Liptauer Cheese Spread

This is a highly popular cheese spread in much of Bavaria and Austria, commonly just called Liptauer, or Liptauer Aufstrich (spread), not to be confused with the well known "Obatzda," another, similar, cheese spread, primarily from Bavaria, often eaten with large soft pretzels (YUMMY!). There are a number of variations on Liptauer, with just a change or two in ingredients, but all recipes I've seen are very similar to one another. Good with pumpernickel or hearty rye bread and some sliced vegetables. Liptauer came from the "Liptov" area of northern Slovakia, for which the German rendering of the name was "Liptau."  

Ingredients:

1 pound small curd cottage cheese, mashed up well (or pressed through a sieve, if you want to get that involved, which I don't, but see the Word History)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 heaping tablespoons sour cream
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons sweet paprika (Hungarian for authenticity, but use what you have)
2 tablespoons hot paprika (same as with sweet paprika)
1 medium pickle, finely chopped
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
2 tablespoons caraway seed (whole or ground)
3 tablespoons capers (whole or chopped)
3 anchovy fillets, chopped*
3 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper

In a bowl, thoroughly mix the cottage cheese, cream cheese and sour cream. Gradually add all of the other ingredients to make sure everything is well mixed. Cover and chill for a couple of hours. "Typically," "hot paprika" is not really all that hot, but you can cut down on the hot paprika, but then up the regular paprika, as the spread needs quite a bit of paprika.

* Please don't be afraid of anchovies. When used in cooking, they actually melt away, but provide a subtle meaty taste. When used in cold dishes, they do need to be chopped well to keep the taste subtle, and not the taste anchovy haters remember from a bite of pizza they had when they were 11 years old. I love anchovies, including on pizza, but I realize that "full strength" anchovies are not for everyone.   

I had mine with pumpernickel cocktail bread along with celery and green onions. (Hey, who's the guy with the onion breath?)

WORD HISTORY:
Sieve-This word, closely related to "sift," goes back to Indo European "seip," which had the notion, "to flow through, to drip, to trickle." This gave the West Germanic branch of Old Germanic, "sibp," ^ which meant, "sieve." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sife" (likely pronounced "sifeh," with a short "i," and the ending "e" was pronounced 'eh'). This then became "sive," before the modern form. The verb form was derived from the noun in the 1400s. Other West Germanic languages have: German "Sieb," Low German Saxon "Seev," Dutch "zeef," West Frisian "souwe."

^ Forms of "sieve" are only in the West Germanic languages, so either other Germanic forms died out in East and North Germanic, or the form itself was developed in West Germanic.  

The German Question, Part One Hundred Forty-Five

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Two/F/2
"Germany Versus the Soviet Union" Part Two "The Attack"

With Britain still undefeated, but relatively contained, Hitler felt confident to pursue the goal of all the maneuvering in eastern Europe, the conquest of Russia, the Soviet Union. While Stalin was usually prone to paranoia, in this case, though he was given many warnings of an imminent German attack by other nations and by some in his own military, he did not take these warnings as seriously as he should have, and while not naive, he thought he still had time to prepare for any German attack, and possibly enough time to even carry out an attack of his own on Germany.* The world was dealing with two major scoundrels, Hitler and Stalin, and if you had put them in a bag and shook it up, you wouldn't have known which one would have hopped out first.

On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded the Soviet Union. From East Prussia, German armored and motorized units thrust through the Soviet annexed Baltic states toward the metropolis of Leningrad.** Simultaneously from the north, Finnish troops sought to reclaim the territory lost to the Soviets in the recent war. Further north in Finland, actually near the Arctic Circle, German troops moved to capture the Soviet port city of Murmansk. From German occupied Poland, German units attacked toward Moscow. In the south, aided by Hungarian, Slovak, and Rumanian forces,*** the Germans advanced toward the Ukrainian city of Kiev, and toward the Crimea. Huge Soviet forces found themselves surrounded by the fast moving German mechanized units, and Soviet troops surrendered by the hundreds of thousands.**** Leningrad was surrounded and much of the Soviet leadership evacuated Moscow as the Germans approached the city. The Germans and Rumanians entered the Crimea and besieged the fortress city of Sevastopol. It certainly looked as if Hitler would win a stunning victory over Stalin and the Soviet Union, but time was running out.

