1.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
2.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
Schmargendorf
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Schmargendorf is a south-western locality of Berlin in the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Until 2001 it was part of the district of Wilmersdorf. Schmargendorf borders with the localities of Grunewald in the west, Halensee in the north, Wilmersdorf in the north and east, the northeastern border with Berlins inner city is marked by the Ringbahn line of the Berlin S-Bahn and the Stadtring motorway. The village in the Margraviate of Brandenburg was first mentioned as des or ’s Margreven Dorp in 1354, contracted to Low German Smargendorp, on 1 October 1920 Schmargendorf was incorporated into Berlin by the Greater Berlin Act. Since 1954 Schmargendorf houses the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, formerly located in Berlin Mitte, rainer Maria Rilke, poet, from 1898 to 1900 lived in Schmargendorf on Hundekehlestrasse No. By car it can be reached on the Stadtring motorway, at the Hohenzollerndamm exit, media related to Schmargendorf at Wikimedia Commons Schmargendorf page on www. berlin. de
4.
Humanism
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The term was coined in 1808 by the early nineteenth century German educational reformer and theologian Friedrich Niethammer and gradually adopted into English. Niethammer had wished to introduce into German education the humane values of ancient Greece, the word Humanism is ultimately derived from the Latin concept humanitas, and, like most other words ending in -ism, entered English in the nineteenth century. Those who earnestly desire and seek after these are most highly humanized. For the desire to pursue of that kind of knowledge, and the training given by it, has granted to humanity alone of all the animals. Gellius says that in his day humanitas is commonly used as a synonym for philanthropy – or kindness and he himself was involved in public affairs. By assigning pride of place to Paideia in his comment on the etymology of humanitas, gelliuss writings fell into obscurity during the middle ages, but during the Italian Renaissance, Gellius became a favorite author. Teachers and scholars of Greek and Latin grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, during the French Revolution, and soon after, in Germany, humanism began to refer to an ethical philosophy centered on humankind, without attention to the transcendent or supernatural. The designation Religious Humanism refers to organized groups that sprang up during the late-nineteenth and it is similar to Protestantism, although centered on human needs, interests, and abilities rather than the supernatural. The first Humanist Manifesto was issued by a conference held at the University of Chicago in 1933, signatories included the philosopher John Dewey, but the majority were ministers and theologians. But in the century, during the French Enlightenment, a more ideological use of the term had come into use. In 1765, the author of an article in a French Enlightenment periodical spoke of The general love of humanity. A virtue hitherto quite nameless among us, and which we will venture to call humanism, for the time has come to create a word for such a beautiful and necessary thing. The latter part of the 18th and the early 19th centuries saw the creation of numerous philanthropic and benevolent societies dedicated to human betterment. Humanism began to acquire a negative sense, the Oxford English Dictionary records the use of the word humanism by an English clergyman in 1812 to indicate those who believe in the mere humanity of Christ, i. e. Unitarians and Deists. Human-centered philosophy that rejected the supernatural may also be found circa 1500 BCE in the Lokayata system of Indian philosophy, nasadiya Sukta, a passage in the Rig Veda, contains one of the first recorded assertions of agnosticism. Another instance of ancient humanism as a system of thought is found in the Gathas of Zarathustra. Zarathustras philosophy in the Gathas lays out a conception of humankind as thinking beings, dignified with choice, in China, Yellow Emperor is regarded as the humanistic primogenitor. Sage kings such as Yao and Shun are humanistic figures as recorded, king Wu of Zhou has the famous saying, Humanity is the Ling of the world
5.
Evangelical Church in Germany
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In 2015, the EKD had a membership of 22,271,000 members, or 27. 1% of the German population. It constitutes one of the largest national Protestant bodies in the world, behind the Church of England, earlier, there had been successful royal efforts at unity in various German states, beginning with Prussia and several minor German states in 1817. These unions resulted in the first united and uniting churches, a new development within Protestantism which later spread to parts of the world. This utterly failed, with the Confessing Church and the German Christians-led Reichskirche opposing each other, other Protestant churches aligned themselves with one of these groups, or stayed neutral in this church strife. In 1948, the Evangelical Church in Germany was organized in the aftermath of World War II to function as a new organization for German Protestant churches. As a result of tensions between West and East Germany, the churches in East Germany broke away from the EKD in 1969. In 1991, following German reunification, the East German churches rejoined the EKD, as for church governance, the Lutheran churches typically practise an episcopal polity, while the Reformed and the United ones a mixture of presbyterian and congregationalist polities. Most member churches are led by a bishop, only one member church, the Evangelical Reformed Church, is not restricted to a certain territory. In some ways, the member churches resemble dioceses of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Literally, evangelisch means of the Gospel, denoting a Protestant Reformation emphasis on sola scriptura, dr. Martin Luther encouraged this term alongside Christian. From the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 to the end of the First World War and this changed somewhat with growing religious freedom in the 19th century, especially in the republican states of Bremen, Frankfurt, Lübeck, and Hamburg. The greatest change came after the German Revolution, with the formation of the Weimar Republic, however, the Peoples Church Union quickly split along territorial lines after the churches relationship with the new governments improved. It was realised that one mainstream Protestant church for all of Germany was impossible, the churches met in Dresden in 1919 and created a plan for federation, and this plan was adopted in 1921 at Stuttgart. Then in 1922 the then 28 territorially defined Protestant churches founded the German Evangelical Church Confederation, at the time, the federation was the largest Protestant church federation in Europe with around 40 million members. In July 1933, the German Evangelical Church was formed under the influence of the German Christians, the Confessing Church arose in resistance to the Nazi regimes ideology. The National Socialists had much influence over the decisions of the first National Synod, in 1948, freed from the German Christians influence, the Lutheran, Reformed and United churches came together as the Evangelical Church in Germany at the Conference of Eisenach. In June 1991, following German reunification, the BEK merged with the EKD, a modern English translation, however, would be regional church. This turned the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union into an umbrella, being itself a member of EKD but covering some regional church bodies
6.
West Berlin
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West Berlin was an enclave which comprised the western part of the city of Berlin during the Cold War. It was formally controlled by the Western Allies and formed a de facto part of West Germany, and was entirely surrounded by the Soviet-controlled East Berlin and East Germany. West Berlin had great significance during the Cold War, as it was widely considered by westerners as an island of freedom. A wealthy city, West Berlin was noted for its liberal and cosmopolitan character. With about two million inhabitants, West Berlin had the biggest population of any city in Cold War Germany and it was 100 miles east of the Inner German border and only accessible by land from West Germany by narrow rail and highway corridors. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945 and was de facto part of West Germany and it had a special and unique legal status because its administration was formally conducted by the Western Allies. East Berlin, de jure occupied and administered by the Soviet Union, was the de facto capital of East Germany, the Berlin Wall, built in 1961, physically divided West Berlin from its East German surroundings until it fell in 1989. The Potsdam Agreement established the framework for the occupation of Germany in the wake of World War II. The territory of Germany, as it existed in 1937, would be reduced by most of Eastern Germany thus creating the former territories of Germany. The remaining territory would be divided into four zones, each administered by one of the allied countries, according to the agreement, the occupation of Berlin would end only as a result of a quadripartite agreement. The Western Allies were guaranteed three air corridors to their sectors of Berlin, and the Soviets also informally allowed road, at first, this arrangement was intended to be only a temporary administrative structure, with all parties declaring that Germany and Berlin would soon be reunited. However, as the relations between the allies and the Soviet Union soured and the Cold War began, the joint administration of Germany. Soon, Soviet-occupied Berlin and western-occupied Berlin had separate city administrations, in 1948, the Soviets tried to force the Western Allies out of Berlin by imposing a land blockade on the western sectors—the Berlin Blockade. The West responded by using its air corridors for supplying their part of the city with food, in May 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade, and West Berlin as a separate city with its own jurisdiction was maintained. Following the Berlin Blockade, normal contacts between East and West Berlin resumed, however, in cases this proved only temporary. In 1952, the East German government began sealing its borders, as a direct result the electrical grids were separated and phone lines were cut. However, the culmination of the schism did not occur until 1961 with the construction of the Berlin Wall. From the legal theory followed by the Western Allies, the occupation of most of Germany ended in 1949 with the declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic
7.
