December 5, 2025

Paradise Lost

Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it? The True North of Germany in the hills of Holstein is the place I was born in Aug 1949. In fact the same day as Johann W von Goethe, who became the Star since I can think. Home is not where you decide to live, home means literally the place you were born. Why? The Mother of all good questions, indeed. Some people joke Home is where the Wine is, I cannot disagree more. Serious Jokers like myself rather state: Home is where your loved ones live, like wife and family. What happens then to expats like Thomas Mann, Bert Brecht and Walter Benjamin and Stephan Zweig? Good question, indeed .. It depends on the circumstances for sure. Are you forced to leave your home like many refugees? Jewish Germans left Germany after 1933. If they understood the political context and the writings on the walls. I am a fan of Banksy ... Some US citizens consider leaving the USA. Why? Another good questions. Many Germans have decided to live outside Germany and the EU? Why? For many reasons for sure. What worries me at present is the number of younger people like me considering to leave Europe for good ... Why? Another good question, indeed. Why do you live at the Gold Coast though born in Holstein north…

Edle Federn

This essay was written by Claude AI prompting different versions and after re-reading and re-editing the AI version, ready to be published on my Blogs on Higher Education. Target group teachers and academic learners of German and German Studies and Literature. Pls note at the end the date of latest update. Juli Zeh: Literary Voice and Podcast Pioneer in Contemporary German Culture Introduction: A Writer for Democratic Times Juli Zeh occupies a distinctive position in contemporary German culture as bestselling novelist, constitutional judge, and host of “Edle Federn,” one of Germany’s most significant literary podcasts. Born in Bonn in 1974, she has constructed a career that defies simple categorization, moving between fiction writing, constitutional adjudication, and public intellectual engagement with questions of democracy, civil liberties, and social cohesion. For those interested in German Studies and contemporary European intellectual life, Zeh represents both continuity with German traditions of engaged authorship and their adaptation to twenty-first-century media and political circumstances. Her novels explore tensions between individual freedom and collective demands, her constitutional work addresses fundamental questions of democratic governance, and her podcast creates sustained public conversation about literature’s role in contemporary society. This essay examines Zeh’s literary achievements and the innovative contribution of “Edle Federn” to German literary culture, arguing that together they demonstrate how serious intellectual discourse can adapt to digital media while maintaining depth, nuance, and commitment to literature as essential…