lost German relatives.

Providing the organizational support that organized these wonderful host families and helped facilitate our travel were Martin Vollersten, Stephan Klein, and Torben Mothes of the “Freunde von Lawrence,” as well as city representatives Annette Rudolph and Nicole Ausborn. I continue to be amazed

Those crazy KU students (and their teachers) are at it again at the Cologne Zoo!

5

A three-hour train ride to Berlin just flies by with good company (and sleeping).

rywurst. Now we headed down south and out west, stopping first at big-city Cologne (of cathedral fame) before continuing on to the half-timbered houses of university-town Marburg, where both Martin Luther and the Brothers Grimm spent time. Although fairy-tale figures popped up all over Marburg, we headed deeper into the heart of fairy-tale Germany when we left for beautiful Bavaria, staying first in Nuremberg and then in Munich. Nuremberg treated us to a hands-on experience of the German First Reich (the medieval castle and dungeons) and the Third (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Nuremberg trials courtroom). Finishing

Rock Chalking our KU spirit in Nuremberg.

out our grand tour in Munich, we partook in the typical tourist fare: eating giant pretzels and pig knuckles at the Hofbräuhaus, watching the surfers in the Englischer Garten, and testing out the vehicles at the BMW showroom. The ultimate highlight was a day trip into the Bavarian countryside to tour the castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof along with the fairy-tale town of Oberammergau.

Now some might say we did fall victim to a bit of bad luck on our flights back to Kansas, but given that we all eventually made it back—and with our luggage—I remain convinced that the number 13 has been absolved of its bad reputation.

Although these amazing events and the wonderful students of this past summer will be tough to top, plans for the 2017 SLI in Eutin are already underway as we look forward to introducing a group of new faces to meet old friends in our sister city.

Shredding it up at BMW-Welt!

In this issue: 20th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 2017....................................1

6

KATG Schülerkongress 2017..........................8 Nina Berend, guest of the Max Kade Center in February 2017.................................8

May 2017 Recognition Ceremony for Majors and Minors in German Studies.........2

Faculty News.....................................................9

Summer Language Institute in Eutin 2017.........................................................5

Semester and Academic Year in Germany.......................................................9

Deutsche Sommerschule Holzkirchen 2017...................................................................7

Brandon Wiederholt: Eutin—die Rosenstadt....................................10

Deutsche Sommerschule Holzkirchen 2017

Welcome Ceremony in Holzkirchen for KU Students

Following a ten-day trip, including an orientation near Munich and longer stays in Cologne and Berlin to sample the cultural and historical sights of those cities, this year’s Deutsche Sommerschule arrived in Holzkirchen to begin intensive classes on June 22. As always the students were greeted on the steps of the Rathaus by the mayor and a band playing both Bavarian and American marches, as well as representatives of the Friends of KU—the group that arranges the host families for our students—and the Volkshochschule Holzkirchen with which KU cooperates in offering the classes of the program.

With this summer’s gorgeous weather—except for the very last week—the time in Bavaria literally flew by with visits to the castles of King Ludwig, a weekend hiking in the Alps, tours of many beautiful churches, and several trips to Munich for its

many cultural offerings. One visit to Munich included a tour of the newly renovated memorial to the students of the Weiße Rose located in the main building of the Munich University.

These students opposed the Nazi dictatorship and were caught by the Gestapo and executed. One highlight while in Holzkirchen was the evening spent learning Bavarian dances with the Holzkirchner Trachtenverein (folklore club)—a good time was had by all (see photo). After the students leave, Professor Keel meets with the Freunde der Universität Kansas to express our appreciation for the nearly 60 years of hospitality shown our students during the summer in Bavaria. Among the 20 students this summer were 11 from KU, 7 from Arkansas and 2 from Michigan.

Prof. Keel and the officers of the Friends of KU in Holzkirchen

KU students and Holzkirchen Trachtenverein.

7

KATG Schülerkongress 2017 The KU Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures again hosted the daylong completion in German for Kansas high school students known as the Schülerkongress on March 4 this year. This event has been held in cooperation with the Kansas Association of Teachers of German on the KU campus

Abilene High School Students

continuously since 1991 (with one exception). The event is the continuation of the old “German Field Day” begun by our former chair J. Anthony Burzle in 1965. Nearly 250 students from a dozen high schools in the state participated in culture contests, poetry and prose recitations and scavenger hunts in KU museums with a German cultural theme. With Kongress-Euros earned by activities such as conversation with native speakers, the students purchase small items donated by the Goethe Institut and the consulates of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the U.S. KU faculty and students assisted by judging contests and working in the Tante-Emma-Laden—the store stocked with items from the consulates and the Goethe Institut-Chicago. The overall theme of this year’s Kongress was “Am Anfang war das Wort—Martin Luther und die deutsche Sprache”—celebrating the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517.

