A very thoughtful Wisconsin woman found German-language documents belonging to other Wisconsin residents whose family escaped the Holocaust. For 14 years she tried to find the family and now she has finally found them and returned their documents. Read the article and see the pictures at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Flooding in Germany II
Here are two more resources for understanding the extent of the flooding in Germany.
Hochwasser Zentralen - All the centers dealing with floods. A color-coded map thtat shows the extent of the flooding all over Germany.
Video: Luftaufnahmen vom Hochwasser in Deggendorf und Umgebung - Aerial shots of the flooding in Debbendorf and the surrounding area.
This video blends in the name of each location as they show it, so you can grab a map and search for each village simultaneously.
Flooding in South Germany
There has been horrific flooding in Germany and there are very good articles covering it. Specifically in Passau, this is the highest water levels they've seen since 1501, according to Spiegel.de. Pretty serious stuff.
In English from the Deutsche Welle: Flooding rages on in parts of central Europe
In German from the Deutsche Welle: Passau versinkt
For advanced German readers: Hochwasser: Anspannung in Passau, Hoffen in Rosenheim
And a moving article from Focus.de: Passau geht unter, und stellt sich die Schuldfrage
in Passau:

And the current state (6/4/13) in Regensburg:
German-language Christmas Services
So far I’ve heard about two German-language Christmas/Advent Services in the Twin Cities:
Dec 9, 2012 at 2:30 pm: MINNEAPOLIS: Trinity First Lutheran (1115 East 19th St. Mpls)
Dec 16, 2012 at 3:00 pm: ST. PAUL: St. Paul’s United Church of Christ (900 Summit Avenue, St. Paul) Join community members for the annual German-language Advent and Christmas service at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. There will be open communion. All are welcome. For more information, please contact the church office at 651.224.5809.
If you know of any others, please email me or comment here! Ihnen eine schoene Adventszeit!
Deutsche Welle
The Deutsche Welle (translated: German Wave) is Germany's international news broadcaster and has news in 30 languages, including English and German, as well as podcasts, German spoken s-l-o-w-l-y (langsam gesprochene Nachrichten), and resources for learning German.
Be sure to check out their Media Center for video, audio, pictures, and podcasts. Remember to listen to a segment repeatedly--you will understand it better if you listen to it more than once or twice!!
The Deutsche Welle used to have a newsletter that you could receive regularly with short news items; I used it for practicing my German at the beginning, much like I use German magazines now for practice. This is a very reliable, solid resource for you. Use it!
Spiegel.de
Spiegel Online is the web version of the German magazine “Spiegel.” It's like Time or Newsweek in its circulation and reputation. Check the English section for news written in English.
This is a highly reputable news source with everything from politics to business, personal feature stories to humor. I read it almost daily and highly recommend it.