Gymnasium (school)
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In its current meaning, it usually refers to secondary schools focused on preparing students to enter a university for advanced academic study. In the US, the German Gymnasium curriculum was used at a number of universities such as the University of Michigan as a model for their undergraduate college programs. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men, in the Polish educational system the gimnazjum is a middle school for pupils aged 13 to 16. The same applies in the Greek educational system, with the option of Εσπερινό Γυμνάσιο for adults. The gymnasium is a school which prepares the student for higher education at a university. They are thus meant for the more academically minded students, who are sifted out at about the age of 10–13, in addition to the usual curriculum, students of a gymnasium often study Latin and Ancient Greek. Some gymnasiums provide general education, others have a specific focus, today, a number of other areas of specialization exist, such as gymnasiums specializing in economics, technology or domestic sciences. In some countries, there is a notion of progymnasium, which is equivalent to beginning classes of the full gymnasium, here, the prefix pro indicates that this curriculum precedes normal gymnasium studies. The term was derived from the classical Greek word gymnasion, which was applied to an exercising ground in ancient Athens. Here teachers gathered and gave instruction between the hours devoted to exercises and sports, and thus the term became associated with. This use of the term did not prevail among the Romans, but was revived during the Renaissance in Italy, in 1538, Johannes Sturm founded at Strasbourg the school which became the model of the modern German gymnasium. In 1812, a Prussian regulation ordered that all schools which had the right to send their students to the university should bear the name of gymnasia, by the 20th century, this practice was followed in almost the entire Austrian-Hungarian, German, and Russian Empires. In the modern era, many countries which have gymnasiums were once part of three empires. In Albania a gymnasium education takes three years following a compulsory nine-year elementary education and ending with an aptitude test called Matura Shtetërore. The final test is standardized at the level and serves as an entrance qualification for universities. There are both public and private schools in these countries. Therefore, gymnasiums often base their admittance criteria on an entrance exam, in Austria the Gymnasium has two stages, from the age of 11 to 14, and from 15 to 18, concluding with Matura. The Humanistisches Gymnasium focuses on Ancient Greek and Latin, the Neusprachliches Gymnasium puts its focus on actively spoken languages
8.
Mitte (locality)
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Mitte is a central locality of Berlin in the homonymous district of Mitte. Until 2001 it was itself an autonomous district and it comprises the historic centre of Alt-Berlin around the churches of St. Nicholas and St. For these reasons Mitte is considered the heart of Berlin, the history of Mitte corresponds to the history of the entire city until the early 20th century, and with the Greater Berlin Act in 1920 it became the first district of the city. It was among the areas of the city most heavily damaged in World War II and this ended on 1 January 1961, when western Staaken was incorporated into then East German Falkensee, which had already been under its de facto administration since 1 June 1952. Between 1961 and 1990 Mitte, one of the most important boroughs of East Berlin, one of the most important border crossings was Checkpoint Charlie, near Kreuzberg. Situated in central Berlin and mostly in its old town, it is traversed by the river Spree and it borders the localities of Tiergarten, Moabit, Wedding, Gesundbrunnen, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, and Kreuzberg
9.
Classics
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Classics or Classical Studies is the study of classical antiquity. It encompasses the study of the Graeco-Roman world, particularly of its languages, and literature but also it encompasses the study of Graeco-Roman philosophy, history, and archaeology. Traditionally in the West, the study of the Greek and Roman classics was considered one of the cornerstones of the humanities and it has been traditionally a cornerstone of a typical elite education. The word Classics is derived from the Latin adjective classicus, meaning belonging to the highest class of citizens, the word was originally used to describe the members of the highest class in ancient Rome. By the 2nd century AD the word was used in literary criticism to describe writers of the highest quality, for example, Aulus Gellius, in his Attic Nights, contrasts classicus and proletarius writers. By the 6th century AD, the word had acquired a meaning, referring to pupils at a school. Thus the two meanings of the word, referring both to literature considered to be of the highest quality, and to the standard texts used as part of a curriculum. In the Middle Ages, classics and education were tightly intertwined, according to Jan Ziolkowski, while Latin was hugely influential, however, Greek was barely studied, and Greek literature survived almost solely in Latin translation. The works of even major Greek authors such as Hesiod, whose names continued to be known by educated Europeans, were unavailable in the Middle Ages. Along with the unavailability of Greek authors, there were differences between the classical canon known today and the works valued in the Middle Ages. Catullus, for instance, was almost entirely unknown in the medieval period, the Renaissance led to the increasing study of both ancient literature and ancient history, as well as a revival of classical styles of Latin. From the 14th century, first in Italy and then increasingly across Europe, Renaissance Humanism, Humanism saw a reform in education in Europe, introducing a wider range of Latin authors as well as bringing back the study of Greek language and literature to Western Europe. This reintroduction was initiated by Petrarch and Boccaccio who commissioned a Calabrian scholar to translate the Homeric poems, the late 17th and 18th centuries are the period in Western European literary history which is most associated with the classical tradition, as writers consciously adapted classical models. Classical models were so prized that the plays of William Shakespeare were rewritten along neoclassical lines. From the beginning of the 18th century, the study of Greek became increasingly important relative to that of Latin, in this period Johann Winckelmanns claims for the superiority of the Greek visual arts influenced a shift in aesthetic judgements, while in the literary sphere, G. E. Lessing returned Homer to the centre of artistic achievement, in the United Kingdom, the study of Greek in schools began in the late 18th century. The poet Walter Savage Landor claimed to have one of the first English schoolboys to write in Greek during his time at Rugby School. The 19th century saw the influence of the world, and the value of a classical education, decline, especially in the US
10.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
11.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
12.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
13.
Hebrew
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
14.
Debate
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Debate is a method of formally presenting an argument in a structured manner. The outcome of a debate may depend upon consensus or some way of reaching a resolution. In a formal debating contest, there are rules for participants to discuss and decide on differences, Debating is carried out in debating chambers and assemblies of various types to discuss matters and to make resolutions about action to be taken, often by voting. Deliberative bodies such as parliaments, legislative assemblies, and meetings of all sorts engage in debates, in particular, in parliamentary democracies a legislature debates and decides on new laws. Formal debates between candidates for elected office, such as the debates that are sometimes held in democracies. Debating is also carried out for educational and recreational purposes, usually associated with educational establishments, the major goal of the study of debate as a method or art is to develop the ability to debate rationally from either position with equal ease. The outcome of a contest may be decided by vote, by judges. Debating teams are often helpful to high school students in teaching the writing process, Debating societies emerged in London in the early eighteenth century, and soon became a prominent fixture of national life. The origins of these societies are not certain in many cases however, by the mid-18th century, john Henley, a clergyman, founded an Oratory in 1726 with the principal purpose of reforming the manner in which such public presentations should be performed. He made extensive use of the print industry to advertise the events of his Oratory and these changes were further implemented when Henley moved his enterprise to Lincolns Inn Fields. The public was now willing to pay to be entertained, by the 1770s, debating societies were firmly established in London society. The year 1785 was pivotal, The Morning Chronicle announced on March 27, giles, Clare-Market, Hockley in the Hole, Whitechapel, Rag-Fair, Dukes Place, Billingsgate, and the Back of the Borough. In 1780,35 differently named societies advertised and hosted debates for anywhere between 650 and 1200 people, the question for debate was introduced by a president or moderator who proceeded to regulate the discussion. Speakers were given set amounts of time to argue their point of view, and, at the end of the debate, a vote was taken to determine a decision or adjourn the question for further debate. Speakers were not permitted to slander or insult other speakers, or diverge from the topic at hand, the first of the post-revolutionary debating societies, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, were formed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1795 and are still active. The first student debating society in Great Britain was the St Andrews Debating Society, the Cambridge Union Society was founded in 1815, and claims to be the oldest continually operating debating society in the World. Over the next few decades, similar societies emerged at other prominent universities. Examples include the Oxford Union and the Yale Political Union, in parliaments and other legislatures, members debate proposals regarding legislation, before voting on resolutions which become laws
15.
