Scottish-German Relations

1075

Marianus Scotus establishes the first monastery of the Scottish Benedictines in Germany, the so-called Priory of Weih St Peter.

1152

Abbot Christian of St James in Ratisbon travels to Scotland to King David I in order to raise further sums for the building of a new church and the enlargement of the abbey. From Ratisbon, several new churches are founded the monasteries of the Virgin and St. Gregory at Vienna; the St. James’ monasteries at Erfurt and Würzburg; St. Giles at Nürnberg; St. James again at Constance; St. Nicholas at Memmingen; the monastery Sanctae Crucis at Eichstätt, and the priories of St. John at Kehlheim and Altenfurt near Nurnberg.

1198

The Schottenkloster at Erfurt is granted a privilege, afterwards confirmed by the Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg.

1297

Andrew Moray and William Wallace write a letter to the Senate of the Free City of Lubeck to establish trade relations with the Hanseatic league.

1308

Duns Scotus dies unexpectedly in Cologne. A monument erected in his memory in 1513 in the Church of the Minorites reads as follows: “Scotia me genuit. Anglia me suscepit. Gallia me docuit. Colonia me tenet.” (“Scotland brought me forth. England sustained me. France taught me. Cologne holds me.”)

1316

Vessels from Lubeck, Rostock and Stralsund capture a ship destined for Berwick to seize a cargo of victuals.

1321

April 22^nd: In a letter to the Magistrates of Lubeck, Robert the Bruce offers assistance and protection to German merchants who wish to establish trade relations with Scotland.

1412

June 6^th: The Earl of Mar, Alexander Stuart, attacks a ship from Rostock to Flanders near Cape Lindesnaes. Most of the sailors are abducted to Scotland.

1427

The Scottish abbots of Erfurt are awarded the title of “Universitatis Studii Erfurtensis Protectores, Privilegiorum Conservatores, Matriculae Custodes.” As such, they help to settle various conflicts among the scholars of Erfurt.

1453

In a letter to the Magistrate of Bremen, King James II takes the merchants of Bremen with their servants and ships under his protection, offering favourable trade conditions.

1462

A citizen of Danzig called Kilekanne is accused of piracy before the Scotch Admiral Sir Alexander Napier.

1514

An altar dedicated to St Ninian is erected by two citizens of Erfurt, Scotsmen by birth, named Balthasar Barding and Jacob Flamingk (Fleming).

1525

July 17^th: The Scottish Parliament passes an act prohibiting the introduction and the reading of Luther’s writings.

1526

Patrick Hamilton travels to Wittenberg and becomes acquainted to Luther and Melanchthon.

1544

Alexander Alesius from Edinburgh is made Professor of Theology at the University of Leipzig in 1544.

1550

Queen Mary commands several Scottish men-of-war to put an end to piracy in Scottish waters and to look after the safety of merchant vessels from Danzig, Emden and Hamburg.

1581

At Ingolstadt, Ninian Winzet, originally from Dunfermline, publishes his commentaries on the Epistles of St Paul. A year later, his polemical Flagellum sectarium is published, with a dedication to the Duke of Bavaria.

1585

George Buchanan’s Calumnia is translated into German.

1598

Oct. 31^st: Alexander Erskine is born in Greifswald 1598. In his long career as a politician and diplomat, he serves as Minister of War under his master, the Swedish King Gustavus Adolfus.

1613

Charles Stuart’s sister Elizabeth marries Frederick V, Elector of the Palatine, and moves to Heidelberg.

1618

John Napier’s Rabdologiae seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo (1617) is translated into German (Künstliche Rechenstäblein zu vortheilhafftiger und leichter mannifaltigung).

1626

Martin Opitz, the leading theoretician of German Baroque poetry, translates John Barclay’s Argenis (1621) into German: Johann Barclaÿens Argenis Deutsch gemacht durch Martin Opitzen.

1645

The Scottish diplomat John Cochrane is sent on a mission to Hamburg and to the Scots settled in Danzig.

1646

The Scottish abbot Jobannus Audomarus Aslon is appointed Rector of the University in Würzburg.

