Hannelore Mensch

Hannelore Mensch (born Hannelore Bosch, Neu Zachun, 16 June 1937) is a former East German politician. She served as the German Democratic Republic's Minister for Work and Wages in 1989/90.

Life

Hannelore Bosch was born in the north of what was then the central part of Germany. Her father was a farmer and she had a rural upbringing. The Second World War started when she was 2 and ended when she was not quite 8, after which her childhood was spent growing up in the Soviet occupation zone in what remained of Germany. While she was 12 the occupation zone became the German Democratic Republic, formally founded in October 1949. Between 1953 and 1956 Hannelore attended an agricultural college in Ludwigslust, emerging with a qualification in Agriculture. In 1958 she took a job as a Planner with MTS Brüsewitz, a state-administered agricultural machinery depot serving the district. From 1958 till 1962 she served as FDJ secretary and as divisional leader with the Schwerin rural district council. In 1959 she joined East Germany's ruling SED (party).

Mensch

Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש‎ mentsh, cognate with German: Mensch "human being") means "a person of integrity and honor." The opposite of a "mensch" is an "unmensch" (meaning: an utterly unlikeable or unfriendly person). According to Leo Rosten, the Yiddish maven and author of The Joys of Yiddish, "mensch" is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous." The term is used as a high compliment, expressing the rarity and value of that individual's qualities.

Details

In Yiddish, mentsh roughly means "a good person." The word has migrated as a loanword into American English, where a mensch is a particularly good person, similar to a "stand-up guy", a person with the qualities one would hope for in a friend or trusted colleague. Mentshlekhkeyt (Yiddish מענטשלעכקייט, German Menschlichkeit) are the properties which make a person a mensch.

During the Age of Enlightenment in Germany the term Humanität, in the philosophical sense of compassion, was used to describe what characterizes a "better human being" in Humanism. The concept goes back to Cicero's Humanitas. It was literally translated into the German word Menschlichkeit and then adapted as mentsh in Yiddish use.

Mensch (album)

Mensch, released in 2002, is the 20th music release by prominent German rock/pop artist Herbert Grönemeyer. Mensch ("Human") is Grönemeyer's 11th full-length album of original compositions. The title track "Mensch" became Grönemeyer's first number-one single in Germany. The mood of the album reflects the recent death of his wife and one of his older brothers in the same week, and is rich with poetic imagery. The songs range from rock to ballads. The richness of the imagery and language, as well as the use of creative word play, can make the lyrics difficult to interpret by listeners who are not fluent in German. In Mensch Grönemeyer reflects on his own humanity as it relates to feeling loss. The song "Der Weg" in particular focuses on memories of his wife and the love they shared.

The full-length album was released in three versions:

Mensch (disambiguation)

Mensch (German for human being) is a Yiddish word for a person of integrity and honor.

Mensch may also refer to:

People

Other

See also