John George, Elector of Brandenburg
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John George of Brandenburg was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and a Duke of Prussia. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the son of Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first wife Magdalena of Saxony. Faced with large debts accumulated during the reign of his father, though a staunch Lutheran opposed to the rise of Calvinism, he permitted the admission of Calvinist refugees from the wars in the Spanish Netherlands and France. He was succeeded by his son Joachim Frederick, upon the death of his kinsman Albert I, Duke of Prussia in 1568, the Duchy of Prussia was inherited by the latters underage son Albert Frederick. John Georges father was a co-inheritor of the Duchy of Prussia, in 1577 the Brandenburg electors became co-regent with Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia. John George was married three times and his first wife was Princess Sophie of Legnica, whom he married in 1545. They had one child together, Joachim Frederick Secondly, he married Margravine Sabina of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, in 1548
16.
Margraviate of Brandenburg
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The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg, it played a role in the history of Germany. Brandenburg developed out of the Northern March founded in the territory of the Slavic Wends and its ruling margraves were established as prestigious prince-electors in the Golden Bull of 1356, allowing them to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The state thus became known as Electoral Brandenburg or the Electorate of Brandenburg. The House of Hohenzollern came to the throne of Brandenburg in 1415, under Hohenzollern leadership, Brandenburg grew rapidly in power during the 17th century and inherited the Duchy of Prussia. The resulting Brandenburg-Prussia was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Prussia, although the electors highest title was King in/of Prussia, their power base remained in Brandenburg and its capital Berlin. Although the Margraviate of Brandenburg ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, despite its meager beginnings in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871. The Mark Brandenburg is still used today to refer to the federal state of Brandenburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. The territory of the margraviate, commonly known as the Mark Brandenburg, lies in present-day eastern Germany. Geographically it encompassed the majority of the present-day German states Brandenburg and Berlin, the Altmark, parts of the present-day federal state Brandenburg, such as Lower Lusatia and territory which had been Saxon until 1815, were not parts of the Mark. Colloquially but not accurately, the federal state Brandenburg is sometimes identified as the Mark or Mark Brandenburg, the region was formed during the ice age and characterized by moraines, glacial valleys, and numerous lakes. The territory is known as a Mark or march because it was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark is defined by two uplands and two depressions, the depressions are taken up by rivers and chains of lakes with marsh and boggy soil along the shores, once used for peat collection, the riverbanks are now mostly drained and dry. The Northern or Baltic Uplands of the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau have only minor extensions into Brandenburg, the southern depression is generally to the north of this ridge and appears strikingly in the Spreewald. Between these two depressions is a low plateau that extends from the Poznań area westward to Brandenburg through Torzym, the Spree plateau, the region is predominantly marked by dry, sandy soil, wide stretches of which have pine trees and erica plants, or heath. However, the soil is loamy in the uplands and plateaus and, Mark Brandenburg has a cool, continental climate, with temperatures averaging near 0 °C in January and February and near 18 °C in July and August. Precipitation averages between 500 mm and 600 mm annually, with a modest summer maximum, by the 8th century, Slavic Wends, such as the Sprevjane and Hevelli, started to move into the Brandenburg area. They intermarried with Saxons and Bohemians, the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg were established at the beginning of the 10th century
17.
Franciscans
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The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant religious orders within the Catholic Church, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. These orders include the Order of Friars Minor, the Order of Saint Clare, Francis began preaching around 1207 and traveled to Rome to seek approval from the Pope in 1209. The original Rule of Saint Francis approved by the Pope disallowed ownership of property, the austerity was meant to emulate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Franciscans traveled and preached in the streets, while boarding in church properties, Saint Clare, under Franciss guidance, founded the Poor Clares in 1212, which remains a Second Order of the Franciscans. The extreme poverty required of members was relaxed in final revision of the Rule in 1223, the degree of observance required of members remained a major source of conflict within the order, resulting in numerous secessions. The Order of Friars Minor, previously known as the Observant branch, is one of the three Franciscan First Orders within the Catholic Church, the others being the Capuchins and Conventuals. The Order of Friars Minor, in its current form, is the result of an amalgamation of smaller orders completed in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII. The latter two, the Capuchin and Conventual, remain distinct religious institutes within the Catholic Church, observing the Rule of Saint Francis with different emphases, Franciscans are sometimes referred to as minorites or greyfriars because of their habit. In Poland and Lithuania they are known as Bernardines, after Bernardino of Siena, the name of original order, Friars Minor, means lesser brothers, and stems from Francis of Assisis rejection of extravagance. Francis was the son of a cloth merchant, but gave up his wealth to pursue his faith more fully. Francis adopted of the tunic worn by peasants as the religious habit for his order. Those who joined him became the original Order of Friars Minor and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. First Order The First Order or the Order of Friars Minor are commonly called simply the Franciscans and this Order is a mendicant religious order of men, some of whom trace their origin to Francis of Assisi. Their official Latin name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum, St. Francis thus referred to his followers as Fraticelli, meaning Little Brothers. Franciscan brothers are informally called friars or the Minorites and they all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. These are The Order of Friars Minor, known as the Observants, most commonly simply called Franciscan friars, official name, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin or simply Capuchins, official name, Friars Minor Capuchin. The Conventual Franciscans or Minorites, official name, Friars Minor Conventual, Second Order The Second Order, most commonly called Poor Clares in English-speaking countries, consists of religious sisters. The order is called the Order of St. Clare, but in the century, prior to 1263, this order was referred to as The Poor Ladies, The Poor Enclosed Nuns
18.
Secularization
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Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions. The term secularization is also used in the context of the lifting of the restrictions from a member of the clergy. Secularization refers to the process in which religion loses social and cultural significance. As a result of secularization the role of religion in modern societies becomes restricted, in secularized societies faith lacks cultural authority, and religious organizations have little social power. Secularization has many levels of meaning, both as a theory and a historical process, social theorists such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, postulated that the modernization of society would include a decline in levels of religiosity. Study of this process seeks to determine the manner in which, or extent to which religious creeds, practices, the term also has additional meanings, primarily historical and religious. The 19th-century Kulturkampf in Germany and similar events in other countries also were expressions of secularization. In the 1960s there was a shift toward secularization in Western Europe, North America, Australia. At the most basic stages, this begins with a transition from oral traditions to a writing culture that diffuses knowledge. This first reduces the authority of clerics as the custodians of revealed knowledge, the issue of secularization is discussed in various religious traditions. The government of Turkey is a cited example, following the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate. This established popular sovereignty in a secular republican framework, in opposition to a system whose authority is based on religion, as one of many examples of state modernization, this shows secularization and democratization as mutually reinforcing processes, relying on a separation of religion and state. Some have therefore argued that Western and Indian secularization is radically different in that it deals with autonomy from religious regulation, considerations of both tolerance and autonomy are relevant to any secular state. John Sommerville outlined six uses of the secularization in the scientific literature. When discussing individual institutions, secularization can denote the transformation of a religious into a secular institution, examples would be the evolution of institutions such as Harvard University from a predominantly religious institution into a secular institution. When discussing mentalities, secularization refers to the transition from ultimate concerns to proximate concerns, E. g. individuals in the West are now more likely to moderate their behavior in response to more immediately applicable consequences rather than out of concern for post-mortem consequences. This is a personal religious decline or movement toward a secular lifestyle, when discussing populations, secularization refers to broad patterns of societal decline in levels of religiosity as opposed to the individual-level secularization of above. This understanding of secularization is also distinct from above in that it specifically to religious decline rather than societal differentiation
19.
