Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Sunday, December 16, 2012

German man locked up over HVB bank allegations


German man locked up over HVB bank allegations may have been telling truth
Gustl Mollath was put in a psychiatric unit for claiming his wife was involved in money-laundering at the Bavarian bank. But seven years on evidence has emerged that could set him free.
Kate Connolly in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 November 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/28/gustl-mollath-hsv-claims-fraud

A German man committed to a high-security psychiatric hospital after being accused of fabricating a story of money-laundering activities at a major bank is to have his case reviewed after evidence has emerged proving the validity of his claims.

In a plot worthy of a crime blockbuster, Gustl Mollath, 56, was submitted to the secure unit of a psychiatric hospital seven years ago after court experts diagnosed him with paranoid personality disorder following his claims that staff at the Hypo Vereinsbank (HVB) – including his wife, then an assets consultant at HVB – had been illegally smuggling large sums of money into Switzerland.

Mollath was tried in 2006 after his ex-wife accused him of causing her physical harm. He denied the charges, claiming she was trying to sully his name in the light of the evidence he allegedly had against her. He was admitted to the clinic, where he has remained against his will ever since.

But recent evidence brought to the attention of state prosecutors shows that money-laundering activities were indeed practiced over several years by members of staff at the Munich-based bank, the sixth-largest private financial institute in Germany, as detailed in an internal audit report carried out by the bank in 2003. The report, which has now been posted online, detailed illegal activities including money-laundering and aiding tax evasion. A number of employees, including Mollath's wife, were subsequently sacked following the bank's investigation.

The "Mollath affair", as it has been dubbed by the German media, has taken on such political dimensions that it now threatens to bring down the government of Bavaria. Under the weight of public and political pressure Horst Seehofer, the prime minister of the rich southern state and a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) – the sister party to Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats – has now called for the case to be reopened, amid charges that Mollath was possibly the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.

"The judiciary would be well-advised to reassess the case," Seehofer said this week. "I want them to concentrate on the question of whether everything has been done correctly."

His justice minister, Beate Merk, who has refused repeated calls to resign, said she had no doubt the case had been carried out "by the book and quite correctly".

Mollath has been inundated with public support in the form of thousands of letters and internet posts, many comparing his fight to that of David versus Goliath. He said he was delighted that what he called the "murky business of the bank" is now emerging, 10 years after he first made his claims.

"This is precisely what I wanted to achieve all along," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, which brought the audit report to light earlier this month. In an interview in his sparsely furnished room in Bayreuth's hospital for psychiatry, he pointed out the irony that he had suffered the fate he had repeatedly warned his wife she would face, telling her: 'Please be careful. One day you will end up in handcuffs and then you'll be banged up for a few years'", he said.

Asked whether it felt any responsibility towards Mollath, a spokeswoman for HVB told the Guardian: "We don't recognise any connection between the results of our audit report and either the criminal trial or the commitment of Mr Mollath."

Asked why the bank kept the report to itself and did not approach the authorities, the spokeswoman added: "In 2003 HVB initiated extensive investigations via internal audits in response to information provided by Mr Mollath on transactions that had taken place a long time before … It was determined that employees had acted contrary to their instructions regarding Swiss banking transactions".

But while the findings, it said, had resulted in sackings, the audit "did not produce sufficient evidence indicating criminal conduct … that would have made a criminal charge seem appropriate".

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Those Revolting Europeans


PAUL KRUGMAN
May 6, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/opinion/krugman-those-revolting-europeans.html

The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time.

Both countries held elections Sunday that were in effect referendums on the current European economic strategy, and in both countries voters turned two thumbs down. It’s far from clear how soon the votes will lead to changes in actual policy, but time is clearly running out for the strategy of recovery through austerity — and that’s a good thing.

Needless to say, that’s not what you heard from the usual suspects in the run-up to the elections. It was actually kind of funny to see the apostles of orthodoxy trying to portray the cautious, mild-mannered François Hollande as a figure of menace. He is “rather dangerous,” declared The Economist, which observed that he “genuinely believes in the need to create a fairer society.” Quelle horreur!

What is true is that Mr. Hollande’s victory means the end of “Merkozy,” the Franco-German axis that has enforced the austerity regime of the past two years. This would be a “dangerous” development if that strategy were working, or even had a reasonable chance of working. But it isn’t and doesn’t; it’s time to move on. Europe’s voters, it turns out, are wiser than the Continent’s best and brightest.

What’s wrong with the prescription of spending cuts as the remedy for Europe’s ills? One answer is that the confidence fairy doesn’t exist — that is, claims that slashing government spending would somehow encourage consumers and businesses to spend more have been overwhelmingly refuted by the experience of the past two years. So spending cuts in a depressed economy just make the depression deeper.

Moreover, there seems to be little if any gain in return for the pain. Consider the case of Ireland, which has been a good soldier in this crisis, imposing ever-harsher austerity in an attempt to win back the favor of the bond markets. According to the prevailing orthodoxy, this should work. In fact, the will to believe is so strong that members of Europe’s policy elite keep proclaiming that Irish austerity has indeed worked, that the Irish economy has begun to recover.

But it hasn’t. And although you’d never know it from much of the press coverage, Irish borrowing costs remain much higher than those of Spain or Italy, let alone Germany. So what are the alternatives?

One answer — an answer that makes more sense than almost anyone in Europe is willing to admit — would be to break up the euro, Europe’s common currency. Europe wouldn’t be in this fix if Greece still had its drachma, Spain its peseta, Ireland its punt, and so on, because Greece and Spain would have what they now lack: a quick way to restore cost-competitiveness and boost exports, namely devaluation.

As a counterpoint to Ireland’s sad story, consider the case of Iceland, which was ground zero for the financial crisis but was able to respond by devaluing its currency, the krona (and also had the courage to let its banks fail and default on their debts). Sure enough, Iceland is experiencing the recovery Ireland was supposed to have, but hasn’t.

Yet breaking up the euro would be highly disruptive, and would also represent a huge defeat for the “European project,” the long-run effort to promote peace and democracy through closer integration. Is there another way? Yes, there is — and the Germans have shown how that way can work. Unfortunately, they don’t understand the lessons of their own experience.

Talk to German opinion leaders about the euro crisis, and they like to point out that their own economy was in the doldrums in the early years of the last decade but managed to recover. What they don’t like to acknowledge is that this recovery was driven by the emergence of a huge German trade surplus vis-à-vis other European countries — in particular, vis-à-vis the nations now in crisis — which were booming, and experiencing above-normal inflation, thanks to low interest rates. Europe’s crisis countries might be able to emulate Germany’s success if they faced a comparably favorable environment — that is, if this time it was the rest of Europe, especially Germany, that was experiencing a bit of an inflationary boom.

So Germany’s experience isn’t, as the Germans imagine, an argument for unilateral austerity in Southern Europe; it’s an argument for much more expansionary policies elsewhere, and in particular for the European Central Bank to drop its obsession with inflation and focus on growth.

The Germans, needless to say, don’t like this conclusion, nor does the leadership of the central bank. They will cling to their fantasies of prosperity through pain, and will insist that continuing with their failed strategy is the only responsible thing to do. But it seems that they will no longer have unquestioning support from the Élysée Palace. And that, believe it or not, means that both the euro and the European project now have a better chance of surviving than they did a few days ago.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Oktoberfest 2011


The 178th Oktoberfest opened in Munich, Germany, with the traditional tapping of the first keg of beer by Munich's mayor, Christian Ude, shouting "O'zapft is!" ("It's tapped!"). The Bavarian festival takes place over 17 days, and some 6 million people are expected to attend. Here are some of the photos from Oktoberfest 2011's first weekend, via The Atlantic:


http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/oktoberfest-2011/100151



Sunday, August 21, 2011

New Economic Order in Europe

From HuffPo:

The leaders of France and Germany called Tuesday for greater economic discipline and unity among European nations but declined to take immediate financial measures seen by many investors as the only way to halt the continent's spiraling debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell, the euro slid against the dollar and key European markets edged down in off-hour trading after Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the results of their emergency talks in Paris.

Sarkozy called for a "new economic government" for Europe that would meet at least twice a year with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy as its head, but he offered few other details or indications that the body would have real power.

Merkel and Sarkozy also called for all euro zone nations to enact constitutional amendments requiring balanced budgets. They said they want the process completed by the summer of 2012, but it would almost certainly run into protracted political difficulties in many countries.

Both leaders said the moment was not right to replace 17 government bonds with a single one allowing weaker economies to borrow in cooperation with the powerhouse economies of France and Germany. A growing number of experts are calling for the eurobond as a way to prevent the unaffordable interest rates that have driven Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to seek bailouts from the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

New figures show slowing French and German growth, and the German government fears it would face higher borrowing costs and more risks if it had to borrow jointly with financially shaky nations.

