German Community Research Articles

The association of childhood abuse and neglect with tattoos and piercings in the population: evidence from a representative community survey

BackgroundTattoos and piercings are becoming increasingly popular in many countries around the world. Individuals seeking such body modifications have reported diverse psychological motives. Besides purely superficial considerations, tattoos and piercings can also have a deep, personal meaning. For example, they can mark and support the emotional processing of significant life events, including formative experiences from early childhood. However, there is a lack of studies that examine the links of tattoos and piercings with experiences of childhood abuse and neglect in large, population-based samples.MethodsWe investigated the association of reports of childhood abuse and neglect with the acquisition of body modifications (tattoos and piercings) within a representative German community sample. Survey participants (N = 1060; ages 14–44 years) were questioned whether they had tattoos and piercings and filled out the 28-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF).ResultsTattoos and piercings were more common among individuals who reported childhood abuse and neglect. The proportion of participants with tattoos and piercings increased as a function of the severity of all assessed types of abuse and neglect (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; emotional and physical neglect). In logistic regression analyses which included the covariates age, gender, education, and income, the sum of significant kinds of childhood abuse and neglect was positively related to having tattoos and/or piercings (OR = 1.37 [95% CI 1.19–1.58]).ConclusionsThe results corroborate previous research indicating that body modifications could have special significance for individuals who have survived adversity, in particular interpersonal trauma at the hands of caregivers. These findings could inform screening procedures and low-threshold access to psychotherapeutic care.

Depressive symptoms predict the incidence of common chronic diseases in women and men in a representative community sample.

Depression, the most frequent and harmful mental disorder, has been associated with specific somatic diseases as the leading cause of death. The purposes of this prospective study were to predict incident chronic diseases based on baseline depressive symptoms and to test sex-dependent effects. In a representative German community sample of over 12 000 participants, baseline depressive symptoms (assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9) were tested as a predictor of new onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic obstructive lung disease, diabetes, cancer, and migraine at 5-year follow-up. To study disease incidence, we created subsamples for each chronic disease by excluding participants who already had the respective disease at baseline. Potential confounders were included in logistic regression models and sex-specific analyses were performed. Controlling for demographic characteristics and loneliness, in men and women, baseline depressive symptoms were predictive of CVD, chronic obstructive lung disease, diabetes, and migraine, but not of cancer. When we additionally adjusted for metabolic and lifestyle risk factors, there was an 8% increase of chronic obstructive lung disease and migraine per point of depressive symptoms. There was a trend for CVD (4%; p = 0.053). Sex-sensitive analyses revealed trends for the relevance of depressive symptoms for CVD in men (p = 0.065), and for diabetes in women (p = 0.077). These findings underscore the need to implement screening for depression in the treatment of major somatic illnesses. At the same time, depressed patients should be screened for metabolic and lifestyle risk factors and for somatic diseases and offered lifestyle interventions.

Effectiveness of a multi-component community-based care approach for older people at risk of care dependency - results of a prospective quasi-experimental study

BackgroundDue to demographic changes, the elderly population in western countries is constantly growing. As the risk of functional decline and multimorbidity increases with age, health care systems need to face the challenge of high demand for health care services and related costs. Therefore, innovative health care approaches and geriatric screenings are needed to provide individualised care. This study aims to expand the state of research by investigating the effectiveness of a multi-component care approach for the elderly in a German community setting.MethodsA prospective, quasi-experimental study was initiated by statutory health insurance (SHI) companies. The innovative care approach includes a geriatric assessment, a case and network management as well as digital supporting tools and was implemented at the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (Albertinen Haus, Hamburg-Eimsbuettel). Participants of the intervention were compared to matched controls recruited in comparable urban areas. The primary outcome measure was the progression in long-term care grade during the period of observation (21 months), which was analysed on the basis of SHI claims data. Secondary endpoints were morbidity, mortality and self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measured by SF-36.ResultsOverall, 2,670 patients (intervention group (IG) n=873; control group (CG) n=1,797) were analysed. Logistic regression analysis showed no statistically significant difference in progression of long-term care grade between IG and CG (Odds Ratio (OR)=1.054; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.856-1.296; p-value=0.616). Differentiated analyses indicated an initial effect, which might be attributable to the geriatric assessment. However, an adapted regression model resulted in a reversed but even non-significant effect (OR=0.945; 95% CI 0.757-1.177; p-value=0.619). While secondary analyses of long-term care grade, mortality and HRQoL did not show intervention effects, a statistically significant relative change of 0.865 (95% CI 0.780, 0.960; p-value=0.006) in morbidity indicated a potential benefit for the IG.ConclusionsThe analyses did not reveal a significant effect of the community-based intervention on the primary outcome and thus we are not able to recommend a transfer into SHI standard care. Tendencies in secondary analyses need to be proved in further research.Trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register, retrospective registration on February 01, 2022 (DRKS00027866).