Reformation
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The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
20.
Franziskaner-Klosterkirche
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The Franziskaner-Klosterkirche was a church in the Mitte district of Berlin, founded in 1250 and now in ruins. It was founded in 1250 in the early Gothic style as a church for a Franciscan house. It was a church,52 metres long and 16 metres wide. Its remains can be found in the wall of the present ruins. This was replaced with a brick basilica church, begun at the end of the 13th century and completed in the first half of the 14th century. In 1365 Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg was buried there, the monastery was closed due to the Protestant Reformations arrival in Berlin in 1539. None of the buildings survive, though some of them housed Berlins first printing press from 1571. Pupils and teachers at the latter included Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, leonhard Thurneysser ran the printing press and also restored the church between 1583 and 1584. 1712 also saw a fire in the roof and in 1719 the church was restored, raising the floor level by 1 metre. Work lasted until 1845, though the church was closed due to damp in its masonry in 1902. The church was re-consecrated on 24 May 1936, the church was destroyed on 3 April 1945 in the bombing of Berlin in World War II. In 1950 the debris was removed and the church ruins secured between 1959 and 1963, although the ruined buildings were demolished completely to make way for a park. The ruins were restored again in 2003-2004 and are now used for exhibitions, plays, kirchenruine des Grauen Klosters in Berlin. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2007 ISBN 978-3-8656-8200-0, gerhard Bronisch, Die Franziskaner-Klosterkirche in Berlin
21.
Alexanderplatz
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Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße, the U-Bahn station of the present-day U2 line opened on 1 July 1913. It is surrounded by several notable structures including the Fernsehturm, the second tallest structure in the European Union, Alex also accommodates the Park Inn Berlin and the World Time Clock, a continually rotating installation that shows the time throughout the globe, and Hermann Henselmanns Haus des Lehrers. During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, the Alexanderplatz demonstration on 4 November was the largest demonstration in the history of East Germany, ever since German reunification, Alexanderplatz has undergone a gradual process of change with many of the surrounding buildings being renovated. Despite the reconstruction of the line crossing, it has retained its socialist character. In 1993, architect Hans Kollhoffs master plan for a redevelopment including the construction of several skyscrapers was published. Due to a lack of demand it is unlikely these will be constructed, sidewalks were expanded to shrink one of the avenues, a new underground garage was built, and commuter tunnels meant to keep pedestrians off the streets were removed. The surrounding buildings now house chain stores, fast-food restaurants, the Alexa shopping mall, with approximately 180 stores opened nearby during 2007 and a large Saturn electronic store was built and is open on Alexanderplatz since 2008. The CUBIX multiplex cinema, which opened in November 2000, joined in 2007 the team of Berlinale cinemas, many historic buildings are located in the vicinity of Alexanderplatz. The reconstruction of the Baroque Stadtschloss near Alexanderplatz has been in planning for several years, Alexanderplatz is also the name of the S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations there. It is one of Berlins largest and most important transportation hubs, Berlin, Alexanderplatz, Transforming Place in a Unified Germany. Alexanderplatz - Overview of the changes
22.
Bombing of Berlin in World War II
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Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, was subject to 363 air raids during the Second World War. It was also attacked by aircraft of the Red Air Force, British bombers dropped 45,517 tons of bombs, the Americans dropped 23,000 tons. As the bombings continued more and more people moved out, by May 1945,1.7 million people had fled. When the Second World War began in 1939, the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United Kingdom had a policy of using aerial bombing only against military targets and against infrastructure such as ports and railways of direct military importance. The first RAF raid on the interior of Germany took place on the night of 10 –11 May, although killing German civilians was never an explicit policy, it was obvious that area bombing must lead to large-scale civilian casualties. With the technology available at the time, the bombing of military targets was possible only by daylight. Before 1941, Berlin, at 950 kilometres from London, was at the range attainable by the British bombers then available to the Allied forces. It could be bombed only at night in summer when the days were longer and it has been argued that this action may actually have saved Britain from defeat. During 1940 there were raids on Berlin, all of which did little damage. The raids grew more frequent in 1941, but were ineffective in hitting important targets. The head of the Air Staff of the RAF, Sir Charles Portal, justified these raids by saying that to get four million people out of bed, the Soviet Union started a bombing campaign on Berlin on 8 August 1941 that extended into early September. Navy bombers, operating from the Moonzund Archipelago conducted 8 raids to Berlin with 3-12 aircraft in each raid, Army bombers, operating from near Leningrad, executed several small raids to Berlin. In total in 1941,33 Soviet aircraft dropped 36,000 kilograms of bombs on Berlin, combat and operational losses for the Soviets tallied 17 aircraft destroyed and 70 crewmen killed. On 7 November 1941, Sir Richard Peirse, head of RAF Bomber Command, launched a raid on Berlin. More than 20 were shot down or crashed, and again little damage was done and this failure led to the dismissal of Peirse and his replacement by Sir Arthur Travers Harris, who believed in both the efficacy and necessity of area bombing. Harris said, The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to everyone else. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and half a hundred other places and they sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind. At the same time, new bombers with longer ranges were coming into service, particularly the Avro Lancaster, during most of 1942, however, Bomber Commands priority was attacking Germanys U-boat ports as part of Britains effort to win the Battle of the Atlantic
23.
East Berlin
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East Berlin existed between 1949 and 1990 and consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors became West Berlin, strongly associated with West Germany, from 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. In East German official usage, it widespread in the 1970s to refer to the Western part of the city as Westberlin. In May 1945, the Soviet Union installed a city government for the city that was called Magistrate of Greater Berlin. After the war, the Allied Forces initially administrated the city together within the Allied Kommandatura, however, in 1948 the Soviet representative left the Kommandatura and the common administration broke apart during the following months. In the Soviet sector, a city government was established. When the German Democratic Republic was formed in 1949, it immediately claimed East Berlin as its capital - a claim that was recognized by all Communist countries, nevertheless, its representatives to the Peoples Chamber were not directly elected and did not have full voting rights until 1981. In June 1948, all railways and roads leading to West Berlin were blocked, however, more than one-thousand East Germans were escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960. In August 1961, the East German Government tried to stop that from happening by building the Berlin Wall and it was very dangerous for illegal migrants to cross because of the presence of armed guards that were trained to shoot people in such cases. East Germany was a socialist republic, but there was not complete economic equality, privileges such as prestigious apartments and good schooling were given to members of the ruling party and their family. Eventually, Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities, in the 1970s wages of East Berliners rose and working hours fell. The United States Command Berlin, for example, published detailed instructions for U. S. military, in fact, the three Western commandants regularly protested against the presence of the East German National Peoples Army in East Berlin, particularly on the occasion of military parades. Nevertheless, the three Western Allies eventually established embassies in East Berlin in the 1970s, although they never recognized it as the capital of East Germany, treaties instead used terms such as seat of government. On 3 October 1990, West and East Germany and West and East Berlin were reunited, after reunification, the East German economy suffered significantly. Many East German factories were shut due to inability to comply with West German pollution and safety standards. Because of this, an amount of West German economic aid was poured into East Germany to revitalize it. This stimulus was part-funded through a 7. 5% tax on income, despite the large sums of economic aid poured into East Berlin, there still remain obvious differences between the former East and West Berlin. East Berlin has a visual style, this is partly due to the greater survival of prewar façades and streetscapes
24.
