Hiberno Goethe: German Irish Conversations

Join us for the final episode of Hiberno Goethe with guest Dorothee Meyer-Holtkamp, the series producer and outreach coordinator of Near Media Co-op.

Host Ciarán chats with Dorothee about her growing up in a small town in north Germany and her roundabout journey that led her to Ireland in the late 1990s via Scotland and France.  They reminisce about the series remembering guests that featured on the podcast and of course talk about some cultural similarities, differences and culinary specialities. 

Recommendations:

So many influencing writers, musicians, visual artists, film directors have been named already by all our guests offering an amazing resource for inspiration! I’ll add just a few:

Music:

Volker Bertelsmann, aka Hauschka, experimental musician, exponent of prepared piano technique.

Redneck Manifesto, instrumental rock band from Dublin.

God is an Astronaut, Irish post-rock band from County Wicklow, formed in 2002 by Niels and Torsten Kinsella. 

Denise Chaila, Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime and hip hop artist based in Limerick

Gemma Dunleavy, singer songwriter and producer from inner city Dublin.

If you have the chance to see any of these artists live- do it!

Film/ Directors:

Fathi Akin, German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent. 

Werner Herzog, film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature.

Rainer Maria Fassbinder, filmmaker, actor, playwright, theatre director, composer, editor, and essayist. A catalyst of the New German Cinema movement, Fassbinder’s main theme was the exploitability of feelings. 

Literature:

Nino Haratischwili, Georgia born German novelist, playwright, and theater director. 

Elena Ferrante, pseudonymous Italian novelist.

Kevin Barry, Irish writer. 

For children: 

Unter meinem Bett– a series of albums for children by German singer songwriters – Clever and fun lyrics that adults enjoy listening too. Featured artists: Albrecht Schrader, Ollis Schulz, Lisa Bassenge, Dota, Martha Wilking, Francesco Wilking & Moritz Krämer, Gisbert zu Knyphausen, Bernd Begemann to name a few.

Anna Fiske, Alle haben einen Po / Everyone got a bum, a book for children aged 3 or 4 and up with drawings of people in all sizes, shapes and different colours, some nude, some dressed, in different settings with different abilities and emotions- a fun and simple way to look at diversity of us people and how we are all different. (Available in the Goethe-Institut Library.)

Place:

The Goethe Institut-Dublin, its library, cafe, meeting spaces and interactive language courses for all ages. It is a fantastic resource, space to meet and encounter cultures. I feel privileged that there is a Goethe-Institut in my home city Dublin. 

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

Ciaran chats to writer and publisher Elizabeth McSkeane about her Glaswegian upbringing, with pictures of the JFK, visits to Glasgow Celtic and St. Patrick’s Day traditions. We hear Liz reading works by the Irish poet living in Germany, Jo Burns, from her latest collection of poetry Brink.

Liz has a passion for languages and different cultures. Feeling European, Irish and Scottish, it’s a wonderful benefit to be so mobile in Europe as if it is one country. We hear about Samuel Beckett’s time in Germany in the 1930’s and the inspiration behind his most famous work Waiting for Godot. Liz tells us about her publishing company Turas Press and we get an insight into the running of a small publishing house. 

Recommendations:

 “A Stain Upon the Silence -Documentary on One”: Radio documentary reflecting on Beckett’s work, from the RTÉ archives, RTÉ Radio 1, 1991, produced by Peter Mooney, presented by Liz McSkeane. Includes interview with Walter Asmus, Director of the Schiller Theatre, Berlin who worked with Beckett for 15 years: 

https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/646565-radio-documentary-samuel-beckett

“Two Men Contemplating the Moon”, a painting by the 19th century German Romantic painter, Caspar David Friedrich, said to have inspired the visual image for the staging of “Waiting for Godot”:  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438417

“The Art of Losing” “L’Art de Perdre” by Alice Zeniter, trans Frank Wynne, winner of 2022 Dublin Literary Award

