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Die Blechtrommel
''The Tin Drum'' (german: Die Blechtrommel, ) is a 1959 novel by Günter Grass. The novel is the first book of Grass's ' (''Danzig Trilogy''). It was adapted into a 1979 film, which won both the 1979 Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980. To "beat a tin drum" when used as an idiom means to create a disturbance in order to bring attention to a cause. This is based on an interpretation of the book where Oskar's beating of his titular tin drum "symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood". Plot The story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath, as narrated by himself when confined in a mental hospital during the years 1952–1954. Born in 1924 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), with an adult's capacity for thought and perception, he decides never to grow up when he hears his father declare that he would become a grocer. Gifted with a piercing shriek that can shatter glass or be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breon Mitchell
Breon Mitchell (born ''Bert Breon Mitchell''; 1942) is a (retired) American professor of Germanic Studies and translator. He was a Professor of Germanic Studies, chair of the Comparative Literature Department, and Director of the Lilly Library of Indiana University. He has translated a number of notable German works into English including ''The Trial'' by Franz Kafka, '' The God of Impertinence'' by Sten Nadolny, ''Shadowlife'' by Martin Grzimek, ''The Silent Angel'' by Heinrich Böll, '' Laura's Skin'' by J.F. Federspiel, '' The Color of the Snow'' by Rüdiger Kremer, and ''The Tin Drum'' by Günter Grass (2009). Mitchell translated and then revised ''What Must Be Said'' by Grass in April 2012. Personal life Breon Mitchell was born on August 9, 1942 in Salina, Kansas to John Charles II and Maxine Mitchell. He has a brother John Charles III and late brother Tim. He has three children with his wife Lynda: Catherine, Kieron, and Kerry. Breon lives in Ellettsville, Indiana. He reti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1939 Invasion Of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, and one day after the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union had approved the pact. The Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. The invasion is also known in Poland as the September campaign ( pl, kampania wrześniowa) or 1939 defensive war ( pl, wojna obronna 1939 roku, links=no) and known in Germany as the Poland campaign (german: Überfall auf Polen, Polenfeldzug). German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident. Slovak military forces adv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. Hegel, contrasting with Hegel's use of ''Volksgeist'' "national spirit" and ''Weltgeist'' "world-spirit". Its coinage and popularization precedes Hegel, and is mostly due to Johann Gottfried Herder, Herder and Goethe. Other philosophers who were associated with such concepts include Herbert Spencer, Spencer and Voltaire. Contemporary use of the term sometimes, more colloquially, refers to a schema of fad, fashions or fads that prescribes what is considered to be acceptable or tasteful for an era: e.g., in the field of architecture. Theory of leadership Hegel in ''Phenomenology of the Spirit'' (1807) uses both ''Weltgeist'' and ''Volksgeist'', but prefers the phrase ''Geist der Zeiten'' "spirit of the times" over the German compound, co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insane Asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry. While there were earlier institutions that housed the "insane", the conclusion that institutionalization was the correct solution to treating people considered to be "mad" was part of a social process in the 19th century that began to seek solutions outside of families and local communities. History Medieval era In the Islamic world, the '' Bimaristans'' were described by European travellers, who wrote about their wonder at the care and kindness shown to lunatics. In 872, Ahmad ibn Tulun built a hospital in Cairo that provided care to the insane, which included music therapy. Nonetheless, physical historian Roy Porter cautions against idealising the role of hospitals generally in medieval Islam, stating that "They were a drop in the oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Model (person)
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though models are predominantly female, there are also male models, especially to model clothing. Models may work professionally or casually. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) is considered to be different from other types of public performance, such as acting or dancing. Although the difference between modelling and performing is not always clear, appearing in a film or a play is not generally considered to be "modelling". Similarly, appearing in a TV advertisement is generally not considered modelling. Modelling generally does not involve speaking. Personal opinions are generally not expressed and a model's reputation and image are considered critical. Types of modelling include: fashion, glamour, fitness, bikini, fine art, body-part, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a population of 617,280. Düsseldorf is located at the confluence of two rivers: the Rhine and the Düssel, a small tributary. The ''-dorf'' suffix means "village" in German (English cognate: ''thorp''); its use is unusual for a settlement as large as Düsseldorf. Most of the city lies on the right bank of the Rhine. Düsseldorf lies in the centre of both the Rhine-Ruhr and the Rhineland Metropolitan Region. It neighbours the Cologne Bonn Region to the south and the Ruhr to the north. It is the largest city in the German Low Franconian dialect area (closely related to Dutch). Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world. Düsse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight And Expulsion Of Germans (1944–1950)
During later stages of World War II and post-war period from 1944 to 1950, Germans fled and were expelled to Germany, present-day Germany from Eastern Europe, which led to de-Germanization there. The idea to expel the Germans from the annexed territories was proposed by Winston Churchill, in conjunction with the Polish government-in-exile, Polish and Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Czechoslovak exile governments in London at least since 1942. In late 1944 the Czechoslovak exile government pressed the Allies to espouse the principle of German population transfers. On the other hand, Polish Polish government-in-exile#Prime ministers, prime minister Tomasz Arciszewski, in an interview for ''The Sunday Times'' on 17 December 1944, supported the annexation of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Warmia-Masuria, Province of Upper Silesia, Opole Regency, north-east parts of Province of Lower Silesia, Lower Silesia (up to the Oder line), and parts of Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established in January 1918. The Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations (especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army) of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. Starting in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; taking the official name of "Soviet Army", until its dissolution in 1991. The Red Army provided the largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75–80% of casual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national republics; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR. Other major cities included Leningrad (Russian SFSR), Kiev (Ukrainian SSR), Minsk ( Byelorussian SSR), Tashkent (Uzbek SSR), Alma-Ata (Kazakh SSR), and Novosibirsk (Russian SFSR). It was the largest country in the world, covering over and spanning eleven time zones. The country's roots lay in the October Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edelweiss Pirates
The Edelweiss Pirates (german: Edelweißpiraten ) were a loosely organized group of youths opposed to the status quo of Nazi Germany. They emerged in western Germany out of the German Youth Movement of the late 1930s in response to the strict regimentation of the Hitler Youth. Similar in many ways to the '' Leipzig Meuten'', they consisted of young people, mainly between the ages of 14 and 17, who had evaded the Hitler Youth by leaving school (which was allowed at 14) and were also young enough to avoid military conscription, which was only compulsory from the age of 17 onward. The roots and background of the Edelweiss Pirates movement were detailed in the 2004 film ''Edelweiss Pirates'', directed by Niko von Glasow. History The origins of the ''Edelweißpiraten'' can be traced to the period immediately prior to World War II, as the state-controlled Hitler Youth (''Hitler-Jugend'') was mobilized to indoctrinate young people, at the expense of the leisure activities previously of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Normandy
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August. The decision to undertake a cross-channel invasion in 1944 was taken at the Trident Conference in Washington in May 1943. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, and General Bernard Montgomery was named commander of the 21st Army Group, which comprised all the land forces involved in the invasion. The coast of Normandy of northwestern France was chosen as the site of the invasion, with the Americans assigned to land at sectors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