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
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The partys dominant figure from 1950 to 1971, and effective leader of East Germany, was Walter Ulbricht. In 1953, an uprising against the Party was met with violent suppression by the Ministry of State Security and the Soviet Army. In 1971, Ulbricht was succeeded by Erich Honecker who presided over a period in the development of the GDR until he was forced to step down during the 1989 revolution. The partys last leader, Egon Krenz, was unsuccessful in his attempt to retain the SEDs hold on political governance of the GDR and was imprisoned after German reunification, the SEDs long-suppressed reform wing took over the party in the fall of 1989. In hopes of changing its image, on 16 December it renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism, abandoning Marxism–Leninism and it received 16. 4% of the vote in the 1990 parliamentary elections. In 2007, the PDS merged with Labour and Social Justice into The Left, official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties. However, there is evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed. By all accounts, the Soviet occupation authorities applied pressure on the SPDs eastern branch to merge with the KPD. The newly merged party, with the help of the Soviet authorities, however, these elections were held under less-than-secret conditions, thus setting the tone for the next four decades. A truer picture of the SEDs support came with the elections in Berlin. In that contest, the SED received less than half the votes of the SPD, the bulk of the Berlin SPD remained aloof from the merger, even though Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany directly governed the areas of Germany following World War II. Also reported was a deal of difficulty in convincing the masses that the SED was a German political party. Soviet intelligence claimed to have a list of names of an SPD group within the SED that was covertly forging links with the SPD in the West, a problem for the Soviets that they identified with the early SED was its potential to develop into a nationalist party. At large party meetings, members applauded speakers who talked of nationalism much more than when they spoke of solving social problems, although it was nominally a merger of equals, from the beginning the SED was dominated by Communists. By the late 1940s, the SED began to purge most recalcitrant Social Democrats from its ranks, by the time of East Germanys formal establishment in 1949, the SED was a full-fledged Communist party—essentially the KPD under a new name. It began to develop along lines similar to other Communist parties in the Soviet bloc, over the years, the SED gained a reputation as one of the most hardline parties in the Soviet bloc. When Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reforms in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the party organisation was based on, and co-located with, the institutions of the German Democratic Republic
25.
Sigismund Streit
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Sigismund Streit was a prominent German merchant and art patron of the 18th century in Venice. Born in Berlin, he came to Venice in 1709, where he accumulated substantial wealth and he died childless and bequeathed his collection to institutions in Germany, including the Berlinisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin. He came to own paintings by Canaletto, Antoine Pesne, Jacopo Amigoni, Francesco Zuccarelli and he was a contemporary of another patron Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg. Patrons and Painters, Art and Society in Baroque Italy
26.
Christoph Friedrich Nicolai
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Christoph Friedrich Nicolai was a German writer and bookseller. Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai, was the founder of the famous Nicolaische Buchhandlung and he received a good education, and in 1749 went to Frankfurt to learn his fathers business, finding time also to become acquainted with English literature. In 1752 Nicolai returned to Berlin, and began to part in literary controversy by defending John Milton against the attacks of JC Gottsched. In association with Mendelssohn he established in 1757 the Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften and this latter periodical served as the organ of the so-called popular philosophers, who warred against authority in religion and against what they conceived to be extravagance in literature. Between 1788 and 1796, Nicolai published in twelve volumes a Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, Nicolai died in 1811 in Berlin. Nicolais Bildniss und Selbsbiographie was published by Moses Samuel Löwe in the Bildnisse jetzt lebender Berliner Gelehrter and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Leopold Friedrich Günther von Goeckingk, Friedrich Nicolais Leben und literarischer Nachlass Jakob Minor, Lessings Jugendfreunde, in Joseph Kürschners Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol. lxxii
27.
Berlin Central and Regional Library
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The Berlin Central and Regional Library or ZLB is the official library of the City and State of Berlin, Germany. Berlin General Catalog In 2011 the library system had more than 3.4 million electronic, the Foundation is a legal deposit library for all publications appearing in Berlin. The ZLB also has significant historical and estate collections, and operates the Center for Berlin Studies in Ribbeck-House, the ZLB is a member of the Public Libraries in Berlin and the Cooperative Library Network of Berlin-Brandenburg. Partner libraries are the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Rudomino All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow, berlin-Kreuzberg Blücherplatz 1 Berlin-Mitte Breite Strasse 30-36 Berlin-Charlottenburg There had been plans to combine all these institutions and locations at the former Tempelhof Airport. Construction was slated to begin in 2016, currently the debate for a new building is being discussed anew
28.
Johann Gottfried Schadow
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Johann Gottfried Schadow was a German sculptor. Schadow was born in Berlin, where his father was a poor tailor, three years study in Rome formed his style, and in 1788 he returned to Berlin to succeed Tassaert as sculptor to the court and secretary to the Prussian Academy of Arts. Over half a century he produced upwards of two hundred works, varied in style as in subjects, among his ambitious efforts are Frederick the Great in Stettin, Blücher in Rostock and Luther in Wittenberg. His portrait statues include Frederick the Great playing the flute, and his busts, of which there are more than one hundred, include seventeen colossal heads in the Walhalla, Ratisbon, Goethe, Wieland, and Fichte were modelled from life. Of church monuments and memorial works thirty are enumerated, yet Schadow hardly ranks among Christian sculptors, Schadow, as director of the Berlin Academy, had great influence. He wrote on the proportions of the figure, on national physiognomy, etc. and many volumes by himself and others describe and illustrate his method. His interest in physiognomy is documented by the drawing he made of Harry Maitey, today, some of his sculptures and busts are displayed in the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche and the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. Schadow developed a friendship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe when at first Goethes son visited Schadow in Weimar, Schadow created 12 bronze medals of Goethe. One such medal is in the property of the British Museum, in 2009, one such medal was bestowed by the Goethe Institute upon Dr. Daisaku Ikeda in recognition of his contributions to peace and Goethes philosophy. He died in Berlin in 1850 and his sons Rudolph and Friedrich Wilhelm were notable for sculpture and painting, respectively. He was the grandfather of admiral Felix von Bendemann of the German Imperial Navy and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Schadow
29.