“Brink,” poetry collection by Jo Burns, N Irish poet living in Germany whose work tackles themes of exile, history and contemporary life, with special reference to Germany and Ireland: 

https://turaspress.ie/shop/contemporary-poetry-brink-by-jo-burns-engaging-with-the-most-urgent-questions-of-our-time/

“Canticle”, historical detective novel set in 16th/17th century Spain by Liz McSkeane, writer and publisher:

https://turaspress.ie/shop/canticle-by-liz-mcskeane-historical-detective-novel-set-in-spain/

“In The Dark” by Anamaría Crowe Serrano, a novel set during the Spanish Civil War, a tale of the daily hardships of survival during war. Two sisters and their families 

on different sides of the conflicts try to bury their differences – but only one knows there is a deserter from the war, hidden in the house. 

https://turaspress.ie/shop/in-the-dark-spanish-civil-war-novel/

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

This episode features multi-disciplinary artist Vera Klute. Growing up in a small village close to Dortmund in North Rhine Westphalia, Vera gives an insight to some of the area’s traditions like the three day parading at the yearly Schützenfest and having antlers or stuffed ducks hanging on the walls of your home. For Vera you don’t need a degree to appreciate art, to decide whether you like something or not people should just go with their instinct. In the two person exhibition The Loneliness of Being German, Vera together with Thomas Brezig interrogates the issue of identity. Vera is part of the Women on Walls project, commissioned to create a bust of Dr Rosalind Franklin for the Long Room in Trinity College Dublin’s old library. She is the proud artist of the iconic Luke Kelly Statue at the Docklands in Dublin 1, an associate member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), enjoys the flatness of Tudor portraits and is dying to go back to Rome to enjoy the city’s marble statues and fountains. Vera’s signature dish is the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte with cherries from Super Value, she spent 20years in Dublin and is now home in County Kilkenny where she lives with her family. 

Recommendations:

Animation: Der Maulwurf Grabowski

Artist: Hans Holbein the Younger

Food: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Kohlrabi

Books/ Audio books: Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris, Stories by Alan Bennett, Handiwork by Sara Baume. 

Art: The RHA’s (Royal Hibernian Academy) annual summer show

TV: The White Lotus

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

On this month’s Hiberno Goethe, Ciarán talks to physicist Stefan Hutzler.

Stefan dressed up in traditional Bavarian costume at the 2015 Ireland Germany game with his sons, and didn’t cheer when Ireland scored. Look out for the boys in red and white SSV Jahn Regensburg jerseys playing football in Dublin parks.

Stefan talks about Kepler and Oppenheimer, and the physics behind the Beijing Olympic Swimming Pool based on the ‘Weaire-Phelan structure’

made from TCD designed bubbles.   We also learn how the Guinness head

lasts longer than the Weissbier head because of the stability of the bubbles.

Stefan is a keen musician and has played in the Baggot Inn, he recites a couple of his songs for us, including one in 3 different languages. Stefan talks about the Beatles singing in German, and Kraftwerk singing in German and English. We hear how physics is connected to music and about how Einstein played the violin.

Recommendations

Food in Regensburg: 

Dampfnudeln beim Dampfnudel Ulli

Bratwurstsemmel bei der Wurstkuchel an der Steinernen Bruecke

Kneitinger Dunkel oder Bock beim Kneitinger am Arnulfsplatz

Saures Luengerl

Music

Konstantin Wecker: So a saudummer Tag

Andre Heller: Die wahren Abenteuer sind im Kopf

Willy Michl: Isarflimmern

Ludwig Hirsch: Nix anders zaehlt

Van Morrison: Veedon Fleece

Literatur

Heinrich Heine: Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen

Bertolt Brecht: Leben des Galilei

Peter Handke: Der kurze Brief zum langen Abschied

Peter Handke: Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter    also: Film by Wim Wenders

