Berlin

This is a belated blog entry... yes, yes, that is what happens when you let it slide 😊 First I announce that I am only going to post every 14 days and then I don't even manage that! But I have a good “excuse”. Not only have I been very busy with the PR for the book, I have also created 28 teaching units for Saarland (https://www.alwis-saarland.de/materialien/berufliche-orientierung/). The concept was very exciting, especially as I had a completely free hand in the implementation. Unfortunately, the materials are subject to a charge for non-Saarlanders, so I cannot show anything here. In each case, the aim was to ensure that the pupils in each subject were given a connection to the curriculum in terms of content, which deals with career orientation. In my history subject, for example, this means that there is an information and task sheet on a profession that is directly linked to the curriculum. For example, I introduced the profession of falconer for the history subject in the intermediate school form when it comes to the Middle Ages and the Hohenstaufen dynasty and prepared a working sheet for the pupils. Another example for the upper secondary school level was the profession of museum educator, which fits in with the curriculum's range of topics under the heading: aspects of international history.

I have also just finished a new project today, which is also about career guidance, but in this case about the skilled trades.

In addition to my daily workload, I attended an exciting conference in Berlin at the weekend. You can read more about it here: https://www.gedenkstaette-stille-helden.de/en/conference-2025

German Resistance Memorial Center. The memorial plaque explains: This is where those who died for Germany on July 20, 1944...

Please read more about the entire exhibition and location here:  https://www.gedenkstaette-stille-helden.de/en/visit/permanent-exhibition

There will probably also be small excerpts from my final discussion on the website - as soon as it is ready, there will be a link to it here.

Berlin, Holocaust Memorial

I was also able to use the time to at least visit the highlights of Berlin briefly. I really wanted to see the Holocaust memorial, as I still had not managed to do so. I have to admit, since the stabbing https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/berlin-angriff-holocaust-mahnmal-100.html motivated by hatred of Jews at the end of February, the memorial seems even more threatening than before. If this is what the builders had in mind, they have exceeded their goal.

Not only that it leaves many people perplexed because there is no information board and therefore many foreign guests constantly ask what they are looking at and whether they are in the right place...? It also leaves me at a loss. Once again, if it was what the builders wanted to achieve, it worked. The memorial was highly controversial from the start. Not least because of its prominent location in the middle of the city - I find that very remarkable and absolutely right - but because of the installation itself. I understand the discussions about it very well. Ultimately, however, everyone should make up their own.

As you can imagine, the work of a freelancer always and above all means acquiring new projects and securing work and income for the coming months. I was out and about this week and last week and had lots of conversations - all of them successful, which of course makes me very happy.

There is so much going on in world politics...

Berlin, Reichstagsgebäude

I simply do not have the time or energy to deal with it all extensively here. After all, the new Bundestag was constituted today. I hope for an end to the standstill since November 5, 2024 (to be honest, there hasn't been much going on in the last few years either...) and the approval of funds for research and political education, the release of withheld sums, which will hopefully now be used for their purpose and do what they were intended for: To educate people. I do not have to mention that this also means planning security and possibly income for me if I can work.

PS: There is also some really exciting news, but I won't be able to report on it until after April 1…and no, this is not an April Fool's joke 😊