For the New Objectivity art, both literature and paintings, urban reality played a significant role. The aesthetics of the New Objectivity, movement that bloomed in the 20s and 30s, was defined through urban issues. This tendency can be observed primarily in the so-called Zeitroman that became a topic of interest for German literary studies earlier. In contrast to the prose, the New Objectivity poetry was rarely an object of studies. In the article, selected urban verses are analysed and connected with (...) the New Objectivity paintings on a modernist background. (shrink)

The article presents the military fortifications built by the Germans during World War II near Tomaszów Mazowiecki in the years 1940–1944, especially the long belt of fortifications called Piliza Stellung, although it focuses on a relatively short section running along the Pilica River from Sulejów to Inowłódz and Lubocz (near Rzeczyca). The paper discusses various types of shelters, and more broadly presents the preserved military fortifications in Tomaszów Mazowiecki and the railway shelter complexes (“Anlage Mitte”) in Konewka and Jelenia.

The presented article is an attempt to describe in a synthetic way an own vision of a German front-line soldier of the First World War. It also tries to show an image of some enemies – the French, the British and the Russians. The attempt was made on the basis of recollection material and literary forms created either during or soon after the war. The conclusion is unequivocal – the more contact the authors of the texts had with the opponent, (...) the more balanced image of the enemy they presented in their texts and the less were they prone to overestimate the German soldier. Yet the press material contained a lot of exaggeration. The authors created a haughty and sometimes even superhuman image of the German soldier. At the same time the image of the enemy was inhuman and deserving contempt. (shrink)

Gerold Tietz was born in 1941 in Horka (north Bohemia) in a family of Sudeten Germans. Germans lived in this village together with Czechs, Roma people and Jews. The family also involved Czech relatives and many of German relatives spoke good Czech and kept relations with Czech cultural groups. After the war Gerold Tietz and his family were expelled to Swabia. He studied history, French and political science. From 1969 the graduated historian lived in Esslingen where he taught in the (...) grammar school for thirty years. In the autobiographically oriented novels _Böhmische Fuge _(1997), _Böhmisches Richtfest _(2007) and in _Böhmische Grätschen _(2009) Tietz tried to depict official social-political events connected with famous political and cultural figures as well as the stories of ordinary days of “small people” who had to face the consequences of historic changes which influenced their lives. The paper analyses the conditions of Czech and German coexistence and confronts the authentic historic context. Nevertheless, negative features of these ethnic groups are not overlooked and the positive ones are presented as a positive contribution to the current European multiculturalism. (shrink)

The paper discusses the origin of two Germanic terms for ‘Atlantic herring, _Clupea harengus _L.’. The Proto-Germanic noun _*siled- _m. ‘herring’, attested in most North Germanic languages (e.g. ON. _sild_, Far. _síld_, OSv. _sild_, Sv. _sill_, Norw. _sil_), cannot be treated as inherited. It seems to represent a Saami (or Laponian) borrowing, cf. Saa. (Northern) _sâlled_, (Lule) _sallēt _‘herring’.

“Gazeta Urzędowa Tomaszowska” (“Tomaschower Amtliche Zeitung”) was an organ of the Municipality of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. It appeared twice a week from December 1915 to June 1917. The magazine was printed in German and Polish. It contained ordinances and announcements of the occupying central and local authorities, as well as semi-official and private announcements. In total, 160 issues of the magazine were published. The article discusses the content of TAZ, emphasizing the undeniable historical value of the magazine for the history of (...) Tomaszów Mazowiecki during the First World War. (shrink)