Hello or Hallo
The site is now probably in the basic shape that it will stay in. There is always things to be added but the FORUM section is now fully functioning and if anyone wants categories adding to this please send me an e.mail. There is now a German language section which will be dedicated to the learning of german not that I am perfectly fluent in German but I think some tips I may be able to give could actually help someone who is starting out.
The BLOG page is getting updated on a semi-regular basis with the addition of a comments section. So, if you think what I have wrote a absolute rubbish, please let me know. The History section is complete in its basic form with all text and images uploaded. This section however will be updated more as time goes by, for example, the Berlin Wall category will have a lot more content, as will the Stasi and many others. The Forum section is almost ready for launching so people will be able to post messages etc to each other in either english or german. The Blog page remains the same with general observations/rants being posted as and when I get time. Once again if anybody spots any mistakes, broken links etc please get in touch, likewise if there are any suggestions about content as all feedback is much appreciated. And that's were I'm up to at the moment.
So......
I will try to explain a bit more about the myself and the content of the site etc. I am based in the Manchester area of England, I have a great interest in German history, in particular from The Weimar Republic to the fall of "The Wall" on November the 9th 1989 (which November 9th has been quite a significant date in Germany's history). Why do I have such an interest? Who knows! Perhaps it's the fact that alot of the 'happenings' are still in living memory and one can still talk to people and see places that experienced the Horrors of the 'Great War', the devastation caused by 'World War II' or who lived in the ultimate 'Big Brother State' (East Germany). I have also been learning the German language for the past 6 years and for what it's worth I will dedicate some of the site content to the 'learning of German'.
As a starting point
All events down through the ages have causes and so I have drawn a line for starting at 1914, although, the point where I start has many different factors leading up to why it happened. So, from my starting point many of the events can be, in my very humble opinion, put down the the actions of one particular group of men ' The Black Hand Gang' of Serbia, for it was the assassination carried out by this group, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, that set in motion a sequence of events that would lead to the death of millions and destruction of homes and cities across the world that one would never have thought possible. For example, this assassination which lead to the 'Great War' or WWI, which lead to the 'Treaty of Versailles', which lead to the instabillity in Germany, which lead to the rise of the Nazis, which lead to Adolf Hitler becoming leader of Germany, which lead to World War II, which lead to the death of millions (of which 6 million were Jews during the Holocaust), (hopefully you are following?) which lead to a carving up of Germany between Russia and the Allies, which lead to constant friction between East and West which lead to the Cold war and so on and so on. I will go into some of the other points on the opinions page i.e. It is the unstable situation at the moment in Palestine/Israel that is the cause of much terrorist activity in the world today, but this however, opens a whole new 'can of worms'. For again, in my very humble opinion, had we not in 1948 simply stepped back from the area and let happen what happened, I'm sure there could have been a better solution found, for it is the United States policy towards 'Israel' that causes unrest around the world as people unite to fight against what they see as an unjust state of affairs for the nation of Palestine.
Anyway
I'd better get of my 'soap box' now. That's enough about Politics, I do tend to waffle on a bit on subjects of interest. So, also on this site there will be an in depth guide to Berlin, a section on Photography (not that i'm very good, just an entusiastic amateur) and a few other areas of interest. Just to repeat myself, please get in touch if there is anything you would like to discuss or see included on the site. The text for the 'German History' section is all but complete apart from the images I need to upload to the relevant subjects and all the others will hopefully follow soon.
See you soon xxxxxx