Winter set in, and German forces found themselves unprepared for it, as the giddiness of early victories caused many Germans to assume the fighting would be over before winter arrived. Further, while the Axis forces won many astounding victories, the Soviets inflicted severe casualties on the invaders. Their units depleted, and the cold and snow taking its toll, the German offensive ground to a halt. The Soviets, reinforced by fresh units from Siberia, launched their own massive attacks, driving the Germans back in many places, but the German retreat was not a rout, and before long, the front stabilized. Both sides were exhausted.

With his units diminished, Hitler sent some fresh troops to bolster his forces for a new offensive in 1942. Leningrad remained surrounded in the north, Murmansk was still in Soviet hands, and German forces had retreated from the outskirts of Moscow to points somewhat further away from the capital. Hitler decided to narrow his 1942 offensive to the southern areas of the Soviet Union. Sevastopol fell to the Germans and Axis forces advanced toward the Caucasus, the center of Soviet oil production.***** Hitler then divided his southern forces, sending one segment after the oil fields, and the other after the city of Stalingrad, which was located on the Volga River, the capture of which would have deprived the Soviets of using that part of the river for shipping. The German forces entered and eventually captured about 90% of Stalingrad, but the Soviets hung on. With the city so devastated by the fighting, and especially by earlier German air attacks, there was plenty of rubble to provide cover for the stubborn Soviet defenders. The Germans could never completely dislodge them, and the situation stagnated as another winter approached. This time it was Stalin who had a surprise for Hitler.

* Stalin had a major streak of paranoia, although the political system in which he had functioned for so long didn't lend itself to any leader getting too comfortable, and his paranoia may well have kept him alive and in power. In the mid to late 1930s, Stalin carried out a huge purge in the Soviet Union, including of his military leaders, ruthlessly removing and putting on trial many commanders at various levels. Hundreds in the military were imprisoned or executed, leaving the military with a leadership gap. Most historians agree that the Soviets' poor military showing against Finland in 1939-40 showed the negative effects of the military purge. By the time of the German invasion, the Soviet army was still in the midst of reorganization, and the leadership gap had not been closed significantly.

** This was the former capital of St. Petersburg, renamed by the Communists in honor of Lenin. They moved the capital to Moscow.

*** In a short time, Mussolini sent an Italian corps, later expanded to an army, to fight in Russia.

**** In and around Kiev, the Germans claimed to have captured more than 600,000 Soviets troops. and that was just one battle!

***** As I mentioned in Part 144, the fight for oil was well under way well before our own time, and Hitler made the strategic decision to go after the significant Russian oil supplies in hopes of solving his own potential oil shortage, as well as depriving the Soviets of the oil.

WORD HISTORY:
Live-This verb goes back to Indo European "leip," which had the notion of "continue (on), remain, exist further." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "libjanan," meaning "to be alive." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "lifian," and "libban," depending upon dialect, both with the same "to be alive" meaning. Later, the two forms merged into "liven," and then the modern spelling. It is, of course, closely related to the noun "life." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "leben," Dutch and Low German Saxon have "leven," Frisian has "libje," Norwegian and Danish have "leve," Swedish has "leva," and Icelandic has "lifa."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Nine

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" Part Seven
"A Possible Turning Point; Hitler Takes Czechs Into The Reich"

NOTE: I forgot to mention that during the "Sudeten German crisis," the German public was highly apprehensive about going to war, according to the many correspondents there. The hysterical crowds at the 1938 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg and at a Hitler speech in Berlin* just prior to the Munich Conference were not really representative of the average German (from what is known). While there were no actual public opinion polls, there were many foreign reporters in Germany during that era, including Americans, and virtually all noted the downbeat mood of the German public about the possibility of war.

So now Czechoslovakia was much smaller in size,** but still with problems, primarily now from the Slovaks, who wanted total independence. Hungary had received some territory with substantial Hungarian population as part of a separate agreement made at Vienna the month after the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany, but the Hungarians still harbored ill feelings toward the peace treaties and border adjustments made after World War One, especially as they applied to the rest of Slovakia, which they ruled prior to the end of the war. By March 1939, the Czechs sent troops into Slovakia and Slovak leaders were removed from their positions. The Slovaks declared independence (with Hitler's support and insistence). President Hacha went to meet Hitler in Berlin, where he was told the capital of Prague would be bombed unless he cooperated with Germany. Hacha gave in and German troops crossed into his country later that morning, and Hitler himself followed a bit later. The Czech territories were occupied by Germany and declared the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia," and Slovakia was independent, although with foreign policy tied to Germany (as a satellite country, in other words).