"We have exactly the same position on euro bonds," Sarkozy said. "One day we could imagine them, but at the end of a process of European integration, not at the beginning."

The Dow fell as many as 190 points shortly after 1 p.m. in New York, a sign of clear market disappointment with the lack of immediate action.

Merkel and Sarkozy also said they did not want to increase the size of the EU's 440 billion euro rescue fund, which may have to take over a massive, multibillion euro European Central Bank program to support the prices of Spanish and Italian bonds by buying them up on the open market. The ECB spent 22 billion euros ($32 billion) in the first week of the program alone and says it wants to hand off that responsibility in coming months to the rescue fund, or European Financial Stability Facility...

Investors may be concerned about how the euro bloc will put in place what its leaders have suggested and how a proposed tax on financial transactions may effect demand for European assets, said David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Connecticut.

"On the surface, it sounds very bold, a federal `eurozone,'" Gilmore said. "The practical part still seems, to me anyway, to be a pipe dream."

He said the plan to form a deeper fiscal union among the 17 countries using the euro "made the euro credible," but governments might not want to surrender their rights to set tax and budget policies...

Merkel, Sarkozy Propose Eurozone Government
GREG KELLER and JUERGEN BAETZ
08/16/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/16/merkel-sarkozy-eurozone-government_n_928436.html

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Germany's Economy Shows Government "Interference" Works

http://www.truth-out.org/germanys-economy-shows-government-interference-works66090

Germany's Economy Shows Government "Interference" Works
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Dave Johnson | Campaign for America's Future

Can we compete with China's wages? Does government interference and regulation hold us back? Are our unions keeping us from being competitive? Do we need to lower our standard of living in a race to the bottom? You might be surprised to learn that Germany pays higher wages, has strong unions, has much more government involvement and is doing better as a result. Conclusion: our wages, unions and government are not the problem, they are the solution.

In July I wrote about something Harold Meyerson wrote about Germany and China and manufacturing and recession.

"Germany is NOT a low-wage country. But they weathered the recession. They value manufacturing and have national policies to bolster their manufacturers."

Today I want to write about something Harold Meyerson wrote about Germany and manufacturing and the recession. In Save the economy by keeping jobs at home, Meyerson writes,

"Hourly manufacturing compensation (wages plus benefits) was $48 in Germany in 2008 - the most recent year surveyed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics - while it was $32 in the United States."

Yet Germany is an export giant, while we are the colossus of imports.

Please go read Meyerson's entire piece.

In Germany, workers also get six weeks vacation - by law, federally mandated, a right. They get health care, university, child care and pensions and as a result they have higher productivity. In Germany, the government requires worker representatives to hold seats on the boards of directors of companies, depending on the number of workers. Government-funded research and vocational training, and policies to retain skilled workers bring another competitive advantage. Germany values manufacturing and the government has an industrial policy. The government is currently helping promote green manufacturing, for example.

The result of all this government interference is that Germany's export-oriented manufacturing economy recovered from the recession and is doing OK, and their workers are paid well and have great benefits.

Socialism?

Our government is supposed to be of, by and for the people. But today in the U.S. it is considered "socialistic" to talk about these things because it violates the dominant conservative "free market" ideology that is designed to enrich a few at the expense of the rest of us. If we try to talk about a national industrial/economic policy, it is derided with such slogans as "government interference" or "picking winners and losers." If the discussion is allowed it very quickly will move to the dominance of fossil fuels and the other industries that are holding us back but have a lock on influence over the government. If we talk about taking the burden of health care off of the people and businesses, the giant insurance companies beat it back, calling it "socialized medicine," to keep us from doing something about how their profits are draining the rest of the economy. And imagine the furor that would result if anyone even suggested mandating worker representatives on boards of directors so the companies take the interests of workers and communities into account!

Our adherence to conservative free-market ideology is clearly holding our country back. The ideology is designed to transfer wealth from the public to a very few, and hold the lead of the already-dominant. This is killing market innovation and it is destroying our competitiveness and standard of living. We should be looking at what works for the country instead of what keeps the few at the top at the top.

Just Who Is Interfering With Our System?

We need to develop a national economic/industrial policy to help us with our competitive position relative to the rest of the world. We need Medicare-For-All to lower the burden on our people and companies. We need to reorient our labor policies to bring better wages and benefits to our people. We need to restore a level playing field on which innovative smaller companies can complete with the giants—who are interfering with the system while complaining that the attempts by We, the People to stop them are interfering with our system.

Later we can talk about whether China's government interferes with its businesses, and how their economic growth is doing compared to ours.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Munich, Germany's 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest


http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/04/munich-germanys-200th-anniversay-of-oktoberfest/

Munich, Germany's 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest
Bob Ecker
Oct 4th 2010

Ten thousand people, all enjoying liter mugs flowing with fresh Paulaner beer, swayed and clapped, hooted and hollered and joined together to sing that traditional German song, "Sweet Home Alabama." The lively Oom Pa Pa band churned it out in a way that Lynyrd Skynyrd would appreciate. Packed to the rafters, I spied an empty seat and grabbed it. Ah, now seated, I ordered a beer (there is only one kind – Oktoberfest) and watched the action.

Munich's Oktoberfest is celebrating its 200th Anniversary as throngs keep piling into the Munich's Theresienwiese, or festival grounds. Originally a wedding celebration for Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese, nearly 7.5 million people will visit the sixteen-day festival this year. Of the crowds, about 50% are locals, from Munich and Bavaria, but the rest come from elsewhere around Germany, Europe, the UK, USA and beyond. "This is something special," said Thomas Klug, a Munich local, sitting with a few friends. "Oh yes, I come every year." Klug will ride his bicycle home after his third liter and plans on being at work at 7:30 the next morning.

I wouldn't bet on it; lots of habitually punctual Germans call in sick during Oktoberfest.

Open from 11 AM to 11 PM, the festival ground is a blast, like a Beer Disneyland (... or "Beers-ny-land") full of carnival attractions, thrill rides like a fair sized coaster and 13-story drop zone, food stalls, kiddie attraction and other sorts of family fun. The various beer halls line the sides, all representing a Munich brewery. (There are 13.) Everyone has a favorite for various reasons. Some attract a younger crowd, some older and less frenetic, while still others may offer different culinary specialties. Oh yeah, they serve food too! Fresh and hot Hendl or roasted chicken is very popular -- and tasty. The service can vary from crisp at the Hacker-Pschorr brewery to very slow at Augustina.

"It's amazing how good a tuba can sound after a few beers."Standing on benches, sometimes for long periods, most of the patrons are friendly and -- despite the beer and crowds -- it is a very peaceful scene. People come to drink fresh beer and have fun. "It's amazing how good a tuba can sound after a few beers," said Tom Carroll visiting from Maryland. He's right, and in fact this is when the dorky tuba player from the high school marching band finally gets some respect. At a break, the tuba player pulled out a fifteen foot long Alpine horn and played it jauntily. It sounded like an immense trombone. His short-brimmed, country hat sported a fluffy feather in the side, rising about ten inches into the air. The crowd roared, he smiled and bowed slightly after his short performance. He then picked up his beer.

Many women – of all ages wear the traditional dirndl dresses (think Swiss Miss) with frilly white blouses blue or red skirts. Revealing and busty they usually look lovely in these outfits, with the exception of the ugly "Mary Jane" type shoes. Men on the other hand wear lederhosen – brown leather pants with suspenders. The most common type ties off at the knee – supposedly to keep the critters out. There is also a cross-section belt connecting the suspenders in the front that often sports a family crest or city logo. Underneath they wear a two colored checked flannel shirt, most often red and white or blue and white. Some wear vests, usually green, and white or cream colored socks pulled up high. Suede loafers or short work boots complete the ensemble. Small shops as well as large department stores in Munich sell proper Oktoberfest gear running anywhere from $100 - $300 for an entire outfit. (Makes a great Halloween costume back home!) There are also some used clothing stores around town.

Still many Oktoberfest participants wear otherwise normal clothing without a problem. "This is fantastic, there's nothing like this in England," said Tony visiting from Ipswich England. Now they are singing "Sweet Caroline," Ha, time for another beer...

*

http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/05/beer-logistics-at-munichs-oktoberfest/

Beer logistics at Munich's Oktoberfest
Bob Ecker
Oct 5th 2010

"It's a panic," remarked Michael Bannister, a distinguished gentleman visiting from Cambridge, England. "The thing is they all know the songs." The crowd -- some ten thousand strong -- sang along with various German tunes but the real gusto was reserved for intentional hits. They belted the chorus from "Hey Jude" so loud the rafters seemed to shake. People inside the Paulaner tent danced in place for hours and did all the right moves from "YMCA." Moreover, songs like "Sweet Caroline, "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Country Road" brought the crowd into frenzy. And you've never heard the song "Tequila" until hearing it on tuba and accordion! "There is so much energy here," said Jo Wegstein from Fremont, California, visiting Germany on biotech business.

The logistics of Oktoberfest are impressive, and large festival or event planners might consider studying their methods. The beer logistics alone are amazing. For instance...

The Paulaner Brewery, the largest in Munich begins making Oktoberfest beer in late July and delivers about 3,000,000 liters during Oktoberfest. That's a lot of beer, consumed one liter a time. And Paulaner is just one brewery out of 12 functioning at the annual event.

Paulaner brings its beer from the brewery to its Oktoberfest tent in huge tanker trucks able to transport 270 hectoliters at a time from midnight until right before the tents open in the morning.

The brew is connected directly from the tankers to the beer taps using a sophisticated, patented system.

Munich-area breweries, hospitality vendors and politicians all vie for tent space, which is highly coveted and incredibly lucrative. A tent owner or brewery can be kicked out of Oktoberfest if there are problems -- and they'll never be allowed to return.

Particularly now -- the last few days of Oktoberfest -- the brewery tents are usually entirely packed with attendees who've reserved tables months in advance.

The Spaten tent was packed, the doors shut tight, and only those with a wristband or VIP access were allowed to enter. There are also biergartens outside, but alas, also full. I ambled over to the nearby Paulaner tent and was fortunately able to jostle and push my way in, but every seat or bench was taken. Still, I was inside and able to watch the action. However, the servers were only serving within reserved designated areas.

Eventually I started chatting with a nice young guy wearing a traditional red and white checked shirt, and he invited me over to meet his little group. Instantly I was "in," and one of the family. Very friendly, the people at this table included his mother Monica and her husband Mark, plus a few friends and relatives. Her friend Sandy said she was with, "My man, my ex-man, my son and his girlfriend, and my sister."

Another couple, Rolf and wife Shannina, originally from Romania, rounded out the group. These folks were accommodating and friendly and of course, everyone was enjoying the fresh Paulaner Oktoberfest brew. Dressed in traditional Oktoberfest garb, Rolf was very proud of his custom-made lederhosen, which cost 600 Euro and took six months to deliver. "They are from Stangassinger," he said proudly. "The best."

Yes, his lederhosen looked very nice, not that I am up on the nuances of this product. Apparently, every Bavarian man should buy a good pair, which may last a lifetime though fitting into them years from now may be another story. At one point, everyone stood and sang out as the band played a rousing rendition of "New York." I found out that Monica's son Danny, who brought me to the table, was only 14 years old. He looked much older. His mother said that he'd been very good this year and thought it best that he would drink under her supervision. She allowed him to drink one big beer. I saw him drink at least two.

*

http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/07/oktoberfest-food-and-beer

Oktoberfest: Lots of food and more than 8 million gallons of beer
Bob Ecker
Oct 7th 2010

Oktoberfest grew like an indelible beast as Munich crowds headed by subway, bus and foot to the Theresienwiese fairgrounds. It was the last night, after all -- and there was still plenty of beer to consume. Thousands converged, happily dressed in everything from traditional colorful dirndls, lederhosen and vests to ordinary t-shirts and leather jackets. It really makes no difference what you wear to Oktoberfest unless, perhaps, you are an old-timer from Bavaria. On this night I headed for the Hacker-Pschorr Braurosi tent -- which I'd heard was a wild one.

Besides fresh Oktoberfest beer, specially brewed for the occasion, Oktoberfest showcases and serves German culinary staples such as excellent Hendl (rotisserie chicken), Wursti (sausage), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (pork knuckle -- better than it sounds) and Knodel (a potato pancake). The ubiquitous Brezn (pretzels) are huge, soft and very salty.

Some Oktoberfest facts:

There are 12 tents all hosted by Munich area breweries. Each tent is a very lucrative business. It's a sophisticated setup regarding beer delivery, ingress and egress, food, security and music. The bathrooms? Well... they're another story.

Tents can hold up to 10,000 people at a time and are usually packed, packed, packed -- especially in the evenings. The jostling is incredible. Big German waitresses power through the crowds holding up to ten beers or platters of food. The tents are open for 12 hours each day (usually 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM). In other words, way more than 10,000 people rotate in and out throughout the day. Meanwhile, thousands of others are standing outside the tents, hoping, trying to get in!

The festival lasts 16 days.

Doing a little math, that's: 12 tents x 10,000 people x 16 days = 1,920,000 people minimum. In fact, Munich estimates that a record 7.5 million people will attend Oktoberfest in 2010.

If each of those 7.5 million people drink only 4 liters of beer, then the partiers consume roughly 8 million gallons of beer over the course of the event.

The Hacker-Pschorr tent is by far the prettiest at Oktoberfest. The walls are painted with bucolic Bavarian scenes and the roof is painted like a big blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. Well-lit, you might think you're outside, eating and drinking with 9,999 new friends. I was fortunate to get seated in the balcony so could overlook the controlled chaos. The band now belted out the familiar "Que Sera Sera" followed by rousing rendition of "Those Were the Days." (The 1968 hit sung by Mary Hopkin was produced by Paul McCartney.) Appetizers soon appeared consisting of radishes (they seem to love radishes), a type of pork fat liverwurst and of course, big salty pretzels. As my first beer arrived, I settled in as waitresses roared by, blasting through the ever thickening crowd carrying full or empty steins of excellent Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest beer.

The din -- a happy noise -- got louder and louder though I couldn't tell if I was inside or outside the asylum. Looking back through the windows, thousands of people were massing, trying to get into this tent. Then the song "Mamma Mia" got the crowd lathered in proper ABBA fashion. Some danced in the aisles and many others on the benches. After a short break, the traditional music was replaced by a rock band and soon the chunky opening chords of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" shook the building. It sounded great. "We come here every year," shouted Gabriella Keck, visiting from Salzburg, Austria. Her five friends were rocking too. Next came AC-DC's "You, Shook Me All Night Long" and the horde, young and old, local and international went nuts.

Bob Ecker is a Napa, California based travel writer/photographer providing worldwide magazines and newspapers with compelling travel, hospitality, wine, culinary, skiing, film and innovative feature content. He is constantly on the go, traveling the world, unearthing new stories and uncorking emerging regions. He is current Society of American Travel Writers (SATW) member and former President of the Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW).

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

That ’30s Feeling

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/opinion/18krugman.html

That ’30s Feeling
PAUL KRUGMAN
June 17, 2010

Suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. Condemning deficits and refusing to help a still-struggling economy has become the new fashion everywhere, including the United States, where 52 senators voted against extending aid to the unemployed despite the highest rate of long-term joblessness since the 1930s.

Many economists, myself included, regard this turn to austerity as a huge mistake. It raises memories of 1937, when F.D.R.’s premature attempt to balance the budget helped plunge a recovering economy back into severe recession. And here in Germany, a few scholars see parallels to the policies of Heinrich Brüning, the chancellor from 1930 to 1932, whose devotion to financial orthodoxy ended up sealing the doom of the Weimar Republic.

But despite these warnings, the deficit hawks are prevailing in most places — and nowhere more than here, where the government has pledged 80 billion euros, almost $100 billion, in tax increases and spending cuts even though the economy continues to operate far below capacity.

What’s the economic logic behind the government’s moves? The answer, as far as I can tell, is that there isn’t any. Press German officials to explain why they need to impose austerity on a depressed economy, and you get rationales that don’t add up. Point this out, and they come up with different rationales, which also don’t add up. Arguing with German deficit hawks feels more than a bit like arguing with U.S. Iraq hawks back in 2002: They know what they want to do, and every time you refute one argument, they just come up with another.

Here’s roughly how the typical conversation goes (this is based both on my own experience and that of other American economists):

German hawk: “We must cut deficits immediately, because we have to deal with the fiscal burden of an aging population.”

Ugly American: “But that doesn’t make sense. Even if you manage to save 80 billion euros — which you won’t, because the budget cuts will hurt your economy and reduce revenues — the interest payments on that much debt would be less than a tenth of a percent of your G.D.P. So the austerity you’re pursuing will threaten economic recovery while doing next to nothing to improve your long-run budget position.”

German hawk: “I won’t try to argue the arithmetic. You have to take into account the market reaction.”

Ugly American: “But how do you know how the market will react? And anyway, why should the market be moved by policies that have almost no impact on the long-run fiscal position?”

German hawk: “You just don’t understand our situation.”

