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Food / Travel Ideas Society

Art On Prescription: How Museums Are Becoming Spaces Of Healing

Once sites of shock and provocation, museums are reinventing themselves as places of calm and care. From meditation cushions to medical studies, art is now being prescribed for everything from burnout to chronic illness. But what happens when comfort replaces critique?

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Eyes on the U.S. Ideas special series Trump And The World

Elon Musk’s Nazi Salute And The Grim Reality Of Attention Politics

To the German author, watching Elon Musk stretching his right arm out at a Trump political rally could mean only one thing. The Neo-Nazis agree. But what is the billionaire’s real game? A view from Die Zeit on the Hitler Salute outrage.

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Food / Travel Geopolitics

Photos Of The Week: L.A. Inferno, Charlie Hebdo Tribute, Trudeau Bows Out

Among the images, are photos from France, China, Canada, the U.S., Ghana and Greenland.

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Food / Travel Russia-Ukraine War

Photos Of The Week: Muan Airport Crash, Ukraine-Russia POW Swap, NYE Dive

In partnership with ZUMA photo agency, here are the top images for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 2. The selection includes a devastating plane crash in South Korea that claimed 179 lives, an apparent terror attack that marred New Year’s Eve in New Orleans, while Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners in a UAE-brokered […]

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Economy Society

Weimar Estates: What 1920s Germany Teaches Us About The Eternal Housing Crisis

How the housing shortage was tackled in the Weimar Republic – and what we can learn from it today.

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Food / Travel Society

Berghain At 20: Refracted Time And Space In Berlin’s Legendary Techno Club

As the world’s most celebrated techno club celebrates two decades, Germany’s Die Zeit revisits the iconic venue. Inside, the pulsating beats, exposed bodies, and elusive atmosphere remain unchanged, while outside, Berlin’s landscape evolves around this enduring monument to hedonism and freedom.

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This Happened

This Happened — August 13: First Brick In The Berlin Wall

Updated August 13, 2024 at 11:50 a.m. The construction of the Berlin Wall began on this day in 1961. It was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to prevent residents from escaping to West Berlin. It was intended in particular to halt the mass exodus of skilled laborers, professionals, and intellectuals from East […]

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This Happened

This Happened — July 9: Italy Wins FIFA World Cup Against France

Updated July 9, 2024 at 12:00 p.m. Italy defeated France in the final of the FIFA World Cup on this day in 2006. The World Cup final took place at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, and was marred by French icon Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt and ensuing red card. What was the score of the Italy […]

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This Happened

This Happened — June 26: JFK “I’m A Berliner” Speech

Updated June 26, 2024 at 1 p.m. President John F. Kennedy delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech on this day in 1963. Where did President Kennedy deliver his speech? President Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in West Berlin, at the Rathaus Schöneberg (Schöneberg City Hall) in front of a crowd […]

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Geopolitics

Scholz And Macron: Stunning EU Election Defeats At The Heart Of Europe

Olaf Scholz has refused to dissolve Germany’s parliament, even though his coalition suffered a major defeat at the European elections. The Chancellor’s weakened position comes at a bad time for Europe, where the union’s other major power, France, is also in a fragile state.

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This Happened

This Happened — May 2: Soviet Flag Raised Above Reichstag

Updated May 2, 2024 at 1:15 p.m. The iconic war photograph of the raising of the flag over the Reichstag was taken on this day in 1945. Why was the raising of the flag over the Reichstag significant? The image showing a Soviet soldier raising the Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag building […]

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Green

Wild Animals Invading 8 Cities Around The World

An elephant in the street in India, otters on the beach in Cape Town, wild boars in Rome, big cats in Colombia cities, polar bears in Russian towns: a series of factors, including climate change and urbanization, is creating unlikely encounters between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom.

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Society

Why German Scholars Waited 80 Years To Truly Confront Hitler’s Speeches

Hitler wielded much of his power through his public discourses, yet a serious academic edition of his speeches has never been published. An unprecedented project led by Germany’s Institute of Contemporary History and the National Broadcasting Archive aims to better understand how he wielded power through rhetoric.

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Ideas Israel-Palestine War Society special series The Endless War

“I Am Palestinian” — When History Calls Us To Stand In Their Shoes, To Say Who We Are

There are certain watershed moments where the world comes together in defense of an idea or a people, or maybe both. A call from afar to stand up in the name of the Palestinian people.

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Society

After Rammstein Singer’s Sexual Assault Probe Is Dropped, Germany Faces Cold Reality

The German public prosecutor’s office has dropped its sexual assault investigation against Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann. The singer could not be proven to have committed any criminal misconduct. You may be angry about that, but that’s how the rule of law works.

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Geopolitics Society

Pillar Of Shame, Symbol Of Freedom: Tiananmen To Hong Kong To Berlin

The “Pillar of Shame” in Hong Kong, a memorial to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, was a symbol of freedom and democracy. Beijing has taken it down, but a replica is being built in Berlin. Activist Samuel Chu explains why that means so much to him.

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Ideas Society

Mapping The Patriarchy: Where Nine Out Of 10 Streets Are Named After Men

The Mapping Diversity platform examined maps of 30 cities across 17 European countries, finding that women are severely underrepresented in the group of those who name streets and squares. The one (unsurprising) exception: The Virgin Mary.

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Geopolitics Russia-Ukraine War

Inside The Polish-Led Push To Send Fighter Jets To Ukraine – Bypassing Germany

A bloc of eastern European countries has distanced themselves from Western Europe — Germany in particular — by sending Soviet era jets to Ukraine, part of growing push to supply the country with Western-made fighter jets.

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Economy Green

Urban Mining: How Sustainable Cities Are Recycling Buildings Down To The Bone

As material costs skyrocket, an old practice is becoming popular again: reusing building materials. In Germany, the first projects are already underway – and so far, results are promising as a model for sustainable cities.

