The Latest at Goethe

Schwäbisch Hall has 37,000 inhabitants; it is the smallest location of a Goethe-Institut in Germany. Yet, those who take a look around here recognize that the town offers more than its size would let on. That’s good for the 1,900 language course participants who come here annually to get to know Germany. By Martin Rasper

It’s so green here! That is usually the first impression of people coming to Germany from Mediterranean or otherwise sunburnt countries (and the deeper meaning of the sentence becomes clear to them later when they are sorting their rubbish). The journey to Schwäbisch Hall passes through a rich green hilly country of valleys, meadows and forests. In contrast, the latest advertisements for a building and loan association tell us, Germany is not only green, but “Schwäbisch-Hall Land.” In this respect there can be no more suitable place to learn about the German language and culture than in this young-at-heart medieval town, which someone with a great sense of drama squeezed into the narrow valley of the Kocher.

On the other side of the river rise the impressive hills of the old town that visitors arriving at the station see at second glance; a pluckily piled-up jumble of half-timbered and sandstone façades, both inapproachable and inviting (Swabians are obviously good at this). Everything is so lovely here, thinks the language course aspirant. The people that live here must be self-assured and pragmatic and have a special skill at mixing tradition and modern; who else could invent a “Maultasche carpaccio?” (Hotel Kronprinz)

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You can find more about “60 Years at Goethe” on our anniversary website.

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Finally, the visitors reach the doors of the Goethe-Institut, where they finally feel they’ve arrived. It is a double-winged Baroque structure, almost a little palace. Where language resides in such mellow grandeur, learning has got to be good! We discover that the architectural gem was once a monastic hospital, which lends the institute, founded in 1965, a very unique charm. The thick walls not only exude history, but are also excellently suited for hanging photographic exhibitions. The rooms offer enough space for language courses, seminars and offices; a generous media library that is open all day stretches under the roof, it has its own cafeteria and the pièce de résistance is the Baroque chapel in the basement, which provides the perfect framework for concerts and festivities.

Social cordiality and cosmopolitanism

The institute’s director first takes up the small town theme; Barbara Malchow-Tayebi, 62, with a hearty handshake, short gray hair and sparkling blue eyes, presents a survey of course participants. With almost tedious unanimity they answered the question of why they chose this institute and how they liked it here by saying that Schwäbisch Hall is a lovely small town that is a pleasant place to live and learn and they happen to like lovely small towns that are pleasant places to live and learn. Only one of them wrote, “Schwäbisch Hall is too small and the weather is bad,” and one is almost thankful for the dissenting opinion as it makes it all more authentic.



Clearly, the German course is nonetheless successful. Yet “Hall,” as the city was long called and is still called by the natives, is far more than the cosy little town its half-timbered façades and the nearly 37,000 inhabitants make it seem.

Barbara Malchow-Tayebi, who has been the institute director since early 2010, considers the location an opportunity. “The people are this region’s potential,” she says, “their versatility, their efficiency, their cosmopolitanism.” The long history of the city, which became rich from salt and was a Free Imperial City from 1280 until 1802, brought forth a self-assured, dedicated middle class.

The city’s most international place

The director’s present position brings her career with Goethe full circle, as it is her fourth time stationed in Schwäbisch Hall. She worked here twice as editor and once as the deputy director and in between was stationed in Beijing and Mumbai, Paris and Lisbon. Global scope is guaranteed in this career as well as in-depth knowledge of the value of cultural exchange. This is also demonstrated by the diversity of international cooperation: every year in autumn students come here from Qingdao, China to prepare for their studies at the Ansbach University of Applied Sciences. Scholarship holders from the Saudi Arabian and Thai governments, Turkish district administrators and imams from German mosques learn German here, university graduates from Iraq take courses in German and regional studies.

In spite of its global scope, however, little Hall is ultimately of manageable size and the Goethe-Institut is also an actor in the local arts scene. The institute is not only the co-organizer of the international JazzArtFestival, which has been held here since 2007, but also holds photography exhibitions, concerts and, once a year, a big summer fete. Just recently it organized a crime thriller quiz with local writer Tatjana Kruse: “The Maultasche Mafia.”

The text was posted on the Internet and users who answered questions in the quiz about Schwäbisch Hall’s culture and history could win prizes. The list of winners impressively reveals the many places that people scratched their heads over the name of the inn at the Hohenloh open-air museum or how many jobs the packaging machinery industry offers. Whoever understands words like Verpackungsmaschinenindustrie, must have learned a great deal about this country. What more can one want?

This text is a slightly abridged version of an article that appeared in the Goethe-Institut magazine on “60 Years at the Goethe-Institut” (read the PDF).