The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Penn

Penn's Kislak Center for Special Collections holds an album containing 337 examples of Notgeld from the period of extreme inflation in Germany after WW1.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention Economic turmoil has been a hallmark of 2022 and 2023, with unease about rising inflation a key reason for concern. When the inflation rate hit 9.1% in September of 2022 it provoked anxieties that …

Want to give it a try? 🤓

Enjoying breakfast and conversation on a cold morning ☕️🥣

Make it a beautiful morning: join us for great coffee, delicious breakfast, and German conversation this Thursday ☕️🥣🫖

Welcome back! We wish you a smooth move-in week and look forward to seeing you all next week.

Viel Glück bei den Abschlussprüfungen: Jetzt haben Sie die Chance, über all das zu reflektieren und zu zeigen, was Sie in diesem Semester gelernt haben 🤞🍀

Celebrating excellence in teaching and the end of the semester: Auf baldiges Wiedersehen! 👋🎉🍾

Help us to celebrate the achievements of our wonderful undergraduate students with us: congratulations everyone 😎🎉👏.

Wir wünschen euch ein frohes und friedliches Zuckerfest!

Wir wünschen euch ein frohes Osterfest🐣

Please join us on Monday, April 3, for an inspiring conversation on how young people are forcing older generations to take their future seriously. Professor Simon Richter from FIGS will inter Luisa Neubauer -the most prominent German youth climate activist - and Alexander Repenning, along with their translator Sabine von Mering, Sabirah Mahmud and Mike Mann. Hoping to see you all!

And Syria as well…

That patriotic painting of George Washington on Christmas? It was German. How "Washington Crossing the Delaware," a painting by Emanuel Leutze, went 19th-century viral and became an emblem of U.S. patriotism.

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars | Penn Today Through Inside the Archive, a course taught by Liliane Weissberg of the School of Arts & Sciences, Penn students explore what an archive is, how history gets written, and what is ahead in a digital future.

“Hallo” als Drohung?
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTd9vd1yU/

1LIVE on TikTok Hallo? Hallooo? Warum klingt das für Deutsche wie eine Drohung? hat sich genau diese Frage gestellt

Great article about Prof Liliane Weissberg's seminar "Inside the Archive." "It’s not just the course ..., but Weissberg herself. “She’s amazing,” says one of the students. “She’s fun, super intelligent—she’s an archive herself.”

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars | Penn Today Through Inside the Archive, a course taught by Liliane Weissberg of the School of Arts & Sciences, Penn students explore what an archive is, how history gets written, and what is ahead in a digital future.

Penn Prof Kathryn Hellerstein and her class work with a newly acquired archive of material from Jewish communities living in China after fleeing N**i Germany. The collection was assembled by Dr. Hellerstein's mentor. Great story that emphasizes the significance of hands on archival work for Penn students.

From the archives, a class on different communities of Jews in China | Penn Today Kathryn Hellerstein created an opportunity for her first-year seminar students to study archival material from a collection donated to the Penn Libraries by her mentor, Israeli scholar Irene Eber.

Here is the official Penn Almanac announcement about the appointment of Vance Byrd as Presidential Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Pennsylvania. We are so proud and happy to welcome Vance to Penn! (It's the third article after President Amy Gutman's farewell. She's going on to become the US Ambassador to Germany.)

Volume 68 Number 18 Welcome Back from the President: Truly Without Peer January 11, 2022 vol 68 issue 18 News print Facebook Twitter This will be my final Almanac Welcome Back column as the president of the University of Pennsylvania. I want to say from the bottom of my heart and with boundless affection, thank you! Wh...

Penn Germanics Prof Simon Richter wrote a blog for the Water Center at Penn about his new video.

How Penn’s “Dr. Poldergeist” is Trying to Help the Dutch Confront Accelerated Sea Level Rise | Water Center How Penn’s “Dr. Poldergeist” is Trying to Help the Dutch Confront Accelerated Sea Level Rise Blog By Simon Richter Class of 1942 Endowed Term Professor, Perry World House Faculty Fellow, and Penn Institute for Urban Research Faculty Fellow January 5, 2022 LinkedIn Post I couldn’t believe my ...

While we are sad to announce the death of our remarkable former colleague, Horst Daemmrich, at the same time we celebrate a life that was singularly and significantly devoted to the study and appreciation of literature. This wonderful obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer captures some of Horst's spirit. Many of us who knew him can relate more stories about his intellectual curiosity, his unique classroom style, his hospitality, and kindness. The fact that he and his wife Ingrid, professor of English at Drexel, were academic partners and co-authors over the course of their careers was exemplary at a time when this was uncommon. He lived a life devoted to literature, family, and conviviality that became an example to many. We miss him. And raise a glass of Irish whiskey to his memory.

Horst S. Daemmrich, an author and influential German professor at Penn, dies at 91 Literature “transports readers into unexplored realms,” he told students in 1979, “that not only exist in a different universe but are also simultaneously present in the world we live in."

In this short essay, Penn Germanics Prof Simon Richter writes about how opening up to the climate emergency transformed his teaching and research.

Opening Up to the Climate Emergency Opening Up to the Climate Emergency September 21, 2021 vol 68 issue 6 Talk About Teaching & Learning print Simon Richter I love the looks I get when people outside of academia ask me what I do. My answer comes in two parts. “I’m a professor of German and Dutch literature and culture.” No probl...

Penn Climate Week has begun!

Learn, reflect, and act during Climate Week | Penn Today Climate Week at Penn, sponsored by the Provost’s Office, offers a variety of events—both in-person and online—that invite the whole University community to learn about, reflect on, and address the climate crisis.

What color is your Gesichtskondom?

Germans have coined more than 1,200 words to talk about coronavirus Nothing stops the Germans from welding words together.

Freya Zhou | Penn Abroad Semester Abroad (SA): Berlin Consortium for German Studies