Final Blog

What have I learned from German Culture:

            I have learned many things this semester in the class. Things I had no idea about Germany before. To tell you the truth, I knew nothing about Germany. Only thing I knew about when people mention Germany was Beer, Hitler and Nazi. That is the first thing my mind went straight too. But now I have leaned many more things. Such as RAF, music, art, food, and wartime. I really enjoyed this class because it wasn’t my normal hard classes, it was a class that I enjoyed coming to and it didn’t stress me out. I really enjoyed the class discussion and debates we had and all the laughs and jokes the professor made. It kept things interesting.

What I enjoyed learning about the most:

            I think what I liked most about this class was the movie Berlin Calling. I thought it was a great movie and taught me a lot about the German Rave scene. I really enjoyed this movie because it was filled with parting, drugs, and just outrageous behavior. I think it is always fun to watch movies that are completely different than your own life. I also enjoyed the movie Baarder-Meinhof. I liked learning about the RAF and about the radicals and how things changed over the years with that group. This group of people believed in a lot and stood for nothing less than what they believed was right.

Overall:

            I think this class was one of my favorite classes this semester. It was easy going, less stress, and interesting topics. The topics we covered in class were great and I would tell anyone to take this class!!

German Food

Sauerbraten

                                                                                                         

Picture 1

Sauerbraten (meaning "sour roast") is a German pot roast. It can be prepared with a variety of meats. Most often it is made with beef. But also can be made out of venison, lamb, pork, mutton, or horse. Sauerbraten is considered as one the the national dishes of Germany. It is one of the best known meals in Germany.

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How to cook it

Before cooking it, the cut of meat is marinaded for several days in a mixture of vinegar or wine, water, herbs, spices, and seasonings. The longer you marinade the meat, the more tender and juicy it is at the end. Sauerbraten is traditionally served alongside with German side dishes. Side dishes such as Rotkohl (red cabbage), potato dumplings, egg noodles, or boiled potatoes. 

The meat is usually cut from the bottom round or the rump. And will be marinaded for 3 to 10 days. Red wine vinegar is usually used, and earthy aromatics spices which include peppercorns, juniper berries, cloves, nutmeg, and bay leaves. But some people use (although less common) coriander, mustard seed, cinnamon, ginger, and thyme. This acidic marinade helps tenderize the meat. 

After you marinade the meat, it is first browned in oil or lard and then braised with the strained marinate. You cover the meat in a pot and cover it with the marinade it on the stove top for four hours. The marinade continues to flavor the meat while it cooks. 

Varieties in Saurbraten

Regional varieties in western areas of Germany typically use red wine as the base for the marinade. Recipes from eastern Germany tend to use vinegar as the base. And in some places, wine and vinegar are used together. Rheinischer Sauerbraten is prepared in Germany's Rheineland region. It is noted for a gravy to which raisons and sometimes sugar beet syrup is added to provide sweetness to the marinade.

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Brief History

Sauerbraten was originally made with only horse meat. But today it is almost always made with beef. The town of Eschweiler, is where the long horse butcher tradition, and where the sauerbraten is one of its culinary specialities. Sauerbraten was invented in the ninth century as a means of using leftover roasted meat. 

Resources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerbraten, December 12, 2012

Pictures:
1. http://wearelandrich.blogspot.com/2011/01/sauerbraten.html
2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/conscious_dreaming/7677055140/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerbraten

Questions for Baader-Meinhof

1.    They all met as a group. As a group they started a resistance movement, at first it was nonviolent. But as time went on and generations after the first came about, it turned into violent movements. This happened because the nonviolence movements and protests were not working.

2.    At the beginning when they used nonviolence, I related. But as time went on and they started killing others, which is when I stopped relating. I am not a violent person and would never kill anyone.

3.     Yes, it made the group use larger and more severe acts of violence. 

Baader-Meinhof

I personally think that the RAF was a good thing to a certain point. I respect them tremendously for standing up for what they believe in and fighting for what they think is right. I do believe they went about it the wrong way. Violence doesn't solve anything. If you act violently towards government officials, that is not going to make them listen to them. That is just going to put you in prison and not get your voice heard in the future. I also do not like that during their acts of violence they harmed innocent people. They didn't seem to care that they were going to kill innocent people. They are too radical for me!

After researching the RAF, it started out as the Baader-Meinhof group and it was formed in 1970 in Germany. The RAF first started out as a student protest movement that was suppose to be nonviolent ways of protesting the German government and its policies. There was three generations of activist. The first, and the founders, which consisted of the founders. These people were Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Horst Mahler, and Ulrike Meinhof. These group members were thrown into prison. The second generation which was operated from the late (or mid) 1970's. The second generation was way more violent than the first generation. The third generation existed from 1980-1990s. Teh third generation was the most violent of the three generations of the RAF. As the newer generations operated the RAF became more violent and was responsible for more deaths. All in all the RAF was responsible for 34 deaths and several bombings and robberies. The RAF was known as the more violent group throughout Europe. They were recognized as a communist group and had anti-imperialism ideas. They engaged in violent resistance against the German government. The only way to violently protest the government is to use guerilla tactics and in an urban setting this is the beginning of a terrorist organization.