FSJler produces podcast series for German Maritime Museum
Watching ships - that's what Benedikt Neuhauser dreamed of when he started his voluntary social year (FSJ) at the German Maritime Museum (DSM) / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History in September 2020. After one year, the native Bavarian is heading back to the south; he remains connected to the north through the podcast "Schiffelauschen".
Ships fascinated Benedikt Neuhauser even before his arrival in the north. In Bavaria, he says, there are naturally not so many of ships, and if there are, then are rather smaller. For this reason, the 19-year-old was drawn to the sea. During his research for an FSJ position in the field of culture, he came across the DSM. A stroke of luck for the young man: "My interests geography and history are well represented there."
History, geography and, of course, ships also crept into the audio of his final project. After first getting acquainted with the 1380 Bremen cog, the best-preserved ship of the Middle Ages, and the exhibits in the museum harbor, it was clear that he wanted to know more about the exhibits. Neuhauser interviewed experts from the house and from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and created a three-part podcast series focusing on the first German polar research vessel GRÖNLAND, the whaling ship RAU IX and the salvage tug SEEFALKE. "I really enjoy listening to podcasts. That's why I'm even more pleased that I was allowed to make one myself."
The audio clips offer an exciting look back at the first German North Polar Expedition of 1868 and on today's deployment of the GRÖNLAND, Germany's oldest polar research vessel at more than 150 years old. The articles not only deal with technical details and a look back into the history of the ships: Neuhauser always finds an outlook into the present, for example on whale and marine research or on the question of what makes a ship a museum object.
After eleven months of museum operation - accompanied by the pandemic of closures, openings and distance work - he takes a lot with him. The experience gained has broadened his horizons by several nautical miles. The only downer: "I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to see the GRÖNLAND, she's currently in the shipyard in Denmark undergoing a general overhaul," laments Neuhauser, who during his FSJ just learned to appreciate the contrast between his mountainous home and the unobstructed view across the sea. And the GRÖNLAND? It will sail back to Bremerhaven at some point - then Benedikt Neuhauser will be back at the DSM as a guest.