1649

Andreas Gryphius writes his tragedy Carolus Stuardus.

1661

Landscape painter Franz de Hamilton from Lanarkshire enters the services of Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg in Kleve.

1669

August Adolph von Haugwitz writes Schuldige Unschuld oder Maria Stuarda (“Guilty Innocence, or Mary Stuart”).

1713

Placidus Fleming (Flaminius) from Kirkoswald in Ayrshire builds a Seminary for young Scottish boys of better families at Griesstätten.

1733

The Grammar School for Boys of the Teutonic Order (Fürstliches Deutschorden-Gymnasium) at Mergentheim stages a Latin play titled Maria Stuarta Scotiae Regina Tragoedia.

1737

P. Andreas Gordon becomes Professor of Philosophy at Erfurt. Other Scottish scholars at Erfurt include Marianus Brockie, the author of a History of the Scottish Monasteries, Bernhard Grant, Hieronymus Panton, Superior of the Monastery and Doctor of Divinity, Maurus Stuart and Boniface Leslie.

1743

Bernard Stuart is elected Abbot of St James’s at Ratisbon.

1744

Barthold Heinrich Brockes publishes his German translations of James Thomson’s poems in The Seasons. Joseph Haydn’s oratory Die Jahreszeiten (1801) is based on Gottfried van Swieten’s adaption of Thomson’s original.

1745

Father Macdonnell serves as a messenger from the monastery of St James to Charles Stuart at Rome, proposing the raising of a regiment of Bavarians to assert the rights of the Royal Stuart. Gallus Leith, another priest who had been educated in Ratisbon, served in the army of Charles Edward Stuart and is wounded at Culloden.

1746

16^th: The Duke of Cumberland’s army at Culloden contains Hanoverian regular soldiers as well as mercenaries from Hesse.

1751

July 25^th: The German composer John Frederick Lampe (i. e. Johann Friedrich Lampe) dies in Edinburgh.

1753

Tobias Smollett’s Peregrine Pickle and His Adventures are translated into German (“Begebenheiten des Peregrine Pickels”, 4 vols.) and published by Gleditsch in Leipzig. Two years later, Johann Georg Büsch translates Tobias Smollett’s The Adventures of Roderick Random into German (“Begebenheiten des Roderick Random”).

1756

Scotsman Sir Andrew Mitchell serves as British ambassador to the Court of Prussia and becomes a trusted friend of Frederick the Great.

1758

The Scots Greys under the command of Lord George Sackville arrive in Germany to fight in the army commanded by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. During the campaign, they are involved in various battles, including the Battle of Bergen (13.4.1759) and the Battle of Minden (1.8.1759).

1759

Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz translates four treatises by David Hume into German.

1764

Rudolf Erich Raspe translates excerpts of Macpherson’s Fragments of ancient poetry. His translations are published in the Hannoverischen Magazin.

1768

The Austrian Catholic priest and Jesuit Michael Denis translates Macperson’s Fragments of ancient poetry. Strongly influenced by his Scottish contemporary, he publishes Die Lieder Sineds des Barden (1772) and becomes a leading figure of the Bardic Movement. --- Robert Murray Keith is appointed British ambassador to the Court of Saxony at Dresden. --- Adam Ferguson’s An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) is translated into German (“Versuch über die Geschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft”).

1773

In his Auszug aus einem Briefwechsel über Ossian und die Lieder alter Völker, Johann Gottfried Herder defends Macpherson’s poetry against suspicions concerning their authenticity. Herder introduces Goethe to the works of Macpherson whose works are reflected in Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther).

1775

Edmund von Harold, an Irish-German officer from Limerick who served in the Palatinate, publishes James Macpherson’s Fragments as Die Gedichte Ossian’s, eines alten celtischen Helden und Barden. In Die Gedichte Ossians des celtischen Helden und Barden aus dem Englischen und zum Theile der celtischen Ursprache (1782), he publishes his own Ossianic poetry renderinmg them as translations from Gaelic originals. --- Benedict Arbuthnot is elected abbot of St James in Regensburg.

