German Listening Comprehension
Besuch im Reichstag
Study Guide

Study Guide: Vocabulary - Grammar - Notes/Comments

The following glossary and notes should help you better understand the Besuch im Reichstag audio file.

8.1

die Geschichte history

ungenutzt unused

das Leben life (cf. es ist ~ eingekehrt = life has come into it)

der Tagungsort, -e conference venue

der Schauplatz, ¨-e venue, place, scene

der Rundgang, ¨-e tour

8.2

der Spott ridicule, mockery

der Kugelhagel hail of bullets

die Bühne, -n stage

die Schlange, -n line; Brit.: queue; also: snake

der Besuchereingang, ¨-e visitor’s entrance

die Volksvertretung, -en representation of the people

die Schulklasse, -n (school) class, grade

der/die Abgeordnete (adj. D.) delegate, member of parliament

die Besucherebene, -n visitor level/floor

der Andrang rush, run

8.3

das Rund round shape of sth.

die Glaskuppel, -n glass dome

bewegt eventful; turbulent, troubled

der Kronleuchter, - chandelier

das Hakenkreuz, -e swastika

die Urheberschaft authorship

umstritten disputed, controversial

holländisch Dutch

der Schauprozess, -e show trial

der Brandstifter, - arsonist

der Heizungstunnel, - heating tunnel

8.4

seinen/ihren Anfang nehmen (nimmt), nahm, genommen to start, begin

pflichtbewusst conscientious

morsch rotten, rotting

es lebe ...! long live ...!; three cheers for ...!

die Schwatzbude, -n “chatter house²

verhöhnen (als) to deride, mock (as)

beliebt popular

schwinden, schwand, ist geschwunden to dwindle, diminish

8.5

anschwellend swelling

der Klingelton, ¨-e ring

die Plenarsitzung, -en plenary session

das Laufband, ¨-er conveyor belt, treadmill; here: people mover (cf. von einem

~ beschleunigt = speeded up by a people mover)

schweben to be suspended, hang; to float

das Kunstwerk, -e work of art

der Achter, - (Sport) eight

das Ruderboot, -e rowboat

an|pinseln to paint

die Etage, -n floor

das Vorurteil, -e prejudice

jdm. etw. vor die Füße kippen (Rdw.) to confront sb. with sth.; lit.: to pour sth. in front of sb.’s feet

lästig annoying, troublesome

prima super, great

lästern über (+ acc.) to gossip about, criticize

schlürfend sipping

schlappen (ist) to flap; here: to shuffle along

die Abstimmung, -en voting, vote

flimmern to flicker

die Schlagzahl, -en here: number of votings

8.6

der Schreibtisch, -e desk

die Wahlperiode, -n period for which a person/committee/etc. is elected

die Ehre honor

das Mitglied, -er member

der Jugendtraum, ¨-e childhood dream, ambition of one’s youth (cf. ein

~ ging in Erfüllung =a childhood dream has come true)

ausgerechnet ... here: ... of all people (cf. ~ heute =today of all days)

sich lustig machen über (+ acc.) to laugh at, make fun of

schildern to describe, relate

die Empfindung, -en sensation, feeling

hockend squatting, crouching

der Rundfunk broadcasting, radio

im Rückblick looking back

die Begeisterung enthusiasm

8.7

der Plenarsaal, -säle plenary assembly hall

das Pult,-e desk, lectern

die Konzeptionslosigkeit lack of concept

sinken, sank, ist gesunken auf (+ acc.) to sink into

der Wust mess, jumble; pile

die Art und Weise way, manner

um|setzen to implement, put into action

zurück|bleiben, blieb zurück, ist zurückgeblieben hinter (+ dat.) to stay behind, be lagging behind; to fall short of

die Notwendigkeit, -en necessity; requirement

entschwinden, entschwand, ist entschwunden to disappear, vanish

8.8

die Mediengesellschaft, -en media society/association

himmelwärts heavenward(s)

auf und ab up and down

die Messehalle, -n exhibition hall

Informational, Historical, and Biographical Notes

The following background information should help you better understand the Besuch im Reichstag audio file and transcript.

41. Bonn (pop. 310,000) lies in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. See note 93 in the 17-6 issue of Schau ins Land.

42. The adjective braun is a common synonym for “Nazi” or “extreme right-wing” because of the brown uniforms worn by Nazi storm troopers. Organized in Adolf Hitler’s Sturmabteilung (SA), the Braunhemden, as they were called, were essentially thugs who molested and murdered the Nazis’ opponents.

43. See note 40.

44. An SPD leader, Scheidemann (1865-1939) became secretary of state without portfolio in the cabinet formed by Reichskanzler Maximilian, prince of Baden, in October 1918, just before Germany’s World War I defeat. After Emperor Wilhelm II fled the country, Scheidemann proclaimed the German republic from a balcony of the Reichstag building, becoming its first chancellor in February 1919. He resigned four months later in protest over the Treaty of Versailles. When the Nazis came to power, Scheidemann left Germany. He died in exile in Denmark. See notes 40 and 45.

