A new exhibition of Nazi paraphernalia in Cologne shows how the Nazi Party tried to take Christ out of Christmas with swastika cookies and hand grenade tree decorations. Many of their “paganised” Christmas carols are still unwittingly sung today.
Germany
Crikey wrap: remembering the fall of the Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall, 20 years ago today, reunited Germany and marked the official end of the 40-year Cold War. Crikey intern Michelle Loh does a wrap of what the pundits are saying.
Letter from...: Fall of the Berlin Wall: the 20th anniversary
The overzealous, over-event-managed celebration of 2009 — with circuitous, one-way routes, logjam entries and cops with machine guns — was a strange ossification of the spontaneity of 1989, writes Ben Gook from Berlin.
Why the fall of the Berlin Wall didn’t really matter
Forget the fall of the Wall in 1989, says Niall Ferguson, the truly revolutionary, world-changing events took place a decade earlier: the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the UK elected Thatcher, China began opening up to the West, and Iran became an Islamic Republic.
How we’re still stuck in a Berlin Wall mindset
East and West Germany were the ultimate economic science experiments, a government controlled economy next to a free market, the free market emerging victorious. But is this black and white look at economics what got us into this GFC mess?
Was the fall of the Berlin Wall a planned government plot?
Was the iconic fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago not due to the accepted story of a stuff up at a press conference and then a spontaneous protest, but rather a well orchestrated political plan between both governments?
Shit hits the fan for Wall Street’s shadow bankers
America’s biggest insider case is starting to spread, snaring some of Wall Street’s bluest-of-blue-blood banks in its web. Explosive claims are emerging, including disclosures on the dodgy trading of the Galleon hedge fund.
Downing Street plots to buy Blair’s way into the EU Presidency
British PM Gordon Brown is planning to buy off Angela Merkel and Nikolas Sarkozy’s votes for the European Union Presidency by offering them big jobs within the Union should Tony Blair get up.
Lessons from a new German government
The recent Germany elections have provided a few lessons that Australia could learn. For example, a coalition should be a post-election decision, not a permanent state of affairs.
Germans vote peacefully, but not quite contentedly
The results of the German election indicate Germans are dissatisfied with what they have been offered for so long, and in their calm, orderly way, are saying they would like to try something a bit different.
SPD smashed at German ballot box
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s dour triumph at the German polls says more about her hapless opposition, writes Humbolt University’s Charles McPhedran.
No winds of change in Germany, just storm clouds slowly gathering
It’s German elections time! With a fairly robust economy but unfairly distributed wealth, it’s a murky political mood in Germany. The Economist examines a country not pining for change, just stability.
Merkel looks for a narrower coalition
Germany votes on Sunday, with Christian Democrat chancellor Angela Merkel an unbackable favourite to be returned. But will the liberals distance themselves from the parties of the traditional left?
How a picnic brought down the Berlin Wall
On 19 August, 1989, 700 East Germans walked freely across their Soviet-controlled borders and into Hungary for some good food, wine and a spot of political revolution.
Germany’s elections: more duet than duel
In a fortnight, Germans are heading to the polls in a rather odd election: the candidates have been governing together for four years in coalition.
REVEALED: Thatcher feared the fall of the Wall
Documents smuggled out of the Kremlin have revealed details of a secret meeting between Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1989, where the Iron Lady stated plainly that Britain did not want Germany to be reunited.
V for victory in US economic recovery, Europe not looking so peaceful
Conventional economic wisdom is wrong, writes Anatole Kaletsky. The US economy will probably recover fairly quickly from the GFC, while Europe is likely to incur permanent damage to its economies.
Video of the Day: Sand, fingers and the German invasion of Ukraine
Watch out Adam Elliot! Using fingers, sand and some clever religious imagery, this contestant on Ukraine’s Got Talent manages to bring half of the audience to tears with her sand animation of Germany’s invasion of Ukraine. CGI now seems a little passé.
Guy Rundle: Inglourious basterd Scheungraber captured. Hooray?
Germany has captured another Nazi war criminal: Josef Scheungraber, 90, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. It’s undoubtedly right and proper to bring justice to these war crimes, says Guy Rundle — but only if justice is actually possible.
Political snippets: A rising toughness from the RSPCA
Richard Farmer says the RSPCA is getting tough on live sheep exports, Angela Merkel is getting her baps out, and he’s joining Twitter.
The Porsche family feud ends in tears
Volkswagen’s decision to purchase all of Porsche has put an end to the takeover drama that has gripped the gossipy German business community.
Nazi garden gnome goes on trial
German prosecutors must decide whether a sculpture in a Nuremberg art gallery of a garden gnome performing a Hitler salute contravenes German law. Is it ridiculing or glorifying the gesture?
Hate speech, the hijab and western media
Despite the gruesome nature of Marwa el-Sherbini’s murder in a German courtroom by her neighbour, the western media have shied away from telling her story.
Gloom wrap: quarter ends on a sober note
There’s not much good news about. Glenn Dyer wraps all the gloomy and doomy economic news from around the globe.
Germany rivals Japan for worst economy status
One failure, one bailout — it’s business as usual in Germany, which is emerging as the most stricken of all the major global economies by the credit crunch and recession, writes Glenn Dyer.