1776

Johann Friedrich Schiller, a cousin of the German poet Friedrich Schiller, translates Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Later translations include Christian Garve’s (1794-1796) and Georg Friedrich Sartorius (1796)

1792

William Robertson’s An historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India (1791) is translated into German by Johann Daniel Sander and Georg Forster (Historische Untersuchung über die Kenntnisse der Alten von Indien).

1793

Friedrich von Reden invites the Scottish engineer John Baildon to Prussian Silesia. Baildon was involved in numerous pioneering industrial undertakings, including the construction of the first blast furnaces fired by coke in continental Europe. He died in Gleiwitz.

1795

James Booth, a Scottish gardener from Larbert, follows German social reformer Caspar Voght to establish a tree nursery in Klein-Flottbek near Hamburg.

1796

In The Chase, and William and Helen. Two Ballads from the German (Edinburgh, 1796), Walter Scott translates two ballads of Gottfried August Bürger.

1799

Walter Scott’s An Apology for Tales of Terror (Kelso, 1799) contains a translation of Goethe’s Erlkönig. In the same year, he translates Goethe’s Götz von Berlichingen: Goetz of Berlichingen, with the Iron Hand. --- Accompanied by James Macdonald, vicar in Fife, Emilie von Berlepsch travels in Scotland. Later on, she publishes a four-volume account of her journey, titled Caledonia.

1800

Friedrich Schiller publishes his tragedy Maria Stuart (Mary Stuart). --- Thomas Campbell visits Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock in Hamburg and Christian Gottlob Heyne in Göttingen.

1817

Henriette Schubart translates Walter Scott’s The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802 f.) into German (Schottische Lieder und Balladen). --- Wilhelm Adolf Lindau translates Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer (1815) into German: Der Astrolog. Eine caledonische Wundersage. Further translations by Lindau include Tales of My Landlord, 1819; Waverley, 1821; The Antiquary, 1821).

1819

Adam Storck translates The Lady of the Lake. A Poem (1810) into German (Das Fräulein vom See. Ein Gedicht in sechs Gesängen).

1820

Adam Storck translates Walter Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel into German (“Der letzte Minstrel. Ein Gedicht in sechs Gesängen”). The Last Minstrel was also translated by Willibald Alexis (“Das Lied des letzten Minstrels”, 1824) and C. Cornelius (“Des letzten Minnesängers Sang”, 1896).

1821

Karl Ludwig Methusalem Müller translates Ivanhoe. A Romance (1819) into German.

1823

Elise von Hohenhausen translates Kenilworth. A Romance (1821) into German.

1824

Nov 30^th: The German-Scottish cellist and composer Johann Georg Christoph Schetky dies in Edinburgh as a respected member of the Edinburgh Musical Society and a friend of Thomas Erskine.

1825

Thomas Carlisle publishes his English translation of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (“William Meister’s Apprenticeship”). In the same year, he publishes Life of Schiller, an Examination of His Works. In 1827, Carlisle’s German Romance is published, a collection of translations from Goethe, Fouqué, Tieck, Musäus, Jean Paul, Hoffmann in four volumes.

1826

Johann Reinhold von Lenz dramatizes Walter Scott’s Kenilworth. A Romance as Die Flucht nach Kenilworth.

1827

C. Richard translates Scott’s Marmion. A Tale of Flodden Field (1808) into German (Eine Erzählung vom Schlachtfelde von Flodden. Dichtung in sechs Gesängen).

1829

Aug 7^th: Felix Mendelssohn and his his travelling companion Karl Klingemann visit Fingal’s Cave on their excursion to the Scottish island of Staffa. Inspired by his visit, Mendelssohn composes Die einsame Insel (The Lonely Island). --- While studying German Literature and Classical Philology in Göttingen and Berlin, John Stuart Blackie makes the acquaintance of Heeren, Schleiermacher, Neander, Karl Otfried Müller and August Boeckh.

1832

Georg Nicolaus Bärmann translates Walter Scott’s Tales of My Landlord into German (“Das gefährliche Schloß”, “Graf Robert von Paris”).