Transnational Turkish–German community in limbo. Consequences of political tensions between migrant receiving and sending countries

AbstractA profound political tension between Turkey and Germany has gained an overall dimension on the political agenda of the intra‐European migration discussion since 2016. As close trade partners, Turkey and Germany became gradually political adversaries on different issues. 2016 and the following years marked a turnover in the already worsened mutual relations. A series of political issues such as recognising the Armenian genocide in 1915, open allegations and critical views against the Turkish President and prohibition of election campaigns for Turkish government politicians in Germany had driven political relations between the two countries to nadir. This obscure situation led the Turks of Germany (The phrases “Turks of Germany” or “Turkish migrants” are persons with migration background from Turkey who still bear Turkish citizenship or formerly were Turkish citizens. This group's ethnic or confessional identity is not recognised; their legal status and country of origin are preponderant.), who have close ties to their ancestors’ homeland and consider Germany as the centre of their lives, nolens volens into a limbo situation. Within the “guest‐worker program” framework in the second part of the 20th century, highly industrialised countries of Western Europe recruited migrant workers from different countries. This workforce should perform mostly blue‐collar labour in the receiving countries. After six decades of Turkish presence in Germany, the grandsons and granddaughters of the former guest workers are well‐represented in almost every sector of the society. However, their loyalty and integrability to the receiving country are challenged by German politics, especially by the governments of conservative chancellor Angela Merkel (2005–2021). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture (Workers from Turkey brought with them to the country of immigration their own “cultural assets”. Those are, language, religious and customary beliefs, social habits, dress, music, literature, social codes and manners, shared history, food, etc. However, migrants in the receiving country undergo a process of hybridity under the influence of the new cultural environment. (Please see: Bhabha [The location of culture, New York, NY: Routledge, 1994]) Culture within the framework of post‐colonialism has also been discussed in Edward W. Said's book “Culture and Imperialism” (Said [Kültür ve Emperyalizm. Kapsamlı Bir Düşünsel ve Siyasal Sorgulama Çalışması. Hil Yayın: İstanbul, 1998]). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture, they are not recognised as integrable members of the society. Identity‐based and culture‐oriented policies inexorably influence the willingness of migrants to feel like equal members in the host society, and it applies even to the new generations with migration backgrounds. The question of migrant integration is the most emotionally debated issue in Germany and seems to be the greatest challenge in the political agenda. Beyond the bilateral Turkish–German issues, the growing xenophobic sentiments, islamophobia and Europe‐wide political populism may cause a persistent bilateral tension in the medium term between the countries and among the transnational and native communities. Anti‐Turkish rhetoric in the media alienates the Turkish community and has a value to jeopardise integration efforts more and more.

The Quality of Counseling for Headache OTC Medications in German Community Pharmacies Using a Simulated Patient Approach: Are There Differences between Self-Purchase and Purchase for a Third Party?

Background In Germany—as worldwide—headache is one of the most frequent causes of self-medication. The dispensing of over-the-counter (OTC) medications may only be carried out by community pharmacies (CPs). In doing so, CPs have to ensure “adequate” counseling, for both self-purchase and purchase for a third party, which also occurs in everyday pharmacy practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of counseling for headache OTC medications in German CPs and, as the first study worldwide, to analyze whether and to what extent there are differences in counseling between self-purchase and purchase for a third party. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out using the covert simulated patient methodology (SPM) in all 42 CPs in the German big city Potsdam. With the help of 8 trained simulated patients (SPs), each CP was visited four times by a different SP. The SPs simulated in each CP two scenarios two times with the demand for an OTC medication against headache, which differed only in whether the demand was for themselves or for their boyfriend/girlfriend. Results All 168 planned pharmacy visits (84 visits per scenario) were successfully carried out. Overall, the median counseling score was 3.0 out of 9 points (interquartile range [IQR 2.0]). There were no significant differences between the two scenarios (Wilcoxon signed-rank test; p=0.495, r = 0.053). In a multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, the counseling level and the different scenarios were not significantly associated (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.635, 95% CI = 0.673–3.972, p=0.278). Conclusions Due to the partly considerable deficits in counseling of German CPs, policy-makers and the regional chambers of pharmacists are called upon to take appropriate measures to improve the quality of counseling. It is positive that no differences in counseling between self-purchase and purchase for a third party were found, but further verifying studies with a modified methodology are recommended.

