WorldcrunchStay 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.
MUNICH — Citing the failure of antibiotics to work effectively in their patients, a group of German doctors and other healthcare providers are laying blame on the factory farming industry — and calling for reform. The doctors say that antibiotics no longer work because of multi-resistant germs that patients carry, at least some of which […]
Starting on Tuesday, arriving passengers at Düsseldorf airport will be able to turn their car over to robot Ray who’ll park it for them. Vehicles are left in one of six boxes about the size of a car-wash unit. Each box is equipped with its own Ray. Once the car is parked in the box, […]
MUNICH — At a simple café near the main street, a group of mountain bikers comes in, and they’re thirsty. “What kinds of beer do you have?” one of them asks the server. He starts reciting: Amber Ale. India Pale Ale. Summer Ale. White Ale. Porter. Stout. Then he adds Lager — a little sheepishly, […]
The growing tendency to say ‘there is no just war’ is just a way to keep one’s hands clean, while leaving it to others to pay the consequences for your freedom. A view from Germany.
Some German companies that used concentration camp victims as forced labor during World War II took decades to own up to their wretched acquiescence to the Hitler regime.
BERLIN — Peter Seher sits on his balcony in Berlin-Wilmersdorf enjoying the late afternoon sun. He looks at the large puddles of water beneath his feet. It was nice and warm today, so after work the stockbroker set up a little wading pool on the balcony for his young daughter Hanna. “She really got going […]
WARSAW — While protests swept Maidan Square in Kiev, both Polish and German media reported the same storyline: Ukraine was overthrowing a bloody dictator and changing its course toward the West. German politicians, much like their Polish counterparts, made fiery speeches and pushed the European Union to address a “serious offer” to Ukrainians. The pro-Ukrainian […]
After a prospective police candidate was banned for a tattoo, Germany debates workplace appearance rules as the number of young employees with tattoos is exploding.
Though it has been taboo to discuss, the top ranks of soccer are rife with players who suffer from depression during and after their careers.
In order to maximize profits, the German automaker wants to eliminate paid 15-minute breaks for its workforce.
Curious about the sex lives of the over-70 crowd? Even intimate relations among 50-somethings is usually not talked about. And teens? Now all is revealed on German television.
In 1930, the International Labour Organization set a goal to eradicate forced work. Today, 21 million people are exploited around the world. Globalization is making matters worse.
MAISACH — “It’s high season, so it’s not really convenient,” says Uwe Möderl when we first talk on the phone. Then, moments later, he says, “How would tomorrow night be?” The 51-year-old Bavarian is apparently not a man who wants to be kept from his work. I had been looking for an experienced gas station […]
It seemed like a good idea to a German restaurateur: attract more family clientele who wouldn’t disturb other patrons. But putting an idea into action can be a messy affair.
The ugly sandal beloved everywhere by hippies and the comfort footwear set is so hot this season that even Marc Jacobs wants in on the action. Paint those toes, baby.
German artist Ignacio Uriarte knows all about the tedium of life as a 9-to-5 employee, which he ditched to create art riffing on the subject. Süddeutsche Zeitung sat down with him.
Taking a sizable stake in Deutsche Bank, Qatari investors are once again showing a strategy that is single-minded by definition.
Such are the results of a recent study in Germany, which knows a thing or two about automobiles.
No German federal contracts will go to companies that turn over data to the NSA and other spy agencies in the U.S., and elsewhere. There may, however, be one crucial exemption.
From U.S. student debt to staggering housing inflation from London to Shanghai, there are signs of cracks invoking fear among economists of another impending financial crisis.
MUNICH — At some point Hanna Seibert (not her real name) just started making excuses. When her girlfriends called and wanted to go out to eat and drink cocktails in the city, she would put them off, saying she had too much to do. The cliché excuses suggesting she was stressed out struck her career-minded […]
The current and past Minister have both been women (not to mention Chancellor Angela Merkel). But that’s apparently not enough…
MUNICH — Surely vegan offerings are healthier, and easier on the figure. More natural in any case. Many consumers have even become moralistic about the vegan products they put into their shopping baskets. But a survey by a Hamburg consumer group, the Verbraucherzentrale, shows that these attitudes and expectations are often wrong. They tested 20 […]
MUNICH — Many business people believe that gamification is going to dramatically change the working world over the next decade. Companies are increasingly thinking about how they can motivate both employees and clients to solve problems and develop ideas with the help of digital platforms. Which is why Munich’s Technical University (TU) is using a […]
MUNICH — Audiences mostly find the sex-obsessed protagonists of Steve McQueen’s movie Shame and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac bizarre and alien, or at the very least irritating. But there really are people like that in real life. Take, for example, this 58-year-old man somewhere in the eastern part of Germany sitting by his phone. He’s […]
Much of the rhetoric around human resources strategy involves the idea that working in a team is the key to succees. But in some cases, researchers say, it can even breed laziness.
A new German study shows that half of people born today will live to be 100. Surely this calls for a new way to think about life – and lifestyle.
Being overly shy isn’t always a simple personality trait, something kids will “grow out of…” It can also reach the point of clinical illness. How to know when your child needs treatment.
Britons and Americans used to depict Germans as obsessed with Nazi uniforms, now our supposed obsession is nudism. A friendly patriotic ode to letting it all hang out.
BERLIN — It looked as if a great moment might be in the making: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Polish colleague Radoslaw Sikorski had teamed up with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and the trio flew to Kiev for joint talks with the then-Ukrainian government and opposition. At the time violence on Maidan […]
Disabled kids can be integrated in regular classes, but only if they are on the university track.
There are medically proven explanations for why our minds and bodies generally feel better when the season changes. So, goodbye Winter Blues, and hello Spring Euphoria!
BERLIN — “You’re the ones who created this mess I’m in…” Mohammad points his finger at me, and doesn’t even want to tell me his real first name: “Call me Mohammad, we are all the same to you racist Italians anyway.” His age, though, he does tell me: He’s 47, but looks a bit younger […]
As Wittenberg, Germany, prepares to celebrate the 500-year anniversaries of two major historic events, it has invested millions to transform itself into a world-class venue.
In serving the plundered art worth hundreds of millions, historical justice is being served. But it comes at the expense of legal rectitude.
BADEN-BADEN — There is no fur in sight here — no wraps, mink collars, not even real-fur trim on a hood at Baden-Baden’s casino. Granted, this is not ideal fur weather, as the Sparkasse Bank thermometer reads 22° Celsius. But for rich Russians, it is still very much the winter travel season, and one wonders […]
Complicated…and crucial to resolving the current showdown between Russia and the West.
Illnesses in children rise along with the stress levels of their parents, according to a new survey in Germany. Are households with two working parents sending more kids to the doctor?
BERLIN — Sonya* disappeared during the fall school vacation in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The 16-year-old high school student, the daughter of an Algerian and a German, left her family’s house in Konstanz and never returned. Sonya’s parents called the police fearing the worst. Had their daughter been kidnapped? Was she possibly the victim […]
KEMPTEN — Perhaps it’s a rather tired comparison, but the Allgäu region in the southern German state of Swabia is well known for its snow. This past weekend it was piled several feet deep on the Nebelhorn mountain. Eight ski lifts were in operation, with winter vacationers on every run. A few miles to the […]