Students remember victims at Dachau

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Jewish Memorial at Dachau Concentration Camp

The Jewish Memorial at Dachau casts a light of hope on its visitors.
(photo by Marina Weis)

by Marina Weis

The deceptive words, arbeit macht frei, or, labor makes you free, welcomed thousands of prisoners as they made their way through the entryway into the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

Now weeds grow over the rusted barbed wire that surrounds a large courtyard plagued with an eerie emptiness. Songbirds pierce the silence as small groups of visitors pause to read at information stands about the atrocities that happened here years ago when thousands of people were tortured and killed for the Nazi regime.

“We are walking on the ashes of the people who died here,” said Arnoud Beck, a tour guide for Explorica who was leading the Point Park group of visitors through the camp as part of the International Media class.

“Can we take photos?” asked a student visitor.

“No,” Beck answered. The tourists frowned. “You have to take pictures to show the world so it never happens again.”

Out of many concentration camps in Germany, this was the first set up by the Nazi regime and acted as an example to the rest that followed. It opened in 1933 as a camp for political prisoners – all those who opposed Hitler, such as communists, social democrats and especially the Jews. But in 1938 it became a concentration camp. Originally designed to hold 6,000 prisoners, the Americans who liberated the camp found it overfilled with 32,000.

Although the Americans liberated the camp in 1945, it was still used as a place for immigrants and homeless people. It was only after riots that the camp was closed around 1965. Soon after, the Bavarian government decided to make it an open-air memorial, and it includes three religious installments – Catholic, Jewish and Protestant. Some of the outdoor sculpture depicts those prisoners who ended their lives by running into the electrified barbed wire to end their suffering or attempting to escape by whatever possible means only to be shot by guards atop one of the towers surrounding the perimeter of the concentration camp. The camp now receives more than 1 million annual visitors.

Munich tour guide Arnoud Beck explains how the Dachau prisoners were crammed into the barrack's sleeping quarters.

Munich tour guide Arnoud Beck explains how the Dachau prisoners were crammed into the barrack’s sleeping quarters.
(photo by Helen Fallon)

All 30 of the original barracks, which each housed more than 2,000 prisoners, were destroyed, but two exact copies were re-created for the memorial. But the gas chamber and crematorium are more or less original, according to Beck.

A native of Holland, Beck said he know many families who lost their relatives in the Holocaust. The first time he visited the camp was 20 years ago, but even after so many years, the terror still resonates with him.

“I’ve been here 100 times, and I’m still getting emotional,” Beck said. “If I go 100 times into wherever – who cares? But if I go into a camp, I still get emotional. It’s unbelievable.”

For Beck, one of the most depressing aspects about the camp is looking at the photos of prisoners who suffered from the medical experiments they were forced to participate in by the Nazis.

One photo array in the visitor center shows a man used as a subject for an aeronautic experiment for research into the possibility of survival at great altitudes. Three photos show him in a high-pressure room, and his facial expressions become progressively pained. Eventually, his brain could not take the pressure, and he died.

Others were subject to being injected with malaria and put in ice-cold water to test equipment, among other tests.

The prisoners who were traveling on a train for a week or two had hardly any food or water, so the Nazis felt they needed to be disinfected. Visitors can walk through the disinfection room that connects to the gas chamber and then eventually the crematorium. The heavy chemicals emitted from the pipes in the narrow, dark disinfection room sometimes killed the prisoners as well.

Dim light cast long, eerie shadows of visitors in the low ceiling room with small, barred windows near the floor of the gas chamber.

“This was the center for potential mass murder,” Beck said. “The room was disguised as showers and equipped with fake shower spouts to mislead the victims and prevent them from refusing to enter the room.”

An art memorial depicting intertwined bones and bodies adorns the exterior of the Dachau Concentration Camp museum. (photo by Sara Tallerico)

An artistic memorial depicting intertwined bones and bodies adorns the exterior of the Dachau Concentration Camp museum.
(photo by Sara Tallerico)

The prisoners who were not deemed fit were transported to Auschwitz’s gas chambers in many cases instead of this gas chamber here at Dachau because the camp did not have enough fuel to burn the bodies, according to Beck. They had to get rid of the evidence. But some prisoners were forced to strip naked and enter the gas chamber. Death by poison gas could take up to 20 minutes.

The crematorium was erected to serve as both a killing facility and to remove the dead. Following the crematorium is a room with stained walls used to store corpses brought from the camp to be cremated.

Prisoners at the camp faced at 13-hour workday, seven days a week. The barracks had to be kept in pristine condition. If coffee were spilled on the floor, the entire barrack would be punished, Beck said.

Originally, each barrack was meant to 200 prisoners, but as the war waged on, they housed more than 2,000 with no insulation and no heater. Privacy did not exist, as there was one big toilet area and one washing room with two basins for the entire barrack.

Some of the beds, made up of wooden planks, have separators for privacy, but in other rooms, there are no separators. But this was an advantage in the winter as body heat helped to warm the prisoners.

But most people died because of sickness above anything else, according to Beck and the center’s website. At the end of 1944, the number of prisoners staggered over 60,000 and the living conditions were catastrophic due to poor hygiene and food supplies. An epidemic of typhus claimed over 15,000 lives. A serious case of tuberculosis was also discovered in block no. 29, and people were murdered in groups of 20 by injection.