Linguistique du corpus pour les variétés à faible densité. Langues minoritaires et enquêtes morphologiques basées sur corpus

Corpus linguistics grew up in the domain of written (and literary) varieties, while its recent methodological revolution is due to the computer-assisted capacity of elaborating massive amounts of text data. On the other hand, the so-called ‘low-density varieties’, including spoken varieties as well as varieties spoken in minority communities, have been confined to a rather marginal role. Among others, this is due to the technical problems connected to the scarce degree of normalization in linguistic –including graphemic– terms, as well as to the scarcity of language resources for automatic processing. In this paper, we will exploit the possibilities opened by corpus linguistics for acquiring and analyzing the textual patrimony of the Walser German communities of Piedmont and Aosta Valley. The varieties of Highest Alemannic spoken there, dramatically exposed to language decay, provide a limited but significant amount of data, which is accompanied by a substantial lexical documentation due to the active collaboration of the speakers’ communities in collecting and compiling local dictionaries. After briefly introducing our archive and discussing the peculiar solutions adopted for the construction of the platform, we will also present corpus-based morphological investigations regarding the representation of verbal prefixes, of the clitic group, as well as of the inflectional behaviour of verb classes.

Culture and Politics in Cleveland's Hebrew Cultural Garden

Culture and Politics in Cleveland's Hebrew Cultural Garden Sean Martin (bio) A bust of the Rusin priest and poet Alexander B. Duchnovich stands as the sole monument in the Rusin Cultural Garden in Cleveland's Rockefeller Park. Inscribed at its base is a line from one of the author's poems: "I was, am, and always will be a Rusin." This statement, declarative and defiant, represents what the immigrant groups who established garden sites in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in the early twentieth century wanted visitors to know—though they were living here in the United States of America, they also belonged to another culture that had always been, and would always be, part of who they were. The stateless Rusins, an eastern Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Mountains in East Central Europe, proclaim their unique heritage alongside much larger, better-known groups, reminding us of their attachment to their culture.1 Cleveland's Jewish community helped make this expression of Rusin identity possible. The Hebrew Cultural Garden was the first themed nationality garden in the chain that came to be known as the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. Bordering a major thoroughfare, the Gardens present the cultures of the region's immigrant groups through sculpture, design, and landscape. Established in 1916 and formally dedicated in 1939, the Cleveland Cultural Gardens reflected the newly arrived immigrants' desire to maintain a separate ethnic identity while asserting their commitment to ideals of "universal brotherhood."2 The local gardens movement was a reaction to the nativism of the day and the quotas imposed on immigration by the Immigration Act of 1924. The driving force behind the Gardens was Leo Weidenthal, editor of The Jewish Independent and member of a prominent Jewish family of newspaper publishers.3 His compatriots included Jennie K. Zwick, a longtime Jewish leader and activist, and Charles Wolfram, a leader [End Page 45] of the German community. These community leaders explicitly rejected the notion of Israel Zangwill's melting pot and embraced ideas quite similar to Horace Kallen's articulation of cultural pluralism.4 That two of the three founders of the Gardens movement were Jewish perhaps explains why the first garden dedicated to a specific ethnic culture, in 1926, was the Hebrew Cultural Garden. Thanks in no small part to federal assistance, the Gardens literally blossomed in the midst of the Great Depression. The Hebrew garden was soon followed by the German, Italian, Yugoslav, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, American, Czech, Lithuanian, Irish, and Rusin gardens. It is perhaps no coincidence that this verdant testament to cultural pluralism is located in the Midwest. Michael C. Steiner's recent study of Horace Kallen's years in Wisconsin argues that the philosopher's theory owes much to the distinctive regionalism he encountered there from 1911 to 1918.5 Indeed, the history of the Cultural Gardens might even be read as an enactment of the theory of cultural pluralism, a concrete example of "cooperative interaction among evolving groups" occurring even as Kallen developed his philosophy.6 Unfortunately, I have not found any direct evidence of a connection between the work of Kallen and the inspiration for the Cultural Gardens. Nor can I compare the development of the theory of cultural pluralism to the growth of the Gardens in this short study. But the similarity of the ideals espoused by Kallen and those acted upon by leaders in Cleveland is striking. Similar, too, were the challenges posed by diversity. The leaders of the Cultural Gardens believed in "the idea that it was perfectly possible to identify as both American and something else."7 But it was not long after they began their work emphasizing distinct ethnic identities in the 1920s that some in the community advocated successfully for an American Garden. The presence of the American Garden, formed by the Parent Teachers Association Council in 1935, raises many questions about ethnicity, nation, and culture. Other garden sponsors continued to maintain their emphasis on unique identities in an American context. World War II made plain the tensions among many of these groups worldwide, but the Gardens recovered in the postwar period and continued their emphasis on cultural unity and American identity. This unity, however, was illusory...