The key point is that while the advocates of austerity pose as hardheaded realists, doing what has to be done, they can’t and won’t justify their stance with actual numbers — because the numbers do not, in fact, support their position. Nor can they claim that markets are demanding austerity. On the contrary, the German government remains able to borrow at rock-bottom interest rates.

So the real motivations for their obsession with austerity lie somewhere else.

In America, many self-described deficit hawks are hypocrites, pure and simple: They’re eager to slash benefits for those in need, but their concerns about red ink vanish when it comes to tax breaks for the wealthy. Thus, Senator Ben Nelson, who sanctimoniously declared that we can’t afford $77 billion in aid to the unemployed, was instrumental in passing the first Bush tax cut, which cost a cool $1.3 trillion.

German deficit hawkery seems more sincere. But it still has nothing to do with fiscal realism. Instead, it’s about moralizing and posturing. Germans tend to think of running deficits as being morally wrong, while balancing budgets is considered virtuous, never mind the circumstances or economic logic. “The last few hours were a singular show of strength,” declared Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, after a special cabinet meeting agreed on the austerity plan. And showing strength — or what is perceived as strength — is what it’s all about.

There will, of course, be a price for this posturing. Only part of that price will fall on Germany: German austerity will worsen the crisis in the euro area, making it that much harder for Spain and other troubled economies to recover. Europe’s troubles are also leading to a weak euro, which perversely helps German manufacturing, but also exports the consequences of German austerity to the rest of the world, including the United States.

But German politicians seem determined to prove their strength by imposing suffering — and politicians around the world are following their lead.

How bad will it be? Will it really be 1937 all over again? I don’t know. What I do know is that economic policy around the world has taken a major wrong turn, and that the odds of a prolonged slump are rising by the day.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on June 18, 2010, on page A29 of the New York edition.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery?

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1995113,00.html

Will German Austerity Help or Hurt the Global Recovery?
By Tristana Moore / Berlin Wednesday, Jun. 09, 2010

Announcing a tough austerity plan when your government's popularity has hit rock bottom is a high-risk strategy, but Germany's Chancellor seems ready to ride out the storm of protest. Even as trade unions warned of a summer of unrest, Angela Merkel put on a brave face when she announced the biggest round of spending cuts since World War II on Monday afternoon. "These are serious times, these are difficult times. We can't afford everything that we want if we also want to look after our future," Merkel told reporters in Berlin after her coalition government hammered out a framework deal to bring down Germany's swollen public debt.

The austerity plan is ambitious — the aim is to save up to $95 billion by 2014 through a combination of deep spending cuts and revenue-raising measures. The savings include controversial cuts to welfare payments for the long-term unemployed and reductions in parental allowance for families. Merkel tried to head off critics by pointing out that the plan was fair because it included cuts to industry and the public sector. Under the plan, 10,000 civil servants working for federal ministries would lose their jobs; 40,000 jobs would be cut in the armed forces; there would be a new "ecological levy" on air travel; a tax would be imposed on the nuclear power industry; and, from 2012 on, there would be a tax on financial transactions. Even prestige building projects have been put on ice: the German government has postponed plans to build a replica of Berlin's former Prussian palace.

"We've lived beyond our means over the past few years," Guido Westerwelle, Vice Chancellor and leader of Merkel's coalition partners, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), bluntly told a news conference on Monday. As a concession to the FDP, which campaigned on a tax-cutting platform in last September's election, Merkel said there would be no hike in income tax and no increase in sales tax, while spending on education and research would be protected. "The last few months have shown — in connection with the crisis in Greece and the euro zone — how crucial solid finances are, and they are the precondition for being able to live in stability and prosperity," said Merkel.

Some economists welcomed the fact that the government steered clear of tax hikes; others said the round of spending cuts was too severe and could stall Germany's fragile economic recovery. "The government should have postponed the cuts until the economy is really back on its feet again," Gustav Horn, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Düsseldorf, told TIME. He said the austerity plan was "piecemeal," made up of "real cuts in the social security system but halfhearted cuts to business," and pointed out that the financial-market-transaction tax was conditional on other countries' adopting it. "Chancellor Merkel could have introduced a tax on the wealthy and tougher measures against the banking sector — that would have made a difference," said Horn. Germany's focus on deficit reduction could end up affecting the global recovery. There is also concern that German cutbacks may hobble the feeble global recovery. At a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in South Korea on June 5, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for "stronger domestic demand growth" in European countries like Germany and in Japan. As his European counterparts urged speedy implementation of austerity programs, Geithner reportedly counseled reform "in the medium-term."

Still, as Europe's biggest economy, Germany is hoping to set an example of budget discipline for other countries so they in turn will also tighten their belts. Greece, Portugal and Spain have already announced crippling austerity plans — while Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has warned of "decades of pain" to rein in the U.K.'s massive budget deficit. Although Germany's public finances are in better shape than those of other countries in the European Union, Berlin's budget deficit reached 3.1% of GDP in 2009, and it's expected to exceed 5% of GDP later this year, which would be in breach of the 3% deficit limit set by the E.U.'s rules.

On top of that, Germany has a constitutional limit on borrowing — a "debt brake" — which obliges the government to scale back borrowing over the next few years. "We have a result which will enable us to meet the limit on borrowing in this legislative session," said Wolfgang Schaeuble on the sidelines of the meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, claiming there was a "very reasonable [social] balance."

Merkel may have to pay a heavy political price in her backyard. Trade unions, welfare groups and opposition parties slammed the austerity plan as "socially unjust" and threatened to fight the measures when they go through Parliament. "The jobless will bear the brunt of virtually half of these spending cuts," said the head of the Social Democratic Party, Sigmar Gabriel. The Left Party accused Merkel's government of making the jobless, pensioners and families pay for the "reckless gambling" of bankers. "This is an attack on social peace and democracy," said Gregor Gysi, head of the Left Party's parliamentary group, urging Germans to take to the streets.

Already, union leaders are planning a nationwide day of protest with a series of demonstrations in major German cities on June 12. "The government is punishing the weakest in society," Frank Bsirske, head of Germany's public-sector union Verdi, told reporters on Monday, warning that the savings would lead to a spike in unemployment. The German press was also baying for blood, with tabloid paper the Berliner Kurier branding the austerity plan as a "list of horrors" and claiming that every German would have to fork out $1,200 to pay for the cutbacks. The government has "ruined the summer" screamed the left-leaning paper Die Tageszeitung on its front page. Even the conservative daily Die Welt was skeptical that the measures would be able to restore public finances in the long-term. "The poorest of the poor seem to be worst off in the austerity drive, and this will give plenty of ammunition to opposition parties — they'll fight these measures tooth and nail," Uwe Jun, professor of political science at the University of Trier, told TIME. And with members of the social wing of Merkel's conservative party criticizing the austerity drive, Jun predicts "yet more splits in the coalition government."

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Hitler and the secret Satanic cult at the heart of Nazi Germany

http://www.newsmonster.co.uk/paranormal-unexplained/hitler-and-the-secret-satanic-cult-at-the-heart-of-nazi-germany.html

Hitler and the secret Satanic cult at the heart of Nazi Germany
Paranormal & Unexplained,
Written by Danny Penman

At first glance, the large circular room in the basement of Wewelsburg Castle appears to be harmless enough. Smooth, finely cut stones pave the floor. Glistening rock walls arch majestically towards a high vaulted ceiling.

In the centre of the room lies a sunken circular altar with polished steps leading towards a burnt and cracked stone. From here you can see thirteen lanterns flickering on the curved walls. But it’s only when you look directly upwards that the room’s significance becomes shockingly clear. At the centre of the dome lies a giant swastika.

This room was the central temple of the Satanic cult that created and directed Germany’s Nazi party. This so called Vril Society counted many of Hitler’s henchmen as members, including Himmler, Bormann, and Hess. Central to the whole cult was Hitler, who they believed to be a psychic medium in contact with powerful forces that would create an all-conquering Aryan nation. Some saw him as the Dark Messiah.

Historians have tended to downplay the occult foundations of Nazism for fear of trivialising its heinous war crimes, but a recent documentary on the Discovery Channel laid bare the untold story of the secretive religion at the heart of fascist Germany. And bizarrely, it is thought to have been based on a 19th Century science fiction novel that predicted flying saucers, an alien race at the centre of the earth, and a mysterious force known as Vril.

“Occult myths played a central role in Nazism,” says Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, head of the Centre for the Study of Esotericism at Exeter University. “When we look at these ideas today, we think of them as crazy, but they were central to the early Nazi Party and through them played a critical role in 20th century history.”

“The Vril society was dedicated to evil,” says historian Michael Fitzgerald. “Through their control of the Nazi party they committed the greatest acts of evil in the 20th Century.