Thomas Brasch: Und der Sänger Dylan in der Deutschlandhalle

Rolf Dieter Brinkmann: Ein gewöhnliches Lied

Laurence Sterne: A sentimental journey through France and Italy

Xavier de Maistre: Journey around my room

James Boswell: London Journal

Samuel Becket: Texts for Nothing

Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger: The year 1000

Holger Th. Gräf und Ralf Pröve: Wege ins Ungewisse

Film:

Muenchner Gschichtn, Helmut Dietl: (Der lange Weg nach Sacramento)

Herbert Achternbusch: Die Föhnforscher

Jim Jarmusch: Stranger than Paradise

Sofia Coppola: Lost in Translation

Bachelors Walk

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

On this month’s edition Ciaran is joined by actor, director and award winning writer for stage and screen, Stefanie Preissner. Stefanie was born in Germany but moved to Ireland as a child, and grew up in County Cork.

Stefanie chats with Ciaran about feeling German, reminisces about the scharfes S β and gets quite possessive about Ritter Sport Schokolade.

Stefanie was diagnosed with autism as an adult and she explains why girls and women are harder to diagnose. She chats about visiting Germany and how the German way of life makes her feel comfortable. 

The Irish relationship with alcohol comes under scrutiny and Stefanie explains how she explores this relationship in her hit TV show Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope.

Stefanie talks about the differences between writing for TV and stage, and tells us some of her experiences in German theatres, including durational theatre. Check out her podcast Basically which seeks to explain complex things in a simple way!

Recommendations not mentioned in the podcast:

Book: 

All Her Fault by Andrea Mara 

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Film: 

Whale Rider 

The Lives of Others 

Food: 

Camile Thai 

Clonakilty Black Pudding 

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

Christoph chats with Ciarán about his journey to becoming a zoo director, from his early childhood interest in animals, his experiences while in Madagascar studying lemur monkeys and his time spent at Bristol Zoo.

They take a stroll through Dublin Zoo and discuss the difference between former east and west German zoos and how zoos have changed over the years, moving towards conservation organization and trying to have a positive influence on animal welfare in the wild.

We hear about lemur monkeys, the topic of Christoph’s Phd, gibbons, elephants, sea lions and that  zoos today also are campaigners on sustainability with a positive impact on society through education and consumer power.

The main culinary delight from Germany Christoph misses is Bergische Waffeln. Christoph is a self confessed zoo nerd and he gives a fascinating insight into how these institutions care for animals on a day to day basis and how zoos can be catalysts for positive change in the future.

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

This episode features Dr Gisela Holfter, Professor of German at the University of Limerick and joint director for the Centre for Irish-German Studies, who grew up in the Bergisches Land close to Cologne. 

Chatting with Ciarán about her time in Dublin, Belfast and later on in Limerick, the listeners are brought on a literary journey depicting brothers Grimm, Mann brothers, Küttner, Fürst Pückler-Muskau, Wilhelm von Humbold, and Johann Kaspar Zeuss to name a few. 

Gisela tells us about Ireland being a sanctuary for refugees with Eamon De Valera’s brainchild Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies allowing Irish universities to take in scholars from abroad and how the Hirsch Ribbon factory in Longford set up by Viennese Ernest Sonnenschein gave employment and training to local people. 

We hear about the Centre for Irish-German Studies which marks its 25th anniversary in 2022, the Dánnerstag project bringing together Irish and German poetry and Limericker Literaturgespräche. Gisela recites Die Stadt by Theodor Storm and a quote of the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who recently visited the Centre for Irish- German Studies together with Irish president Michael D Higgins. 