Friedrich Schleiermacher
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He also became influential in the evolution of Higher Criticism, and his work forms part of the foundation of the modern field of hermeneutics. Because of his effect on subsequent Christian thought, he is often called the Father of Modern Liberal Theology and is considered an early leader in liberal Christianity. The Neo-Orthodoxy movement of the century, typically seen to be spearheaded by Karl Barth, was in many ways an attempt to challenge his influence. As a theology student Schleiermacher pursued an independent course of reading and neglected the study of the Old Testament, at the same time he studied the writings of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, and began to apply ideas from the Greek philosophers to a reconstruction of Kants system. Schleiermacher developed a deep-rooted skepticism as a student, and soon he rejected orthodox Christianity and he has himself read some of the skeptical literature, he says, and can assure Schleiermacher that it is not worth wasting time on. For six whole months there is no word from his son. In a moving letter of 21 January 1787, Schleiermacher admits that the doubts alluded to are his own and his father has said that faith is the regalia of the Godhead, that is, Gods royal due. Schleiermacher confessed, Faith is the regalia of the Godhead, you say, I cannot believe that he who called himself the Son of Man was the true, eternal God, I cannot believe that his death was a vicarious atonement. Two years later, in 1796, he became chaplain to the Charité Hospital in Berlin, here Schleiermacher became acquainted with art, literature, science and general culture. He was strongly influenced by German Romanticism, as represented by his friend Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel, though his ultimate principles remained unchanged, he placed more emphasis on human emotion and the imagination. Meanwhile, he studied Spinoza and Plato, both of whom were important influences and he became more indebted to Kant, though they differed on fundamental points. He sympathised with some of Jacobis positions, and took some ideas from Fichte, the literary product of this period of rapid development was his influential book, Reden über die Religion and his new years gift to the new century, the Monologen. This established the programme of his subsequent theological system, from 1802 to 1804, Schleiermacher served as a pastor in the Pomeranian town of Stolp. He relieved Friedrich Schlegel entirely of his responsibility for the translation of Plato. The obscurity of the style and its negative tone prevented immediate success. At the foundation of the University of Berlin, in which he took a prominent part, Schleiermacher obtained a theological chair, and soon became secretary to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The twenty-four years of his career in Berlin began with his short outline of theological study. At the same time Schleiermacher prepared his chief theological work Der christliche Glaube nach den Grundsätzen der evangelischen Kirche and he felt isolated, although his church and his lecture-room continued to be crowded
30.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
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Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings and his most famous buildings are found in and around Berlin. Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of Brandenburg, when he was six, his father died in the disastrous Neuruppin fire of 1787. He became a student of architect Friedrich Gilly and his father, David Gilly, after returning to Berlin from his first trip to Italy in 1805, he started to earn his living as a painter. When he saw Caspar David Friedrichs painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog at the 1810 Berlin art exhibition he decided that he would never reach such mastery of painting, after Napoleons defeat, Schinkel oversaw the Prussian Building Commission. From 1808 to 1817 Schinkel renovated and reconstructed Schloss Rosenau, Coburg and he also rebuilt the ruins of Chorin Abbey. He believed that in order to avoid sterility and have a soul, a building must contain elements of the poetic and the past and his most famous extant buildings are found in and around Berlin. He also carried out improvements to the Crown Princes Palace and to Schloss Charlottenburg, Schinkel was also responsible for the interior decoration of a number of private Berlin residences. Later, Schinkel moved away from classicism altogether, embracing the Neo-Gothic in his Friedrichswerder Church, Schinkel died in Berlin, Province of Brandenburg. Schinkel, however, is noted as much for his theoretical work and these and other designs may be studied in his Sammlung architektonischer Entwürfe and his Werke der höheren Baukunst. He also designed the famed Iron Cross medal of Prussia, with essays by Kurt W. Forster and Wolfgang Pehnt, ISBN 0-86559-105-9. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-88221-866-4, die Geschichte vom Leben und Sterben des Baumeisters Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Christoph von Wolzogen, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Unter dem bestirnten Himmel, edition Fichter, Frankfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-943856-33-0. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Schinkel, Karl Friedrich, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, The Last Great Architect. Prefatory essay from Collection of Architectural Designs including those designs which have been executed and objects whose execution was intended by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
31.
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn
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Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was a German gymnastics educator and nationalist. His admirers know him as Turnvater Jahn, roughly meaning father of gymnastics Jahn, Jahn was born in Lanz in Brandenburg, Prussia. He studied theology and philology from 1796 to 1802 at Halle, after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 he joined the Prussian army. In 1809 he went to Berlin, where he became a teacher at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, the first Turnplatz, or open-air gymnasium, was opened by Jahn in Berlin in 1811, and the Turnverein movement spread rapidly. Young gymnasts were taught to regard themselves as members of a kind of guild for the emancipation of their fatherland and this nationalistic spirit was nourished in no small degree by the writings of Jahn. Early in 1813 Jahn took a part in the formation of the famous Lützow Free Corps. He commanded a battalion of the corps, though he was employed in the secret service during the same period. After the war he returned to Berlin where he was appointed teacher of gymnastics. A man of nature, rugged, eccentric and outspoken. The authorities finally realized he aimed at establishing a united Germany, the conflict resulted in the closing of the Turnplatz in 1819 and Jahns arrest. Kept in semi-confinement successively at Spandau, Küstrin, and at the fortress in Kolberg until 1824, the sentence was reversed in 1825, but he was forbidden to live within ten miles of Berlin. He therefore took up residence at Freyburg on the Unstrut, where he remained until his death, with the exception of a period in 1828. In the spring of 1848 he was elected by the district of Naumburg to the German National Parliament, Jahn died in Freyburg, where a monument was erected in his honor in 1859. Jahn popularized the motto Frisch, Fromm, Fröhlich, Frei in the early 19th century, a complete edition of his works appeared at Hof in 1884-1887. See the biography by Schultheiss, and Jahn als Erzieher, by Friedric, Jahn promoted the use of parallel bars, rings and high bar in international competition. In honor and memory of him, some clubs, called Turnvereine, took up his name. A memorial to Jahn exists in St. Louis, Missouri and it features a large bust of Jahn in the center of an arc of stone, with statues of a male and female gymnast, one on each end of the arc. The monument is on the edge of Art Hill next to the path running north and south along the edge of Post-Dispatch lake
32.
Johann Gustav Droysen
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Johann Gustav Droysen was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called great men, Droysen was born at Treptow in Pomerania. His father, Johann Christoph Droysen, was a chaplain who had been present at the celebrated siege of Kolberg in 1806–1807. These youthful impressions laid the foundation of his ardent attachment to the Kingdom of Prussia, the famed historian Jacob Burckhardt visited his class in his last semester. It was in ways the herald of a new school of German historical thought, for it idealized power and success. A new and revised edition of the work was published in 1885, and translated into French. His Vorlesung des Freiheits Krieg appeared in 1846 and his Outlines of the Principles of History, published 1858 and he followed this with Erhebung der Geschichte zum Rang einer Wissenschaft, a methodological study that reflected his new approach to research and writing. In 1840, Droysen was appointed professor of history at Kiel, there, the political movement for the defense of the rights of the Elbe duchies, of which Kiel was the center, attracted his interest. The issue was diplomatically negotiated through the London Protocol of 1852, Droysens first great political appearance occurred in 1843, on the one thousand year anniversary of the Verdun agreement between Karl the Bald and Ludwig the German, grandsons of Charlemagne. The patrimony of Charlemagne, and his son, Louis the Pius, later, Droysen gave a lecture to a crowded audience in Berlin entitled the Agreement at Verdun, which was greeted with enthusiasm not only by the listeners but also the German Kaiser himself. In 1848 he was elected a member of the revolutionary Frankfurt parliament and he was a determined supporter of Prussian ascendancy, seeing this as the only feasible route to German unification. We cannot conceal the fact that the whole German question is an alternative between Prussia and Austria. In these states, German life has its positive and negative poles — in the former, all the interests which are national and reformative, in the latter, all that are dynastic and destructive. The German question is not a question, but a question of power. Droysen was one of the first members to retire from the Frankfurt Parliament after King Frederick William IV of Prussia refused the crown in 1849. A translation was published in London in the year under the title The Policy of Denmark towards the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The work was one of political importance and contributed to the formation of German public opinion on the rights of the duchies in their struggle with Denmark. In his later years he was almost entirely occupied with Prussian history, after 1851 Droysen was appointed to a professorship at Jena, in 1859 he was called to Berlin, where he remained until his death
33.