A grave marker pays tribute to the unknown victims. (photo by Michelle Graessle)

A grave marker pays tribute to the unknown victims.
(photo by Michelle Graessle)

Finally the camp was liberated in April of 1945. But the Americans could not believe what they found. A few trucks containing prisoners were never opened because they soldiers forgot, and more than 200 prisoners died.

Many prisoners, who ate the chocolate the soldiers brought, died as they did not have any solid food for a long time. Some others, desperate for new clothing, went to the now-abandoned SS barracks. They donned some of the guards’ clothing, and the Americans, suspicious of them, kept them imprisoned. Some, according to a memoir published by a South Tyrol conscientious objector, were sent to a French prisoner of war camp for months after the camp’s liberation.

Others could not leave the camp immediately because they had to go through decontamination due to illness. It took some nine to 10 months before they could leave, as many were also too weak to enter society.

At the end of the visitor center, there is a display explaining what happened to the war criminals involved in national socialist crimes at Dachau. The trials by the Allies were the first of their kind and became models for following trials, but with the beginning of the Cold War, interest in prosecution began to recede. The West German justice system took over, and despite preliminary trials, there were an overwhelming number to deal with and then only a few prosecutions. Most offenses were placed under amnesty and therefore many of the crimes committed remained unpunished.

“You have people that don’t know about the massive executions. You have to think about 26 million people were killed in five years,” Beck said to his group of visitors, cameras peppered among them as he ended the tour. “I hope when you show those pictures to other people, I hope that they got that same effect and start thinking about what they are doing.”

Filed Under: Culture, Marina Weis · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Axel Springer empire

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Axel Springer exterior

Axel Springer took a chance by building the headquarters in Berlin.
(photo by Marina Weis)

by Marina Weis

Everyone thought journalist Axel Springer was crazy when he built his publishing house on the west side of Berlin during World War II.

A few days later, the Berlin wall was built right beside it.

But Springer had faith that Germany would be reunited and his headquarters would be in the center of a unified Germany. He believed his company had to pursue something called corporate social responsibility, with his fellow journalists fighting for a free social market. He called the headquarters that towered over the wall the lighthouse of freedom.

Although the Berlin Wall no longer stands near the headquarters today, the company still towers as the leading publishing house in the country, owning more than 230 newspapers and magazines with more than 80 online offerings, as well as involvement in television and radio stations and activity in 44 countries, according to its website. Its tabloid, Bild, has the highest circulation among Europe’s newspapers with more than 12 million people reading it daily.

Axel Springer, the journalist, may be gone, but current leaders of the company say his entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and integrity are carried through in every aspect of the company, even in the contracts of each journalist.

“Everything that he said came true and is still valuable today,” said Leeor Englander, assistant to the editor-in-chief of Die Welt, a large national newspaper owned by Axel Springer. “They were fighting against communism before and now it is terror today.”

Because Springer focused not only on content, but also on distribution and production, stemming from his family’s background in the newspaper business, he built the first print houses in Germany, and Axel Springer AG therefore began to print other newspapers, creating joint ventures, which began the expansion.

Leeor Englander greets the Point Park students and faculty. (photo by Johnie Freiwald)

Leeor Englander greets the Point Park students and faculty.
(photo by Johnie Freiwald)

“At the time when Axel Springer invented Bild Zeitung, it was comparable with Facebook,” Englander said. “He did something nobody ever did before … The way he invented new magazines was the same way people today invent new apps and websites.”

In the same way that Springer fostered technological innovations, the company now strives to be the leading digital media company in Germany. Axel Springer AG currently generates more than a third of its revenue from its international business and with digital media.

Englander boasts of Die Welt as the first newspaper to have color, pictures, a compact version, a mobile application and to be the first real German national newspaper to go online.

“Journalism has nothing to do with paper,” Englander said. “It’s how do we reach our readers. We are not trying to keep print alive – We are trying to keep it as long as we can.”

Subscription only covers half the production cost of Die Welt. Advertising and classifieds cover the rest. Years ago, the reader paid almost all of it.

Despite ranking third among other leading print publications in Germany, Die Welt has taken leaps to further its digital presence, adopting a philosophy of mass-market journalism, which focuses on reaching all target groups with new products. It now sells more digital subscriptions per month than print.

“We knew that people were willing to pay for digital content,” Englander said. “Online is the most important distribution channel for the future.”

The focus was so much so online that Die Welt just last year decided to produce its content for online first, and then, at the end of the day, take the best content that was already online and publish it in print.

For comparison, Englander said Volkswagen builds the same car for both Germany and United States, but it looks only a little bit different because marketing is different in the United States. He said in the same breath, Die Welt produces the same content for its compact version, but it’s just less and shorter.

This repurposing of content in order to reach different readers can be seen Axel Springer’s publications. For example, the science section in the compact version of Die Welt was recently renamed Internet news to attract younger readers.

Axel Springer Academy students explain what they're learning to the Point Park students and faculty. (photo by Helen Fallon)

Axel Springer Academy students explain what they’re learning to the Point Park students and faculty.
(photo by Helen Fallon)

In order to ease into the switch from old economy print style to a multimedia company, Axel Springer AG created a journalism academy to act as a change agent or think tank, bringing “fresh blood” and a “new mindset” to the company, according to Rudolf Porsche, director  of Axel Springer’s Akademie.

