The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, co-sponsored by the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, is proud to present Andreas Schnitzler, “Reconsidering Austria’s Past.”

Andreas Schnitzer is currently serving as Holocaust Memorial Intern at the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto. His internship is part of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, which offers an independent alternative to Austria’s compulsory military service. In his interactive presentation, Schnitzer will discuss current memory discourses in Austria, as well as issues of xenophobia, immigration and anti-Semitism. Finally, he will provide students with information about opportunities to participate in a field trip to Vienna.

When?: March 11, 2013, at 2:30-4:30pm
Where?: York Research Tower, 749 York University

The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to present the film screening of Etwas Besseres als den Tod (2011) (English translation: “Beats Being Dead“), directed by Christian Petzold, at the Nat Taylor Cinema on Saturday, February 23rd, 3:00pm.

Dreileben is a trilogy to which German directors Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf, and Christoph Hochhäusler each contributed one movie. Presented for the first time at the 2011 Berlinale, the three movies function as a collective as they are connected through time, place, characters, and events: in order to say goodbye to his foster mother, convicted sexual criminal Molesch finds himself in a hospital in a forest in Thüringen; unobserved for a minute, he manages to break away. His escape and the city of Dreileben’s hunt after him is the core of the trilogy. However, each movie offers another perspective and narrative.

Petzold’s movie Etwas Besseres Als den Tod (2011) is the first part of the trilogy, dealing with the romance between civilian servant Johannes and Bosnian maid Ana. Abandoning Ana, Johannes falls in love with Sarah, and the two of them pursue their studies in Berlin. Meanwhile, Ana encounters Molesch on his escape.

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden, Germany. He studied at the Free University of Berlin before graduating from the German Film and Television Academy. His feature films are The State I Am In (2000), Wolfsburg (2002), Ghosts (2004), Yella (2006), Jerichow (2008), Dreileben: Beats Being Dead (2011) and Barbara (2012). He has received several renowned film awards, and is a leading artist in contemporary German‐language cinema.

Gustav Klimt was one of the central figures of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the epoch that marked the beginning of Modernism. Creator of some of the most famous Art Nouveau paintings worldwide, Klimt was also one of the organizers of the “Jugendstil” art movement in Vienna.

To commemorate the official “Gustav Klimt Year” in Austria and his 150th birthday, the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to present an exhibit of his life and work. This exhibition, generously provided to us by the Austrian Cultural Forum, focuses on the artist by recreating the atmosphere of his era through historical photographs, biographical documentations and reproductions of his finest and most famous works of art.

The exhibit will be on display on the 1^st Floor of York’s Scott Library until January 30.

The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to offer funding to individual York Graduate Students pursuing studies in the area of German and European Studies. This support takes the form of a variety of awards, prizes, scholarships and bursaries which have been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Centre’s corporate supporters and individual donors.

Please view the Funding and Opportunities page for further information on these opportunities.