Berlinica Publishing wishes everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Berlinica Publishing wishes everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

This was an exciting year for many of our friends and fans in Berlin and America, but also for us. We had a major release, Martin Luther's Travel Guide, by Cornelia Doemer, for the upcoming Luther Year 2017, and we are preparing our fourth Kurt-Tucholsky-book, Gerrmany, Germany. Following next year, we will introduce our new imprint, Manahatta Publishing, with books from and about New York City. But for now, we wish you a wonderful New Year.

Your publisher, Eva C. Schweitzer

Here We Stand! With Martin Luther on a Journey

Here we stand! Our new book Martin Luther's Travel Guide. 500 Years of the 95 Theses: On the Trail of the Reformation in Germany by Cornelia Dömer is now for sale. You can get it on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and independent bookstores. The list price is $14.00, but currently, you can get it at a discount at most sites. 

This guide takes you to the German landscape where the Reformation took place 500 years ago, to every church, castle, and convent Martin Luther has set foot in. It shows the historic city of Wittenberg, where Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church, it features Eisleben, Mansfeld, and Magdeburg where Luther was born and went to school, Eisenach with the Wartburg Castle, where he translated the Holy Bible into German and threw the ink pot at the devil, and many other cities of the Reformation, from Leipzig to Torgau, where his wife, Katharina von Bora, is laid to rest.

This full-color book gives you everything you want to know about Luther and his day and age, from food and clothing in the Middle Ages to the house of Luther's ancestors—now a Bed&Breakfast—to political fights over who rules Germany. With tips to travel by car and train, hotel recommendations, addresses, phone numbers, websites, and  information on American churches and church services in Germany. The book has 14 maps and 120 full-color pictures. With a preface by Robert Kolb, Missions Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

Martin Luther's Travel Guide

500 Years of the Ninety-Five Theses: On the Trail of the Reformation in Germany

Cornelia Dömer

ISBN: 978-1-935902-44-7 (print)

ISBN: 978-1-935902-45-4, 978-1-935902-46-1 (ebook)

Dimensions: 8'' x 5'', 176 pages, full color

Release: November 2016

Retail: $ 14.00

Martin Luther: Auf dem Weg durchs Lutherland. Zu den Orten der Reformation

Pünktlich zum Reformationstag ist Martin Luther's Travel Guide bei Berlinica erschienen, ein Reiseführer, der jeden Ort zwischen dem Harz und Dresden vorstellt, den Martin Luther besucht hat. Die Autorin ist Cornelia Dömer, die frühere Leiterin des Lutherzentrums in Wittenberg, das Vorwort stammt von Robert Kolb, Professor Emeritus am Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.

Martin Luther's Travel Guide ist ein bunter Bilderbogen, von Lutherstadt Wittenberg, wo der Reformator vor 500 Jahren — am 31. Oktober 2017 — seine 95 Thesen an die Schlosskirchentür nagelte, über Eisleben, Mansfeld und Magdeburg, wo er geboren wurde und zur Schule ging, bis nach Leipzig, Erfurt, Weimar und Torgau. Der Leser erfährt aber auch, was die Deutschen im Mittelalter gegessen und welche Kleidung sie getragen haben, wieviele Ablassbriefe es brauchte, um drei Mätressen zu halten, und warum Bilder in Kirchen eigentlich Propaganda waren.

Das Buch ist auf Englisch. Es hat einen stabilen Klappeinband und ist in Vollfarbe gedruckt, mit vielen Fotos, Stadtplänen, Adressen, Webseiten, Telefonnummern und Hotelempfehlungen. Wer Freunde oder Verwandte aus Amerika oder England hat, die zum Lutherjahr nach Deutschland kommen — oder auch bereits hier wohnen —, dies ist das genau das richtige Buch, sich vorzubereiten. Es ist auf Amazon und in allen Buchhandlungen bestellbar.

Martin Luther's Travel Guide
500 Years of the Ninety-Five Theses: On the Trail of the Reformation in Germany
Cornelia Dömer
ISBN: 978-1-935902-44-7 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-935902-45-4, 978-1-935902-46-1 (ebook)
Format: 12,9 x 20,4 cm, 176 Seiten, Vollfarbe
Erscheint: November 2016
Ladenpreis: 14,00 €

"Burning Beethoven": Erik Kirschbaum in America

Erik Kirschbaum. the author of Burning Beethoven. The Eradication of German Culture in the United States during World War I was on a book tour in the United States. Here are his impressions:

The U.S. Presidential election primary campaigns might be the most incredible in my lifetime. The Republican primary is especially unpredictable with two candidates, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, not ashamed of their Cuban heritage running against another candidate, Donald Trump, who long concealed his German origins. Why?

That’s one of the questions I’ve been talking about at a series of talks about my book “Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in the United States during World War I” in recent week. Curious and enthusiastic groups of Americans in Minnesota, Indiana and Massachusetts have come to the talks about the book and about the tragic history of German-Americans and the ordeal they were forced to go through before and during World War I. There are two more stops on the two-week tour, sponsored by the American Council on Germany, in Seattle on Thursday and Friday.

Not only Americans of German origin but also Germans living in the United States and other Americans have been coming to the talks and asking great questions. They are almost universally surprised to learn about the proud and flourishing German culture in the United States before World War I. There were some 488 German-language newspapers in America in 1910 with some 4 million readers and the German language was taught in schools in 35 states. But World War I changed all that and a surge of anti-German hysteria wiped almost all that away within just a few short years. There were even public book burnings in towns and cities across the United States, where groups ranging from the Boy Scouts to civic leaders piled up German textbooks and books that they had pulled out of school and public libraries – and set them on fire.

The trip began in Minneapolis with a riveting talk at the University of Minnesota’s Center for German and European Studies and then went on to another ACG-sponsored talk at The Athenaeum Foundation in the heart of Indianapolis – a fantastic building once known as “Das Deutsche Haus” that had to change its name in 1918. I could almost literally “feel the pain” even 98 years ago of what the creators of that wonderful community center must have gone through during the era of anti-German hysteria from 1914 to 1918.

This week the Goethe Institute in Boston hosted a talk on my book as well and there was another great discussion about how large, creative, productive and influential the German culture once was in the United States. A lot of the people said “I never knew any of that” and seemed pleased to learn why there are so many Americans with German roots yet there is no effort for any candidates to win over the “German-American” vote the way Hispanic and black voters playing such a pivotal role in the primaries.

It’s been a great tour and I’d like to thank the American Council on Germany in New York and the Eric M. Warburg Chapters that have hosted talks in Indianapolis, Boston and Seattle. Also a warm thanks to the University of Minnesota, the Athenaeum Foundation in Indianapolis, the Goethe Institute in Boston, the Mill Creek School in Seattle, the University of Washington, and Western Washington University for making it all happen. And thanks to the German consulates across the United States for their support and interest in the book and the tour.

- Erik Kirschbaum