CONTRIBUTORS

Katie McCarthy, BA German and History, University of Leeds

Electrified mopeds, egg cups and East German Erinnerungskultur: how should we remember the GDR?

Katie is currently completing her year abroad as an intern at the DDR Museum in Berlin Although she is a born-and-bred Brit, Katie considers herself to be a German at heart and plans to make the permanent move to Berlin after graduation. When she’s not feasting on vegan cake in the office or going to her favourite yoga classes in Prenzlauer Berg, Katie is probably obsessing over Annalena Baerbock or watching the latest German series on Netflix.

Robin Fugmann, BA Political Science and Public Administration, University of Konstanz

One year after the federal election - quo wadis, Deutschland?

Robin Fugmann, 21, is studying Politics and Public Administration in his 3rd year at the University of Konstanz in Germany’s far south. He spent the winter term of 2021 at the University of Leeds In his free time, he likes to play the drums, travel and go out with friends

Holly Perril, BA German and English Literature, University of Leeds

German at Leeds - then and now

Holly is a second-year German and English

Literature student at the University of Leeds. This summer Holly worked in the university archive, curious to discover more about how British-German relations across the 20th century have impacted the teaching of German in Britain in collaboration with her supervisor, Dr Corinne Painter. In her free time, Holly is a Young Goethe Ambassador at the Goethe Institut and visits schools across the UK to encourage students to study German in further education. Her latest adventure is working with the British German Association, helping to edit their podcast Understanding Germany

Hannah Solloway, MA Applied Translation, University of Leeds

How Germany is handling the 2022 Ukraine

Refugee Crisis

Hannah was born and raised in the United States but moved to Berlin at 18 and now calls the city home. She holds a Bachelor's in Historical Linguistics from the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and is currently pursuing a Master's in Applied Translation at the University of Leeds When she's not translating or reading long tracts about translation theory, Hannah is an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy books She hopes to have the honour of translating a book into English one day

Neglected History: the Politics of Memory

In her final year at UCL in London, Naomi is still reminiscing about her year abroad in Hamburg which reignited her age-old appreciation for all things Deutschland As a student of History and Politics, Germany occupies a curious intersection of both her academic interests, as well as gastronomic, by being a country full of fellow Kuchen and Kartoffel-lovers Though her plans for the future are uncertain, Naomi hopes that moving back to Germany is part of the equation.

Ottilie Michelson, BA German and Spanish, University of Bristol

The Ampel-Koalition's road to cannabis legalisation

Ottilie is currently studying abroad at the Universitat de València She can often be found drinking coffee or eating jamón in the city's old town and, on occasion, in the library Next year, Ottilie will continue her year abroad in Graz, Austria where she hopes to brush up on her increasingly rusty German and spend weekends exploring Austria & Central Europe

Where does nuclear power fit into Germany's green future?

Holly is a third-year English Literature and German student currently on her year abroad in a quaint little Bavarian town called Regensburg In her spare time, she likes to read novels in English and German. Holly once took comfort in the fact that the real world doesn't contain the same kinds of world-ending existential threats as the dystopia and fantasy that she reads, until she also started reading the news. Recently Holly has picked up climbing as a hobby, in the hope that it will help her when the seas start to rise

Servus Nato / serve us Nato: will Austria ever end its neutrality?

Jack is a native Brit in his final year of a French and German degree. Having spent five months residing in Vienna, he made important pilgrimages to Niki Lauda’s grave and the Spielberg racetrack He is an avid Falco fan, partial to a yodel and will bang on about how truly lässig Austria is. One of Jack’s life ambitions is to hold a conversation with a Vorarlberger one day: failing that, join an Oom-Pah band in the Austrian alps.

Jasmine Sakpoba, BA Politics and German, University of Bristol

Lots of Handel, not much Wandel?

The changing nature of Sino-German relations

Archie is a first-year Politics and German student at the University of Bristol. Following a stint in Austria and the small Bavarian town of Tübingen, Archie is a self-confessed Germanophile, profoundly interested in German foreign policy, international affairs and currywurst. Although he hasn’t started getting out the bread and cheese at lunch yet, he has admitted to hoarding plastic bottles in his room, in the hope that one day the Pfand may work its way over to Britain…

The story of a Jewish immigrant under Austro-Fascism

Jasmine is in her second year at the University of Bristol studying BA Politics and German. She is both Nigerian and German but her German heritage in particular has always been a large part of her cultural interests and upbringing She looks forward to moving to Frankfurt in August 2023 with plans of spending a year working in a boutique firm. Outside of her linguistic pursuits, Jasmine can generally be found on stage, performing with the National Youth Music Theatre or singing along with the university’s Big Band.