The Akademie started in 2007 and is the most progressive journalism school in Germany, according to Porsche. About 1,000 students apply to the fast and aggressive two-year vocational training at Axel Springer, but only about 40 of them are accepted. The job offers come after completion and some can be rejected. Most have completed an academic degree and prior journalism experience. They are also given a monthly salary of about 1,200 euros. These students are then contracted to work for three years at Die Welt or any other Axel Springer AG affiliates after the Akademie.

Porsche, also a journalist, said Akademie students are given “all they need,” such as Mac books, smart phones and cameras, as well as teachers to tell them how to use the equipment. The last thing they are given is the “freedom to act.”

“We give you the equipment, we teach you the techniques, and you teach us what to do with this,” Porsche said. “That is why we are awarded with prizes because it is not my work. It is the creativity of our students.”

In the past, the Akademie was awarded the Grimme Online Award, the CeBIT AppStar and the European Newspaper Award for projects when it competed with other news organizations in Germany.

“We do not compete with other schools. That’s boring. We competed with other brands,” Porsche said.

The students – this year ranging in age from 18 (which is unusual, Porsche said) to early 30s – are currently working on a relatively secret masterpiece project for the next few weeks that will eventually be published in the Welt Kompact and Welt Online.

“We started with simple things – with news, the basics, but now we are doing TV journalism and multimedia journalism,” said an Akademie student about her experiences at Axel Springer. “I think that’s really important. That will be the future. I think it’s great we learn it here even though it is hard work all the time, and you have to get yourself into all this technical stuff.”

Filed Under: Marina Weis, Media · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Point Park University’s International Media Class gets a touch of culture in Salzburg, Austria

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Mirabell Gardens all photos courtesy of Johnie Freiwald

Mirabell Gardens
all photos courtesy of Johnie Freiwald

by Johnie Freiwald
Point Park University students and faculty visited Salzburg, Austria, on Sunday, May 19, on a side trip as part of this year’s International Media class.  Salzburg has a rich history of musically talented people.  The students dodged raindrops to see the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and where the famous singing Von Trappe family lived, a real family made famous by their story’s retelling in the widely known film 1965 film “The Sound of Music.”

When the Point Parkers arrived in Salzburg, they met Ursula, their tour guide for the day. The tour began at the intricately designed Mirabell Gardens.  The garden is near the steps made famous by the Trappe family children singing “Do, Re, Me” in “The Sound of Music.”  Next to these beautiful gardens, the tradition of music continues, in the Mozarteum.  This music university hosts musicians from all over the world and takes pride in training today’s musicians and theatre arts students. The Mozarteum is also home to the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, one of Austria’s most well-known orchestras and a longtime participant at the Salzburg Festival in July.

The tour included brief stops at the two houses where Mozart lived – where he was born and where he lived as a teenager before leaving for Italy and finally Austria, playing for kings and queens during his brief but prolific career as a composer and musician.

Lovelocks on the Makarsteg Bridge

Lovelocks on the Makarsteg Bridge

The Point Park students then crossed the Makarsteg Bridge, which is home to many lovelocks. A lock is placed on the bridge by a couple to symbolize that their relationship will last forever.  After the lock is placed on the bridge the key is thrown into the Salzach River. As the group proceeded on their tour of Salzburg they saw vendors selling goods by the river.  Many generations of Austrians have had the pleasure of enjoying these open air markets.  They are now visited by citizens and tourists alike.

On a Sunday, many residents strolled the streets dressed in their traditional Austrian garb, something Ursula said is very common and evidence of pride in their heritage.

One of the most prominent features of Salzburg is the vast number of churches. One specific church, Sebastianskirche and Friedhof, which has been repeatedly rebuilt due to deterioration and natural disasters, features the classic baroque style that is so iconic in Gothic architecture. The church contains a crowded but very beautiful cemetery that is the resting place for hundreds of late Austrians.

Salzburg Cathedral

Salzburg Cathedral

The last stop on the tour was the Salzburg Cathedral.  The church was lit up with brilliantly colored lights to celebrate the Catholic youths convening that weekend in Salzburg. There were rows of flickering candles surrounded by groups of prayerful churchgoers, young and old. Outside, the group admired the grand architecture and marble stairs. Even near the church there were plenty of street vendors and money to be made by musicians and buskers, especially across the street where an army of horse-drawn carriages stood in waiting for tourists to purchase their services and ride through the Salzburg streets.

The group finished its visit in Salzburg with free time to explore the collection of shops, cafes, and street vendors followed by some traditional Austrian dining. The Point Parkers then embarked for their train and returned safely, yet exhausted, to Munich.

Filed Under: Culture, Johnie Freiwald · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lecture: German Media During World War II

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Dr. Elfriede Fürsich speaks to the group during a walking tour of Freie Universitat (photo by Alexa Blanchard)

Dr. Elfriede Fürsich speaks to the group during a walking tour of Freie Universitat
(photo by Alexa Blanchard)

by Sara Tallerico

Dr. Elfriede Fürsich, a visiting professor at Freie Universitat in Berlin, specializes in issues of media globalization and journalism. Her lecture, “German Media During World War II” offered visiting Point Park students an insight on how German media structure originated.

Fürsich’s lecture featured various prominent figures in German media that allowed students to grasp how certain media operations developed

“A lot of media structure today is because of World War II,” Fürsich said, and no censorship edicts stand in direct opposition to what occurred back then.  The Nazis also contradicted what was a very liberal media policy during the Weimar era in the 1920s, which she said was “very liberal and advanced.”       She explained how the no censorship rules that now exist that came about because of the loathing to return to those days.

