Previous Activities of the Literary Club
“Das Leben der Anderen”
On Wednesday, 9 April 2025, at 6:00 p.m., the Literary Club of the Department of German Language and Literature organised the second film evening of the 2024/2025 summer semester.
The award-winning political thriller “Das Leben der Anderen” (2006), directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, was screened. The film offers a profound insight into the surveillance practices of the Stasi and the cultural scene of East Berlin during the GDR period. The story centres on Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler, who is assigned to monitor a writer and his partner and gradually finds himself confronted with the moral consequences of his actions.
The film impressively addresses the question of whether true art can bring out the good in people and explores the possibility of reconciliation between victim and perpetrator. Among other awards, the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007 and is considered a milestone in German film history.
As always, the evening concluded with a raffle in which several audience members won great prizes!
Thank you to everyone who spent the evening with us! We hope to see you again at the next film evening! 😊
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“Goethe!”
On Wednesday, 5 March 2025, at 6:00 p.m., another film evening was held in Room 39 at our Faculty. This was the first film evening of the 2025 summer semester and unexpectedly opened with the film “Goethe!”, as the ordered film “Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl” had not arrived, so we had to rely on our own film collection.
The film tells the story of the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who, after failing his law examinations, is sent to a sleepy provincial court to prove himself. Instead of focusing on his professional future, however, he falls head over heels in love with the enchanting Lotte – unaware that she has already been promised to another man. This passionate yet tragic love story ultimately inspired his famous work “Die Leiden des jungen Werthers”.
As always, we concluded the evening with our popular raffle, where great prizes were awarded. The relaxed atmosphere and interesting conversations after the film made the evening a great success.
We thank everyone who joined us and are already looking forward to the next film evening – we hope you will join us again! 😊
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“Fack ju Göhte”
On Tuesday, 26 November, at 5:00 p.m., another film evening was held in Room 39 at our Faculty. We began this first film evening of the 2024 winter semester with plenty of laughter – with the German box-office hit “Fack ju Göhte” (2013).
This school comedy by Bora Dağtekin centres on former petty criminal Zeki Müller, who ends up working as a “teacher” at the Goethe comprehensive school and, with his unconventional methods, encourages both students and teachers to rethink their attitudes, while learning something himself along the way.
In addition to the humorous jokes and dialogue, the evening concluded with a raffle in which interesting prizes were awarded.
We hope to see you again at the next film evening! 😊
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“Buddenbrooks”
On Tuesday, 23 April 2024, at 5:30 p.m., another film evening was held in Room 39 at our Faculty. This time, we screened the film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s literary work and world-famous novel “Die Buddenbrooks. Verfall einer Familie”.
It was a good opportunity both to introduce students to Mann’s work and to familiarise secondary school pupils with this major figure of German-language literature.
As always, the film evening concluded with a raffle in which great prizes were awarded.
We hope to see you again at the next film evening! 😊
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The First Film Evening of the 2024 Summer Semester: “Contra”
On Monday, 25 March 2024, at 6:00 p.m., visitors once again had the opportunity to watch a German film in Room 39 at FFOS. The film shown was Sönke Wortmann’s “Contra”. It is a 2020 tragicomedy and a German adaptation of the 2017 French comedy “Die brillante Mademoiselle Neila” (“Le brio”), directed by Yvan Attal.
In addition to students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, pupils from the II and III Grammar Schools were also invited. With this film, we wanted to demonstrate the importance of avoiding prejudice and stereotypes, particularly towards people with a migrant background. We are all equally valuable and capable of great things. As on previous occasions, attendance at the film evening was rewarded with great raffle prizes.
We hope to see you again at the next film evening! 😊
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The Last Film Evening of the 2023/2024 Winter Semester: “Aus dem Nichts”
On Monday, 15 January 2024, at 6:00 p.m., our Literary Club team organised another film evening in Room 39 at our Faculty. This time, we screened Fatih Akin’s 2017 thriller, which was inspired by the 2004 nail bomb attack in Cologne carried out by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist cell.
Both the film and its leading actress received awards, and the film is regarded as one of the few outstanding German thrillers. It shows what can happen when the rule of law fails, while nevertheless encouraging viewers to continue fighting for justice.
Pupils from the II Grammar School also attended the film evening, which made us very happy! As always, there was a raffle, with six lucky winners receiving great prizes.
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Film Evening Featuring “Der junge Karl Marx”
On 4 December 2023, at 6:00 p.m., the second film evening of the semester took place in Room 39 at our Faculty. The 2017 historical drama “Der junge Karl Marx”, directed by Raoul Peck, was screened.
