It was great to welcome Prof. Bill Niven @bniven.bsky.social to @viadrina.eu this week to work with C1 English students from across the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences. We discussed shifting frames of memorialisation, with students presenting on 3 case studies from Frankfurt Oder and Słubice

#OpenAccess! ENTERTAINING GERMAN CULTURE: Contemporary Transnational Television & Film, Ehrig @herrehrig.bsky.social, Schaper @chewschaper.bsky.social, and Ward @elizabethward.bsky.social [eds.] is now available in paperback! : bit.ly/43G1fKY #FilmStudies #TelevisionStudies #MediaStudies #History

A fantastic first day at the 2026 DEFA-Stiftung Conference "DEFA Without Borders: Mobility and Space" organised by Prof. Michael Grisko and Prof. Patrick Rössler at @unierfurt.bsky.social Two more perfectly packed days lie ahead!

Taking a moment to stop by for some positive, motivational words before my paper today at the 2026 DEFA Tagung in Erfurt

Chicago may have ripped Goethe, but Bonn has protein shake Beethoven

The River Oder along the Frankfurt Oder-Słubice border is currently full of ice disks! They move really fast, make a wonderful sound and are VERY cool to see. @viadrina.eu

Back at a rather chilly @viadrina.eu for the start of exam season

Really looking forward to discussing Konrad Wolf's 1959 film "Sterne" with @klingstedt.bsky.social Seán Allan tomorrow at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social The Byre Theatre events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/east-...

Los geht’s! It’s lovely to be back in Hamburg for the 38th Cinefest Kongress, this year on the theme “Zwischen Schreibmaschine und Filmkamera Literaten und ihr Verhältnis zum Film”.

I am currently filling out a Gantt chart that requires me to declare what I will be doing in October 2030. I would like to point out that I still haven’t decided what I am having for dinner this evening.

Seizing the opportunity of an unexpectedly warm afternoon to take teaching outside and onto the Ziegenwerder. I dare say that the @viadrina.eu is the only university in the world where I can say “If you are facing Poland, you are group one. If you are facing Germany, you are group two”.

Today's walk to the archive

Ach, wie schön. Die Kinder gehen auf Klassenfahrt.

A weekend gift for all Germany-based followers: bore your nearest and dearest with a fact about fit washing-up liquid. Ever wondered why the bottle is the shape it is? No? Me neither. But there is a reason: it is designed to look the shape of the Roter Turm in Chemnitz. You are welcome.

Darmstadt seems to specialise in statues of men who look furious that they had to pose for the artist in the first place.

This, this and a thousand times THIS.

It's the time of year when I remind my colleagues that, while student feedback is meaningful, student evaluations of faculty are *not* a high-quality instrument of measure, and we over-rely on that data at the peril of the profession. I am saddened that we have normalized them.

I'm really pleased to be able to share news of a forthcoming book: I have signed a contract with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social for a new edited volume on East German Film and Cultural Diplomacy.

I'm thrilled to have been part of this brilliant volume on Wolfgang Kohlhaase, edited by Ilka Brombach, Chris Wahl and Michael Wedel. My chapter examines Kohlhaase's positioning of female characters in three films: Eine Berliner Romanze (1956), Solo Sunny (1980) and Sommer vorm Balkon (2005).

It’s @scmstudies.bsky.social conference time! Really looking forward to hearing so many great papers over the next four days. Happy conferencing to all fellow #SCMS25 delegates!

Really excited to be in Chicago for this year's @scmstudies.bsky.social conference. I'll be discussing an aspect from my #MSCA research project: what happened when Disney attempted to screen a film at the Berlin Film Festival about a real-life hot air balloon escape from the GDR.

In the archive... I go to get more files from the desk Archivist: Wie viele schaffen Sie denn? Sie haben eine Stunde. Me: Ich bleibe optimistisch und nehme fünf. Archivist: Optimistisch ist das nicht. Das ist utopisch. Ich gebe Ihnen drei. 😂

At the ZDF studios in Mainz today to use their in-house archives.

Geht wählen.

Happy #Berlinale, to all who celebrate

The bar for commemorative plaques seems quite low here.

Carolabrücke, Dresden

De wereld bleef doof (the world remained deaf) Monument for Jewish Deaf War Victims, Amsterdam

Snow means I have been unable to return from northern England. It is a burden I will bear.

Hummel, Hummel... #Hamburg

Excited to be presenting today at the CineFest International Film Congress, which this year is dedicated to German-Swiss film relations. I'll be discussing the significance of East German films at the Locarno Film Festival for East German cultural diplomacy during the 1950s @zeitgeschul.bsky.social

I'm pretty sure he was more of a wine man.

This article excellently catches one of the reasons why I quit as Stipendiary Lecturer at Oxford last year 🚫 Whilst it describes the wage-related shortfalls very well 📉, there are other factors involved that leave ECRs in a very precarious situation 🚨 🧵 below 👇 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I would like to see the numbers on exactly how many members of ‘the general public’ were readily accessing academic history work before internet paywalls. If it was more possible to see physical volumes/journals, how many people bothered?

Morning (in) America. Mourning (for) America.

Excited this is out! Such a joy to share a section with @elizabethward.bsky.social and @kyfrack.bsky.social, and to be able to tag them both here, unlike on Tw*tter(!) My chapter uses trans theory to explore the army's 'binary panic' around women soldiers. www.berghahnbooks.com/title/AllanD...

Looking forward to speaking about the work of screenwriter Helga Schütz in relation to her East German contemporary films of the 1960s and 1970s at the Literaturforum at the Brecht-Haus in Berlin tomorrow. Details and programme: lfbrecht.de/projekte/hel...

Kino International 👋

Miraculously, the University of Hull ranks eleventh in the Guardian’s 2023/24 “Best UK universities for languages and linguistics”… despite having made its entire department redundant over two years ago. The senior leadership team will be thrilled.

Good morning, Yorkshire.

Neues Palais and Park Sanssouci, Potsdam

In der ganzen DDR fehlte es nicht nur an Baumaterial für Häuser und Wohnungen, sondern auch an Bauarbeitern. Die SED hatte festgelegt, dass alle Bezirke Leute und Material zu stellen hätten, damit Berlin schön wird. Am 30.10.1989 reichte es den Leipzigern. Ende mit Berlin.

Back at the BArch

Ok, I perhaps I have taken a few more tea breaks than normal. But to be mocked by an online library catalogue... The shame.

What a brilliant 4 days at #TheGSA2033 German Studies Association conference in Montréal. It was wonderful to meet peers and friends again and for the first time. A huge thanks to the GSA committee and to the staff of Le Centre Sheraton Montréal for the flawless organisation.