She offered a brief history of how media worked during World War II.  The main principle of German media was Gleichschaltung, meaning “making the same.”  This is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control over all aspects of society. Standard acts in Germany prior to World War II no longer applied.

Freie Universitat is home to an impressive library.

Freie Universitat is home to an impressive library.
(photo by Katie Pflug)

Germany’s main strategy for spreading ideas and information was propaganda. Fürsich spoke of two prominent figures who largely spread propaganda throughout Germany during World War II. She spoke about Joseph Goebbels first. Goebbels was a German politician and the minister of public enlightenment and propagranda. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest associates and most devout followers. His main role was to centralize Nazi control of all aspects of German cultural and intellectual life, particularly the press and radio. A great speaker, Goebbels believed in the power of the radio as his propaganda machine. Radio broadcasts were heavily utilized to spread the ideas of the Nazi regime, which caught fire because of the dire economic situation Germans found themselves in at that time, a result of the war and the worldwide Great Depression.

The next prominent figure Fürsich discussed was filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.  Riefenstahl was a huge fan of Hitler. She often was part of the retinue for Hitler’s mass speeches and created documentaries regarding them. Her documentaries were showed at movie halls in Germany, and students were required to watch them. The documentaries always featured the latest technology, a patriotic style and they never sounded emotional.

Despite the subject matter, she has been emulated. “She developed an aesthetic used to this day in film and advertising,” Fürsich said.

Fürsich explained that with Riefenstahl’s documentaries came propaganda films. Most of these films were produced at the Universum Film AG, better known as the UFA. During the Third Reich, many propaganda films were produced such as “Derewige Jude” and “Münchhausen.” She said they were terrible depictions of Jews and Hitler’s opponents, and the only other  films shown then were comedies, stories and musicals.

Post war, two media systems were created: one model for West Germany and another for East Berlin in keeping with the Allies control over the conquered country.

West Germany’s model was known as the Social Responsibility Model. This model consisted of a mixed system. The government did not control the media but checked on it in a responsible way.

In East Germany, Soviet officials relied on the Marxist-Leninist Model. This model utilized the media and journalists to educate the masses. The government completely controlled the media. With little to no freedom regarding media, journalists began a method referred to as “reading between the lines.” East Berlin housed many newspapers, and  journalists were constantly being told what to write about from the government. However, journalists would often change words around to let the public know what was really going on, and West Germans continually interfered with the other side’s television broadcasts. Along with newspapers and TV news programs, East Berlin also had various television shows. One popular television show that Fürsich discussed was “The Black Channel.”  This television show included recorded extracts from recent West German television programs re-edited to include a Communist commentary, but many areas – including Dresden and Neubrandenburg – couldn’t get it. She called them “The Valley of the Clueless.”

When the Berlin Wall fell and Germany underwent a reunification process, many East German journalists – those who covered art, music, sports, culture and more – “stayed great journalists,” she said. “But the political journalists had to go.”

Today, Germany has a legal framework that guarantees its media and journalists freedom of expression, and laws state there will be no censorship. The goal is more reporting for the people as opposed to reporting for government, though, and privacy is very important with libel laws not very different than what exists in the United States, she said.

In her first address, she explained Germany’s dual broadcast system – public and commercial – and noted that most papers in Germany are regional, although there are major national newspapers, two of which – Die Welt and Suddeutsche Zeitung – the Point Park group visited. The media have suffered a loss in advertising, but automatic subscription renewals for newspapers and some government funding for broadcast places them in a more solid position, she said. Tabloids like Bild have also become very popular and have taken the lead in political coverage.

While the advertising declines mirror the states, Fürsich said the media are turning to digitalization, but Germans haven’t taken to the Internet and social media as Americans and others have done. Germans are still readers; there are bookstores in all towns. She cited the fact that 72.4 Germans said they used the Internet in 2012, but while they will use Facebook, they don’t like Twitter.

Recent Point Park graduate Richelle Szypulski stated, “Dr. Fürsich’s lecture provided a wonderful understanding on the different media systems after World War II.  She explained them in a simple, straightforward way that made it really easy for us to grasp.”  And the lecture prepared the students for the media visits in both Berlin and Munich.

Filed Under: Media, Sara Tallerico · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR shines at the Munich Tourism Office

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Isabella Schopp gives a presentation on the Munich Tourism Office (photo by Katie Pflug )

Isabella Schopp gives a presentation on the Munich Tourism Office
(photo by Katie Pflug )

by Katie Pflug

Isabella Schopp, who works in public relations for the Munich Tourism Office, really knows her facts about the third biggest city in Germany and was not shy to share them with Point Park University’s International Media class.

Munich, known as the “all around city,” is home to 1.4 million people.  That number seems like nothing compared to the 12.4 million visitors Munich achieved in 2012, which was a record year.  The United States of America, Italy, Arabia, The United Kingdom and Russia are among the countries with the leading amount of tourists that visit each year, Schopp said.

It also has the second largest number of universities, right after Berlin. Munich has 104,000 students in 15 universities, Schopp said.

Founded in 1158, Munich is now the center of science and economy.  High tech industries like BMW, EADS, and The Linde Groupe all call Munich home. Google, Siemens and Microsoft are also some of the leading I&C companies in Munich.  Munich is now the second largest city for broadcasting companies, right after New York City.