1833

William Edmondstoune Aytoun travels to Aschaffenburg to study German. While in Germany, he composes a blank verse translation of the first part of Goethe’s Faust.

1839

German Romantic poet Achim von Arnim publishes his last narrative, entitled Die Ehenschmiede (“Marriage at the Blacksmith’s”) – it is partly set in Gretna Green.

1843

Ferdinand Freiligrath translates Robert Burns’s A Man’s a Man for A’ That into German – his version, entitled Trotz alledem (“Inspite of it all”), is a popular song during the German revolution of 1848.

1847

Wilhelm Taubert composes his opera Macbeth.

1852

Robert Schumann sets five poems of Mary Stuart to music.

1854

Inspired by a copy of Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry and Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, German Realist poet Theodor Fontane writes his ballad Archibald Douglas and reads it to a circle of friends in a meeting of Berlin’s poetic society, Der Tunnel über der Spree. Three years later, it is published in Argo, Album für Kunst und Dichtung.

1860

Theodor Fontane publishes his travelogue Jenseits des Tweed (Beyond the Tweed).

1862

The Bavarian Government buys the Monastery of St James from the Scottish Benedictines.

1864

Robert Michael Ballantyne’s adventure novel The Red Eric (1861) is translated into German as “Der rothe Erich oder des Wallfischfahrers letzte Reise”.

1866

Samuel Smiles’s most famous book, Self-Help, is translated into German by Josef M. Boyes (“Die Selbsthülfe in Lebensbildern und Charakterzügen“).

1868

Invited by Alexander Mackenzie, German musician Friedrich Niecks settles down in Edinburgh. Later on, he moves to Dumfries.

1870

Nov. 24^th: James Edward Earnshaw, Scottish engineer and founder of James Edward Earnshaw & Comp., dies in Nürnberg.

1873

George MacDonald’s David Elginbrod (1863) is translated into German.

1875

Heinrich Julius Eggeling becomes a Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh.

1880

Theodor Fontane writes his ballad Die Brück’ am Tay about the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879.

1882

William Campbell of Breadalbane enters the Prussian army and starts a military career. --- Ludwig Hierthes publishes a dictionary of literary Scots, Wörterbuch des schottischen Dialekts in den Werken von Walter Scott und Burns.

1889

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) is translated into German.

1892

William McGonagall writes a long poem about the German steamer "Spree".

1895

Oct. 31^st: German author and ghostwriter Franz Hedrich from Bohemia dies in Edinburgh.

1890

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped is translated into German (David Balfour oder die Seelenverkäufer).

1897

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is translated into German by E. A. Witte.

1900

Emmy Becher translates Kenneth Grahame’s The Golden Age into German (Das goldene Zeitalter).

1914

From January to July, Charles Sorley spends six months in Germany, three months of which at Schwerin studying German language and culture. Subsequently, he enrols at the University of Jena until the outbreak of World War I.

1915

May 15^th: The German submarine SM U 90 enters St Kilda’s Village Bay and bombards several buildings. --- Oct. 13^th: The Scottish poet Charles Sorley is killed in action near Hulluch, shot by a German sniper during the Battle of Loos. --- Alexander Gray from Angus publishes Upright Sheaf: Germany’s Intentions After the War and True pastime: Some Observations on the German Attitude Towards War. Gray has also translated a number of works by German poets, among them August von Kotzebue, Wilhelm Müller, Ludwig Uhland, Johann Gottfried Herder and, most prominently, Heinrich Heine.

1919

June 21^st: After seven months of waiting, German Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter makes the decision to scuttle the Imperial German Navy’s High Seas Fleet. While some of the ships can be recovered by the Royal Navy, 53 ships are sunk.

1920

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau produces a silent movie version of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, titled Der Januskopf.

1922

Heinz Schall produces a silent movie version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

1924

Willa Muir translates works of Franz Kafka, Gerhart Hauptmann, Sholem Asch, Heinrich Mann, and Hermann Broch into English, assisted by her husband Edwin Muir.

1927

Stefan Zweig’s novella Vierundzwanzig Stunden aus dem Leben einer Frau (Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman) is published. The protagonist is a Scottish lady.