Gisela’s recommendations (at least a selection)

Irish-German literature:

Jo Sorochinsky, Dancing with my Father, Amsterdam Publishers 2021

Iris M. Taylor, Memoirs of a Reluctant German, Clifden: Little Gull 2020

John Hennig, Die bleibende Statt, Trier: WVT 2019 (chapters on Ireland translated in G. Holfter/H. Rasche (eds), John Hennig’s Exile in Ireland, Galway: Arlen 2004)

M. Affenzeller, G. Anderl (eds), Und ich reise noch immer – Die Geschichte des Hans Kohlseisen zwischen Gmünd, Stadlau und Irland. Wien: Mandelbaum 2015

Herbert Remmel, From Cologne to Ballinlough, Cork: Aubane Historical Society 2009

Leonie Swann, Glennkill, München: Goldmann 2005

Hans-Jörg Schertenleib, Das Regenorchester, Berlin: Aufbau, 2008

Christabel Bielenberg, The Road Ahead, London: Corgi 1993

Helen Lewis, A Time to Speak, Belfast: Blackstaff 1992

Reinhard Ulbrich, Irland, Leipzig: Brockhaus 1988

George Clare, Last Waltz in Vienna, London: Macmillan 1981

Richard Bermann, Irland, Berlin 1914 (translated in 2021 as Ireland [1913])

Fürst Pückler-Muskau, Briefe eines Verstorbenen 1830 (many editions and translated as Letters of a Dead Man)

Of course also books that have been mentioned previously such as Heinrich Böll’s Irisches Tagebuch (Irish Journal) and Hugo Hamilton, The Speckled People (and many of his other books).

For academic studies see the fourteen volumes of the Irish-German Studies series and many other interesting studies by colleagues. A good overview of almost fifty books can be gleaned via the “Annotated bibliography of recent publications in Irish-German Studies” – accessible on the Centre website (see Publications / Other Irish-German Publications) or here: https://issuu.com/centreforirish-germanstudies/docs/bibliography_ge6021_book_reviews

All videos of Dánnerstag Irish-German poetry project (for example Jan Wagner, Ilma Rakusa, Robert Schindel and Kerstin Hensel and much loved classics. Many contemporary and classic poems in German and Irish translation still to come every first and third Thursday of the month) and the Limericker Literaturgespräche can be accessed via the Centre for Irish-German Studies website: https://ulsites.ul.ie/irishgerman/

German literature

Gabrielle Alioth, Die Überlebenden, Basel: Lenos 2021

Anne Weber, Annette – Ein Heldinnenepos, Berlin: Matthes & Seitz 2020 (will appear in translation in August 2022 as “Epic Annette: A Heroine’s Tale”)

Dmitrij Kapitelman, Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters, München: Carl Hanser 2016

Maxim Leo, Haltet euer Herz bereit, München: Wilhelm Heyne 2009 (translated into English as „Red Love – The Story of an East German Family”, 2009)

Regine Scheer, Machandel, Knaus 2014

Saša Stanišić: Herkunft, München: Luchterhand 2019 (Where You Come From, 2021)

Sten Nadolny, Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit, München: Piper 1983 (translated as The Discovery of Slowness)

Also many, many other authors, just to mention at least a few: Annette Pehnt, Kathrin Schmidt, Judith Hermann, Daniel Kehlmann, Eugen Ruge, Bernhard Schlink, Günter de Bruyn- and not to forget Austrian and Swiss writers: Doron Rabinovici, Eva and Robert Menasse, Stefan Zweig, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch and of course 19th century writers such as Theodor Storm and Theodor Fontane. Rereading Lessing, Schiller and Goethe can also make you happy – and there are so many more who should be mentioned!

Irish literature

Again, too many to list here and not the main focus of this podcast but I can’t let the opportunity slip by to recommend especially Donal Ryan, from a low and quiet sea (2018), Claire Keegan, Walk the Blue Fields (with a story set in the Böll cottage on Achill Island), Joseph O’Connor, Star of the Sea (2002), Hubert Butler, The Children of Drancy (1988, with his story about “The Kagran Group”) and of course Colm Tóibín’s The Magician (2021) (readers might also enjoy Hans Pleschinski’s Königsallee)

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

This episode features comedian Killian Sundermann and teacher and assistant principal Helmut Sundermann of the Deutsche St Killian in Dublin. Father and son are bringing us on a journey of their influences for a shared love for music, humour, football and food. We hear about the time Helmut met his wife Fiona, living in Wales and England before moving to Ireland and that Fiona’s mother Johanna is originally from Germany herself, having moved to Ireland post World War II. 