“Vril occultists worked in complete secrecy doing anything that would promote Aryan power. This ranged from straightforward political assassinations, through to evoking the spirits of the dead, human sacrifice and summoning mysterious energies – or Vril - through sexual orgies.”

To understand why the Nazi party was so obsessed with the occult and Satanism, you have to travel back to Victorian times. In the late 19th Century, Germany in common with Britain, was obsessed with the occult. It was a time when no self-respecting hostess would dream of holding a dinner party without a séance to round off the evening.

There was also huge interest in eastern mysticism and ‘prophets’ of occult religions, such as Madame Blavatsky, were household names. Blavatsky believed that Europeans were descended from a race of angel-like creatures known as Aryans. They claimed that the Aryans had used mysterious psychic forces to build the pyramids, Atlantis and a network of cities beneath Antarctica. What’s more, their descendants were to be found in the Himalayas and their sign was the swastika – the ancient Hindu good luck symbol.

These myths and more were crystallised in the science-fiction novel The Coming Race. In this, Edward Bulwer-Lytton told of a strange people called the Vril-Ya that lived at the centre of the Earth. They wielded fantastic power using a mysterious force known as Vril, which they also used to propel flying saucers.

The Coming Race and its attendant barmy mysticism would have sunk into obscurity if it hadn’t been for the First World War. At the end of the war, Germany was plunged into violent anarchy and a host of extremist politicians and cult leaders stepped into the breach and battled for power. Chief of these was the occult Thule Society – and its inner sect, the Vril Society.

The Vril Society was noted for it’s use of orgies to summon up occult energies – and to father a ‘master race’ of children to repopulate a devastated Germany. It is said that women in such orgies would become possessed by spirits and begin speaking in tongues. And their prophesies were treated with deadly seriousness.

“But the darkest side of the Vril was their propensity for sacrificing young children,” says Michael Fitzgerald, author of Stormtroopers of Satan. “They would stab them in the chest and cut their throats.

“At the height of their power in 1920s Munich, hundreds of children disappeared. Many are presumed to have been killed by the cult to summon up Vril energy. This may seem like an outlandish claim but when you consider what these people went on to do in the Third Reich, it seems almost tame.”

Central to the Vril Society was the search for a German Messiah who would lead the Aryan’s to world domination and exterminate all other races – especially the Jews. And his rise was predicted by a spirit calling itself the “Beast of the Book of Revelation.”

In a séance attended by the cult followers Alfred Rosenberg and Dietrich Eckart, the Beast is said to have proclaimed that a man named “Hitler” would seize the “Spear of Destiny” and lead the Aryans to power.

And within a few weeks, a fiery young man of shabby appearance began attending Thule Society meetings. His name was Adolf Hitler.

The Society was quick to spot Hitler’s potential and to exploit his astonishing personal magnetism. He could transform crowds into hysterical worshippers and mesmerise even the strongest of men. Power seemed to course through him, with waves of emotion whipping up those around him into a frenzy. At times, he seemed possessed.

Hitler was fascinated by the occult. He was a devotee of astrology, numerology, psychic mediumship, hypnosis and water divining. In short, the young Adolf would try anything that might foretell the future or give him control over others.

It was in the Thule Society that Hitler met those who would help him take over Germany and wage the Second World War. Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Martin Bormann, Dietrich Eckart, Alfred Rosenberg, and Hermann Goering were all said to be members. It was these, along with Hitler, who used the Thule Society – and it’s inner sect the Vril Society – to launch and promote the Nazi Party.

But even amongst this sinister group, there was an inner core who were even more evil, if that is conceivable.

“Bormann was an avowed Satanist, says Michael Fitzgerald. “Bormann, together with Rosenberg and Himmler, wanted to destroy Christianity and replace it with a truly occult religion of their own making. And along with the Thule Society, they created a political party that would try and do just that.”

When Hitler led the Nazi party to power in 1933, members of the sect occupied all key positions. Hess became Deputy Fuhrer, Rosenberg became Minister of the Third Reich, Bormann was Chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery, Himmler was head of the SS and Gestapo, and Goering, Commander of the Luftwaffe. Only the deceased Dietrich Eckart, whom Hitler dedicated Mein Kampf to, failed to join them.

As soon as they gained power the Nazis began preparing for world domination. Their first act was to re-arm – a clear breach of the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the First World War. Whilst the protests from Britain and France were loud and shrill, Hitler guessed correctly that the Allies would shy away from war.

In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria. Again, he was appeased. And by the following year, most of Europe lay under his rule and Britain was in his sights.

Central to the Nazi ideology was the establishment of a thousand year Reich. This was to be done by perverting history and creating a new religion based on Aryan mythology – the same mythology propagated by the Victorian occult ‘prophets’ and the science fiction novel The Coming Race.

To do this, Himmler set up an occult research bureau under the wings of the SS, known as the Ahnenerbe. This was instructed to prove German racial superiority by linking them to the mythical race of ancient Aryans. It also hoped to uncover lost magical artefacts such as the Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny. This, you will recall, was the spear used to kill Jesus as he hung on the cross.

“It’s also possible they were looking for the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia,” says Michael Fitzgerald. “They were obviously hoping to use its reputed magical powers for their own ends.”

The Ahnenerbe mounted a series of huge expeditions to search for ancient Aryan cities in the Himalayas, the Middle East and Bolivia. The organisation looted artefacts from ancient sites around the world. It’s no surprise then, that the Ahnenerbe was the inspiration for the Nazi archaeologists in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The Ahnenerbe devoted considerable efforts to exploring paranormal phenomena, such as ESP, psychokinesis, water divining, astrology and black magic. In fact, the organisation spent around £10 billion in today’s money on research. That’s about the same as the Allies spent on the atomic bomb programme.

Very little of the Ahnenerbe’s work was of practical wartime use, although the German Navy is said to have used diviners to seek out Allied warships and convoys in the North Atlantic.

“They were initially quite successful,” says Michael Fitzgerald. “But they became so overworked, especially towards the end of the war, that they began to fail.”

Forecasting the future was a central preoccupation of the Nazis. The Ahnenerbe employed astrologers, rune diviners and a host of psychics to try and fathom the future. One astrologer, Karl Krafft, quickly rose to prominence after correctly predicting the 1939 Munich assassination attempt against Hitler.

Hitler believed that the astrological forecast and his survival was proof that the occult Gods supported his “Final Solution”. It left him in a state of mystical exaltation.

Eyes blazing with excitement he shouted: “Now I am content! It is Providence’s intention to allow me to reach my goal.”

Through the Ahnenerbe the Nazi’s began to creating an occult civilisation to supplant our Christian one.

“They began by indoctrinating the Hitler Youth with Satanic ideologies,” says Michael Fitzgerald. “Children and the future leaders of the SS were taught that compassion was weakness. They were encouraged to celebrate pagan festivals and to carry out occult ceremonies.

“Himmler named himself the Black Jesuit – and he meant it. He laid plans to establish pagan temples across Germany after the war. These would replace churches. And on every altar there would be a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.”

A new religious city centred around Wewelsburg Castle was planned. It was to be an occult Vatican dedicated to all things evil. Colleges would educate Germany’s future leaders in the occult, such as psychic mediumship, hypnosis and divination. Museums and galleries would house such artefacts as the Holy Grail, the Spear of Destiny and the Ark of the Covenant. And there would be research labs dedicated to finding new energies – such as Vril – to power spaceships to the stars.

To the modern eye, the Nazi preoccupation with the occult seems completely deranged. Were they simply insane or was something more sinister at work? It is tempting to write them off as insane, but some believe Hitler was truly possessed by evil forces.

Hermann Rauschning, a friend of Hitler and compiler of his speeches, said: "One cannot help thinking of Hitler as of a medium, the medium is possessed. Without any doubt, Hitler was possessed of forces which were beyond him and of which the individual called Hitler was only the temporary instrument."

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Nazi Film Still Pains Relatives


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/movies/02suss.html

Nazi Film Still Pains Relatives
LARRY ROHTER
March 1, 2010

In the history of the cinema, the German director Veit Harlan occupies an especially ignominious position. It is his name that is attached to “Jew Süss,” perhaps the most notoriously anti-Semitic movie ever made, a box office success in Nazi Germany in 1940 that was so effective that it was made required viewing for all members of the SS.

But what motivated Harlan to write and direct such a film? Was he a Nazi true believer, an opportunistic careerist or just a filmmaker too fearful of retribution to say no to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief? Those are some of the questions that another German director, Felix Moeller, asks in “Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss,” a documentary that opens a two-week engagement Wednesday at Film Forum in Manhattan.