1928

E. L. Schiffer translates A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh into German (Pu der Bär).

1933

Jewish German geneticist Charlotte Auerbach emigrates to Edinburgh where she receives her PhD in 1935 at the Institute of Animal Genetics in the University of Edinburgh.

1934

The Jewish German biologist Hans Kosterlitz leaves Germany and becomes an assistant in the Physiology Department of the University of Aberdeen. --- Werner Kissling, a German emigrant from Breslau, visits the Hebridean island of Eriskay. His film Eriskay − A Poem of Remote Lives is an important document of early Scottish film-making. --- Allan Cunningham’s Biographical and Critical History of the British Literature of the Last Fifty Years is translated into German by A. Kaiser (“Biographische und kritische Geschichte der englischen Literatur von Samuel Johnson’s bis zu W. Scott's Tode”).

1935

The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig publishers his biography Maria Start.

1936

Having emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1933, Max Born becomes the Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.

1938

German sports scientist Bernhard Zimmermann emigrates to Scotland and joins Kurt Hahn as a teacher in Gordonstoun.

1939

October 14^th: U-47 under the command of Günther Prien penetrates Scapa Flow and sinks the First World War–era battleship HMS Royal Oak anchored in Scapa Bay. Three days after the submarine attack, four Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 1/30 led by group commander Hauptmann Fritz Doench raid Scapa Flow in one of the first bombing attacks on Britain during the war.

1940

Feb. 16^th: U-33, captained by Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky, is sunk by HMS Gleaner while laying mines in the Firth of Clyde. --- Sept. 30^th: Vera von Schalburg and two fellow agents, Karl Theodor Drücke and Werner Waelti, are sent from Stavanger by first seaplane and then rubber raft to the Scottish coast near Buckie. --- Carl Froelich’s film Das Herz der Königin (“The Queen’s Heart”) deals with Mary Stuart and her life.

1941

German bombers attack targets all over Scotland, predominantly in southern Scotland (Clydeside, Montrose, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Wick, Aberdeen), causing 2,500 casualties and leaving 8,000 people injured. 

1942

Eric Linklater’s novel The Crusader's Key (1933) is translated into German. --- The Scottish poet Robert Garioch is captured by German troops and spends the following three years as a Prisoner of War.

1944

A large number of German PoWs is held captive at Cultybraggan Camp, amongst them Heinrich Steinmeyer, soldier in the Waffen SS since 1942, and Kurt Schmidt, painter and cartoonist.

1945

Klaus Friedrich Roth, mathematician and son of a Jewish emigrant from Germany, moves to Gordonstoun to become an assistant schoolteacher.

1947

German-born, British artist, author, sculptor and historian Edith Simon settles down in Edinburgh with her British husband, Eric Reeve.

1949

Martin Beheim-Schwarzbach translates Archibald Joseph Cronin’s Lady with Carnations (1939) into German (“Die Dame mit den Nelken“).

1952

The University of Edinburgh presents Painters from the Rhine.

1954

Edinburgh and Munich become twin cities.

1955

Regensburg and Aberdeen become twin cities.

1955

The “Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner” (“Society of German Photographers”) establishes a photography award named after the Scottish pioneer of photography, David Octavius Hill (David-Octavius-Hill-Medaille).

1956

Kenneth White spends a year in Munich to study the philosophy of Heidegger and Nietzsche. --- Perth and Aschaffenburg become twin cities, just as Augsburg and Inverness.

1957

Hermann Brück moves to the University of Edinburgh to be appointed Astronomer Royal for Scotland. --- Erich Fried translates Eric Linklater’s Breakspear in Gascony (1950) into German (Der Teufel in der Gascogne).

1961

James Kennaway’s The Tunes of Glory (1956) is translated into German (“Einst ein Held”).

1962

Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is translated into German by Peter (“Die Lehrerin”). --- Sigrid Munro, who was born in Gleiwitz and settled down in Alness, publishes Schottische Freundschaft.

1962

Würzburg and Dundee become twin towns.

1965

August 19^th: German-born conductor Hans Oppenheim dies in Edinburgh.

