German History

Karl May- Old Shatterhand and Winnetou

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Book and Movie Reviews

Karl May might be the best selling German novelist that most Americans never heard of. May’s stories of the American West have been making frontiersmen and Native Americans come alive in Germany since 1893. And for Germans of a certain age, the names Old Shatterhand and Winnetou are as familiar as Harry Potter, Ron, and […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

The Gäubodenmuseum- 7000 years of History in Straubing, Germany

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German History

The Gäubodenmuseum is an absolute treasure trove of early German, Celtic, Roman, and Bavarian artifacts. You’ll find the museum in a rebuilt patricians house on Frauenhoferstraße, off the main pedestrian zone in Straubing. The museum was recommended to me by our tour bus driver, Bene. (And here’s a travel tip- when the bus driver recommends […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

The Candy Bomber – The Berlin Airlift & Operation Little Vittles

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German American History

Cover Image-C-54 dropping candy during Berlin Airlift c1949 – Public Domain In a 2021 newsletter, I mentioned that I would be writing about the Candy Bomber who dropped handkerchief parachutes with chocolate payloads for the children of Berlin during the Airlift. One of my readers, Dorothea Thunig Smith, reached out to me with a lovely […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

October 31st, Martin Luther, and the Protestant Reformation

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German History

Eight German states observe October 31st, Reformation Day, as a public holiday. But what was the Protestant Reformation and why is it celebrated? Growing up in the Lutheran Church we heard the story about how Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to a church door, setting off the Protestant Reformation, and starting the Lutheran Church. […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

Why are there so MANY Different names for Germany?

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German History

  Allemania, Niemcy, Vokietija, Tedesco, Tyskland, Germany, Deutschland…. WHY are there so many different names for Germany? And these aren’t just names that are a translation of the word Deutschland, they are very different words with different etymologies (starting place of a word). Even the word Deutschland is relatively recent. The answer has a lot […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

The Linden tree in Germany – The Tree at the Heart of Germany

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German History

A friend sent me a clip from a news story out of West Virginia about the removal of a Linden Tree. What made him curious was not the toys found under the tree… it was the tree itself. This special tree was the last survivor of three Linden trees brought to the United States by […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

What is a Radler? – The History of a Drink Named for a Cyclist

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German Beer and Wine

I realize this might be considered blasphemy, but I’m not much of a beer drinker. I just never developed a taste for it (apparently, I make an “eeewww” face from the bitter flavor when I drink it). But soda is generally too sweet. Fortunately, an innkeeper in Deisenhofen, Germany came up with a solution that […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

Roman Limes in Germany – Borders of the Roman Frontier

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German History

Cover photo by Michael Graber   The first time I saw the words, “Germanic Limes”, I immediately flashed to those tart green citrus fruits… but I couldn’t have been further from reality. The Roman Limes in Germany are leftover border fortifications from the days of when Germanic Tribes and Roman Troops were keeping a sharp […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

German Basic Law – A short explanation of the Grundgesetz

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German History

“The state is there for the sake of people, not people for the sake of the state.” Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the Constitution, and how it compares to German Basic Law. Until the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) went into effect on May 23rd , 1949 Germany was still a divided occupied country under […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Resistance Movement

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German History

On a bike ride through Munich, my group stopped in a University of Munich courtyard. There, looking like some dropped or scattered papers, we found the White Rose Memorial embedded in the stones. The guide spoke to us about Sophie Scholl and the White Rose group. We learned about the pamphlets that young Sophie threw, […]

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What was the Malleus Maleficarum or Hammer of Witches?