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Geopolitics Russia-Ukraine War

Paris-Berlin, Warsaw-Kyiv: Europe’s Balance Of Power Will Never Be The Same

A new future is unfolding in real time, one that leaders in France, Germany and beyond could not have envisioned even a year ago.

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In The News

Zelensky Warns Of Russian “Energy Blow”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Europeans that Russia was preparing “a decisive energy blow” during the next few months. He also praised his troops for the advances being made with the counteroffensive launched in southern Ukraine to reclaim Russian-occupied territories. He said that two settlements in the south of the country as well as […]

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Geopolitics Russia-Ukraine War

“Just 106 Seconds To Berlin” – How Putin Exploits Europe’s Nuclear Fears

Russian propaganda plays on the revival of the West’s fear of a nuclear attack, especially knowing how close European capitals are to Moscow’s atomic warheads. But Europe must remember the lessons of the Cold War and not play into Putin’s hands.

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In The News

Territory Gains And Losses Point To Long War

Russia says it has conquered new territory in Donbas, while Ukraine says it has retaken parts of the city of Kharkiv. The competing claims come as Vladimir Putin appears to be bracing for a long “protracted” conflict.

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In The News

Police Decode EncroChat: The Whatsapp For Organized Crime

Decoded data from messaging services have given the authorities in Germany a new weapon in the fight against gang crime, as shown in the latest raid in Berlin. Criminal families are feeling increasingly uneasy.

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OneShot

Watch: OneShot — 30 Years Ago, Fall Of The Berlin Wall

It marked the end of an epoch: on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell — and seemingly in an instant, the decades-long Cold War was over. Built in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) to keep the different sectors of Berlin separated, the wall became the singular symbol of the Cold War divide, and a concrete example of the limits and repression of the communist system. The final chapter of the Cold War began when East Berlin’s Communist Party announced that, from midnight, citizens of the GDR could cross the Iron Curtain. “Tor auf!” (“Open […]

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blog Food / Travel

Soviets Soldiers, Past And Present

In the background, one of Treptower Park“s massive monuments commemorating Soviet soldiers fallen during World War II. In the foreground, real-life Soviet soldiers still trooping around the USSR-occupied section of Berlin.

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Food / Travel OneShot

Watch: OneShot — Grandparents And A Soviet Memorial

Etienne Mallard has spent a lifetime venturing far and wide. A retired high-school philosophy teacher, he has always considered himself nothing more or less than an amateur photographer — with decent equipment.

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Ideas Society

The Real Invisible Threat To Democracy: Poverty

Even in economically powerful Germany, poverty threatens the social fabric. And neither the left or right has any real solutions — except to play to fears.

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In The News

Drug-Free, Imported DJs, KGB Spies: A Singular Rave Scene In Minsk

Techno scene in Belarus faces a youth tempted by emigration, pricey vinyls and the KGB lurking in the shadows. But the nights in Minsk are still something truly remarkable.

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Geopolitics Ideas

North Korea, Time To Face The Music

-Analysis- As Kim Jong-un again edges the world closer to an unthinkable nuclear showdown, the tribulations of a humble music store owner in Berlin may help explain why it’s so hard to figure out what to do with North Korea. German daily Die Welt spoke last week with Andreas Schmucker about a court case pending […]

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Ideas Terror in Europe

A Christmas Wish For Europe: Time To Defend Our Civilization

After the Christmas market attack in Berlin, the Western world would be wrong to assume it can prevent its cultural or political dissolution by merely  repeating its prayers to the glory of diversity.

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In The News

Merkel After The Christmas Market

For some, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become both the economic and moral leader of Europe. From tackling the eurozone’s debt crisis to countering Russian ambitions to bucking the tide of populism to welcome a million refugees into her country last year, Merkel has been lauded for her quiet but principled pragmatism in the face […]

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blog

A Leftwing Alternative For Germany After Berlin Vote?

Die Tageszeitung, Sept. 19 Another election, another humbling defeat for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In a Berlin state vote, Merkel’s CDU party polled 17.6% — its lowest showing since 1990, figures from public broadcaster ARD showed on Monday. It’s the second poll drubbing as CDU got crushed just two weeks before in an eastern German […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Berlin’s Past Holds Warnings For Brexit And U.S. Elections

-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 […]

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Geopolitics Society

Film Captures “Beautiful” Paradox Of 1945 Berlin Summer

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 […]

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Ideas Migrant Lives

Merkel Response To Refugee Crisis Tramples Rights Of Germans

-OpEd- BERLIN — German authorities are now trying in every possible way to come up with solutions for sheltering the wave of refugees entering our country. But that has somehow led the state to threaten the suspension basic rights of property and ownership. The federal government does its best to foster optimism. German Chancellor Angela […]

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Geopolitics Society

Why Greece’s Tsipras Could Prove To Be A Wise Choice

Pure necessity could turn Alexis Tsipras Greece’s liberal prime minister-elect, into an unexpected reformer willing to go against client politics.

Categories
Food / Travel Ideas Smarter Cities

Muesli In Bulk, Vodka On Tap: This Package-Free Berlin Store Could Change The World

If you want milk or Berlin-made vodka, bring your own bottles. At Original Unpackaged, there’s no cardboard or shrink wrap, nothing jarred or canned. Is this the smart consumer of the future?

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Society

Latex And Leather: Inside A Berlin Bondage Club

When a journalist visits an old horse stable converted into a sado-masochist club, he finds surprisingly normal people who just have a different idea of foreplay.

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Society

Germany’s Ministry For Women Discriminates Against Women

The current and past Minister have both been women (not to mention Chancellor Angela Merkel). But that’s apparently not enough…

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