daffodil cowslip primrose

Share of couples living together in Germany in a household where at least one of the partners is a foreign national (green).

Narcissus pseudonarcissus (daffodil) neophyte from Spain; Primula veris (cowslip primrose) indigenous plant from Germany

 

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt: 1,5 Millionen deutsch-ausländische Paare, press release from 09/04/2018
https://www.destatis.de/DE/PresseService/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/zdw/2018/PD18_36_p002.html

Narcissus pseudonarcissus (daffodil)
Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis family)

Perennial herbaceous plant, 15–40 cm in height, with basal, lanceolate leaves, leafless stems and large yellow flowers. Plant grows from bulb. Mostly propagated by humans: enters the open countryside through garden waste.

Grows wild on mountain meadows and pastures, often forms large populations. Poisonous pasture weed shunned by cattle. Since ancient times an ornamental plant, with many cultivars existing today. One of the most popular spring flowers.

Native to southern and western Europe, for example, Spain. The natural area extends just as far as the Eifel in Germany. Neophyte in southern Germany, very frequently planted and occasionally wild, probably in process of becoming naturalized.

 

Primula veris (cowslip)
Primulaceae (primrose family)

Perennial herbaceous rosette plant, 10–30 cm tall, leaves oblong-ovate and wrinkled, yellow flowers with orange spots on the floral tube, fragrant. Inflorescence reminiscent of a bunch of keys, seeds are scattered by the wind.

Grows in rough pastures and sparsely grown dry forests, rare in many regions due to heavy fertilization. Harbinger of spring and ancient medicinal plant.

Indigenous to Germany. Natural area covers most of Central Europe and extends in the east to the upper course of the river Amur.

Couples

Monique, born Obermüller, actress, German-Mexican family, initially works in television editorial offices, including on the program Zapping at TV station Premiere. (1)

Fatih, born in 1973, grows up in Hamburg-Altona, the son of a family who came to Germany in 1966 from the coal region on the Turkish Black Sea coast. His father is a blue-collar worker, his mother an elementary school teacher. Fatih is hungry for education, but also fascinated by aggression and violence. He is exposed to contradictions, such as when he is praying at the Catholic kindergarten and then gets high on Bruce Lee films. He begins writing short stories, tries out filmmaking on Super 8, and then he wants to become a director.

Later, year after year it is the »collision of cultures« that helps Fatih create the chasms of his film characters: The result is »authentic and immediate truthfulness«. (2)

Monique plays in Fatih’s film Short Sharp Shock (1998), and also in Head-On (2004). In Fatih Akin – Tagebuch eines Filmreisenden, she directs. It is the genesis of Fatih’s film The Edge of Heaven (3), an »intimate and dense portrait of an unusually casual filmmaker«.

In 2004, Fatih Akin and Monique get married: »Monique, whom I always loved, who reciprocated my love and who brought light to the darkest days.« (4)

 

(1) http://deacademic.com/dic.nsf/dewiki/971599
(2) See: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/kulturspiegel/d-8001601.html https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatih_Akin#cite_note-4 https://www.ndr.de/kultur/film/Fatih-Akin-Der-Regisseur-des-Rauen,fatihakin137.html. In February 2019, Fatih Akin’s film The Golden Glove premiered at the 69th Berlinale.
(3) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwnqpq
(4) Fatih Akin, Gegen die Wand. Das Buch zum Film, Cologne 2004, p. 205