“Harlan may be forgotten, but he was an influential figure, frequently mentioned in Nazi documents and in Goebbels’s diary,” Mr. Moeller said. “That interested me as a historian, but I also wanted to know what the younger generation thinks of this. We think we know everything, but when you ask what your grandfather did on the Eastern Front, what went on in your own family, it’s a different matter, and that story is important to me.”

Mr. Moeller’s film includes some snippets from “Jew Süss,” whose commercial exhibition or sale as a DVD is still prohibited in Germany and several other European countries. Set in the 18th century, it claims to be a dramatization of the true story of how a sinister, cunning Jewish financier, Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, took control of the duchy of Wurttemberg while preying sexually on a pure Aryan maiden, played by Harlan’s wife, Kristina Söderbaum. The bulk of Mr. Moeller’s film, however, consists of interviews with descendants of Veit Harlan, forced to live with his surname and the stigma of “Jew Süss.”

At 70 years’ remove, the movie itself may feel like a bizarre historical relic, but Karen Cooper, the director of Film Forum, said she found Mr. Moeller’s focus on the original movie’s reverberations through three generations of Harlans to be compelling and contemporary.

“This is a film that deals with issues of guilt and responsibility, which makes it every bit as relevant to you and me as to a German audience,” she said by telephone from the Berlin Film Festival, where a new feature film about the actor who played the title role in “Jew Süss,” Ferdinand Marian, was shown this year.

Harlan was married three times, the first time to a Jewish actress who died in a concentration camp during World War II, and he left behind a large family when he died in 1964 at 64. Some of his children and grandchildren wanted nothing to do with his film, Mr. Moeller said, while a few try to defend him.

But many of them are clearly haunted by the actions of their patriarch. “Why did he have to make it so well?” a son, Caspar, says to Mr. Moeller, referring to “Jew Süss.”

Caspar Harlan’s three daughters, on the other hand, seem more baffled than uncomfortable, dismissing the movie as a bourgeois melodrama that is “so cheesy and really banal.”

One of Veit Harlan’s daughters, Susanne Körber, who took her mother’s surname and committed suicide in 1989, converted to Judaism after marrying a Jew whose parents perished in the Holocaust. The film includes footage of their daughter, Jessica Jacoby, trying to reconcile a horrible truth: that one of her grandfathers was complicit in the death of the other.

“As a German and a Jew, I believe it is important to look at this particular part of the past,” Ms. Jacoby, who plans to join Mr. Moeller in New York for the premiere, said in a telephone interview from Berlin. “Younger people have a different relationship to the past. It’s very far away for them, and some don’t even know who Goebbels was. But when I see a film like ‘Jew Süss,’ there’s still a huge amount of anger.”

Mr. Moeller said he also wanted to offer a more accurate portrayal of the German movie world during the Third Reich. Though most people think of Leni Riefenstahl as the leading filmmaker of the Nazi era, because of the renown of “Triumph of the Will” and “Olympia,” that was not actually the case.

“If you want to understand the movies that people actually paid to go and see, Veit Harlan is the one,” said Linda Schulte-Sasse, the author of “Entertaining the Third Reich: Illusions of Wholeness in Nazi Cinema” and a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota. “He was the Steven Spielberg or James Cameron of his era, and so you have to imagine ‘Jew Süss’ as a movie with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Brad Pitt.”

Unlike overt propaganda films like “The Eternal Jew,” a notorious screed, “Jew Süss” was a commercial release, a hit that was seen by more than 20 million and featured some of the top stars of the day. So the issue of Harlan’s motivations has various possible answers, all of which Mr. Moeller’s film ponders without favoring one over another.

Mr. Moeller, 44, came to the “Jew Süss” project with an unusually broad set of skills and qualifications. He has a doctorate in history, has written several articles for scholarly journals on the arts during the Nazi period, served as a historical adviser to feature films, and also directed a pair of other documentaries on German film figures who lived through the Third Reich.

In addition, he is the son of a prominent German director, Margarethe von Trotta, and the stepson of another, Volker Schlöndorff. But that does not mean that he exempts himself from the historical burdens that are the subject of his film.

“You don’t have to dig deep to find these stories in German families,” he said. “The mother of my father was such a fanatical Nazi that, like Magda Goebbels, she committed suicide at the end of the war and used poison to take five of her six children with her. Those dark, unsettling times never leave you alone. My hope is that you learn from our lesson in history.”

A version of this article appeared in print on March 2, 2010, on page C1 of the New York edition.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Demjanjuk Is a Victim of Double Standard

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aFC9s2gMdTB0

Demjanjuk Is a Victim of Double Standard, Lawyer Says
By Karin Matussek

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- John Demjanjuk’s lawyer told a German court that the 89-year-old is the victim of a double standard that allowed prosecutors to charge him in the country’s most prominent Holocaust-related trial in decades.

The German SS officers who trained or supervised Demjanjuk during World War II were acquitted at trials in the 1960s and 1970s over the same allegations that Demjanjuk is charged with today, his attorney, Ulrich Busch, said on the first day of trial. Demjanjuk, a suspected Nazi death-camp guard, is accused of aiding in the killing of 27,900 people at the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

“These acquittals stand between the court and my client today,” said Busch, arguing a request for the removal of judges. “How can he have aided in a crime to which other people were acquitted?”

Demjanjuk’s case has been closely watched since a Munich court issued an arrest warrant in March and he was deported from the U.S. two months later. About 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and Germany has been criticized for allowing too many perpetrators to escape punishment.

Busch also argued that the case against his client was arbitrary, because former guards prosecutors rely on as witnesses have lived in Germany for 65 years without facing similar charges. His client, who was a Russian prisoner of war, was in the same situation as Jews who collaborated with the Nazis to save their lives, he said.

Blanket, Baseball Cap

Prosecutor Hans-Joachim Lutz rejected the allegations, saying his office opened a probe against a witness who was a former guard. The judges today weren’t handling the cases in the 1960s and 1970s that led to the acquittals cited by the defense, Lutz said.

Demjanjuk was brought in the courtroom in a wheelchair, covered by a blanket and wearing a baseball cap. Three medical experts told the court that he was able to stand trial if hearings are limited to two sessions of no more than 90 minutes.

About 35 siblings, children or spouses of people killed in Sobibor have joined the proceedings as private co-plaintiffs. The status allows their lawyers to question witnesses or appeal rulings.

Marco de Groot, 70, one of the co-plaintiffs, said in an interview before the trial that his parents were deported to Sobibor from the Netherlands and murdered. He survived because his father arranged for the then 5-year-old boy to be hidden with friends.

‘No Choice’

“To be here is the only thing I can do for my parents,” said de Groot, who is from Edam, The Netherlands. “I didn’t even think about whether I should do it. I simply had no choice.”

There is no reason to assume that judges would be biased because of past failures of German justice, said Cornelius Nestler, a lawyer for some of the co-plaintiffs.

“If the accused compares himself with Jews in the camp, we should emphasize some simple facts,” said Nestler. “The guards could leave the camp in their free time and had adequate food. The Jews didn’t. The guards drank and took the inmates’ belongings.”

Demjanjuk was fighting in the Red Army when he was captured by the Germans in 1942, according to the indictment. He was trained as a guard at the Trawniki camp in occupied Poland and served at Sobibor from March to September 1943, prosecutors claim. During that period, 27,900 Jews, mostly deported from the Netherlands, were killed in the camp, prosecutors claim.

‘Historic Dimensions’

Lawyers said the case may demonstrate the justice system’s limits in helping the nation come to terms with its troubled past.

“People are looking for the historic dimensions that transcend the narrow legal issues of the case,” Thomas Henne, a German legal historian currently teaching at Tokyo University, said in an interview. “The question is whether a criminal court is the right place to find historic answers. It’s difficult enough to judicially determine an individual’s guilt six decades after the fact.”

While prosecution of Nazis in German courts started only years after the war, some prominent cases helped break the country’s “cartel of silence,” Henne said, including the Auschwitz trials during the 1960s in Frankfurt where hundreds of concentration camp survivors testified. Still, some probes led to unconvincing acquittals or allowed Nazis to all too easily claim medical reasons to avoid trials, he said.

Israeli Trial

“With Demjanjuk, the current generation of prosecutors and judges aims to show they won’t repeat these mistakes,” Henne said. “The swift handling of the case is a sort of manifest demonstration saying: ‘Yes, we’re doing better now.’”

Demjanjuk, a Ukraine native and retired autoworker, lived near Cleveland until he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship and extradited to Israel in 1986. He was tried there on charges he was “Ivan the Terrible,” the guard who tortured Jews while herding them into the Treblinka concentration camp gas chambers.