This time, students from other departments also participated, so the film was shown with Croatian subtitles. The subject matter of the film can be connected with various fields such as sociology, history and literature, making it a good opportunity to connect with students from other departments of our Faculty and establish contacts for future cooperation, which made us very happy!
As always, the evening concluded with a raffle and great prizes were awarded.
We hope to see you again at the next film evening! 😊
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Christmas Quiz #2 (2023) at the Christmas Celebration of the Department of German Language and Literature
On 11 December 2023, members of the Literary Club, together with other students and teachers of the Department of German Language and Literature, organised a Christmas celebration that also included a mini Christmas quiz. The theme of the Christmas quiz was Christmas and everything related to Advent.
A poster and flyer were designed for the Christmas celebration, followed by the preparation of materials for the quiz questions as well as video and audio materials for several listening questions. This time, the quiz consisted of two sets of questions: the first group was called “Fireworks of Knowledge” and the second “Pop Culture Wheel of Fortune”. The questions were varied and interesting. We succeeded not only in bringing together many students, but even a team of teachers joined us, so a total of 10 teams registered. As with Pub Quiz #1 (2023) at Café Vaduz, the Faculty provided the prizes.
In addition to the quiz, various group activities were organised during the Christmas celebration, including board games, making Christmas cards and writing Christmas poems. Finally, there was also a gift exchange, for which participants brought small presents that were then exchanged among them.
(Lucija Strugar)
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German-Language Pub Quiz # 1 (2023) at Café Vaduz
German-Language Pub Quiz as a New Activity of the Literary Club at the Department of German Language and Literature
At the very beginning of the academic year, we collected suggestions for club activities – one of them was organising a pub quiz. We first looked for a suitable venue and chose Café Vaduz. All club members agreed that the first topic should be general knowledge about Germany, and I prepared the corresponding quiz questions. The quiz consisted of four sets of questions: the first was called “Spoilt for Choice”, where participants had to select the correct answer from three options. The second was called “Picture Puzzles”, where questions were answered on the basis of the images shown. The third was called “Tricky Questions”, as participants had to answer longer questions, while the fourth was called “Music Riddles”: a short excerpt from a song was played and participants had to guess the name of the song or artist. A score sheet and worksheets for participants were also prepared.
Sufficient time had to be allocated to preparing the quiz itself. First, posters and flyers were created to attract as many interested participants as possible. The quiz materials and questions were then prepared, which was no easy task. We also sent invitations to several schools, which, to our delight, responded and registered three teams (one team of teachers and two teams of upper-secondary pupils)! We were all pleasantly surprised by the great interest in the quiz: altogether, 13 teams of 5 members each took part.
The quiz at Café Vaduz took place on 14 November 2023 at 8:00 p.m. Everyone present was pleased with the questions and the atmosphere, while other club members contributed by creating a German-language playlist, so German songs were also played in the background.
We collected prizes at the Faculty for the top three places, distributed them at the end of the quiz and took a photo with the winners. Since three teams finished in first place with the same number of points, a three-question tie-break was held to determine the final winner. Our winners were delighted with their prizes, and we hope to see all of you (again) at our next quiz! See you soon!
(Lucija Strugar)
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On 6 November 2023, at 6:00 p.m., the first film evening of the academic year was held in Room 39 at our Faculty. This time, the film was the 2006 romantic comedy “FC Venus – Made in Germany”, directed by Ute Wieland and based on Joona Tena’s Finnish film “FC Venus” (2005).
Students, pupils from II Grammar School Osijek and teachers enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. In the end, the best team won, but more importantly, everyone enjoyed both the football match in the film and the screening in the hall and had a lot of fun!
The evening concluded with a raffle and great prizes were awarded: everyone had fun, while some also had good luck. The Department’s Literary Club hopes to see everyone again at the next film evening! 😊
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Report on the Film Evening: Good Bye Lenin!
On Wednesday, 10 May 2023, at 5:30 p.m., the Literary Club of the Department of German Language and Literature organised another film evening in Room 39. This time, Wolfgang Becker’s 2003 film “Good Bye Lenin!” was screened.
The film depicts the life of an East German family immediately before the fall of the Berlin Wall and after German reunification, presenting the events in a humorous, ironic, but also tragic manner.
The film lasted approximately two hours, and the club members were delighted that not only our students but also pupils from II Grammar School attended the film evening. Once again, we had a full house! The relaxed atmosphere lasted until the end of the film. Afterwards, great prizes were awarded in a raffle.
This was the last film evening of the semester, but we hope to see you again in the next academic year!
Your Literary Club Team
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Opening of the Exhibition “Christa Wolf – neu lesen”
On Wednesday, 17 May 2023, at 12:00 noon, the exhibition “Christa Wolf – neu lesen” was opened in Room 39. The exhibition was designed by students and teachers at Humboldt University involved with the Christa Wolf Society and came to Osijek via the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka.
