On September 22, the grand opening of the Deutschverein MEPhI took place — now our university also has a German Club. Here, students interested in the German language, culture and history of Germany, regardless of their level of language proficiency, can find like-minded people and learn a lot of new things.

“I noticed that people often study English for pragmatic reasons — for work, and German is mainly chosen for the soul, because they like German philosophy, music, architecture, literature,” says the founder of the club, 2nd year student of the Institute for Financial Technologies and Economic Security of the MEPhI Ivan Kuzmin. — “I was lucky to have a German language teacher, and at MEPhI I was lucky to meet some guys who, like me, are interested in German culture. This summer I finally visited Germany - Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony — there I saw many Germans who perfectly understand modern political realities and strive for friendship with Russia... And so, when I returned, my like-minded people and I decided to organize such a club — after all, student time is ideal for such interests.”

Mostly students of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) of the MEPhI became members of the club, but there are also guys from other institutes: for example, Ivan Kuzmin himself became the “Chancellor” of the club, and the “Vice-Chancellors” responsible for different areas of work were 2nd year students of the Institute of Cyber Intelligence Systems (ICIS) of the MEPhI Rustam Gareev and Alexander Gorban, as well as student of the Institute for Nuclear Physics and Engineering (INPhE) of the MEPhI Vladislav Kuleshov. They decided to focus on organizing the office (neither more nor less!) of Otto von Bismarck, first Chancellor of the German Empire.

After the first meeting of the club, at which two quizzes were successfully held, its leaders, with German precision, calculated that the club meeting was attended by 44 people who ate 160 cubes of Ritter Sport chocolate. Two participants took home unusual German prizes.

Why join a club and learn German? To discover the vast world of the greatest representatives of German culture, philosophy and thought, and at the same time gain organizational experience in carrying out their initiatives — through discussing the history and culture of Germany in both languages, holding German holidays. As the club motto says, Und wir werden sehen, dass die deutsche Seele lebt!

For those who do not yet speak German very well, the club will help with conversational practice, and those who are already fluent in the language of Schiller and Goethe will be able to take part in discussions on various topics at seminars. The club’s plans include trips to historical places associated with Germany, lectures from interesting and unusual guest speakers, friendship with other German university clubs and holding the 1st Interuniversity Debating Championship in German.