And as things have been they remain: Enteric disease and differential mortality among ethnic groups in early twentieth century Milwaukee

ObjectiveThis project aims to document enteric disease mortality differentials between German, Irish and Polish communities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during the early twentieth century. At that time, residential segregation by ethnicity was common as was access to gainful employment. The Polish had the least access to adequately paid jobs and consequently resided in the area of the city adjacent to waterways used for waste disposal. MaterialsA total of 14,573 death certificates were examined for the years 1901 through 1905. The certificates include name, places of birth and death, age, sex and cause of death. MethodsDeaths from enteric diseases have been compiled for each ethnic group along with age and sex. Incomplete certificates were excluded from the analysis. ResultsA total of 1038 enteric disease deaths were noted. All ethnic groups were affected with the greatest impact in the Polish community. The highest risk was among infants and children in all ethnic groups. ConclusionsMortality differentials resulted from unequal access to safe water and sewage systems in neighborhoods segregated by ethnicity. SignificanceThe data demonstrate variation in the timing of the epidemiologic transition among communities separated by only a few kilometers. LimitationsWater- and food borne sources of enteric disease could not be differentiated. Suggestions for further researchThe effect of living conditions in these communities can be further studied by analyses of respiratory diseases. This can be expanded by detailed analyses of infant and child mortality.

The Use of Pragmatic Documents in Medieval Wallachia and Moldavia: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries by Mariana Goina

Reviewed by: The Use of Pragmatic Documents in Medieval Wallachia and Moldavia: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries by Mariana Goina Mark Amsler Goina, Mariana, The Use of Pragmatic Documents in Medieval Wallachia and Moldavia: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Centuries (Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 47), Turnhout, Brepols, 2020; cloth; pp. xvii, 329; 26 b/w illustrations, 2 b/w tables; R.R.P. €90.00; ISBN 9782503587974. Michael Clanchy, riffing on Claude Levi-Strauss, kickstarted a branch of social history seeking out ‘literate mentalities’. In particular, pragmatic literacy studies refer to the uses of documents for everyday or administrative communication or for record-keeping purposes. Mariana Goina’s new book, based on her Central European University dissertation, brings new and interesting light to a late development in European literacy in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (present-day Romania). Oddly, after the Romans exited from Dacia around 271 ce, it was more than a thousand years before another literate culture emerged in the area. How did that happen? Goina takes on that question in her rich archival study. Her book is organized in three parts: historical background, survey of the sources, and use and dissemination of written texts. The sources range from the late thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Goina’s multi-chapter survey of sources makes for dense reading, as she gives generous detailed attention to the types of documents, primarily land charters and letters. Her analysis of the uses and dissemination of writing in Moldavia and Wallachia shows how people continued to use oral modes of validation and communication alongside newer, sometimes foreign, written modes. From her sources, she also works out what people thought about the written texts they were using, their ‘literate mentalities’, whether a land charter needed to be authenticated by oral testimony or whether it could be evidence of ownership in itself, or whether the charter was an aide-memoire for what was considered the primary oral agreement. Goina’s study of Moldavian and Wallachian documents will make better known texts whose genres may be familiar but whose local details and what they reveal about social and political life of the time are less so. The history of literacy is social history, and Goina and her documents don’t disappoint. Land ownership was a constant and contentious experience across the social spectrum, from princes and high court officials to merchants and villagers. In late fifteenth-century Wallachia, for example, as higher-ups sought to acquire and consolidate land holdings, free villagers marshalled written authority to certify their ownership and prevent encroachment and their relegation to serfdom. It is sobering to see the extent to which the surviving documents are mostly to do with land inheritance, ownership, and conveyance. Writing goes hand in hand with control or disruption of power. Goina discusses many intriguing cases of literacy as social practice. She explains the legal fiction by which a family used a specific text to turn a daughter into a ‘son’ and therefore eligible to inherit land, or the practice of adopting another member of the community as a ‘brother’ for similar purposes. Textual acts [End Page 243] are constitutive within a social context. At the same time, Goina’s evidence points to women’s, especially widows’, active participation in literate culture, mostly on behalf of inheritance and land ownership. The surviving documents also reveal the costs of literacy. To make a land charter, an owner or claimant might pay the scribe a horse or forty złotis, but then pay out six times that amount for a feast to gather together ‘oath-helpers’ to vouch orally for the charter and the land rights. Goina pays good attention to the languages of charters and other documents in the archives. Charters and other texts survive in Latin, Slovanic, Polish, and German. German communities were especially prominent in the principalities. Wallachian and Moldavian literacy was thickened by the active presence of Hungarian, German, Polish, and other foreign scribes in the principalities. The princes’ international relations and the region’s geographic location as a major trade route suggest how local practices were partly shaped by other literate contacts, especially merchants. It is also clear from Goina’s research that literate practice...