Helmut and Killian talk about the beauty of different regions and small / medium size towns- Why move to Berlin when you can move to Badenkirchen or Gelsenkirchen? and the variety of accents, dialects and disposition of people- and local beer- that comes with different regions. 

Helmut is reading Inschrift by Erich Fried, a paper clipping of the poem found in the belongings of father Karl Heinz who was an architect and town planner in Aachen, rebuilding destroyed areas and working in heritage preservation. 

Having their own secret language allowed for father and son to communicate in their own way from an early age. They talk about the German sense of humour, music in both countries and German films. Cultural observations and its differences are the focus of Killian’s online comedy, check out Kuchen.

Recommendations Killian:

Film/ TV:

Victoria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(2015_film), A film shot in one single continuous take about a young Spanish woman who meets four Berliners on a night out. Incredible crime drama with high suspense. The only reason it didn’t win an oscar was because it had too much english dialogue to be eligible. 

Barbara

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_(2012_film), A film set during East/West partition. A nurse from East Germany is sent to a hospital in a rural town after trying to escape. Petzold gives a more nuanced view of East Germany than we usually see in film representations. Great performance by Nina Hoss. Petzold is one of the leading filmmakers of the so-called Berliner Schule of filmmakers who I wrote my dissertation on. 

Goodbye Lenin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Bye,_Lenin! It’s probably already been recommended but if people haven’t seen it yet, this classic is a must watch. 

Metropolis, 1927 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film), At its time the most expensive film ever made. A German expressionist masterpiece of early cinema. Compulsory viewing for anyone interested in the history of cinema. 

Dark (on Netflix)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) Great time travel drama set in a small German town. Strong Stranger Things vibes for fans of the US series. 

Die Sendung mit der Maus

https://kinder.wdr.de/tv/die-sendung-mit-der-maus/index.html For Kids. Wonderful educational entertaining TV show. 

Music:

BAP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAP_(German_band),  Great Cologne band we always play in our haus. Aff Un Zo their best album. 

CAN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_(band), Maybe one of my favourite bands. Their album Tago Mago is incredible. Drummer Jackie Libezeit’s drumming on Halleluwah is something to behold. 

Torch- Kapitel 1

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torch_(Rapper), Great german rap biopic song 

Food:

Käsespätzle

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A4sesp%C3%A4tzle

Dampfnudeln

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dampfnudel

Beer:

A delicious Koelsch from Cologne 

Altbier from Dusseldorf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altbier Best drunk in a bar from a tiny glass next to the large cylinders which brewed it, the air thick with the sweet smell of boiling hops. 

Comedy:

Henning Wehn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_Wehn

Otto Waalkes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Waalkes

Recommendations Helmut:

Films, TV, Directors:

Die Brücke by Bernard Wicki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Br%C3%BCcke_(film)

TV series So weit die Füße tragen by Fritz Umgelter

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_weit_die_F%C3%BC%C3%9Fe_tragen_(1959)

Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Lola, Rainer Werner Fassbinder 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Werner_Fassbinder

Wim Wenders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Wenders ‘Alice in den Städten’ and later ‘Der amerikanische Freund’ starring Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper, set in the main in Hamburg (also Paris and New York). It is based on a thriller by Patricia Highsmith (Ripley’s Game).  At the end of the 80ies ‘Der Himmel über Berlin’ (Wings of Desire) (starring among others Peter Falk ‘Colombo’) gives a fabulous portrayal of the divided city of Berlin (from a western perspective) just before the Mauerfall.