During the Sudeten crisis the previous year, Hitler had said Germany wanted "no Czechs." Further, he made the statement that the Sudetenland was his "last territorial demand in Europe."*** These two things and Hitler's signing of Chamberlain's "peace for our time" agreement were not forgotten in other countries, and Hitler, by taking Czechs into Germany, lost any credibility for just being a German patriot who wanted to unite Germans. Other European governments now began to reassess their policies toward Hitler and about how to deal with him.

* In a much anticipated speech given to 20,000 at the Berliner Sportpalast (Berlin Sport Palace), Joseph Goebbels whipped the faithful into a frenzy as he introduced Hitler. The speech was given on September 26, just three days before the Munich Conference, and I believe it was carried on radio throughout various parts of the world. No question in my mind that Goebbels, the propaganda genius, arranged everything to demonstrate German public support for Hitler's demands made on the Czech leaders. Twenty thousand Nazi Party members, however, were not the same as millions of average Germans, but in times of crisis, humans don't always think of such things, and the effect of the speech as it came across on radio with the hysterical crowd shouting "Führer befiehl, wir folgen" ("Führer command, we follow"), served Goebbels' purpose of making the world believe Germans were totally committed to Hitler's policy (although even if they weren't committed, there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do about it in a totalitarian police state).

** Technically, the official name of the country became "Czecho-Slovakia," to indicate the Slovaks had declared self government in the Slovak region, under Jozef Tiso. Edvard Beneš resigned as president of the country and went to England. He was replaced by Emil Hacha.

*** It is hard to believe that others from those times would have accepted this statement about territorial demands, as there were still several contentious issues of Germans living under non-German rule; especially, the city of Danzig, where the population was more than 90% German, and under a League of Nations Commissioner, the Polish Corridor and parts of Silesia where more than a million Germans lived under Polish rule, and in Memel and environs, where a substantial German majority lived under Lithuanian rule.

WORD HISTORY:
Hail-This is not related to "hail"=ice pellets, rather this word is used as a verb, an adjective and an interjection. This is the word used as an old greeting. It is closely related to "health," and indeed, that was the basic meaning lying behind its use as a greeting; that is, "health (to you)." Like its relatives, "health, heal and whole," it goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the general meaning "healthy, unharmed, in a sound, complete ("whole") condition." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," also with the same meaning. It "seems" Old English "hal" was then influenced in extended meaning by Old Norse "heill," or more specifically by the Norse expression "ves heill," which meant "be healthy, have good health." This expression gave Old English "wæs hæil," with the same meaning, and it eventually was contracted into "wassail;" that is, "a toast to someone's health," that later came to also be applied to a specific drink used for such a toast. The general idea, however, remained just in the word "haeil," which came to be used as a greeting, and was later spelled "hail." The same idea lies behind the closely related German word "heil," which the Nazis used in greetings "Heil Hitler" and "Sieg heil," the latter meaning "hail to victory." By the way, before English borrowed the word "victory," English had "sige," obviously a close relative to German "Sieg."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Seven

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/4)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 4/Final)

President Beneš of Czechoslovakia was afraid that if his government ceded the Sudeten German territories of his country to Germany, Czechoslovakia might well fall apart. The Slovaks would then likely want independence, or even more likely, Hungary would want control over Slovakia, as the Hungarians had ruled Slovakia in the days of Austria-Hungary. Further, Poland was already pressing for the relatively small Tesin area of Czechoslovakia, an area with a good number of Poles. In May 1938, the Czech government called up army reservists to demonstrate their willingness to resist Hitler. Calls came from Britain for a peaceful solution to the Sudeten German issue and matters lingered over the summer of 1938.

By September, Hitler gave his closing address to the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, but he did not announce military action as many had expected, although rumors of an imminent German invasion persisted. The Sudeten Nazis provoked several incidents after the speech, and negotiations between them and Beneš broke down. With war seemingly moving closer and closer, Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, flew to Germany to meet with Hitler at his mountain villa at Berchtesgaden. Hitler claimed Czech terror tactics against Germans in Czechoslovakia and he demanded the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany. Chamberlain agreed, but wanted matters to be worked out after a plebiscite determined which areas would go to Germany. The French concurred, and the reluctant Beneš, too. Chamberlain returned to Germany for another meeting with Hitler to cement the agreement, this time in Bad Godesberg along the Rhine River.* Hitler then changed the terms, demanding immediate German occupation of the Sudetenland to protect Germans he claimed were being mistreated by the Czech government, AND that Poland's and Hungary's claims for territory also be settled at the same time. Chamberlain was stunned. At a further meeting the next day, Hitler agreed to wait until October 1** to occupy the Sudetenland, to give Chamberlain time to speak with the French and Czech governments. Neither was supportive of the agreement, and Chamberlain also faced opposition from people in his own government. War seemed likely.

