The text deals with a complicated period in German history, namely the creation of a unified state in the 19th century. It discusses the relationship of the church and the state from 1815 till the 1980s and focuses on Bismarck's "Kulturkampf" that flared up after the beginning of German empire. The author presents Birmarck's intentions and the positions of other participants, first of all Catholic and Protestant churches.
The objective of this article is to explore the topic of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts in the region of present-day Germany in the 13th and 14th centuries. A part of them comprise a relatively closed group which is characterized by the special depiction of the heads of figures: various modifications or deformations of faces of predominantly Jewish characters. A typical substitution is the use of an animal or birdlike face instead of the human one, of a face in which all substantial traces, such as eyes, mouth or nose, are missing, or the whole head is covered with a crown or hat, or the head is depicted from the rear. -- The topic of deformations, alterations and substitutions of human faces in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts is analyzed and illustrated in numerous examples. The possible ancient origin of figures with animal or bird-like heads is discussed, as well as the standpoint of medieval Jewish scholars on the biblical prohibition of images, especially in relation to the issue of deformations and substitutions of faces in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts. The final part of the paper deals with modern interpretations of the whole subject (Ameisenowa, Jaffé, Strauss, Narkiss, Mellinkoff).
Pathways to German higher education have diversified considerably during recent decades and approximately one quarter of all first year students enter higher education with a qualification for the skilled labour market. This contribution seeks to identify different types of pathways to higher education and examine the differences among these groups regarding five dimensions of self-reported academic readiness. For our analyses, we used data on Starting Cohort 5 of the National Educational Panel Study. Our results suggest that for most of the indicators of academic readiness, students who entered via non-traditional pathways reported lower levels of academic readiness than traditional students did. In particular, students without a formal higher-education entrance certificate reported lower levels of academic readiness than any other group did. These patterns remained largely stable after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and institutional destination.
This article gives an overview about current research on non-traditional students and alumni in Germany. Its aim is to highlight similarities and differences with their traditional counterparts. The paper concentrates on the motivation to study, study performance, and labor market success (status and income) of those who do not hold a traditional higher education entrance certificate but entered university via occupational qualification. We show a widespread divergence in findings from no statistical difference at all to clear differences between non-traditional and traditional students and alumni. This holds true with regard to student motivation, study performance, and labor market success after graduation. We conclude that biggest challenge is the non-completion rates of non-traditional students, which poses a development task for institutions of higher education.