Sophie Watkins-Tidley,

BA Philosphy and German, University of Bristol

Angela Merkel: an evolving legacy

Sophie is currently in her first year at Bristol University studying Philosophy and German

She has a great appreciation for German politics and has an interest in current affairs. She hopes to gain experience in this area in the next few years whilst on a placement year in Germany When she isn’t studying, playing music with the University Jazz band or hanging out with friends, she always has her nose in a book!

“The naivety towards China is over” were the words of German finance minister Robert Habeck in his closing speech at the September 2022 G7 Communiqué – a strong statement that reflects a wider shift in western rhetoric towards Beijing.

No other nation has taken greater advantage of Chinese integration than Germany. Chinese citizens and manufacturers value the quality of German products, whilst German companies utilise the scalability of Chinese operations to bring down costs. The result? Last year alone saw 245 billion euros of trade exchanged between the two. However, this phenomenon was in no way natural. Since the early 1970s, one of the tenets of German foreign policy has been a theory known as Wandel durch Handel (change through trade). Scholars insisted that, through the proliferation of trade with authoritarian regimes, they will inevitably become ‘like us’. This was deployed at the indifference of big German business, perfectly placed to exploit the modernisation of Chinese industry whilst also supplying technical know-how and machinery in vast quantities to the rapidly expanding nation.

Profits were growing exponentially, which forced German policymakers to decide whether they could overlook the plethora of problems presented by trading with an authoritarian regime – not only logistically, but also ethically. The latter is one of the primary reasons why the West is attempting to pull out with such haste.

Until 2019, it seemed as though this partnership was in lockstep, described by the German foreign office as a “multi-faceted and intense [...] comprehensive strategic partnership.” Yet following the lead of the US and other western nations, Germany is beginning to become far more critical of the regime it has so closely engaged with. German bureaucrats had been calling for an intense re-evaluation of the relationship for years, but it was not until it became clear that genocide was being committed in Xinjiang in 2019 that Berlin decided to open its eyes. Accompanied by 21 other nations, Germany signed a joint letter to the UN Human Rights Council, fervently condemning the mistreatment of the Uyghur minority and other ethnic groups. Beijing had been labelling these centres as ‘re-education camps’ in a supposed move against terrorism, an expression that Germany in particular would be foolish to ignore. This was one of the first instances of Berlin’s criticism toward Beijing, yet Germany still seems to exhibit restraint when it comes to butting heads with Xi Jinping. 4 n an attempt to limit China's power in the east, Germany has begun to expand its own sphere of influence in the Indo Pacific, sending one of its frigates ‘Bayern’ into the area. Neither Germany’s largest nor newest vessel, the move perplexed the international community, with many commenting it was undoubtedly more emblematic than practical. The secretary of state for defence, Thomas Silberhorn, justified the choice of ship by insisting that the mission wasn’t “aimed at anyone”, yet it didn’t take long for commentators to join the dots. During the ship's scheduled stop in Singapore, frequent mentions of freedom of navigation in the area were made, yet no one would name the oppressor – a clear display of Germany’s reluctance to upset Beijing. Another criticism of the voyage was Germany’s decision to do it alone; a Royal Navy group accompanied by a Dutch frigate had undertaken the same journey just months before. This is both literally and metaphorically telling of Germany’s struggle to form a united European front on China.

Germany is treading a line similar to many other European nations, trying to balance an increase in pressure on Beijing whilst also being able to utilise the prosperous returns of an intense economic partnership. However, it is not an easy game to play. When Merkel was pressed by Beijing in 2019 to allow Huawei to enter the German market and supply 5G infrastructure, it was implied by the Chinese ambassador that Germany’s automobile industry - heavily dependent on China - would be targeted if Huawei were to be excluded. This was a serious wakeup call and has prompted Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, to take a harsher line on China, which the rest of his colleagues in the Ampel-Koalition support. In a recent interview, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock declared that she was “very serious” about ending Germany’s dependence on China

The future looks uncertain and the golden age of Sino-German relations seems to be over. With a stark increase in military spending underway and the revelation that the West is far more entrenched in Chinese trade than it ought to be, China is able to exert its hard and soft power with impunity and efficiency. If the West fails to act, China will continue to expand its sphere of influence in the South China Sea and Hong Kong, making a mockery of the rule of law and the tenets of international cooperation. As one of the principal actors of the European Union, it is vital that Germany takes the helm. Whilst Germany’s domestic relationship with China becomes increasingly one-sided, Berlin must begin the slow and laborious process of diversifying its trade routes. Yet the real test will be Germany’s ability to establish a united European front on China. In the words of Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, “China is best dealt with when we are 27, not when we are one.”