But, Munich has much more to offer than just being a great business hub.  Munich is full of culture, castles, history, churches, shopping, beer gardens, all set in an amazing location.

There are 63 museums in Munich, along with 100 theaters, two operas and three orchestras.  The Nymphenburgh Palace and Royal Residence are some of the castles in the area that are a must see while visiting Munich.  Right outside of Munich there are also the castles Neuschwantstein and Linderhof.  Castles are large part of Bavarian culture and a beautiful way to explore the history of the area.

Munich is a very green city with many parks.  As well as the many parks throughout Munich, 80 percent of locals own a bike, Schopp said.  The beer gardens also make many people want to be outside, she said.  In this particular part of Germany, visitors are able to bring their own food to the beer gardens.  That is something that is not permitted in the northern part of Germany.  Beer gardens have been around 200 years and are some of the main attractions for visitors.

Munich is a very busy city for events.  During February there was the Munich Creative Business Week.  In May there was the Long Night of Music.  Coming in June there will be the City Foundation Festival, celebrating 855 years of Munich.  Later in June, Munich will be hosting the Summer X-Games, Schopp said.  Of course in late September into early October there will be Oktoberfest, which marked its 200th anniversary in 2010.  Then in the end of November all the way until Christmas Eve, the Christmas Market will be available to residents and tourists.

The Munich Tourism Board’s general manager is Geraldine Knudson.  There are five different departments of the Munich Tourism Office: Marketing, Convention Bureau, Tourist Information, International Media and Public Relations.

The International Media is the branch of the office that Schopp is involved with, having previously served as a tour guide. She and her colleagues are responsible for the press kits, online image database, footage, the international newsletter, press trip assistance, film and photo permits, interviews. and research assistance.

Working in the International Travel Media section of the Munich Tourism Office are five colleagues and a trainee.

The Munich Tourism Office has professional photographers on staff, but sometimes it will buy photos from other journalists, Schopp said.  The in-house photographers are responsible for the photo archives.

The Munich Tourism Office plays a big role in educating journalists and others about what Munich has to offer, she explained.  And although Schopp will visit London and Paris to meet some of them and pitch Munich travel stories,  “The journalists come to us for stories, not vice versa.” It also plays a huge role in organizing events such as Oktoberfest and the Christmas Market in Marienplatz.

The Munich Tourism Office works with the Germany National Tourist Board, which she said is its most important partner, the Bavaria Tourism Marketing GmbH, Magic Cities Germany and the Munich Airport to do its support work.

Journalists from Toronto Star, Budget Star, and Irish Times have all used the Munich Tourism Office for their resources.  When the journalists check into the hotels they have a press kit waiting for them, Schopp said, and the Point Park students each received a scaled-down one as a sample. The press kit includes Munich Facts and Figures, a city map, a Munich City Guide, Munich Events, and Photo Services papers.

The press kits the Point Park group also had paperwork giving students and faculty permission to write, photograph and film within the city, something that is standard procedure for the Tourism Board to do for groups.

There are many different types of journalists that would find writing about Munich exciting as well as on-topic with their publication.  Munich’s target market is really anyone because of the vast amount of things to do and a lot of families find that Munich is the perfect place to go because of that.

Visitors looking to stay in Munich will find no shortage of hotel rooms.  There are around 300,000 hotel rooms in the city of Munich itself.

Schopp has been working at the Munich Tourism Office for three years and said she loves being in direct contact with the journalists.

More information is available on the city at the Munich Tourism Office’s website at www.meuchen.de or via email at travel.media@muenchen.de.

Filed Under: Katie Pflug, Media · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Advertising and the presses at Süddeutsche Zeitung

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Printing Presses at Süddeutsche Zeitung

Printing presses at Süddeutsche Zeitung
(photo by Alexa Blanchard)

by Alexa Blanchard

In the world of advertising, he who generates the most profit is king. But for Süddeutsche Zeitung, a quality national newspaper located in southern Germany, innovation is the key to success.

Generating revenue through ad space is extremely important for a print newspaper, as the only other source for money-making relies on subscriptions. But with the universal decline in print, how do papers like Süddeutsche Zeitung keep their advertisers buying space? How do they keep their readers coming back for more?

Michael  Stengl, the product manager of advertisements, was eager to showcase Süddeutsche Zeitung’s unique advertising methods to Point Park University’s International Media class. The group of Pittsburgh students was comprised of communications majors of all varieties, including advertising and journalism majors. For most, this exclusive inside look at the functionality of a newspaper and their advertisements is especially relevant.

BMW, or Bavarian Motor Works, purchases a lot of ad space from Süddeutsche Zeitung. Stengl demonstrated some of the work that has put together to show of BMW’s luxury vehicles.

“We wondered, ‘how can we reach our audience with bigger, poster-sized images?’” Stengl inquired, citing the effectiveness of large billboard images that are exposed to the public.

He ended his rhetorical question by turning a page in his demonstration newspaper and revealing a true poster-sized image of a new BMW model, an ad that spanned across two newspaper pages. It was truly larger than life, compared to the commonplace ads that typically take up one quarter of a page to one half to a full page at most. Two entire pages for one ad are brilliant and unheard of in most U.S. newspapers except for the largest, such as The New York Times.

