Hiberno Goethe: Gisela Holfter
This episode features Dr Gisela Holfter, Professor of German at the University of Limerick and joint director for the Centre for Irish-German Studies, who grew up in the Bergisches Land close to Cologne.
Chatting with Ciarán about her time in Dublin, Belfast and later on in Limerick, the listeners are brought on a literary journey depicting brothers Grimm, Mann brothers, Küttner, Fürst Pückler-Muskau, Wilhelm von Humbold, and Johann Kaspar Zeuss to name a few.
Gisela tells us about Ireland being a sanctuary for refugees with Eamon De Valera's brainchild Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies allowing Irish universities to take in scholars from abroad and how the Hirsch Ribbon factory in Longford set up by Viennese Ernest Sonnenschein gave employment and training to local people.
We hear about the Centre for Irish-German Studies which marks its 25th anniversary in 2022, the Dánnerstag project bringing together Irish and German poetry and Limericker Literaturgespräche. Gisela recites Die Stadt by Theodor Storm and a quote of the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who recently visited the Centre for Irish-German Studies together with Irish president Michael D Higgins.