Roads not taken or: Es hätte auch anders kommen können

The latest DAAD-ILCS German-language competition launches today and this year takes as its inspiration the theme of the current exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM, Berlin).

Events like the Great Depression (1929), the attempt to assassinate Hitler (1944), construction of the Berlin Wall (1961), and the fall of the Wall (‘Peaceful Revolution’) in 1989 were turning points in history and lead us to ask how events might have turned out differently, what the consequences might have been, and what it would be like to live in a world shaped by ‘roads not taken’?

The competition is as usual open to lovers and learners of German at all levels, who are tasked with imagining what it would be like if history had turned out differently, if the Wall had not fallen and the GDR had continued to exist, for example. Putting themselves into the shoes of a real or fictional person, entrants are asked to write a diary entry or letter of not more than 500 words in German describing the alternative reality.

Prizes include a trip to Berlin including a guided tour of the DHM exhibition by one of the curators and a German language course at the Goethe Institute London. The awards ceremony will be held at the University of London Senate House on 3 November 2023.

The closing date for entries is 3 May 2023.

For further details, visit https://www.daad.org.uk/en/about-us/who-we-are/daad-projects/german-language-competitions/roads-not-taken/.

The competition is generously supported by the DAAD (United Kingdom), the Goethe Institute London, the German Embassy in London, and the Keith Spalding Trust (Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies)