Russian culture in Germany
The first major influences of Russian culture in Germany occurred in the 19th century. At that time Russia was ruled by Emperor Nikolaus I , a son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg , and by Alexander II , who was married to Marie von Hessen-Darmstadt . These Russian-German connections resulted in close contacts with the German princely houses, including the princely house of Hessen-Darmstadt .
history
Mutual dynastic relationships have left many traces in the furnishings of the residences of German princes. A particularly memorable example in Potsdam is the Russian colony Alexandrowka or the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church , which was built by Friedrich Wilhelm III. was dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander . In the Berlin area, some buildings, works of art and events still remember today that are dedicated to the Russian-Prussian friendship, personified by Charlotte of Prussia (1798–1860) , Empress of Russia: The Russian log house and the church of St. Peter and Paul Nikolskoe .
The visits of the Russian tsars to German health resorts meant that other Russian nobles, followed by the Russian upper class and the Russian artistic elite, came to these places. In the Hessen-Nassau area in particular, the Russian guests were prepared for, so in Bad Ems , Bad Nauheim , Wiesbaden , Bad Homburg vor der Höhe and Darmstadt there are still Russian Orthodox churches and other institutions such as the Russian one Hof, a former grand hotel in Bad Ems. With the beginning of the First World War , the Russian spa guests stayed away. It was not until the 1920s that Russian culture revived in Germany . In Berlin , a vast cultural scene of Russian emigrants who formed after the October Revolution had fled into the German Reich. In 1922 the First Russian Art Exhibition in Berlin took place in 1922 , in which a cross-section of representative new non-objective trends from Russia could be seen.
The Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov lived in Berlin from 1922 to 1937 and wrote seven novels there in his mother tongue. The Russian painter Leonid Pasternak and his family came in 1921, stayed until 1936. In 1924 the dancer and choreographer Tatjana Gsovsky moved to the German capital, worked in the State Opera, the Deutsche Oper and the Frankfurt Opera, and lived in Berlin until her death in 1993 -Charlottenburg .
Well-known Russian dissidents settled in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s , intellectuals whose works violated the guidelines of the communist dictatorship in the Soviet Union and who therefore went into exile in the West. Among these were philosophers and writers such as Lew Kopelew , Alexander Zinoviev , Friedrich Gorenstein and Wladimir Woinowitsch .
The currently most commercially successful writer of Russian-Soviet descent living in Germany who writes in German is Wladimir Kaminer . Other important writers have emerged from the group of Russian immigrants. Mention should be made of Natascha Wodin , who has been writing in German since the 1980s, and the author and playwright Alexei Schipenko , who writes in both German and his native Russian. The Russian poet Olga Martynova became an influential literary critic (she writes essays and book reviews for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Die Zeit , and the Frankfurter Rundschau ). Her debut novel, written in German, Even Parrots Survive Us , literary publisher Droschl , Graz 2010, received a lot of attention . A number of other Russian authors in Germany write mainly in Russian, including Boris Chasanow and Oleg Jurjew , who also works for German-language newspapers (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Frankfurter Rundschau, a separate column in Der Tagesspiegel ).
Those among the Germans from Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union who did not break all bridges to their old homeland, but z. For example, speaking Russian in Germany is both a source and a sounding board for the development of Russian culture in Germany.
Russian clubs
Already 85 Russian clubs in Germany can be found on the website www.russisch-fuer-kinder.de alone. They all try to preserve their Russian culture in Germany, but also offer integration opportunities. Most of these apply to Russian children in Germany between the ages of 2 and 6, but there are also offers for Russian school children.
In addition to Russian language courses, Russian folk dances, art and history are often taught. Some of these organizations offer TRKI courses and exams. TRKI is a language certificate that was introduced by the Russian Ministry of Culture and can be compared with the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English .
See also
literature
- Fritz Mierau: Russians in Berlin: literature, painting, theater, film 1918-1933 . Edition Nautilus, 1987
- Berlin Encounters: Foreign Artists in Berlin: 1918 to 1933 . Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1987