Румыния и Германия: исторические, политические и экономические аспекты взаимодействия

Political and economic aspects of relations between Romania and Germany in the XXI century considered in the context of historical retrospective, including from the perspective of the dramatic events of the XX century. Brief information about the history of the emergence of the German community on the territory of Romania, its important role in the cultural and economic development of the regions of residence is presented. The latter contributes to the creation of a special atmosphere of today’s bilateral contacts, behind which is the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany to keep the German community in its current place of residence, which creates an additional incentive for trade and investment of German capital in Romania. A brief overview of cultural and humanitarian programs of the FRG, designed to promote not only the rallying of the German ethnic minority, but also the promotion of German culture in Romania, is given. Data are provided on the number and position of the vast community of Romanian labor migrants in Germany. The article notes that political contacts between countries are not limited to the EU and NATO, but are also developing on a bilateral basis. Particular attention is paid to the difference in the foreign policy approaches of the two countries on a number of issues. The causes and circumstances of the lack of complete mutual understanding are identified, among which pro-Americanism and the anti-Russian orientation of Romania’s foreign policy stand out, clearly manifested in connection with the problem of putting the Nord Stream-2 into operation. At the same time, attention is drawn to the strengthening of bilateral military cooperation in recent years within the framework of PESCO. The conclusion is made about the ambiguous nature of the Romanian-German relations against the background of the interest of the FRG in expanding its presence in Romania.

Nemci u Vojvodini u periodu osnivanja Kraljevine SHS - interdisciplinarni pristup

In this paper, we conducted an interdisciplinary analysis of the process of integration of the German minority in the historical context of the first Yugoslav state, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1918-1929). In 1920, Swabian-German Cultural Association, Kulturbund, was founded as an important factor in preserving the German identity. Even though Kulturbund had interruptions in its activity, in 1924 and 1929, it remained the basic frame for cultural life of the German community during the period between the two wars. Officially, this organization was founded as non-political and loyal to new state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The activities of Kulturbund were focused on preservation of German heritage through establishment of cultural institutions such as libraries and bookstores and through organization of cultural events in the area of literature, film, music, and theatre. Kulturbund was most active in Vojvodina. Vojvodina is still a unique model of co-existence of different ethnic groups and cultural patterns, and the German community historically contributed to multiculturalism, multi-confessionalism and multiethnicity of this region. We based our analyses on contributions in the field of sociology on ethnicity, cultural anthropology, and history. Specifically we found theoretical model of ethnical boundaries, established by Fredrik Barth within the interactional approach to exploring ethnicity, which proved to be useful. Barth's influential model allowed us to examine the ethnicity from very important aspect-social interaction. In that way, ethnicity is interpreted as a form of social organization of cultural differences. Also, this model implies that ethnical boundaries are flexible, but also resistant, and can be preserved in situations of intensive cultural contacts between different ethnical and cultural groups. According to Barth, the factors with the most influence to the strengthening of ethnical boundaries are social changes on the international level, such as wars.