Christa Wolf (1929–2011) is one of the best-known authors from the GDR. The exhibition is dedicated to her life and work. At the opening, students were able to learn many interesting facts about the life of the GDR author. The exhibition was visited not only by German Studies students, but also by students from other departments and study programmes. The exhibition can be visited at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences until 7 June 2023.
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Exhibition on E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776.–1822.)
On Wednesday, 26 April 2023, an exhibition on the prominent German Romantic writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776–1822) was opened on the noticeboard of the Department of German Language and Literature to mark the bicentenary of his death. A series of posters presented the author’s life and his extensive body of work. Most readers of German literature know him as the author of numerous literary fairy tales, fantastic short stories and novels. In addition to his literary talent, however, Hoffmann was also an accomplished composer, and around twenty musical works are recorded among his legacy, including the magical opera “Undine”.
Hoffmann was a lawyer by profession, but also a passionate caricaturist. His ironic and grotesque depictions of superiors and influential citizens in both image and text repeatedly provoked the anger of his superiors, which often forced him to change both his job and place of employment. Hoffmann became seriously ill later in life and was also known throughout his life for his fondness for alcohol, something well known at his favourite Berlin establishment “Lutter & Wegner”. He died in Berlin on 25 June 1822 as a result of paralysis.
The exhibition, organised by students Gabriela Capan and Antonija Pavić, can be viewed in the first-floor corridor of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences until the end of the summer semester.
Exhibition on E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) at the Department of German Language and Literature
On Wednesday, 26 April 2023, an exhibition on one of the best-known German Romantic writers, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776–1822), was presented on the noticeboard of the Department of German Language and Literature. A series of posters presents Hoffmann’s life and his extensive body of work. Readers familiar with German literature know him as the author of numerous literary fairy tales as well as fantastic short stories and novels. Hoffmann was also a talented composer and created more than twenty musical works, one of which is the well-known magical opera “Undine”.
Hoffmann was a lawyer by profession, but also a passionate caricaturist. Because of his ironic and grotesque depictions of superiors and respected fellow citizens in image and text, he often lost his position or was transferred to other locations as punishment. He became very ill in old age and throughout his life was also known for his fondness for alcohol, something that was well known at his regular Berlin establishment “Lutter & Weger”. Hoffmann died on 25 June 1822 as a result of respiratory paralysis.
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On Wednesday, 10 May 2023, at 5:30 p.m., the Literary Club will organise another film evening in Room 39. This time, Wolfgang Becker’s 2003 film “Good Bye Lenin!” will be shown.
The film links the story of a GDR family with contemporary German history in a melodramatic and ironic manner. The plot begins when the mother suffers a heart attack immediately before the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequently falls into a coma lasting several months, causing her to “sleep through” the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. After she wakes up, her son, in order to prevent another heart attack, keeps her under the illusion that she is still living in the “old” GDR.
The tragicomedy raises the question of what it is like to experience historical blackouts and thereby miss the historical phenomenon of entire state structures disappearing. On the one hand, the film explores what kind of reality emerges for such people and, on the other, what ultimately determines the perception of social and historical processes by ordinary people caught up in them.
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Film Evening – 7 Zwerge: Der Wald ist nicht genug
On 15 March 2023, at 5:30 p.m., another film evening took place in Room 39 at our Faculty. This time, we screened the 2006 comedy directed by Sven Unterwaldt, based on Schneewittchen und die 7 Zwerge. The event also marked the 160th anniversary of the death of the Brothers Grimm, who are renowned for their collection of children’s and household tales. Students and teachers enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, which was further enhanced by a visit from pupils of II Grammar School Osijek. As always, the film was followed by a raffle and prizes were distributed. The members of the Literary Club hope to see everyone again at the next film evening in May! 😊
Your Literary Club Team
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Film Evening – Timm Thaler oder Das verkaufte Lachen
On 16 January 2023, at 5:30 p.m., a film evening was held in Room 39 at our Faculty as part of the activities of the Literary Club of the Department of German Language and Literature. This time, a film from the field of children’s literature was shown. The film entitled “Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen” tells the story of a boy with an enchanting laugh who is persuaded to sell his laughter to a stranger in exchange for being able to win every bet he makes. He soon discovers that some things in life, including laughter, are priceless and that remaining true to oneself is more important than acquiring a great deal of money. After the eventful and instructive film, small raffle prizes were also awarded. Our Literary Club team looks forward to seeing you again!
The Fifth Film Evening of the Literary Club
On 12 December 2022, the cinema team of the Literary Club at our Department organised a screening of the film “Mackie Messer – Brechts Dreigroschenfilm”. As always, the film evening began at 5:00 p.m. and took place in Room 39. In his film, director Joachim A. Lang attempted to reconstruct what it might have looked like if Brecht had also made a film adaptation of his play “Dreigroschenoper”.
