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"Congratulations to the Association on its 50th Birthday. I wish the new Website great success and I hope especially that it will stimulate interest in the Association's work, and thereby increase contacts between individuals of our two countries."
HRH The Duke of Kent, Royal Patron
BGA News
Review: BGA Parliamentary Day 2010 Collage
This year's Parliamentary Day was a great success and we thank Lord Heseltine for giving us an inspiring speech. We hope you enjoyed having lunch in the Cholmondeley Room at the House of Lords with an exclusive view over the Thames.
The link below contains a Collage made of pictures taken at the event.
Follow this link for more information: BGA Parliamentary Day 2010 Collage
New Publication:
Peter Spiro, born 1918 in Berlin, only child of the painter Eugen Spiro, Lovis Corinth’s successor as President of the Berliner Secession 1925 – 1933, describes his upbringing during the capital’s “golden twenties”in his engaging book “Nur uns gibt es nicht wieder – Erinnerungen” (Verlag EDITION MEMORIA, www.edition-memoria.de , ISBN 978-3-930353-29-3).
His narrative gives the reader an insight of a young person’s perception of growing up in an urban, portrait- and landscape-, painter’s family which played an important role in the whirl of Berlin society life. Holidays were, inter alia, spent on the island of Hiddensee, meeting point of contemporary prominents and, as Peter describes, the family’s circle of friends included leading bankers, politicians and industrialists, as well as artists, e.g. Gerhart Hauptmann, Leo von Konig, Hans Purmann, R.M. Rilke. Peter describes playing with his cousins Pierre and Balthazar Klossowski who, later, respectively became a prominent French writer/artist and Balthus, a painter of world repute.
The onset of the Nazi regime in 1933 was a devastating blow for the Spiro family, three of Peter’s four grandparents having been of Jewish descent. Father Eugen was forbidden to paint or to exhibit in Germany and, at secondary school, Peter found himself classified as a “Non – Aryan” though still treated friendlily in those, early Nazi, days.
By 1935 the family decided to emigrate to Paris, where Eugen had been one of the “Allemands du Café du Dome, 1903 – 1914, (title of several post-WWII exhibitions). Emigration was eased in many ways by several prominent friends in Germany.
Peter describes the strife-torn political atmosphere in pre-war Paris and his parents’ flight to the USA via Spain, North Africa and Portugal after the 1940 French defeat, while he had become a student in London.
33 colour art reproductions, mainly of works by Eugen Spiro, add to the attraction of the book, which is a moving account of the Zeitgeist of the time by an author who is now over 90 years old.
In the UK the book will shortly be available from Grant & Cutler, 55-57 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7AY, (ex their main distributor), probably for a little under £40 (the UK price is not yet fixed). It will be best ordered by e-mail: mail@grantandcutler.com or by 'phone 020 7734 2012, contact person in case of difficulties Nadya Gabrys 020 7734 8766.
BGOA 2010 Gazette
The British German Officers' Association has just published its 2010 Gazette. Please follow the link for the document.
Follow this link for more information:
The BGA Stammtisch is back!
Der BGA Stammtisch ist wieder da!
Ab sofort immer jeden 2. Dienstag im Monat.
Wir würden uns freuen, Euch jeden zweiten Dienstag im Monat im zweiten Stock in der "De Hems Dutch Bar" in Soho bei unserem Stammtisch begrüßen zu dürfen.
(11 Macclesfield Street, London, W1D 5BW http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/74/745/De_Hems/Soho).
Wir werden ab 18.30 Uhr dort sein. Solltet Ihr uns nicht finden können, meldet Euch bitte unter 0777 3608712.
The British German Association’s Stammtisch will take place on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from 6.30pm on the second floor of De Hems Dutch Bar in Soho, 11 Macclesfield Street, London, W1D 5BW, http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/74/745/De_Hems/Soho .
We would be delighted if you could join us for the evening from 6pm. If you have any difficulties finding us, please call 0777 3608712.
Viele Grüsse und hoffentlich bis dahin/Regards
Sarah Madden und/and Meike Bliebenicht
Next Stammtisch:
Tuesday 11th May
Tuesday 8th June
Tuesday 13th July
Please contact maddenst@tcd.ie to be added to the Stammtisch mailing list or call 0777 3608712 for further information
Think German - Promoting German as a foreign language
Throughout 2010 Germany, Austria and Switzerland are running a major campaign to encourage young Britons to learn German. Under the motto "Think German", the aim is to underline the value of German language skills through a number of high-profile events in 2010.
To find out more, please see the enclosed press release or go to www.thinkgerman.org.uk
Follow this link for more information: Think German Press Release
Downloadable documents
You can right click on the document titles below to download it or click on it to view it.