Лютеранские церкви Санкт-Петербурга в русско-немецком культурном диалоге первой половины XVIII в.

The article is devoted to cross-cultural interaction, which determines the interpenetration of cultural forms and meanings of different quality, content and level, manifesting their essential characteristics in intercultural dialogue. This interaction is considered on the example of the Russian-German cultural dialogue of the first half of the 18th c. and the role of the Lutheran churches in it, which, initially emerging as purely centers of ethnic German communities, later became sociocultural centers. The article notes that in the new cultural space the Lutheran churches, in addition to their direct religious functions, also performed the functions of socio-cultural adaptation – integration, charitable, educational, etc. In the history of St. Petersburg Lutheran churches, the author distinguishes two levels of Russian-German dialogue in the cultural space of ‘Northern capital’: «external dialogue» is due to the localization, artistic features of the style of religious buildings, reflecting the cultural paradigm of German Lutheranism; «internal dialogue» is aimed at translating cultural meanings – religious and work ethics, rationalism.

“The Middle Ages on Imperial service”: Czech, Hungarian and Polish historical images in works by Franz Grillparzer, 1825–1830

The paper deals with historical images of non-Germanic peoples living in the Austrian empire and presented in romanticist fiction. The author analyzed several narratives from the heritage of Franz Grillparzer, the Austrian writer and dramatist. He referred to images of Czech, Hungarian and Polish medieval and early modern history. The chosen dramas are “Fortune and Fall of the king Ottokar” and “A Faithful servant to his Lord”, and the novella “A monastery in Sandomir”. They had a significant role in forming the image of non-Germanic Habsburg realms medieval history for subjects of the Empire. Romanticism and medievalism dominating in the European and Austrian public opinion and politics have put an impact on perception of Czechs, Hungarians and Poles by the German community of Austria. Despite the fact, that medieval narratives got the attention from national movements, Grillparzer referred to them basing on the Austrian conservatism. In this way his works enforced the Habsburg myth and “organic constitution” for the state. The author came to a conclusion that images of Czech, Hungarian and Polish medieval and early modern history presented in works by Grillparzer have filled the gap in official historical memory. It became possible due to overweighting Austro-German and Habsburg emphasis in official discourse, what gave a certain ground for national movements and became a disadvantage for official historiography. Appeal to dynastic patriotism and legitimism has got a certain enforcement with reflections on disunity of Hungarian, Czech and Polish elites. According to the author, the mobilization of the elites was to illustrate the thesis and to promote the official version of the Habsburg empire history.

Oddalenie od przeszłości – tęsknota za „rdzenną krainą”: namysł nad subiektywnymi doświadczeniami przełomu 1989 wśród wschodnioniemieckich nauczycieli

Introduction . Institutional expediency over cultural integration, accompanied by the speed and comprehensiveness of the systemic change in East Germany marginalized the whole East German community, including one professional group of particular importance: teachers. How did they adopt to the new conditions? How did they perceive their new role in the changed social and educational system? Research Aim . The answers to these questions are based on a review and critical analysis of German empirical research on experiences of the Wende among teachers from former East Germany. Excerpts from the author’s own research are also included. Evidence-based Facts . In studies of teachers’ subjective perception of the Wende there appear two significant strategies compensating for their biographical and professional insecurities. One is continuity, the accompanying lack of criticism and distance from the moral evaluation of the dismantled political system, including education. The other is the turn towards the idealized image of “lost community” and “closeness and care” as opposed to the “bureaucratic mentality” in the West. Summary . East German teachers’ longing for egalitarianism, for the “closeness of relations”, and for the “heartland”, as well as distance from moral thinking about the past, are not only an educational version of the Fromm’s escape from freedom in the hardship of the transition to democracy and capitalism. They also constitute an effective means of dealing with the difficult past by gradually "taming" the experiences of life in the GDR.