Alexa Blanchard and Johnie Freiwald check out a special advertisement in the pages of Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung. (Helen Fallon photograph)

Alexa Blanchard and Johnie Freiwald check out a special advertisement in the pages of Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
(photo by Helen Fallon)

Stengl passed around several other innovative advertising techniques that Süddeutsche Zeitung has employed, including a scented ad and a multi-sensory ad.

“We published this [multi-sensory] ad for BMW and our competitors called us and said ‘What have you done? This is brililiant,’” Stengl added.

The multi-sensory ad in question details driving a BMW from a chauffer’s perspective. The open road ahead is glossed with UV detailing, and the dashboard of the car actually feels like how a real dashboard would. Readers can touch the steering wheel and feel the texture of leather underneath their fingers, and the sleeves of the chauffer are outlined with cloth. This ad is multi-sensory because readers use not only their eyes, but also their sense of touch. Perhaps they even have a smell.

It encourages the reader to stop and take a moment to interact with an advertisement, something that had never been done before. More than anything, it makes the reader remember. Many will never forget that this two-page spread with a tangible leather steering wheel was an ad for BMW, and that they saw it – felt it – in Süddeutsche Zeitung. This is the kind of interactivity, innovation and notoriety that the paper is going for, Stengl said.

Presses at Süddeutsche Zeitung

Presses at Süddeutsche Zeitung
(photo by Alexa Blanchard)

Still reeling from the never-before-seen advertising, the Point Park students were then treated to yet another inside look across the street at Süddeutsche Zeitung’s printing presses. The printing process, which begins at 6 o’clock each evening, is a mammoth undertaking with an innumerable amount of moving parts, employees and equipment working around the clock to get the job right and ready for delivery.

The presses, spanning multiples floors and reaching far and wide, print the broadsheet newspaper at breakneck speed and push their respective paper sections onto conveyor belts where they are mechanically assembled and frequently checked for color. If the color, layout, or printing angle is incorrect then those batches of papers will be trashed and the process corrected. Advertising inserts – a huge source of revenue for the paper – are automatically inserted. The presses are so automated that mailers and inserters are no longer employed, and a small staff of printers is needed, which saves the company money.

All of this must be done in a matter of hours to satisfy the demand of the paper, which has one of the highest circulations in Germany with over 1.1 million daily readers, not including its international demand. The presses generate about 36,000 papers per hour, according to Stengl, and run all night until pickup in the morning.

All of this combined for what Stengl sees as a bright future for Süddeutsche Zeitung, which experienced extreme financial difficulty in the economic fallout in 2007-2008 and placed it on the brink of bankruptcy. Printing a quality newspaper and publishing books and other projects have set the paper on a sound financial course, as well as reaching out with new technological ventures.

And the paper remembers its near collapse as it moves forward. “Print has a future,” Stengl said. “But it must be interesting [to current and future readers].”

Filed Under: Alexa Blanchard, Media · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eating in Berlin – Guten Appetit!

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Germans frequently add beer and pretzels to meals (photo by Katie Pflug)

Germans frequently add beer and pretzels to meals
(photo by Katie Pflug)

by Sara Tallerico

Germany is renowned for its heavy, substantial regional food. Local cuisine is strongly influenced by past immigration, but the dishes are much more simplified. Berliners prefer their foods to be filling rather than over-fussy.  Cooking in Berlin is simple and down-to-earth, and the meals are hearty and satisfying.

Berliners begin their day with a typical breakfast of cold meats, cheeses, fresh fruit and an array of rolls and bread.  Some accompany their meal with orange juice, apple juice, coffee or hot tea, others with beer.  Time with friends and family is valued much more.  Breakfast is a time for relaxation, and they want to maximize every minute they have together.

Traditionally, Germans eat their main meal during the day between 12and 2 p.m. This meal is usually a warm, hearty dish.  At Maximilians, a restaurant with a cozy brewery atmosphere, the waiter suggested some of the Point Park students experience a typical Berlin lunch, meatballs.  He said they were a “very traditional and popular dish in Berlin.”  The meatballs were exactly what diners would expect when thinking of a German dish.  They were hearty, satisfying, warm and delicious. The dish consisted of two large meatballs served with mashed potatoes and carrots. Berlin meatballs are a perfect example of the three major staple foods in Germany: meat, potatoes and vegetables.

Germans enjoy their evening meal later on in the day, usually between 7 and 8 p.m. This meal is similar to a typical German lunch, hearty and warm. However, the portion size is usually smaller.

A protein-packed meal in Munich with a variety of sausage, potatoes, pretzels, and sauerkraut. (photo by Richelle Szypulski)

A protein-packed meal in Munich with a variety of meat, potatoes, pretzels, and sauerkraut.
(photo by Richelle Szypulski)

A favorite dinner in Berlin members of the Point Park group tried was Käsespätzle, otherwise known as cheese spaetzle.  Spaetzle is an egg noodle that is extremely popular in all parts of Germany. Germans prepare this traditional pasta in a plethora of ways. However, cheese spaetzle seems to be the most desired in this country. The dish is typically served with a generous portion of spaetzle with melted cheese and topped with fried onions. Recent Point Park University graduate Richelle Szypulski described the dish as “similar to gnocchi pasta, but delicious in a melt-in-your-mouth way.”

