GERMAN DAY CANCELLED, MARCH 10TH:
As the majority of our attending schools are closed due to the weather, we are cancelling German Day 2023. We are making this decision for the safety of the teachers, students, and parents. Thank you for your understanding.
Since rescheduling German Day 2023 is not possible and students have invested so much time and effort, we invite all interested students to make a video of their performances (skits, commercials, and music) or upload pictures (art, comics, and zines) and send them to german.day@umich.edu. We will evaluate and award prizes in these categories as well as the categories that have already been submitted. The deadline for these submissions will be March 20, 2023.
German Day is an annual event of competitions and fun for middle and high school German students sponsored by U-M's Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures.
2023: Die neuen und alten 20er Jahre
We are pleased to announce that German Day will be held in-person on Friday, March 10, 2023. We look forward to having you back on campus!
German Day 2023 is celebrating the 20s - 1920s and 2020s! There are many similarities to draw attention to when studying the “20s”. At both times, the world was coming out of a pandemic (Spanish flu & COVID). Additionally, both periods were marked by economic woes - hyperinflation - and political turmoil. There was, however, a vibrant artistic scene - cinema was just “coming into its own '' with films like Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922), and Metropolis (1927). Cabaret in Berlin was enormously popular - as well as controversial - as previously “hidden” members of the LGBTQ+ often populated the stages. The comparison to recent discussions of inclusivity and equality regarding the LGBTQ+ community is obvious, although arguing that the 2020s have been a “golden age” of film is a more difficult task. Bauhaus - a radically new art/architectural approach that emphasized minimalism and functionality - could (possibly) be compared to our current efforts to remodel and reimage construction that serves an ecological purpose.
For help preparing your students, here are more resources and links.
Questions? Please email German.Day@umich.edu.