Jenseits der Stille by Caroline Link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Silence_(1996_film)

Sophie Scholl- die letzten Tage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl_%E2%80%93_The_Final_Days

Tschik by Fatih Akin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatih_Akin, During my time in Ireland, I have watched with pleasure and interest many German movies shown by the Goethe Institut or as part of the education programme of the IFI Dublin including, among others.

Heimat by Edgar Reitz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimat_(film_series), Only recently, for a special birthday, my brother Manfred gave me a box set of ‘Heimat’ by Edgar Reitz as a present and I find it excellent.

Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drei_Haseln%C3%BCsse_f%C3%BCr_Aschenbr%C3%B6del, A co-production between the DEFA film studios of the DDR and the Czechoslovakian Film studios from 1973. Sadly the beautiful and charming actress Libuše Šafránková, who acted the main main part in the film, passed away in June this year. The scenery in the film, the music, the costumes, the characters, the setting (Schloss Moritzburg) all make it perfect Advent-or Christmas viewing.

Authors, Actors, Comedy

Carl Zuckmayer Der Hauptmann von Köpenick

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Hauptmann_von_K%C3%B6penick_(Zuckmayer) It was turned into a very successful film in the 1950ies with the much-loved German actor of the time called Heinz Rühmann. This is a kind of ‘Volksstück’ with a lot of humour, but at the same time takes a satirical view of the idea of ‘obedience’, ‘following orders` and respect for men in ‘uniforms’! It also depicts the situation of the poor and disadvantaged population in Berlin at the turn of the last century.

Carl Zuckmayers memoir ‘Als wär’s ein Stück von mir‘ 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Als_w%C3%A4r%E2%80%99s_ein_St%C3%BCck_von_mir, gives an insight into the cultural and intellectual life in Germany in the first half of the 20th century: growing up in the Rhineland(Mainz), participating in the First World War, describing the world of theatre and film in Berlin of the 1920ies, as well as Salzburg and Vienna of the 1930ies followed by emigration to the United States and eventual return to Europe (Switzerland). There are many perceptive descriptions and appreciations of fellow artists, among others Stefan Zweig, Ödon von Horvath, but also Bertholt Brecht, with whom Zuckmayer was connected through a friendship from his beginnings as a playwright in Munich.

Willy Millowitsch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Millowitsch

Loriot 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loriot

Music:

Die Moorsoldaten from the NDR Radio station, https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronologie/Seit-85-Jahren-ziehen-die-Moorsoldaten,moorsoldaten109.html

Places of interest:

Haus Hohe Pappeln

https://www.klassik-stiftung.de/haus-hohe-pappeln/ For our 30th wedding anniversary we went on a trip to Erfurt and Weimar. In Weimar we hired bicycles and cycled through the lovely Ilmenau. The house of the architect and designer Henry van der Velde  ‘Haus Hohe Pappeln’ was a highlight for me!

Felix Nussbaum Museum

https://www.archdaily.com/135002/felix-nussbaum-museum-daniel-libeskind On a recent trip to visit my brother in Münster we drove to Osnabrück and went to the Felix Nussbaum Museum (designed by the well-known German architect Liebeskind). 

Osnabrück

https://www.osnabrueck.de/english/city-of-osnabrueck/osnabrueck-city-of-peace

together with Münster, saw the signing of the Westphalian Peace treaty of 1648 that ended the devastating 30 years war. Erich Maria Remarque, author of the famous novel ‘Im Westen nichts Neues’ about the First World War was also born in Osnabrück. 

Town Leer

https://leer.de/, I also loved a visit to Leer – a lovely town on the river Ems in the very north-western corner of Germany on the river Ems close to Holland and near the North Sea coast. It is a tea drinking area with a lovely blend of black, the German answer to Barrys, called ‘Bünting’.

Food, beverages 

Pinkus Müller

https://www.pinkus.de/brauerei/,  a very popular traditional pub/restaurant in Münster with a brewery attached which is very popular in the locality and beyond.