Point Park students and faculty had a variety of group dinners during their time in Germany, reflective of the different food in the cities and Salzburg. Main courses for the dinners were Turkey with creamed mushrooms and herb rice, fresh pork wiener schnitzel with potato-radish salad in Berlin; Munich white sausage, rostbratwurst, meat loaf, sauerkraut, potatoes and pretzel, and jagerschnitzel (grilled pork loin with mushrooms, vegetables and pasta in Munich; and pan-fried breaded chicken with potato-cucumber salad in Salzburg. And the group experienced the traditional German breakfast at hotels in Berlin and Munich during the trip, complete with scrambled eggs and sausage, of course, as well as bacon. And it was included in the room charges, which was wonderfuland helped students’ expenses.

photo

Favorite German desserts consist of fruit and Quark cheesecake.
(photo by Johnie Freiwald)

Now time for the best part: dessert in Berlin.  After a filling dinner, Germans usually make sure they save room for a delicate treat.  A very favored dessert is cheesecake, although some of the group dinners included apple strudel, chocolate mousse and raspberry yogurt cream cake.  German cheesecake is typically made with Quark cheese.  For variety, berries such as raspberries or blueberries can be added.  It truly is the perfect ending to a delicious meal.

Filed Under: Culture, Sara Tallerico · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ketchum-Pleon’s full-service agency aims to please

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

ketchum1by Andrea Karsesnick

Exactly 90 years ago, Ketchum was founded in Pittsburgh. Today, Ketchum, which is now is a subsidiary of the Omnicom Group, is one of the world’s leading PR agencies with offices across the globe, including Germany.

It joined Omnicom in 1996 and then merged with Pleon in 2009, which is based in Dusseldorf. Ketchum covers five global practice areas: brand marketing, corporate communications, healthcare, food and nutrition, and technology, according to its website. Pleon is the largest PR agency in Europe with 39 offices; it is also the third largest company in Germany.

Ketchum Pleon in Germany as a whole has 335 consultants, marketers and creative staff members. There are 37 media relations experts, 30 editors, 20 social media experts and one research center. There are more than 3,400 Ketchum employees worldwide.

According to the staff members who met with Point Park students, Ketchum Pleon Munich is a full-service agency. It is comprised of 60 people: Fifteen people handle health care, with clients such as Bayer; 15 associates handle change, with clients such as Zeiss and Siemens; and 20 people on the corporate team handle BMW, Kodak and Dell. All together Ketchum Pleon Munich has 42 clients.

Ketchum works with a number of well-known brands such as Snapple, Barbie, Special Olympics, and Häagen-Dazs.

Ketchum works with a number of well-known brands such as Snapple, Barbie, Special Olympics, and Häagen-Dazs.

Ketchum Pleon employs many research methods, according to Diana Dorenbeck, a consultant and media relations expert and Markus Ruether, business director and expert in corporate and financial communications. The agency enlists different research companies to perform market research. Methods include internal research by conducting questionnaires within the agency, street questionnaires and additional market research by calling random phone numbers and polling citizens. Phone calls are also made to journalists to find out what they think of different companies, they told the students. Ketchum Pleon Munich seldom uses focus groups.

Ketchum Pleon Munich puts a heavy focus social media. Of the Internet users in Germany, 76 percent are registered on social media. Social media in Germany is mostly Facebook, as Twitter is not that important, according to

Christopher Langner, director of digital and media communications.

That doesn’t mean that the agency doesn’t try some Web-based creative methods to help clients. He showed the students an example of an animated video for Lefax, an anti-flatulence drug produced in Germany that needed to reach a younger demographic, consumers 30-49. Check out the link: http://www.ketchumperspectives.com/issues/digital-social-media/case-studies/farting-to-stardom-germany.

According to Ketchum’s online magazine Perspectives, the video went viral, attracting 32,000 views on YouTube and capturing the attention of the mainstream media, which inspired thousands of consumes to actually begin engaging in conversation about flatulence online and reaching Lefax’s goal of generating buzz about the product.

The Ketchum staff members also shared their media tips for success in Germany. The top tip: “We’re the home to the Brothers Grimm. Pitch a story, not a product.” Following any PR campaign, Ketchum Pleon Munich must analyze and evaluate the results.  Analytics and metrics are very expensive and more often than not, clients do not want to pay for that, Langner said. Ketchum can easily measure how many media mentions a campaign received in comparison to competitors. Analytics on social media are done by Facebook, which can be seen by the administrator of a brand page. This is vital to measuring the impact a company has on the public through the use of social media. With this, a company can tailor the messages it sends to target audiences.

Filed Under: Andrea Karsesnick, Media · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rehabilitating the Reichstag

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
The Reichstag building boasts historical architecture and a powerful message: Dem Deustchen Volke

The Reichstag building boasts historical architecture and a powerful message: Dem Deustchen Volke

by Alexa Blanchard

The International Media class from Point Park University continued its tour of Berlin, Germany, with an evening visit to a government building known as the Reichstag.

The Reichstag building, which has undergone decades of change and reform, initially began as the headquarters of the German empire’s parliament (also called diet or Reichstag) in 1894. According to berlin.de, The Parliament was controlled by several different entities, beginning first with the German empire, followed by the Weimar Republic, and finally in the 1930s fell under Nazi control.

The Nazi Reichstag abandoned the building in 1933 after a devastating fire that destroyed most the building and was never repaired until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since architect Norman Foster led the reconstruction effort that was completed in 1999, the Reichstag building is used once again as a government entity by the Bundestag, the modern-day term for German parliament.