1966

Compton Mackenzie’s Whisky Galore (1947) is translated into German (Das Whiskyschiff. Ein humoristischer Roman).

1968

The DEFA produces Schüsse unterm Galgen (“Shooting under the Gallows”), a movie adaption of Stevenson’s Kidnapped. In December 1975, the German ZDF broadcasts Die Abenteuer des David Balfour (“The Adventures of David Balfour”), another movie adaption of Stevenson’s novel.

1969

Alexander Trocchi’s Helen and Desire (1954) is translated into German (Helène oder: Die Begierde) and published by Olympia Press, Darmstadt. --- Fürth and Paisley become twin towns.

1970

Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s trilogy A Scots Quair (1932-34) is translated into German (Ein schottisches Buch).

1971

Glenrothes in Fife and Böblingen become twin cities.

1972

Hersbruck in Bavaria and Lossiemouth become twin towns.

1973

Schwarze Perlen (“Black Pearls”), a German dime novel series, is set in the Scottish Highlands.

1974

In Carl Amery’s science fiction novel Das Königsprojekt (“The Royal Project”), the Holy See plans to restore Catholicism in Scotland and chooses the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach as an alternative to the House of Stuart. A member of the Swiss Guard is sent out to secure the Stone of Scone for the church. --- Josephine Tey’s detective novel Miss Pym Disposes (1946) is translated into German (“Tod im College”). --- Prestwick and Lichtenfels in Franconia become partner cities, just als Kulmbach and Kilmarnock.

1976

The Scottish German Centre (Goethe Institut) in Glasgow initiates a Scottish German Newsletter.

1978

Edwin Morgan publishes his translations of poetry by August von Platen (August Platen. Selected Poems).

1979

Ute Tanner translates William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw (1977) into German (Im Grunde ein ganz armer Hund). --- Wilhelmshaven and Dunfermline become twin towns. --- Rainer Kölmel publishes Die Geschichte deutsch-jüdischer Refugees in Schottland about Jewish German refugees in Scotland.

1982

Haan and Berwick-upon-Tweed become twin cities.

1987

Robert Butts, son of a Scottish soldier in the British army, founds Claymore, a folk rock band from Heiligenhaus and Essen-Kettwig which fuses Scottish traditional music with rock. --- Feb. 2^nd: Alistair MacLean, author of H. M. S. Ulysses, dies in Munich.

1989

Bernd Rullkötter translates Alasdair Gray’s 1982, Janine into German. --- Iain Banks’ first sci-fi novel Consider Phlebas (1987) is translated into German as Bedenke Phlebas.

1990

Hermann Schreiber publishes Schottland: Geschichte eines Landes am Rande Europas (Scotland: History of a Country on Europe’s Fringe).

1991

After five seasons as a defender for Waldhof Mannheim, Jochen Müller joins Dundee United. --- Evelyn Schlag translates Douglas Dunn’s Elegies into German (“Elegien”).

1992

James B. V. Thomson’s collection The City of Dreadful Night is translated into German by Ulrich Horstmann (“Nachtstadt und andere lichtscheue Schriften”).

1993

James Kelman’s Greyhound for Breakfast (1987) is translated into German (“Windhund zum Frühstück”).

1994

July 28^th – Sept. 7^th: Royal Scottish Academy and The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh show The Romantic Spirit in German Art 1790 – 1990.

1996

August 25^th: The German metal band Grave Digger release their seventh studio album Tunes of War about the Scottish struggles for independence from England. --- Irvine Welsh’s novel Trainspotting is translated into English by Peter Torberg and published by Rogner & Bernhard, Frankfurt am Main.

1998

Suidakra, Melodic death metal band from Monheim, produce Auld Lang Syne, their second studio album. --- Joanne K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is translated into German (“Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen”). --- Plattling and Selkirk become twin towns.

2000

Schotten and Maybole (South Ayrshire) become twin towns

2001

 Ken MacLeod’s The Star Fraction (1995) is translated into German (“Das Sternenprogramm”).

2002

Germany’s former national team manager Berti Vogs assumes the position of Scotland national football team manager. In the UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, Scotland finishes second in their group to Germany.