Carl Mayet
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Carl Mayet was a German chess master. He was one of the most original of the Berlin Pleiades, in 1839, Mayet defeated Jozsef Szen in a match with. In 1845, he drew a match with Augustus Mongredien with, in 1847, he defeated A. von der Goltz in a match, but then lost a match with his cousin Wilhelm Hanstein. In 1848, he lost a match to Daniel Harrwitz, in the London 1851 chess tournament, he was knocked out in round 1 when he lost to Hugh Alexander Kennedy with two losses. In 1851, he lost a match to Adolf Anderssen in Berlin with four losses, in 1852, he lost a match to Frederic Deacon. In 1853, he took place in the first unofficial Berlin Championship, behind Jean Dufresne. In 1853, he lost a match to Dufresne, in 1855, he lost to Anderssen. In 1856, he lost to T. Wiegelmann in the 1856 Berlin Knockout Tournament, in 1859, he lost a match to Anderssen. In 1865, he lost a match to Anderssen, in 1866, he lost a match to Gustav Neumann. Carl Mayet player profile and games at Chessgames. com
34.
Hermann Lebert
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Hermann Lebert was a German physician and naturalist. He studied medicine and the natural sciences first in Berlin and later in Zurich under Johann Lukas Schönlein, after he received his medical doctorate, he traveled throughout Switzerland, studying botany. For the next year and a half he studied in Paris, particularly under Baron Guillaume Dupuytren, in 1838 he settled in Bex, later changing between Bex and Paris. From 1842 to 1845 he worked mainly in comparative anatomy, which had interested him during his travels as a student on the coast of Normandy, on a government assignment, he collected specimens for Musée Orfila. After a stay in Berlin during the winter of 1845–1846 Lebert settled in Paris, in 1853 he accepted an invitation to become professor of clinical medicine in Zurich, and six years later he moved on to Breslau, where he held the same job. In 1874 he returned to Bex, Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life, Lebert was among the first to use the microscope in pathological anatomy, and thus contributed importantly to both pathology and clinical medicine. Traité d’anatomie pathologique générale et spéciale, pickel, Hellmuth, Reich Olaf, Winter Raimund, Young Robert H. Hermann Lebert, a pioneer of diagnostic pathology. Hermann Lebert @ Who Named It
35.
Hermann Bonitz
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Hermann Bonitz, German scholar, was born at Langensalza in Prussian Saxony. Having studied at the University of Leipzig under G and he retired in 1888, and died in that year at Berlin. He took great interest in education, and was chiefly responsible for the system of teaching. But it is as a commentator on Plato and Aristotle that he is best known outside Germany and his most important works in this connection are, Disputationes Platonicae Duae, Platonische Studien. Observationes Criticae in Aristotelis Libros Metaphysicos, observationes Criticae in Aristotelis quae feruntur Magna Moralia et Ethica Eudemia. Alexandri Aphrodisiensis Commentarius in Libros Metaphysicos Aristotelis, Über die Kategorien des A. Aristotelische Studien. Other works, Über den Ursprung der homerischen Gedichte, beiträge zur Erklärung des Thukydides, des Sophokles. He also wrote largely on classical and educational subjects, mainly for the Zeitschrift für die österreichischen Gymnasien, a full list of his writings is given in the obituary notice by Theodor Gomperz in the Biographisches Jahrbuch fr Altertumskunde. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Bonitz
36.
Johann Georg Halske
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Johann Georg Halske was a German master mechanic. Born in Hamburg, Halske started his own workshop in Berlin in 1844, in 1847 Halske founded the Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company together with Werner von Siemens. He remained friends with Werner von Siemens until Halskes death in 1890, even after his departure from the company he co-founded he continued to support it, and participated financially in the Siemens pension fund that was founded in 1872. Picture, biography, and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
37.
Siemens & Halske
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Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Werner von Siemens, the company, located in Berlin-Kreuzberg, specialised in manufacturing electrical telegraphs according to Charles Wheatstones patent of 1837. In 1848, the company constructed one of the first European telegraph lines from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main, Siemens & Halske quickly expanded with representatives in Great Britain and Russia as well as its own cable-manufacturing plants at Woolwich and Saint Petersburg. The companys rise was supported by Werner von Siemens patent of the generator in 1867. 1882 saw the opening of the experimental Elektromote track, an early trolleybus concept in the Berlin suburb of Halensee, the rising popularity of telegraphs and electrical tramways, as well as in generators and electric motors, ensured steady growth for Siemens & Halske. Siemens & Halske was not alone in the realm of electrical engineering, in 1887, Emil Rathenau had established Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft, which became a long-time rival. Werner von Siemens retired in 1890, while Johann Georg Halske had already left the company in 1867, the firms vast new site continued to grow, and from 1899 onwards it was known as Siemensstadt. When Siemens & Halske merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co, nuremberg in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert, Siemens & Halske AG specialized in communications engineering. During World War I, rotary engines of advanced and unusual design were produced under the Siemens-Halske brand, like the Siemens-Halske Sh. I, later, Siemens established several company subsidiaries for which the Siemens & Halske AG functioned as a holding company. During the Second World War, Siemens & Halske employed slave labour from concentration camps
38.
Heinrich Ernst Beyrich
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Heinrich Ernst Beyrich was a German palaeontologist. Born in Berlin, he was educated at the university in city, and afterwards at Bonn. He was one of the founders of the German Geological Society in 1848 and he early recognized the value of palaeontology in stratigraphical work, and conducted important research in the Rhenish mountains and in the Harz and Alpine districts. In later years he gave attention to the Cenozoic strata. In 1854 he proposed the term Oligocene for certain Tertiary strata intermediate between the Eocene and Miocene, a term that has now officially adopted. In 1865 he was appointed professor of geology and palaeontology at Berlin University, when the Prussian Geological Survey was instituted in 1873, he was appointed co-director with Wilhelm Hauchecorne. He published Beitragezur Kenntniss der Versteinerun gen des rheinischen Ubergangs-gebirges, Uber einige hohmische Trilobiten and he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1884. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
39.
Otto von Bismarck
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Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, known as Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1890. In the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states, significantly and deliberately excluding Austria, into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871, he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to maintain Germanys position in a Europe which, despite many disputes and war scares, in 1862, King Wilhelm I appointed Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia, a position he would hold until 1890. He provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France, in 1871, he formed the German Empire with himself as Chancellor, while retaining control of Prussia. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname the Iron Chancellor, German unification and its rapid economic growth was the foundation to his foreign policy. He disliked colonialism but reluctantly built an empire when it was demanded by both elite and mass opinion. A master of politics at home, Bismarck created the first welfare state in the modern world. In the 1870s, he allied himself with the Liberals and fought the Catholic Church in what was called the Kulturkampf and he lost that battle as the Catholics responded by forming a powerful Centre party and using universal male suffrage to gain a bloc of seats. Bismarck then reversed himself, ended the Kulturkampf, broke with the Liberals, imposed protective tariffs, a devout Lutheran, he was loyal to his king, who argued with Bismarck but in the end supported him against the advice of his wife and his heir. Under Wilhelm I, Bismarck largely controlled domestic and foreign affairs, until he was removed by the young Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1890, bismarck—a Junker himself—was strong-willed, outspoken and sometimes judged overbearing, but he could also be polite, charming and witty. Occasionally he displayed a violent temper, and he kept his power by threatening resignation time and again. He possessed not only a national and international vision but also the short-term ability to juggle complex developments. As the leader of what historians call revolutionary conservatism, Bismarck became a hero to German nationalists, many historians praise him as a visionary who was instrumental in uniting Germany and, once that had been accomplished, kept the peace in Europe through adroit diplomacy. Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, a family estate situated west of Berlin in the Prussian province of Saxony. He had two siblings, Bernhard and Malwine, the world saw Bismarck as a typical Prussian Junker, an image that he encouraged by wearing military uniforms. Bismarck was well educated and cosmopolitan with a gift for conversation, in addition to his native German, he was fluent in English, French, Italian, Polish and Russian. Bismarck was educated at Johann Ernst Plamanns elementary school, and the Friedrich-Wilhelm, from 1832 to 1833, he studied law at the University of Göttingen, where he was a member of the Corps Hannovera, and then enrolled at the University of Berlin. In 1838, while stationed as an army reservist in Greifswald, at Göttingen, Bismarck befriended the American student John Lothrop Motley
40.