45. The Weimar Republic is the term given to Germany’s ill-fated republican regime from 1919 to 1933. Named after the central German city where the new democratic constitution was formulated, it emerged after World War I from the defunct German Empire and was swept aside a short time later by the Austrian-born dictator Adolf Hitler. “A republic without republicans” is how some historians describe this weak, abused child of Germany’s military defeat. Having swallowed the oppressive terms of the Treaty of Versailles and struggling to maintain order, it was accorded little respect by most Germans. The difficulties faced by the period’s frequently changing governments were immense. To begin with, liberalism in Germany was poorly developed, and the new political system preserved the old Empire’s administrative structures.
   Operating in brutal economic conditions, it was repeatedly attacked by radicals from both Right and Left (left-wing extremists drew harsher repression), and was only halfheartedly defended by its supporters. But it also witnessed a rich cultural flowering in architecture and design, film, painting, music, theater, criticism, philosophy, and fashion.
   In October 1918, Germany had no foreign troops on its soil but was utterly exhausted by the war. The imperial government, which had promised its people victory, asked the Allies for an armistice. In the meantime, the German navy was ordered to engage the British fleet. Sailors in Kiel mutinied. The revolt spread to dock workers, then to other ports, and eventually to inland cities and Berlin, the capital. In November, Germany’s princes renounced their thrones and Emperor Wilhelm II (1859-1941) fled to the Netherlands, formally abdicating soon after. A Social Democrat, Friedrich Ebert, was appointed chancellor, and he formed a provisional government. In January 1919, amid the general disorder, the Spartacus League (Spartakusbund), an extreme left-wing group that formed the nucleus of the German Communist Party, began an armed uprising in Berlin, in an attempt to provoke a socialist revolution (the Bolshevik revolution in Russia was its model). Ebert crushed it by calling in the German army and so-called Freikorps, private armies formed after World War I by former senior German army officers (many Freikorpsmembers later joined Hitler’s private army, known as the Sturmabteilung; see note 42). The uprising failed, and Spartacist leaders, including Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, were murdered by Freikorps officers. Two months later, Freikorps troops and regular army units put down the newly proclaimed Bavarian Socialist Republic. A new constitution was promulgated in Weimar in February 1919, and Ebert became the republic’s first president (empowered to appoint the chancellor) in a coalition of the Social Democratic Party, the German Democratic Party, and the Catholic Center party. Under terms of the Versailles Treaty signed that year, Germany was made to declare its war guilt, pay heavy reparations, limit its armed forces, relinquish most of its colonies, and cede large swaths of territory. Enraged at the government’s acceptance of the document, a group of Freikorps soldiers occupied Berlin in March 1920 and proclaimed a right-wing politician named Wolfgang Kapp the new chancellor. The coup broke down after several days. During the following two years, right-wing nationalist fanatics assassinated Matthias Erzberger, the former finance minister and Center party leader, and Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau. Postwar turmoil peaked in 1923. The French occupied the Ruhr region because Germany was defaulting on reparations payments, and the middle class was ravaged by hyperinflation. Hitler, leader of the radical right-wing National Socialist German Workers’ Party (or Nazis), staged his failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich against the Bavarian government and was briefly imprisoned. The Communists, too, tried to seize power in Germany again. Beginning in late 1923, Gustav Stresemann of the National Liberal Party was able to defuse the explosive situation, first as chancellor and then as foreign minister. The currency was stabilized, reparations payments were eased, France withdrew from the Ruhr, and Germany was admitted to the League of Nations. These successes quieted the political scene somewhat. Ebert died in 1925, and former field marshal Paul von Hindenburg, a man with little regard for parliamentary democracy, was elected president. By 1928, the German economy, aided by U.S. loans, seemed to have recovered.
   Then came the Wall Street stock-market crash of October 1929, which precipitated the Great Depression. Germany was hit by mass unemployment, political and social tensions mounted. Stresemann died. In 1930, Hindenburg appointed the Center party’s Heinrich Brüning chancellor. His package of ruthless austerity measures was rejected by the Reichstag, and the body was dissolved. In the ensuing elections, the Nazis, who had won just 12 seats in 1928, took 107, becoming the second-strongest party in parliament. Brüning henceforth governed without parliamentary consent, using the president’s emergency-decree powers granted by the constitution. By the time he was dismissed in 1932, unemployment had risen from 3 million to 6 million, a third of the labor force. Economic production had fallen by nearly half. In the elections of July 1932, the Nazis won 230 seats, becoming the strongest party in the Reichstag. The German Communist Party also made dramatic gains, going from 54 seats after the 1928 elections to 100 in November 1932. The two extremist parties waged bloody street battles. In January 1933, Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor. Two months later, only the Social Democrats (the Communists had been banned) voted against the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz) that gave Hitler practically limitless power.

46. This new office building is used primarily by parliamentary groups, Bundestag members, and administrative staff. It is named after Jakob Kaiser (1888-1961), a Christian trade union leader and Hitler foe who helped build the CDU after World War II. He served as West Germany’s federal minister for all-German affairs from 1949 to 1957.

47. FDP is the abbreviation for the staunchly pro-business Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party). Although its following is fairly small (it garnered 7.4 percent of the vote in the 2002 national elections), the FDP was long the kingmaker in (West) German politics, i.e., the minor party that the major ones needed to form a governing coalition. The FDP governed jointly with the SPD from 1969 to 1982, and with the CDU from 1982 to 1998.

48. Thierse, Bundestag president since 1998, is a bearded scholar from former East Germany and a member of the SPD. He was born in Breslau (now the Polish city of Wroclaw) in 1943.

49. Founded in 1980, the Greens (officially known as Bündnis 90/Die Grünen since 1993, when they merged with an alliance of eastern German civil-rights movements) have been the junior partner in the governing federal coalition with the Social Democratic Party since 1998.

50. The four parliamentary groups are those of the SPD, Greens, CDU/CSU and FDP.

51. Black, red, and gold are Germany’s national colors. See note 94 in the 17-10 issue of Schau ins Land.

NEXT > 'Reichstag' Transcript

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NOTE: This sound file, transcript, and notes were originally published in Schau ins Land audiomagazine (read my review) and are used with the permission of Champs-Élysées, Inc.

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