Tourism potential of Ukraine in the context of geography and current state of German cultural heritage


 
 
 
 The article describes theoretical foundations of the study of tourism potential of the regions of Ukraine in the context of geography and current state of German cultural heritage. The historical preconditions for the formation and development of cultural heritage of German ethnic minority on the territory of the modern Ukraine are studied. Geography of German ethnic minority of the early XX century within the modern territory of Ukraine and geography of ethnic Germans and German cultural heritage in the modern Ukraine are developed. On the basis of a cluster analysis of indicators of the number of preserved objects and the number of former German settlements, groups of regions with high, medium and low potential for the development of ethnic tourism are identified. Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv and Zhytomyr are the leaders by the number of objects of German cultural heritage among all regions of Ukraine. The group of regions with a medium level of potential for ethnic tourism includes the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Volyn, Kherson, Ivano-Frankivsk, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Chernivtsi, and Khmelnytskyi regions. Seven main types of preserved objects of German cultural heritage in Ukraine are identified. Sacred objects and public buildings and structures are best represented. The objects of German cultural heritage preserved to this day in the context of the regions of Ukraine are described. It was found that the main obstacles to the development of German ethnic tourism in Ukraine are the destruction of many cultural heritage objects, lack of funding for restoration of these objects, insufficient involvement of objects to tourist routes and low level of their promotion. The main ways to overcome these obstacles are identified: allocation of budget funds for the restoration of objects, attracting private investors, international organizations and German community; development of new tourist routes; marking places with information stands, publishing information materials about objects; digitalization of objects; organization of international conferences, round tables, festivals, etc.
 
 
 

Co-producing an action-oriented framework for community-based Physical Activity Promotion in Germany.

SummaryGerman National Recommendations for Physical Activity (PA) and PA Promotion recommend community-based approaches to promote PA at the local level with a focus on health equity. In addition, the German Federal Prevention Act addresses health equity and strengthens setting-based health promotion in communities. However, the implementation of both in the local context remains a challenge. This article describes Phase 1 of the KOMBINE project that aims to co-produce an action-oriented framework for community-based PA promotion focusing on structural change and health equity. (i) In a series of workshops, key stakeholders and researchers discussed facilitators, barriers and needs of community-based PA promotion focusing on health equity. (ii) The research team used an inductive approach to cluster all findings and to identify key components and then (iii) compared the key components with updated literature. (iv) Key components were discussed and incorporated into a gradually co-produced framework by the participants. The first result of the co-production process was a catalog of nine key components regarding PA-related health promotion in German communities. The comparison of key components with scientific evidence showed a high overlap. Finally, a six-phase action-oriented framework including key components for community-based PA promotion was co-produced. The six-phase action-oriented framework integrates practice-based and scientific evidence on PA-related health promotion and health equity. It represents a shared vision for the implementation of National Recommendations for PA and PA Promotion in Germany. The extent to which structural changes and health equity can be achieved is currently being investigated in pilot-studies.

Divided by war, united by welfare: the International Labour Organization promoting war invalids’ internationalism

ABSTRACT Veterans’ and war invalids’ organizations were – nationally and internationally – among the biggest social movements of the interwar period. While at first organised on a national level, many of them discovered international platforms to promote their interests. This article explores the relationship between the veterans’ and war invalids’ movement and the International Labour Organization (ILO). By undertaking a thorough analysis of the files of the Central European archives as well as archives of the League of Nations and the ILO, it traces how veterans’ and war invalids’ issues became a matter of labour politics. In this process, the article argues, war invalids – instead of veterans – became the core target group of the ILO’s engagement in the field. This went hand in hand with an increasing fixation on labour and welfare. Focusing on the war invalids’ political positioning between pacifism and revisionism, it follows back the preconditions of the founding of Conférence Internationale des Associations des Mutilés et Anciens Combattants (CIAMAC) in 1925, hinting specifically at the importance of East Central and South Eastern European organizations and activists, who are often neglected in the shadow of the more outspoken French and German communities.

Evaluation of community readiness for change prior to a participatory physical activity intervention in Germany.

SummaryA lack of communities’ readiness for change is reported as a major barrier toward an effective implementation of health promoting interventions in community settings. Adding an alternative readiness assessment approach to existing research practice, this study aimed to investigate how a selected community could be evaluated in-depth regarding its readiness for change based on multiple key informant perspectives, with the intention of using this knowledge for the preparation of improved local physical activity (PA) interventions for men above 50 years of age. We conducted semi-structured face-to-face key informant interviews with stakeholders and relevant persons from a local German community (N = 15). The interview guide was based on a comprehensive summary of community readiness dimensions. After verbatim transcription, we conducted thematic analysis to synthesize the complex results regarding community readiness related to PA. The data supported that the community disposed of a variety of resources regarding PA and showed signs of readiness for change. However, a certain degree of saturation regarding PA programs existed. The need for health enhancing PA interventions for men was only partly recognized. The local authority considered PA to be particularly important in the context of mobility and traffic safety. Including multiple stakeholders contributed to a balanced and in-depth assessment of community readiness and was helpful for determining starting points for tailored PA interventions due to the detection of complex relationships and structures. The study delivers preliminary evidence that a qualitative multi-perspective community readiness assessment adds value to quantified single-perspective readiness assessment research practice.