As the clock ticked down, a conference was called to be held in Munich (München) on September 29. The four participating nations of the conference were Britain with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, France with Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, Germany with Hitler, and Italy with Benito Mussolini. Notice, Czechoslovakia was not even invited! By the early hours of the next morning, an agreement had been reached between the four leaders ceding the Sudetenland to Germany. Beneš was urged to sign it, which he reluctantly did. The Sudetenland was to be occupied by German troops in stages, ending on October 10, 1938.

Prior to leaving Munich, Chamberlain met with Hitler one more time. He carried a piece of paper with him that essentially said that Germany and Britain would work together to always avoid war between them, and he got Hitler to sign it. Upon return to Britain, Chamberlain, in a famous bit of newsreel, waved the paper in the air saying that it was,"Peace for our time."

* Bad Godesberg is now a part of the city of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

** In the previous spring, Hitler had instructed his military to prepare for an attack on Czechoslovakia by October 1.

WORD HISTORY:
Holy-Another common Germanic word, related to 'health," "heal," and "whole," and as such, it also goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo" with the meaning, "healthy, unharmed, in a sound, complete ("whole") condition." This gave Old Germanic "hailaz," and the derived "hailaga," meaning "to be healthy spiritually." This in turn gave Anglo-Saxon "halig/haleg," meaning "holy, sacred." This then later became "holi/hali," before the modern version. As for the other Germanic languages: German and Dutch have "heilig," Low German has "hillig," and some dialects "heiljich," West Frisian "hillich," Danish and Norwegian have "hellig," Swedish has "helig," and Icelandic has heilagur. All mean "holy."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/1)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 1)

First a little background:
Czechoslovakia was formed after World War One from parts of the former "Austria-Hungary." The western areas, usually referred to as "Bohemia and Moravia," were Czech majority, and the eastern areas were Slovak majority. When Austria and Hungary agreed to share power in 1867, Hungary had ruled the Slovak areas and Austria had ruled Bohemia and Moravia. The significant thing was, the outer border areas of Bohemia and Moravia (sort of a semi-circle and much of it mountainous or hilly) were populated by Germans, some settlements dating back hundreds of years, and indeed, the area was part of the Old German Empire, and specifically became a Habsburg family possession in the 1500s. Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenians also formed smaller minorities within the nation's boundaries. When the Old German Empire was dissolved, these lands remained under Habsburg control, and thus became part of what was then called, the Austrian Empire, which later became Austria-Hungary, as noted above. When Czechoslovakia was formed, the Czechs essentially dominated the government, and although closely related to the Slovaks, both ethnically and linguistically, the two peoples did not always get along well together. The German population was upset that it then found itself as a distinct minority, with somewhat less than 25% of the population.* Later, when the Great Depression struck, the German areas were heavily hit by unemployment, which only caused further discontent. When Hitler came to power in Germany, and German nationalism surged, the German population of Czechoslovakia began to stir, and the situation was eventually set for Hitler to make claims against Czechoslovakia.

* It should be noted that some Germans also lived in the "interior" parts of the Czech lands, and also, but to a lesser degree, in the Slovak areas, but the vast majority lived in the outer edges of the Czech lands. This outer boundary area came to be called the "Sudentenland" by Germans, after the Sudeten Mountains in the area.

WORD HISTORY:
Whole-This word goes back to Indo European "koilas/kailo," which seems to have meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," with the same meanings, but the meaning "complete" eventually began to dominate. That meaning comes from the notion, if you are "unharmed, healthy," you are "complete." Later it was spelled "hool" and then "hole," but by the late 1400s or early 1500s, the "w" was added to differentiate it from the word of the same spelling, but meaning "opening, orifice, or perforation." In northern England and parts of Scotland it came to be pronounced and spelled "hale," where it also retained the meaning, "healthy," and indeed, "whole" and "hale" are closely related to "health and healthy." Numerous forms are common in the other Germanic languages, although with variations in exact meaning, but all generally centering around "healthy" and "unharmed," and some even with a similar meaning to English "whole;" that is "complete:" German has "heil," Low German has both "heel" and "heil," Dutch has "heel," West Frisian has "hiel," Norwegian has "heil," Swedish and Danish have "hel," and Icelandic has "heill."