From the front, the Reichstag building is huge and intimidating with its historical architecture. The pillars and statues keeping watch over the city are reminiscent of the Parthenon of Greece. The building exudes an image of grace and authority over its subjects, powerful to behold. Above the pillars on the architrave is carved a short yet meaningful phrase: Dem Deutschen Volke, or, to the German people.

The dome at the Reichstag

The dome at the Reichstag

Attached to the back of the Reichstag building is a massive dome that attracts hundreds of tourists every day. Audio guides are available for use while visitors stroll along the terrace outside of the dome and take in the breathtaking Berlin skyline.

Once inside the dome, the audio guide will begin explaining the history of the building as visitors walk along a ramp that spirals along the edge of the wall to the top of the dome, culminating in a sky view that rests the weary traveler.

The audio guide not only explains the history of the Reichstag building and the dome but also stops the visitor on the ramp to point out several key points of Berlin, such as the television tower. Many of these buildings are historical elements that are related to the Reichstag building, but most are new buildings that had to be built or rebuilt following the devastation of World War II.

The bottom floor of the dome boasts a central element that holds the entire building together. A collection of black and white photographs with detailed captions in several languages are showcased around the middle point of the dome.

These photos outline the integral points of the Reichstag’s history, including the days when it was burned and unusable. Some of the most powerful images were taken during the final days of the Berlin Wall as students sat on top of the Wall in front of the Reichstag while the police force watched them from the ground.

The interior of the dome is perfect for audio walking tours.

The interior of the dome is perfect for audio walking tours.

Some of the images are also a bit startling and strange to think about from the perspective now. A photo from 1930 reads: “The NSDPA parliamentary group leaves the auditorium; only Joseph Goebbels remains as an observer.”

So, by this time the Nazi party had taken control. How eerie to still have NSDPA artifacts still on display in a government building. As with many painful things in Germany, the reason for the rebuilt Reichstag and the dome is most likely to serve as reminders to never forget, to never let things get as bad as they once were.

The roof terrace and dome of the Reichstag Building are open from 8 a.m. to midnight daily (last admission: at 10 p.m.)  Admission is free, but advance registration is

required. The online registration form can be found at http://visite.bundestag.de. It is closed from Dec. 24-31 and other dates for cleaning. It also closes at times for security reasons when the government is in session.

Filed Under: Alexa Blanchard, Culture · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stay in the east or flee to the west?

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Checkpoint Charlie Museum

Checkpoint Charlie Museum

by Katie Pflug

Checkpoint Charlie was once a main crossing point between East and West Berlin and the Berlin Wall, but today it is a main historical attraction in Berlin, Germany.

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum may look like an old-fashioned home, but it is filled to the brim with historical remembrance of East and West Berlin.

Located near Potsdamer Platz, the Checkpoint Charlie Museum was erected in 1962 by freedom-fighter founder and director Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt. The museum started as a two and a half room apartment display that held history about the Berlin Wall. On June 14, 1962, the museum reopened in Friedrichstrasse in what used to be a block of flats, at the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing. Today it displays objects that helped escapees flee the East, exhibits to learn more about the history of the Berlin Wall and stories of escapees, according to its website.

Today the museum is run by Hildebrandt’s widow, Alexandra Hildebrandt, who, since the death of her husband in 2004, has expanded the museum to include more exhibitions about human rights and freedom.

The  permanent exhibition dates back to the museum’s first days, just after the building of the Berlin Wall, and charts the lifespan of the world’s supposedly most secure border system, according to its website. Here visitors can see original boards created by Hildebrandt in the 1960s, who worked with journalists, escape organizers and protesters to put together a compact and clear outline of the background to the wall’s creation, as well as other key events in East Germany’s history, such as the June 17, 1953, uprisings.

Katie Pflug and Michelle Graessle stop for a photo of the American sector exit sign.

Katie Pflug and Michelle Graessle stop for a photo of the American sector exit sign.
(photo by Connor Mulvaney)

After viewing the first room, visitors walk up a staircase that has children’s paintings all the way up to the top of the stairs. Each of the paintings explains the separation between East and West Germany and how children wish they could all be friends.  The paintings and drawings add a child’s perceptive to the museum, which gives visitors another great way to think about how the Berlin Wall affected so many people’s lives.

Throughout the whole museum there are many displays that shows objects that helped East Berliners escape to the west. From suitcases and heaters to escape cars, hot air balloons, homemade mini-submarines and deceptively hollow surfboards are just a few of the items that people used to escape. Reading the stories left many visitors looking shocked.

The museum displays a homemade airplane that was used as an escape method. The only part of the plane that was not homemade was the engine, which was taken out of a car.

The museum also has on exhibit other work describing human rights violations around the world and a permanent NATO exhibition.

Point Park students found the Checkpoint Charlie Museum a great way to learn more about what was happening while the wall was up in Berlin. The museum is heavy on reading, student visitors said, but each and every display is worth taking the time to read and understand.

The museum is open every day of the year from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., including festivals such as Christmas and Easter and other bank holidays. Admission charges are 12.50 euros for adults, 8.50 euros for groups of 20 or more, and 9.50 for students and 6.50 for ages 7-18. Children up to 6 are free. Guided tours are available.

Filed Under: Culture, Katie Pflug · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
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