Long-Term Effects of Integrated Strategies of Community Health Promotion on Diabetes Mellitus Mortality: a Natural Policy Experiment Based on Aggregated Longitudinal Secondary Data

Integrated strategies of community health promotion (ISCHP) are based on intersectoral collaborations using the Health in All Policies approach to address determinants of health. While effects on health determinants have been shown, evidence on the effectiveness of ISCHP on health outcomes is scarce. The aim of this study is to assess the long-term effects of ISCHP on diabetes mellitus mortality (DMM) in German communities. A nonrandomized evaluation based on secondary county-level official data (1998–2016) was performed. In April 2019, 149 communities in Germany with ISCHP out of 401 were identified. Communities with < 5 measurements of DMM, starting before 1999 or after 2015, were excluded. Analyses included 65 communities with ISCHP (IG) and 124 without ISCHP (CG). ISCHP ran for a mean of 5.6 years. Fixed effects (FE) models were used to estimate effects of ISCHP and duration on DMM taking into account the time-varying average age. The FE estimator for DMM is b = − 2.48 (95% CI − 3.45 to − 1.51) for IG vs. CG and b = − 0.30 (95% CI − 0.46 to − 0.14) for ISCHP duration (0–16 years). In the first year of an ISCHP, a reduction of the annual DMM of 0.3 per 100,000 population (1%), and in the 16th year of 4.8 (14%) was achieved. This study provides preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of ISCHP in Germany. Limitations include inaccuracies to classify IG and CG and possible selection bias. Longitudinal county-level data may be an efficient data source to evaluate complex interventions, thereby contributing to further strengthen evidence-based integrated health promotion.

High class filtering facepiece (FFP) are fundamental and effective in protection of emergency health care workers: an observational cohort study in a German community

BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious airborne virus inducing pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is most relevant for medical staff working under harmful conditions in emergencies often dealing with patients and an undefined SARS-CoV-2 status. We aimed to measure the effect of high-class filtering facepieces (FFP) in emergency medical service (EMS) staff by analyzing seroprevalence and history of positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for SARS-CoV-2.MethodThis observational cohort study included workers in EMS, who were compared with hospital staff (HS) and staff, which was not directly involved in patient care (NPC). All direct patient contacts of EMS workers were protected by FFP2/N95 (filtering face piece protection class 2/non-oil-based particulates filter efficiency 95%) masks, whereas HS was protected by FFP2/N95 exclusively when a patient had a proven or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection. NPC was not protected by higher FFP. The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was analyzed by immunoassay by end of 12/2020 together with the history of a positive PCR. In addition, a self-assessment was performed regarding the quantity of SARS-CoV-2 positive contacts, about flu symptoms and personal belief of previous COVID-19 infections.ResultsThe period in which contact to SARS-CoV-2 positive patients has been possible was 10 months (March to December 2020)—with 54,681 patient contacts documented for EMS—either emergencies (n = 33,241) or transportation services (n = 21,440). Seven hundred-thirty (n = 730) participants were included into the study (n = EMS: 325, HS: 322 and NPC: 83). The analysis of the survey showed that the exposure to patients with an unknown and consecutive positive SARS-CoV-2 result was significantly higher for EMS when compared to HS (EMS 55% vs. HS 30%, p = 0.01). The incidence of a SARS-CoV-2 infection in our cohort was 1.2% (EMS), 2.2% (HS) and 2.4% (NPC) within the three groups (ns) and lowest in EMS. Furthermore, the belief of previous COVID-19 was significant higher in EMS (19% vs. 10%),ConclusionThe consistent use of FFP2/N95 in EMS is able to prevent work-related SARS-CoV-2 infections in emergency situations. The significance of physical airway protection in exposed medical staff is still relevant especially under the aspect of new viral variants and unclear effectiveness of new vaccines.Graphical