Students lead German Studies conference

  • 13 February 2017

Undergraduates from universities around the UK and beyond came to Caius on Saturday for a conference on the theme of "remembering and forgetting in the German-speaking world".

Student speakers from institutions including King's College London, Leeds, Durham and University College Dublin presented papers on topics ranging from "Luther's Legacy" to New German cinema, the Nuremberg Trials Exhibition and the new right-wing German political party Alternative für Deutschland.

The event, hailed a great success by organisers and participants, was the third undergraduate conference hosted by Cambridge University Department of German and Dutch. As well as the rich array of student presentations, attendees also heard from keynote speaker, Dr Hubertus Knabe, director of the memorial established in Berlin's former Stasi prison (supported by the Schröder fund). Dr Knabe, speaking on the theme of the reappraisal of Communism in Germany, was introduced by Caius Fellow Professor Joachim Whaley, who also chaired the subsequent discussion.

Participants included PGCE students, sixth form teachers from across the country, and other students. The event concluded with a discussion on careers in and after German Studies.

Organisers praised the students' "thoroughly-prepared and well-argued presentations with the right blend of intellectual confidence and modesty" as "an example of the best that British education can do".

Thank you to Ulrike Balser for the images reproduced here.

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