As Berlin and Tel Aviv mark a diplomatic milestone, the relationship born out of pragmatism, guilt and survival faces its toughest questions yet — especially amid war, protest and growing calls for criticism.
Tag: east germany
A historic political meeting, a groundbreaking cinematic invention, and some big firsts in entertainment and law.
Only 5% of German couples are formed by East-West partners. So why, 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, does an invisible wall still seem to keep Germans apart romantically?
The first mosque in East Germany to have visible Islamic architecture is soon to open in Erfurt, in the State of Thuringia. But it’s already become a target for Islamophobic attacks, including pig heads and wooden crosses tossed on the premises.
Calls for negotiation between Russia and Ukraine are growing louder. But peace would require strong security guarantees for the invaded country.
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 […]
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.
Updated March 19, 2024 at 12:30 p.m. The meeting between West Germany’s Willy Brandt and East Germany’s Willi Stoph on this day in 1970, was part of Brandt’s “Ostpolitik” (Eastern policy), which aimed to improve relations between West Germany and East Germany. Who were the leaders of East and West Germany in the famous 1970 […]
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When The Nazis Stole Christmas
Both the Nazis and East German Communist Party tried to use Christmas for their own ends, and distance it from its Christian meaning. Writer and historian Karl-Heinz Göttert looks at the attempts to hijack Christmas throughout German history, and why it matters today.
As a border guard in 1989, Arpad Bella personally opened a portion of the Iron Curtain between Hungary and Austria to a crowd of East German refugees. Today, while migrants rush to the gates of Europe, he sadly watches history run backward.
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Rebuilding Berlin
The monumental Karl-Marx Allee avenue in East Berlin, was a flagship project of the reconstruction program in East Germany after World War II.
HANOI – We are in Hanoi, sitting in Mrs. Vu’s kitchen. The table is weighed down with exotic delicacies, passion fruit, pineapple, slices of melon, litchis, dragon fruit, kumquats, grapefruit, heart-shaped pieces of watermelon and small, fat bananas. We’ve already made considerable inroads into the spread, as if we hadn’t eaten for days. Mrs. Vu, […]
The former East Germany is still considered to be a hotbed of neo-Nazism. Still, the movement to oppose the extremists is growing even stronger – to the point that leaders in the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) know that when they stage their public gatherings and marches more opponents will be in attendance […]
DER SPIEGEL, DIE WELT (Germany), LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a cold, power-hungry would-be dictator overseeing the insidious collapse of democracy, according to a new book causing a political stir in Germany. Gertrud Höhler’s book, Die Patin (which means “the Godmother” in English and retains all of its mafia […]