In Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, home to many people of Turkish descent, opinions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan and last week’s failed coup that tried to oust him range from shock to skepticism.
country: Germany
Stay updated on Germany with Worldcrunch. Comprehensive articles on German politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural highlights with translations from leading international sources. Focus on Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, German engineering, philosophy, modern art, and events like Oktoberfest and Art Basel.
What is rape? The German Bundestag wants to put in place stricter rules. Critics now fear a wave of false reports and problems in court. But the victims’ suffering should not be silenced, again.
The latest in the perilous liaisons between pro-Russian Germans and Vladimir Putin is taking the propaganda war on the West to a whole new level with a think tank relocated to Berlin.
Humans are being degraded to the status of objects of an algorithm-based evaluation to be sold on the market. This exploitative form of “hypercapitalism” must quickly be reversed.
Germany and Britain have always competed for top European talents. Now, Europe’s best and brightest may see the UK as too complicated. One of many potential positive side effects of Brexit.
BERLIN — When exactly should the British leave? How should the European Union react? Following the initial horror at the UK vote in favor of Brexit, the search is now on, from Brussels to Berlin and beyond, to find practical solutions to pick up the pieces and set Europe on a new path forward. Here […]
If the UK leaves the European Union, the members of the free market camp in the EU would be severely outnumbered.
Europe has seen its relative economic and military power decline for decades, but its “soft power” has held strong. But even that is now at risk.
-Essay- BERLIN — “No other place recalls so vividly the fragility of democracy in Europe in the 20th century.” On the streets of Berlin, passersby may notice this line etched on a building plaque in German, French and English. It can be found in the finance ministry complex that used to house Nazi Germany’s Ministry […]
Other cities ban prostitution from residential areas with schools and playgrounds. Not Berlin. Here, it’s just part of the city’s “poor, but sexy” image.
The psychology of global warming helps explain why we can’t solve it. “It triggers nothing in our brain,” says one psychologist. “It lets us sleep calmly in a burning bed.”
Married under Sharia law in their native country, underage refugees pose hard questions for Germany’s legal and child welfare systems. German courts are divided.
MUNICH — Traffic collisions. Heart attacks. Even terrorist attacks. Tragedies strike every day, tearing people away from their loved ones forever. But events like this have a collateral impact beyond the victim’s next of kin. They also affect the messengers, the proverbial bearers of bad news. People with certain chosen specific vocations — police officers, […]
Friends are the new family! Friendships are the greatest love affairs you’ll ever know! Nonsense. Take a journey to the dark side of your so-called friends.
Young people have far more accidents than the elderly, yet no one is clamoring for greater restrictions to be imposed on them. Why are we singling out senior citizen drivers?
Former employees from German gun company Heckler and Koch face charges in German court for illegal deals with Mexico. But were government officials complicit?
“Hello fetus listeners …” The Babypod is a speaker that, inserted vaginally, will expose a fetus to music of your choice inside the womb. But what kind of music should we choose?
BERLIN — The sight of a swing causes not only children, but also many adults, to impulsively sit down, push off with their feet and swing back and forth for as long as possible. This very impulse was a stroke of luck for Oliver-Selim Boualam and Lukas Marstaller, when the management of the Cologne Furniture […]
MUNICH — For a communal housing project, there are bound to be endless discussions over commons areas before the foundation stone has even been laid. There are also financial questions such as “can I sell the apartment if I have to?” But the most pressing point is just how many people will be living more […]
MUNICH — Rick Henderson, a 56-year-old American, took out his mobile phone to show a blurred, 10-second clip from BBC of a young woman in France who is surrounded by men, and is being groped from all sides. “They are like wolves,” said Henderson, a self-defense trainer in Germany, adding that “women should never be […]
Too many Muslims keep to themselves, speak poor German and pass on their problems to the next generation. They harm themselves and therefore the rest of society.
Donald Trump’s ancestors left Germany for the U.S. with dreams of a better life. They faced longstanding fears about the “Germanization” of America.
BERLIN — Shortly after World War II ended, American cameramen filmed people living in Berlin. Technicolor, an expensive proposition at the time, showed people on the streets, apparently happy to have survived. The film shows the joyful faces of people, some sunbathing, others swimming in the river. But the footage is telling from what is […]
An exhibition currently underway at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau museum showcases 300 artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.
-Analysis- MUNICH — Where is Muammar Gaddafi’s money? Rebels pulled the Libyan dictator from a sewage pipe in his hometown of Sirte on October 20, 2011. He was bleeding from his head, and rebels and bystanders joined in beating him and clubbing his groin with a bayonet. Shortly thereafter, this bird of paradise among African […]
BERLIN — During the last school year, some 18,000 young Germans began year-long adventures abroad, thrust into complete independence: suddenly, they were on their own, in a new environment, surrounded by strangers who spoke a language the students had only experienced from inside the safety of a classroom. Psychologists from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena […]
Gay marriage separates the two major Christian communities that dominate Germany. But what does the Bible really say about homosexuality?
Health, science, business and consumer rights are driving major differences between the U.S. and the EU in the most far-reaching trade negotiations in history.
People with particularly high IQs are often viewed as difficult and socially awkward, a new survey suggests. But in reality, they’re not so different from the rest of us.
The yearning for a stable relationship is big, but the expectations for today’s young adults are even bigger. And in the Internet age, the options always seem endless.
For psychiatrists at Munich’s Heckscher Clinic, underage migrants who have fled war and violence, often alone, represent a difficult new group of patients.
STRANDE — Just north of Strande, along northern Germany’s Kiel Fjord, stands the Bülk lighthouse, built in 1865 and still functioning. Around it are rocky beaches, a favorite spot for surfers because of the strong winds that kick up waves coming in from the Baltic Sea. Just to the west, a less scenic view: a […]
Like military counterparts around the world, the German armed forces must urgently compete with the private sector to attract the Internet’s best and brightest.
We have a tendency to extol our late loved ones for having “fought” against the illnesses that struck them. But those who peacefully succumb to terminal disease are no less brave.
Top German security officials say criminals and violent Islamists are using the asylum crisis to recruit refugees. They especially target minors traveling alone.
Skype founder Jaan Tallinn wants to program machines to keep them from becoming a threat to the human race. Yes, he believes, the threat is real.
Many refugee families after World War II took generations to get on their feet. A new German study finds today’s influx of refugees face the same risk, and new ones too.
MUNICH — Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) with the following exchange: Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data? SZ: We’re very interested. JD: There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever. The choice of stories […]
New studies show teenagers in Europe and North America are consuming less alcohol and cigarettes than they did even a few years ago. But other problems have worsened.
Prince Charles believes brutalist buildings are like “monstrous carbuncles,” but there is a frenzied architectural movement afoot to save these concrete blocks.