Students from Olathe East High School

8

Nina Berend, guest of the Max Kade Center in February 2017 Prof. Dr. Nina Berend (University of Heidelberg and the Institut für Deutsche Sprache Mannheim) visited KU for a weeklong workshop at the beginning of February to discuss the audio recordings of Volga German dialects in western Kansas collected by Prof. William Keel and his graduate students since 1980 as well as herself during her stay as Max Kade Visiting Professor in Spring 2008. Dr. Chris Johnson (Ph.D. 1994) has digitized the recordings made by our faculty and staff. He has also made a number of them available online through the Max Kade Center’s “Linguistic Atlas of Kansas German Dialects” (LAKGD) as well as KU ScholarWorks. The workshop discussed the possibilities of the transcription and publication of these materials in addition to their online access at the University of Kansas (LAKGD) and KU ScholarWorks) as well as via the “sprageographisches Informationssystem” of the Deutscher Sprachatlas at the University of Marburg, Germany. We also explored cooperation with the corpus of German-American varieties being developed by Prof. Hans Boas at the University of Texas at Austin (Texas German Dialect Project) as well as assistance with a transcription project from scholars in German-American dialect studies at Pennsylvania State University. Prof. Berend also gave a public presentation on her work at the Institut für Deutsche Sprache on the dialects of the Russian Germans worldwide entitled „Russlanddeutsch Weltweit: Erscheinungsformen, Erforschung, Dokumentation, Präsentation“(Russian German Worldwide: Manifestations, Research, Documentation, Presentation). Prof.

Keel continued the discussion during a July 12 visit to the Institut für Deutsche Sprache, meeting with its director Prof. Dr. Ludwig Eichinger (Max Kade Visiting Professor at KU in 2006) and Prof. Berend.

Faculty News Emily Hackmann Wallace, a recent graduate of our doctoral program, is taking over for Andrea Meyertholen this year as the coordinator of the German language proficiency sequence. In May of 2016 she successfully defended her dissertation, in which she investigated the acquisition of tense and aspect by German learners in our fourth semester language courses. She last taught for the Department as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in 2013. While working on her dissertation and after graduation, she moved to Missouri and then to New Jersey and spent some time teaching German at Truman State University (MO), Montclair State University (NJ), and the Goethe Institut (NY). Emily is excited to step into her new role as language coordinator and is very happy to be back at KU! A chapter co-authored Nina Vyatkina with Trude Heift, Professor of Linguistics at Simon Fraser University, appeared in July in the Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Technology in Second Language Teaching and Learning. She also traveled extensively in the US and abroad to present at scholarly conferences. In March, she conducted a refereed colloquium on Corpora in Language Learning and Teaching in Portland, OR, and gave an invited talk at the international workshop Learner corpus based approaches to second language acquisition in Utrecht, the Netherlands. In May, she presented a refereed paper at the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium conference in Flagstaff, AZ. And in July, she traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to give one invited and one refereed presentation at the 18th World Congress of Applied Linguistics.

for German-American Studies at Philadelphia in mid-April on “Variations on a Schnitzelbank: Varieties of Schnitzelbank Songs in German-American and American Popular Culture.”

The Lawrence Board of Realtors invited him to be the luncheon speaker at their May meeting on the topic of “Eutin— Lawrence’s Sister City in Germany.” He also published an essay entitled “From Refugee of 1848 to American Superpatriot: ‘Colonel’ Fred Buehrle—the Official Cannoneer of the State of Missouri” in the Yearbook of German-American Studies 51 (2016): 109-34. During the 2017 summer session, he again directed the advanced institute for German language and culture in Holzkirchen, Germany, with 20 students—11 from KU, 7 from the University of Arkansas and 2 from Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

Semester and Academic Year in Germany

Holden Zimmerman and Sarah Culiff spent our spring semester 2017 from the beginning of March until the end of July in Bonn, Germany, where we studied at the University of Bonn.

While taking university classes and participating in the International Club and extracurricular activities such as the University Symphony Orchestra, we had so many opportunities to learn about German culture by experiencing life as a true German university student. We are both so happy we got to have this amazing academic experience!

Carely Johnson spent the academic year in Bonn and is seen here across the Rhine River from the Cologne Cathedral.

Nina Vyatkina and scholars from Belgium, Germany, UK, Spain, and the Netherlands after presenting at the invited workshop Linguistic Complexity and Instruction at the 18th World Congress of Applied Linguistics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During the Spring Semester, William Keel was an invited speaker at The Bluestem Language Symposium held at Kansas State University on February 18 with a topic of “Deitsch, Däätsch, Düütsch and Dietsch: Varieties of German in Kansas.”

He presented a paper at the Annual Symposium of the Society 9

Brandon Wiederholt: Eutin—die Rosenstadt

is that the scent gene has been bred out of most of the roses available in the United States.