Emil Rathenau
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Emil Moritz Rathenau was a German entrepreneur and industrialist, a leading figure in the early European electrical industry. Rathenau was born in Berlin, into a wealthy Jewish merchant family based on Viktoriastrasse by the Tiergarten, henriette Herz and Rahel Varnhagen could describe Friedrich von Genz, and the philosopher, Schiller, both known to his grandparents and father Moritz Rathenau. In 1865, Rathenau was a partner in a factory, during which time he recognized the possibilities of the newly emerging electrical technology. The dramatic victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War was ensued by a collapse, a Grand Tour of Central and Eastern Europe took him to Vienna Science Exhibition, Philadelphia, and Paris. In 1881, he attended the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris, realizing the potential of electricity, he acquired the rights to manufacture products based on Edisons patents with the help of a bank group. By 1907 AEG had become the largest commercial company in the world, the bank advised him to partner with his competitor Werner von Siemens. Since both were followers of the idea of monopoly they signed a contract of trust where Siemens was producing and selling generators and Rathenau built power stations, in 1883 he founded the German Edison Corporation for Applied Electricity, which in 1887 changed into the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft abbreviated AEG. On February 19,1884 Rathenau and the magistrate of Berlin signed an agreement on the electrification of the city, while he financed the deal, Rathenaus private company was also permitted to use public streets to lay electricity lines. The city received 10% of the income for giving its authorization, peter Becker, a German energy expert has called this Germanys first private-public partnership and after the first power station went online to illuminate the Gendarmenmarkt at night. The Berlin model became influential throughout the German Empire, in 1903, Rathenau was appointed general manager of AEG. Together with his competitor and business partner, they formed the Telefunken Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH and he held numerous positions on the supervisory board of Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft und der Elektrizitäts AG vorm. Rathenau was married in 1866 to Mathilde Nachmann, daughter of a Frankfurt banker, one of his sons was the famous Walther Rathenau, a Weimar-era industrialist, politician, and progressive economist. Walther was assassinated in June 1922 by gangsters of the extreme right-wing and he had another son named Erich Rathenau and a daughter Edith. Case studies to the relationship of banks and large-scale enterprise in the German empire, 1871–1914
41.
Franz Martin Hilgendorf
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Franz Martin Hilgendorf was a German zoologist and paleontologist. Hilgendorfs research on fossil snails from the Steinheim crater in the early 1860s became a palaeontological evidence for the theory of evolution published by Charles Darwin in 1859, franz Hilgendorf was born on 5 December 1839 in Neudamm. Between 1851 and 1854 he went to a gymnasium in Königsberg, in 1859 he started studying philology at the University of Berlin. After four semesters he changed to the University of Tübingen, in the summer of 1862 he joined an excavation by Friedrich August Quenstedt in the Steinheim crater. In 1863 Hilgendorf received his Ph. D. for work related to this excavation and he finished his research on the fossils during his time at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. In 1868 Hilgendorf became director of the aquarium of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg, in 1873 Hilgendorf was appointed lecturer at the Imperial Medical Academy Tokyo. He stayed in Japan from 1873 till 1876 and published articles, Hilgendorf returned to Germany with his collection and worked in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. He was first responsible for the worms and snails section and from 1896 the fish section, in 1890 Gustav Wilhelm Müller identified a new species of ostracod crustacean in the collection of Hilgendorf and named it Cypridina hilgendorfii. This name changed to Vargula hilgendorfii in 1962, another fish named after Hilgendorf is Helicolenus hilgendorfii of Japan, described in 1884 by Ludwig Döderlein. Hilgendorf suffered from a gastric illness and he stopped working in 1903 and died from that illness on 5 July 1904
42.
Paul Langerhans
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Paul Langerhans was a German pathologist, physiologist and biologist, credited with the discovery of the cells that secrete insulin, named after him as the islets of Langerhans. Islets of Langerhans – Pancreatic cells which produce insulin, Langerhans discovered these cells during his studies for his doctorate at the Berlin Pathological Institute in 1869. Langerhans cells – Skin cells concerned with the response and which sometimes contain Langerhans granules. In 1868, Langerhans used the technique taught to him by Julius Friedrich Cohnheim to stain a sample of human skin with gold chloride, from their appearance, Langerhans believed they were nerve cells. However they are a form of dendritic cells, langerin – CD207, langerin is a protein which in humans is encoded by the CD207 gene. It is expressed in the Birbeck granules of Langerhans cells, Langerhans was born in Berlin on 25 July 1847, the son of a physician. He later entered the renowned Graues Kloster in the same city, due to his outstanding performance he was exempted from the final oral examinations. He began his studies at the University of Jena and completed them in Berlin. He noticed that these areas were more richly innervated, but he could not suggest a function, one year before, still as an undergraduate, he analysed epidermal skin cells as part of an open competition organised by Berlin University. In 1871, Rudolf Virchow arranged a position for him as prosector in anatomy at the University of Freiburg. It was there in 1874 that he contracted tuberculosis, very likely because of his work in the dissecting room, in October 1875 he embarked for Funchal on the island of Madeira, where he made a partial recovery and launched himself into a new career with undiminished energy. He began studying marine worms, making regular trips down to the harbour to pick over the fishermens’ nets and his publications describing and classifying marine invertebrates deserve to rank as his third contribution to science. In 1887, he gave a lecture on topics to the Royal Academy in Berlin. He practiced as a physician in Funchal, treating mostly fellow tuberculosis-suffers, not content with this, he also wrote a handbook for travellers to the island, and pursued studies in meteorology. In 1885, he married Margarethe Ebart, the widow of one of his patients and they travelled to Berlin for the wedding, and he met his father, sisters and two brothers for the last time. The newly-weds rented Quinta Lambert, known as the most beautiful villa in Funchal, in the words of his new bride “three indescribably happy years” followed. In autumn of 1887, progressive renal failure brought his medical activities to an end and he developed leg oedema, crippling headaches and transient memory loss. Sometimes he stopped in the middle of a sentence and was unable to continue and he died of uraemia on 20 July 1888, five days before his 41st birthday
43.
Henri James Simon
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James Simon was a German entrepreneur, philanthropist and patron of the arts during the Wilhelmine period. He donated most of his significant collections to the Berlin State Museums, though a reserved man, he played an influential role in the German society, especially by his participation at a regular roundtable with Emperor Wilhelm II. Their close relationship with the ruler was seen critical by Zionist contemporaries. He added them to his collections at his villa on Tiergartenstraße No. James Simon died in Berlin and is buried at the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee in Prenzlauer Berg, Wilhelm II sent a wreath from his Dutch exile. James Simon Gallery James Simon Foundation James Simon memorial Das Herrenzimmer als Museumsraum in Tagesspiegel,18 October 2006
