Goethe Society Oral Exams (July 29th 2023)

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The 2023 Goethe Society Oral Exams were held again at the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland. Over 120 students from High Schools in Auckland with a German program attended the Goethe Oral Exams on Saturday 5th August.

Eleven examiners from High Schools, the University of Auckland, the German-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce and the German Consulate came together to see very talented and dedicated learners of German. The prize-giving ceremony to honoring all impressive achievements will take place on October.

Written by Mareike Schmidt

Group photo of the examiners meeting at a cafe after the ags oral exams.

Film Screening of Der Himmel über Berlin (July 18th 2023)

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The Auckland Goethe Society’s latest film screening was the 1987 award winning German fantasy/romance film, Der Himmel über Berlin, courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.

The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of its human inhabitants, comforting the distressed. One of the angels falls in love with a beautiful, lonely trapeze artist. The angel chooses to become mortal so that he can experience human sensory pleasures, ranging from enjoying food to touching a loved one, and so that he can discover human love with the trapeze artist.

Our film nights are always a fantastic opportunity to engage with German films you may have never seen before—or seen several times! We host film screenings a few times a year, so keep an eye out for our next event.

Written by Vanessa Chong

German Drama Company: Mord Streng Biologisch (2023 Production)

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The German Drama Company’s 2023 production, Mord Streng Biologisch, was performed on 4th-8th July at the University of Auckland’s Drama Studio.

The acting, singing and dancing were superb, the costume, makeup and set design was fantastic, and the plot and characters were funny and captivating. Although the play was fully in German, it also had English surtitles (live captions) to allow audiences with a range of German language skills to enjoy it!

The German Drama Company look forward to putting on more shows to promote the German language in the future! For more information about the German Drama Company and how to be part of future productions, visit: https://www.facebook.com/GermanDramaCompany/

Written by Vanessa Chong

German Career Day (April 26th 2023)

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Exciting insights into opportunities with German in Aotearoa New Zealand, and Germany during our “German Career Day”!

With the support of DAAD and the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics of UoA, the Auckland Goethe Society organized an event to show the broad span of options with German.

After the opening by Eve Walter, vice-president of AGS, guest speakers shared their experiences and gave advice:

The German New Zealand Chamber of Commerce CEO, Monique Surge, talked about her career as a bilingual Kiwi and gave insight into internships at German companies in New Zealand. Diana Feick, Senior Lecturer and program coordinator of German/UoA, advised on various internship options in Germany. Mareike Schmidt, representative of the DAAD in NZ, advised on study options abroad. Marcus Noakes, Press Officer at the German Embassy, shared his experiences while interning at the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) holding an “IPS - Internationales Parlamentssstipendium”.

After the talks, the audience got to know each other and asked more specific questions while enjoying coffee, cake, and pretzels.

About 25 interested people joined the event in person on UoA’s City Campus and online.

Written by Mareike Schmidt

Special Guest: German Hip-Hop Artist AN JAY (March 29th 2023)

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"Osteuropa" and "Digital" are only two of many songs performed by German rap artist AN-JAY who was invited by Auckland Goethe Society and DAAD New Zealand to Auckland. Members of AGS, students of German and some native German speakers came together on March 29 to listen to AN-JAYs music and talk with him about his music and about what inspires him. Over snacks and beverages AN-JAY, who also gave workshops and presentations in German classes in High Schools while being in NZ Aotearoa, shared interesting insights into the creative process of writing music.

Written by Mareike Schmidt

Guest speaker: Prof Klemens Renoldner (February 9th 2023)

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In early February, an international conference on the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was hosted by the German section at the University of Auckland. Prof. Klemens Renoldner, founding director of the Stefan-Zweig-Centre at the University of Salzburg, gave a presentation on Zweig's autobiography Die Welt von Gestern for the Auckland Goethe Society.

Prof. Renoldner talked about Zweig's interest in the genre of autobiography and how his earlier explorations of autobiographical writing by others (Casanova, Stendal, Tolstoy) shaped the writing process his own memoirs. He argued that such important considerations should also be taken into account by anyone undertaking biographical work on Zweig.

Written by Stephan Resch