So, that morning when I was walking on the path next to the castle, I was lost in the scent of the Eutin Rose, and I was lamenting the state of the mass-produced roses available in America. I was thinking of the William Blake poem, The Sick Rose, and I wrote this poem inspired by it: O sick Rose, you have lost your scent.

Defiled by mass production, fleeting dreams of youth came and went.

Long life led to your destruction.

You were the best of dark and bright, and you cling to your scentless glow, crying crimson tears in the night, longing for life lost long ago.

The German city of Eutin (pop. 17,298) has a variety of rose that bears its name. It also has a castle. The Eutiner Schloss is backed up to the Großer Eutiner See, a short distance from the Marktplatz. It is red brick with a red tile roof, and it has scores of white French windows with hunter-green shutters. Surrounding the castle, there is a serene moat covered in lily pads, and just past the moat—on the far side of the Marktplatz—there is a walking trail. It runs parallel to the castle, and for about a quarter of a mile, it is lined on either side by superlative trees.

This past summer, I participated in the KU Language Institute in Eutin, and as I reflect back on the city two months later, I am still struck by how idyllic the experience was. The grass seemed just a little bit greener, and the sky seemed just a little bit bluer.

One morning in late June I was walking on that tree-lined path next to the castle—as I did almost every morning—and I was carrying a Eutin Rose that I had picked on my way down. If you’ve smelled a rose in an American flower shop lately, you know that they are largely devoid of scent. This is because they have been bred to last longer to cope with market demands, but the unintended consequence of this longer life 10

The poem sounds pessimistic, admittedly, but it was written from a place of optimism—optimism that was inspired by six weeks in Eutin—because there was a purity to the experience that I thought only still lived in me in my halcyon dreams.

The reason for this perspective shift is two-fold, I think.

First, it has to do with the experience of studying a foreign language in its native land. As Charlemagne is reputed to have said, “To have another language is to possess a second soul.” Of course, it would be very wide of the mark to say that I “have” the German language, but I’ve gotten as far as reading the opening monologue of Goethe’s Faust as it was written, and that gives me hope that I’ll read (and see) the entire drama in German one day.

The second reason has to do with my host family. The Lohn family consisted of a husband and wife—Jens and Bente—and three children: Max (6 years), Pia (4 years), and Tim (2 years). My parents divorced when I was Pia’s age and my siblings are significantly older than me, so I never knew what it was like to live with an intact family. Put simply, the Lohn Family is a beautiful family in every sense of that word, and the privilege of living with them for six weeks was balm for a wound that I had refused to look at in long years.

That’s my Eutin: a rose on a tree-lined path next to a castle and family on a quiet, cobblestone street. And it’s all I could have ever hoped for.

Giving to the Department Since 1887, when William Herbert Carruth became the first professor of German at KU and was joined in the 1890s by Elmer Franklin Engel and Alberta Lincoln Corbin, KU’s tradition of German studies has offered students at all levels the opportunity to learn one of the world’s great languages and to study the literature and culture of Central Europe. Under J. Anthony “Toni” Burzle’s tenure as department chair in the 1950s and 1960s, the department was in the forefront of establishing opportunities for our students to study language and culture in Germany.

Our programs in German at KU, however, rely very much on the generosity of our former students. For many of you, a summer, semester, or year in Germany during your KU years was the highlight of your studies. This experience has been and continues to be a truly life-changing event for so many of our students. Each year study abroad becomes more and more expensive. It is imperative that we support our students and enable them to study abroad.

Norm Fahrer, attended both of our summer institutes as a KU undergraduate (Holzkirchen in 1965 and Eutin in 1966).

Before he died, Norm contributed $150,000 to establish an endowed scholarship fund, in memory of his father who had taught German at Bethany College in Lindsborg, for KU students to participate in the summer program in Holzkirchen. Carl Krehbiel was so transformed by his experience as an undergradutate in Holzkirchen in 1968 that he established an endowed scholarship fund in 2011. The nearly two million dollar principal generates enough income to cover the program fee for all KU students participating in the Eutin and Holzkirchen programs. It is very gratifying to hear from former summer institute students. With your help we can continue to offer such high quality summer experiences in Germany for our future students.

[With thanks to Prof. William Keel, who composed this historical narrative.]

Herzlichen Dank und beste Grüße!

Nina Vyatkina, Chair

Ways to give to the department

You can donate online with a credit card by going to http://www.kuendowment.org/depts/german/dept Online giving is secure, speedy, and simple. Click the area you would like to support and you will be redirected to the website of KU Endowment, the non-profit fundraising organization that supports KU. For information on other ways to give, please visit the KU Endowment web site. For information on other opportunities to assist the Department, please contact the Chair, Nina Vyatkina at Vyatkina@ku.edu or (785) 864-4803.

11