His death sentence and conviction in the case were overturned by Israel’s Supreme Court in 1993, saying there was reasonable doubt that he served at Treblinka. Demjanjuk returned to the U.S., regaining his citizenship. In 2002, a court again revoked it over his alleged role at Sobibor.

Germany’s central Nazi crime investigation unit started to look into Demjanjuk in 2008 after stumbling over his U.S. citizenship case on the Internet. After an eight-month investigation, they referred the matter to Munich prosecutors.

His lawyer, Busch, says prosecutors rely on an identity card and a staff list to prove he served at Sobibor and wrongfully infer he must have aided in the murders because he was there. Busch said document experts found that the ID card was forged.

“It is all a farce and cannot withstand the test of litigation,” Demjanjuk’s son said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Munich via kmatussek@bloomberg.net;

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Adolf Hitler alive: weird conspiracy theories

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6242144/Adolf-Hitler-alive-weird-conspiracy-theories.html

Adolf Hitler alive: weird conspiracy theories
The discovery that the skull believed to be Adolf Hitler's was actually a woman's has reignited conspiracy theories.
By Tom Chivers
29 Sep 2009

Rumours of Hitler’s survival have been widespread for years, with some even claiming he is alive today.

While that is unlikely – the Nazi leader would celebrate his 121st birthday in April – the possibility that he made it out of the Berlin bunker has been seriously put forward on several occasions. Here are four of the strangest theories.

Hitler fled on a 'ghost convoy' to Argentina

Several prominent Nazis – including 'architect of the Holocaust' Adolf Eichmann and Dr Josef Mengele, the 'Angel of Death' – certainly did flee to Argentina.

And the arrival of two U-Boats in the South American country in the weeks after the war led to more speculation that Hitler joined his former underlings there. But Heinz Schäffer, one of the officers on the U-Boats, has alwas strenuously denied being part of a 'ghost convoy'.

The two U-Boats, U-530 and U-977, surrendered at Mar del Plata in Argentina in July and August 1945 respectively.

Hitler 'fled to Antarctica in a U-Boat'

Among the theories of Hitler's whereabouts after the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945 was that he was smuggled out of Germany and onto a U-Boat.

From there, the story goes, the Nazi leader was taken to a secret military base in Antarctic. In the late 1950s British and American forces found the base and destroyed it with atomic weapons.

The theory falls down on three major points. One, there was never a German military presence in Antarctica, despite a pre-war mission there to see whether a whaling base would be feasible.

Two, while the two U-Boats mentioned above did arrive in Argentina after the war, they could not possibly have made it to Antarctica. The sea ice in the winter blocks all access to the land where any base would have been.

Three, while atomic bombs were detonated in the southern hemisphere in 1958, they were atmospheric tests, hundreds of miles above the surface of the Earth. All three took place between 1400 and 2150 miles north of Antarctica.

Using secret rocket technology, Hitler fled to a Nazi base on the moon

The point when Hitler conspiracy theories lose touch with reality altogether. The Nazis' development late in the war of high-technology weapons – including the V2, an early ballistic missile, and the Me 262 jet fighter – inspired some to believe that Germany had secretly won the space race.

It was also suggested that the Nazis had made contact with UFOs and that they had made it to the Moon as early as 1942. Furthermore, Russian and American astronauts actually made it there in the 1950s, and stayed at a Nazi lunar base.

For added measure, it is claimed that the Moon is perfectly habitable for humans, but that NASA claims it is barren and airless in order to stop Third World countries visiting it.

Hitler is alive and well and staying in San Diego

Well, not really. This one is a joke – but there is a structure, visible on Google Maps, that might make you think otherwise. A barracks building in the US Navy base in San Diego's Coronado island, known as the 'Seal's Lair', is very definitely in the shape of a swastika.

In 2007, the US Navy said it was going to redesign the 1960s-built edifice, spending around $600,000 (£375,000) to make it less master-racy. They admitted they noticed the shape when it was built, but didn't think anyone would spot it from the ground.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Swiss banks ban top executive travel

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df9ce572-1a36-11de-9f91-0000779fd2ac.html

Swiss banks ban top executive travel
By Richard Milne in Geneva
March 26 2009

Switzerland’s private banks have started to ban their top executives from travelling abroad, even to neighbouring France and Germany, because of fears they will be detained as part of a global crackdown on bank secrecy.

The head of one leading private bank in Geneva said the growing determination of countries such as the US and Germany to tackle tax evasion and secrecy meant banks felt they had to take extra measures to protect employees.

“Some banks have taken this precaution,” he said. “If today I go to Germany to visit two banks I deal with...German customs can take me in and question me.”

The travel bans, which have not been brought in by all banks, have focused on those visiting the US, following the detention there last year of a senior private banker from UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, as part of a federal tax investigation.

The head of the private bank, which itself has no travel restrictions, said: “Today if you are a banker from Switzerland going to the US you have to fear you will be taken in for questioning. I am thinking twice about going to America.”

However, four people in the private banking industry in Geneva told the Financial Times of banks bringing in total travel bans for staff, even for adjoining European countries.

“Private bankers aren’t even travelling to France. The partners are not leaving Geneva at all,” said a senior industry figure close to several private banks. No bank contacted by the Financial Times wanted to discuss the matter publicly.

The restrictions come ahead of next week’s Group of 20 summit where a clampdown on tax havens is set to be discussed.

Under pressure from other countries, Switzerland, which is estimated to account for about a third of the world’s $11,000bn in clandestine personal wealth, agreed this month to ease its bank secrecy laws and accept international standards on tax transparency.

From their discreet offices on a luxury goods shopping street overlooking Lac Leman, private bankers in Geneva reacted this week with a mixture of intense anger, at what they see as an unjustified attack by big countries, and concern about the threat to their business model.

“It is not really about bank secrecy; it is about solving an internal problem [for the big countries] by finding an enemy outside to bash,” said one senior banker.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Secret of the Lusitania

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1098904/Secret-Lusitania-Arms-challenges-Allied-claims-solely-passenger-ship.html

Secret of the Lusitania: Arms find challenges Allied claims it was solely a passenger ship
By Sam Greenhill
20th December 2008

Her sinking with the loss of almost 1,200 lives caused such outrage that it propelled the U.S. into the First World War.

But now divers have revealed a dark secret about the cargo carried by the Lusitania on its final journey in May 1915.

Munitions they found in the hold suggest that the Germans had been right all along in claiming the ship was carrying war materials and was a legitimate military target.

The Cunard vessel, steaming from New York to Liverpool, was sunk eight miles off the Irish coast by a U-boat.

Maintaining that the Lusitania was solely a passenger vessel, the British quickly accused the 'Pirate Hun' of slaughtering civilians.

The disaster was used to whip up anti-German anger, especially in the U.S., where 128 of the 1,198 victims came from.

A hundred of the dead were children, many of them under two.

Robert Lansing, the U.S. secretary of state, later wrote that the sinking gave him the 'conviction we would ultimately become the ally of Britain'.

Americans were even told, falsely, that German children were given a day off school to celebrate the sinking of the Lusitania.

The disaster inspired a multitude of recruitment posters demanding vengeance for the victims.

One, famously showing a young mother slipping below the waves with her baby, carried the simple slogan 'Enlist'.

Two years later, the Americans joined the Allies as an associated power - a decision that turned the war decisively against Germany.

The diving team estimates that around four million rounds of U.S.-manufactured Remington .303 bullets lie in the Lusitania's hold at a depth of 300ft.

The Germans had insisted the Lusitania - the fastest liner in the North Atlantic - was being used as a weapons ship to break the blockade Berlin had been trying to impose around Britain since the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914.

Winston Churchill, who was first Lord of the Admiralty and has long been suspected of knowing more about the circumstances of the attack than he let on in public, wrote in a confidential letter shortly before the sinking that some German submarine attacks were to be welcomed.

He said: 'It is most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hope especially of embroiling the U.S. with Germany.

'For our part we want the traffic - the more the better and if some of it gets into trouble, better still.'

Hampton Sides, a writer with Men's Vogue in the U.S., witnessed the divers' discovery.

He said: 'They are bullets that were expressly manufactured to kill Germans in World War I - bullets that British officials in Whitehall, and American officials in Washington, have long denied were aboard the Lusitania.'

The discovery may help explain why the 787ft Lusitania sank within 18 minutes of a single German torpedo slamming into its hull.

Some of the 764 survivors reported a second explosion which might have been munitions going off.

Gregg Bemis, an American businessman who owns the rights to the wreck and is funding its exploration, said: 'Those four million rounds of .303s were not just some private hunter's stash.

'Now that we've found it, the British can't deny any more that there was ammunition on board. That raises the question of what else was on board.