The film follows the content of Brecht’s play and includes numerous musical and dance sequences that were very popular in the 1920s, when Brecht’s play was written. Numerous scenes also demonstrate that not only Brecht’s theatre but also his highly critical attitude towards society have lost none of their relevance: as is still the case today, everything revolves around money and power, which also provides much of the film’s tension.
After the film, a prize draw was also held among the visitors, helping to keep the excitement going after the screening.
(Ines Babić & Anamarija Čalić)
Film Evening – 7 November 2022
On 7 November 2022 at 5:00 p.m., the Literary Club organised another film evening in Room 39. The season opened with the German comedy “Das perfekte Geheimnis”, in which a group of friends put their trust to the test over dinner by sharing all incoming messages and calls on their mobile phones with everyone present.
After the film screening, a short meeting of the Literary Club was also held. Suggestions for further club activities were collected and the work plan for the 2022 winter semester was agreed upon.
The Third Film Evening
On Monday, 16 May 2022, at 5:00 p.m., the thriller “Das Parfum – Die Geschichte eines Mörders”, directed by Tom Tykwer and based on the novel by Patrick Süskind, was screened in Room 39. It was a very exciting evening that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. The film lasted more than two hours, but every second was captivating and gripping. And, as always, there was a raffle at the end.
The members of the Literary Club sincerely thank everyone who attended and hope that you will join us again at the next film evening.
(Ines Babić and Anamarija Čalić)
Literary Club Exhibition for International Women’s Day: “Women in the Life of Johann Wolfgang Goethe”
On 8 March 2022, the Literary Club of the Department of German Language and Literature organised an exhibition entitled Women in the Life of Johann Wolfgang Goethe to mark International Women’s Day. The exhibition was created as part of the long-term student research project Love and Literature. Six posters present women who had an important influence on Goethe’s life and on the work of this great German-language and internationally renowned writer. The visual and textual content of the exhibition was designed and prepared by Vanessa Eckhard and Marina Žilić under the supervision of teachers Tihomir Engler and Sanja Ivanović Grgurić.
The Second Film Evening at Our Department – 21 March 2022
On 16 March 2022, at 5:00 p.m., the second film evening of the Literary Club of the Department of German Language and Literature took place in Room 39 at our Faculty. In a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, a pseudo-biographical film adaptation of one period in the life of one of Germany’s greatest writers was screened.
The film “Goethe!” is a ninety-minute love story that everyone followed with great interest. After the screening, Goethe’s actual life was compared with the plot of the film, since one of the film’s particularly interesting aspects is the considerable freedom the director took with the biographical facts of Goethe’s life and with the novel Werther. The discussion was accompanied by a raffle, ensuring that no one had to go home empty-handed.
All admission tickets were distributed. The members of the Literary Club hope that all of you will join us again for the next film adaptation. We look forward to seeing you again! And, of course, suggestions for future film screenings are welcome…
(Anamarija Čalić and Ines Babić)
Invitation to the Second Film Evening of the Literary Club – 10 March 2022
We would like to invite all students and teachers to a screening of the film “Goethe!” by Philipp Stölzl on 16 March 2022 at 5:00 p.m. in Room 39. The film is a semi-fictional adaptation of the events of the summer of 1772, which Goethe later transformed into his epistolary novel “Die Leiden des jungen Werthers”. It contains numerous fictionalised elements relating to Goethe’s actual life, but they present Goethe as a genuine Sturm und Drang author.
We look forward to seeing you.
The First Film Evening of the Literary Club – 6 February 2022
On 26 January 2022, the first film evening of the Literary Club of our Department took place in Room 39 at our Faculty. With popcorn and other snacks, a film adaptation of Theodor Fontane’s novel “Effi Briest”, directed by Hermine Huntgeburth, was screened. The film lasted almost two hours and was followed by a discussion. Everyone who attended the film evening took part in a raffle and won great prizes. In March 2022, a screening of “Goethe!” by Philipp Stölzl from 2010 is planned.
The Literary Club would like to continue organising such and similar activities which are both enjoyable and help expand knowledge of literature. The club members hope that they are on the right track and look forward to your participation as well as the involvement of new members.
(Anamarija Čalić and Ines Babić)
Invitation to the Meeting of the German Studies Literary Club – 18 October 2021
All teachers and students are warmly invited to the meeting of the Literary Club on Wednesday, 3 November 2021, at 11:00 a.m. in Room 82. The meeting will discuss the areas of work and topics that the Club will focus on.
Assistant Professor Tihomir Engler, PhD