Frueh Koelsch

https://www.frueh.de/, , I lived for nearly 10 years in Cologne and would have spent many enjoyable evenings and times in typical Cologne pubs such as the Brauhäuser of Früh, Mühlens, Päffgen and many more. In the very first year of my stay in Köln I spent many evenings in the lovely pub ‘Em Golde Kappes’ on Neusser Straße in Köln Nippes with my brother Werner.

Bürgerspital

https://www.buergerspital-weinstuben.de/trinken/ As far as wine is concerned I enjoyed pleasant evenings tasting delightful  Frankenwein in the Juliusspital and Bürgerspital in Würzburg.These vineyards grow and sell Frankenwein  and contribute a portion of their profits to running and supporting charitable institutions, hence the name `Spital`.

Weihnachtsgebäck- German Christmas biscuits 

I also attach recipes my mother-in-law Johanna used for Weihnachtsstollen (in original handwriting). I find Vanillekippferl one of the easier Plätzchen to make and have often baked them in school with students.

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

This episode features visual artist René Böll who is the son of Nobel prize winner for literature Heinrich Böll.

Born 1948 we hear about René’s growing up in the bombed city of Cologne and his memories of summers spent on Achill island in a house with no electricity apart from the kitchen. René tells us about shark hunters, in the 1960s Achill and how it felt more like a remote place. Ciaran and René talk about the 68 West German student movement and René remembers his visit to Prague together with his parents at the Prague spring 1968 witnessing Soviet invasion.

We hear about Heinrich’s controversial and at times provocative writing and the impact it had on the life of the family. The most celebrated novel Irish Journal received mixed but mostly very positive feedback and is still very popular today having sold over 2 million copies. René tells us about his mother Annemarie who was an English teacher, translator and interpreter and she met the Kelleher family from Kerry who sent many carepackets to Annemarie after the war ended.

René’s own work as a visual artist is influenced by Achill through its landscape, sky, colours and particular light. A recurring theme in René’s work is the Cillíní, the unofficial secret graveyards where sailors and children that are not baptised are buried.

We hear about other places that inspire René’s work- the beauty of Ecuador where he went with his wife who is originally from there many times and his liking for ink painting traditionally from China and Japan.

We hear a reading of his poem Under the Mackerel Sky and an excerpt of his father’s work Irisches Tagebuch.

The connection from the father Heinrich carries on to René who returns to Achill every year, for the Heinrich Böll memorial weekend in 2022.

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.

Hugo Hamilton was our guest on this special edition of Hiberno Goethe. To celebrate 60 years of the Goethe-Institut Irland we were delighted to be joined by Hugo with a live audience in the Goethe-Institut library.

Hugo first tells us about Speckled People and about his upbringing, his mother who came here as an au pair, and met and married his father, an ardent Irish language revivalist. We hear about growing up through Irish and German in Glasthule: “We were called Nazis and put on trial…the only places where I didn’t feel that were in Germany where the German past never came up and it was never mentioned in the Gaeltacht in Connemara, I felt very comfortable there and then we came back to Dublin and we were called Nazis again.” He tells how this made him feel like an outsider, and how his earlier books, like Headbanger, are about outsiders. He often felt like this, reading unusual Austrian novels by Thomas Bernhardt which weren’t really a good conversation piece at Irish parties in the 1970s.

Of course he talks about Heinrich Böll’s Irish Journal and the similarities between Böll’s Irish experience and his own mother’s, experiencing Ireland as post-war Rhineland Catholics. We hear about artist Joseph Beuys’ work in the North of Ireland during the troubles and Hamilton’s new book The Pages about the life of Joseph Roth, which he reads from.

This Podcast dives into the many colours of arts, language and life across cultures. St. Pauli fan and former Düsseldorfer Ciarán Murray and his guests explore the connecting moments of German and Irish life. What do musicians, dancers, artists, writers pick up from either culture? How are they inspired and enriched by the other? For all listeners who like to go and think beyond borders.