2003

The extremist German Nazi band Sleipnir releases their album German-Scottish Friendship together with Nemesis, a Scottish Blood-and-Honour band. --- Laura Hird’s Nail and Other Stories (1997) is translated into German (“Nägel”).

2004

Bernhard Maier, German professor of religious studies, becomes Reader and Professor of Celtic at the University of Aberdeen. In 2011, he publishes his Wörterbuch Schottisch-Gälisch / Deutsch und Deutsch / Schottisch-Gälisch. --- Louise Welsh’s novel The Cutting Room (2002) is translated into German by Wolfgang Müller and Antje Kunstmann (“Dunkelkammer”).

2005

November 11^th: The board of directors of Scottish Power reject an offer by the German energy group E.ON who are interested in takeover. --- After moving to Scotland, German football player Katharina Lindner joins Glasgow City. --- German author Christa Kanitz publishes Schottische Disteln. Further novels set in Scotland are Schottische Träume (2010), Schottische Stürme (2010), Das Leuchten der schottischen Wälder (2013), Schottische Engel (2013). --- In Michael Peinkofer novel Die Bruderschaft der Runen (The Brotherhood of the Runes) sends Walter Scott on a quest to retrieve the sword of William Wallace. --- Scottish painter Peter Doig is appointed professor of painting at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

2006

The German portrait painter Sandro Kopp settles down in Nairn in the Highland region of Scotland, working primarily on oil portraits of family and friends painted from Skype conversations. --- Oct. 28^th: Elfriede Jelinek’s drama Ulrike Maria Stuart, which combines the biographies of Mary Stuart and of the German terrorist Ulrike Meinhof, is first performed at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater. ---The German heavy metal band Macbeth, founded in Erfurt, release their album Macbeth. --- The short-lived “Autorenkreis Historischer Roman Quo Vadis” creates the “Sir-Walter-Scott-Preis” (“Sir Walter Scott Award”) for historic novels. --- Scottish writer Louise Welsh spends a year as Writer in Residence in Bamberg at the international artists’ center Villa Concordia. ---- Don Paterson publishes Orpheus, his version of Rilke's Die Sonette an Orpheus.

2008

German director Michael Rowitz produces Das Wunder von Loch Ness (“The Loch Ness Miracle”) a fantasy film about an 11-year-old boy and his adventures around Loch Ness.

2009

Together with Hans-Christian Oeser and Gabriel Rosenstock, Elke Schmitter publishes Die Steine fragen mich nach Dir / the stones are asking about you / tá na clocha ag cur do thuairisce.

2010

Ulrike Becker translates Carol Ann Duffy’s The Gift into German (“Das Geschenk”). --- Kunstverein Hannover (Society of Fine Arts, Hannover) exhibits a collection of works of Charles Avery, Oban.

2012

12^th: Lisa Evans, born in Perth and a player for the Scottish national football team, signs a professional contract with the German football team Turbine Potsdam.

2013

Michael Klevenhaus, German author and musician, is awarded the International Gaelic Award of Bòrd na Gàidhlig in Edinburgh for his merits concerning the promotion of Gaelic culture in Germany.

2015

Andreas Pelikan and Alexander Pfister, German game designers, produce the award-winning board game Isle of Skye: Vom Häuptling zum König (“Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King”).

2016

A Scottish-German team of archaeologists led by Manuel Fernández-Götz (University of Edinburgh) and Félix Teichner (Vorgeschichtliches Seminar der Philipps-Universität Marburg) carry out research at the Roman fortifications at Ardoch. --- German folk musician Peter Kerlin engages in a musical partnership with the Scottisch singer-songwriter Ian Smith. --- Isabel Bodan’s satirical novel Der Pfau (“The Peacock”) is set in an old mansion in the Scottish Highlands.

2017

A. L. Kennedy becomes a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts. Most of her works have been translated by Ingo Herzke. She has also produced two audioplays commissioned by the regional German radio network, SWR.

2018

Mar. 31^st: Alexander John Maclagan Wedderburn, theologian from Edinburgh, dies in Munich.