'There were literally tons and tons of stuff stored in unrefrigerated cargo holds that were dubiously marked cheese, butter and oysters.

'I've always felt there were some significant high explosives in the holds - shells, powder, gun cotton - that were set off by the torpedo and the inflow of water. That's what sank the ship.'

Mr Bemis is planning to commission further dives next year in a full-scale forensic examination of the wreck off County Cork.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Holocaust, Tarantino-style

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1027043.html

07/10/2008
The Holocaust, Tarantino-style: Jews scalping Nazis
By Assaf Uni
Tags: Israel News, Holocaust

BERLIN - For weeks, Germany's tabloids and culture pages have been preoccupied with Quentin Tarantino's film "Inglorious Bastards," slated to start filming next week in Germany.

While the tabloids are drooling over the movie's star, Brad Pitt, who is moving with his wife Angelina Jolie and their children to a villa close to Berlin ("The most beautiful couple in Wannsee," one headline declared), the serious media is focusing on another angle: Is Germany ready for a Tarantino-style treatment of World War II?

An early draft of the script leaked onto the Internet three months ago suggested the film would contain scenes of bloody vengeance exacted by Jews against Nazis. One campaign would be carried out by Jews in the U.S. Army intent on scalping Nazi soldiers on occupied French soil; another would be a Jewish refugee's revenge against the Nazi officer who murdered her parents.

Pitt is to play Jewish-American Lt. Aldo Raine, the leader of a revenge squad known as "The Bastards," who launch a killing spree in which they hang, torture, disembowel and scalp German soldiers and engrave Swastikas on their foreheads, according to the leaked draft.

The film is raising controversy in Germany, where the subjects of World War II and the Holocaust are usually restricted to historical discourse.

"This is pop culture meeting Nazi Germany and the Holocaust with unprecedented force," said the film critic of SuedDeutche Zeitung, Tobias Kniebe. "The effects of this collision are utterly unpredictable."

German film critics blasted last week's decision to grant the film money from the German Film Fund and another local fund, saying that Germany cannot finance a movie that uses Jewish-Nazi relations as entertainment, especially one by Tarantino.

The SuedDeutche Zeitung warned that the film may be no less explosive than the Hollywood film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, about German officers' abortive attempt to assassinate Hitler toward the end of WWII. The movie, filmed in Germany and scheduled to be released in spring 2009, has already drawn fire from German historians.

"All the German historians and critics who were left gasping for breath by Tom Cruise and his worthy attempts to produce a correct image of Stauffenberg will be so shocked by 'Inglorious Bastards' that they will savage it on the spot," writes Kneibe.

Tarantino's film is not supposed to mix history and fiction, but to offer the pure, hyper-violent entertainment that the American director of "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" is known for.

"It is sort of a spaghetti western set in World War II," Tarantino told the German News Agency DPA. "I am not going to call it this, but if it had a subtitle for it, it would be called, 'Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France.'"

Films that treat the Holocaust period as pure entertainment could be destructive, says Alexander Kluge, a noted film director and author, who has been dealing with the Holocaust and its memory for more than 50 years.

He cites Swiss-Jewish director Dany Levy's comedy "Mein Fuehrer" as a case in point. This film raised a storm in Germany two years ago, when it portrayed for the first time a neurotic, empathy-evoking Hitler. "Such films can obscure the events' true significance," says Kluge.

Tarantino's film received a 300,000 euro grant from the state of Brandenburg, because it will be filmed in Potsdam's Babelsberg studios. Founded in 1911, this is the world's oldest major film studio. Films including Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and "The Blue Angel" with Marlene Dietrich were filmed there in the 1920s and 1930s, as were numerous Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda films.

Tarantino's film is also expected to receive 20 percent of its budget from the German Film Fund because it is being filmed in Germany. It is scheduled to be released in June 2009.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Troubles in Brzezinski’s paradise?

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2910.shtml

Troubles in Brzezinski’s paradise?
By Umberto Pascali
Online Journal Guest Writer
Feb 4, 2008

“France's defence minister, Herve Morin, did not budge when Gates asked Paris for more troops.”[Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]

“[German defence minister Franz Josef] Jung responded in an equally strong manner, refusing to send the 3,200 troops to the south of Afghanistan that Gates requested to replace US troops” [Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited]

Europeans refuse to join the new war deployment in Afghanistan that is the first step toward a planned global Operation Barbarossa against Russia.

To jump start such a countdown to war was the raison d’être for the frantic efforts by Zbigniew Brzezinski to impose his hand-picked candidate, Barack Obama, as the next US president. If the final assault against Russia is to have a realistic chance to succeed, the economic, military, propagandistic resources of Europe (especially France, Germany, Italy and Spain) must be put under Anglo-American control and totally integrated with the Anglo American war machine. Figurehead Obama is supposed to supply the ideological rhetoric and hysteria that could get the US public and the Europeans (plus large areas of the Third World), who are both sickened and disgusted by the wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the train of total war

What it is to be expected now is a period of increasing pressures on Europe to give up, whether they manage to save of their sovereignty and integrate in the war machine. The situation resembles, mutatis mutandis, the period of the violent debate over the question of the euro missiles. At that time, Europe gave up. Now, however, the situation could be different. The Anglo-Americans do not have the influence and power they once could boast. Russia is led by realistic and skilled persons who know their surrender or defeat would mean Russia's partition and final looting. Russia and China are tied in an alliance based on the common understanding of the existential danger they face. And also, the Europeans could have learned something from the past 20 years.

If the economic and military potential of Europe is not available for the new global Operation Barbarossa, Brzezinski’s plan will fail. Brzezinski's attempt to again use the “Muslim card” (using Muslims populations and terrorists groups as cannon fodder for an upheaval directed against both Russia and China) or to use India will not be enough. Imminent events will make clear whether the Europeans will let themselves be intimidated and propagandistically stampeded into a war. It would not be surprising if new scandals, tiny veiled blackmails, “terrorist” provocations, artificially created internal clashes, and other “dirty tricks” will take over the front page of the media.

A series of events will constitute a litmus test for the chance of success of the Brzezinski plan:

The NATO meeting in Vilnius on February 7-8,

The concomitant detonation of the Kosovo Crisis,

The reactions to the pressures (that will continue) on the European governments,

The status of the Presidential campaign in the US. Will anybody point the spotlight at Brzezinski and his plan?

Later on, the April Summit of Nato in Bucharest.

The Manifesto calling for preemptive nuclear war was presented during the first half of January to both the Pentagon in Washington and to NATO's secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. As was reported recently by the media, five former NATO military leaders signed the unprecedented document: General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO's ex-supreme commander in Europe; General Klaus Naumann, Germany's former top soldier and ex-chairman of NATO's military committee; General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff; Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff; and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK.

Notes:

Germany Rejects U.S. Request for More Afghan Troops, Feb. 1, Bloomberg

US 'sternly requests' more German troops for Afghanistan, Feb. 1, Guardian Unlimited

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

German historian wants Hitler's book republished

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070727/wl_nm/germany_hitler_book_dc

German historian wants Hitler's book republished
By Adam Williams and Ayhan Uyanik
Fri Jul 27, 2007

A German historian is campaigning to get Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" published in Germany for the first time since World War Two, warning that a delay could turn the controversial book into a sensation.

But his drive has been criticized by Jewish groups, who say publishing the book too early would offend Holocaust survivors and send the wrong signal about Germany.

Hitler dictated the tome while in prison in Bavaria following the failed Munich "Beer Hall" putsch of 1923. It outlines a doctrine of German racial supremacy and ambitions to annex vast areas of the Soviet Union.

First published in 1925, it was a standard text in German schools after Hitler won power in 1933.

Now only purchasers who can prove an academic purpose may secure a copy of "Mein Kampf." Otherwise, it is not available in Germany, as the copyright holder, the state of Bavaria, refuses to authorize the printing of new copies.

Bavaria's copyright, assigned to it by the Allies after World War Two, expires in 2015, after which time anyone will be able to publish the book.

Professor Horst Moeller, director of the Munich Institute of Contemporary History, says waiting until that date is risky.

"You can be sure it will be sold as a sensation," Moeller told Reuters.

He argues that the existing publishing ban gives the book a dangerous mystique and advocates the printing of a new annotated edition as soon as possible which would include critical commentary on the text itself.

This, he says, would prevent the book from creating a sensation when the ban is lifted in 2015.

"You could prevent that happening, if an academic edition of the book was already available," he said.

But professor Salomon Korn, the vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters he was opposed to the historian's plan.

"I believe it is the wrong decision to reprint this book," he said. "The danger I see is that there could be a misunderstanding if this book, which is highly symbolic, comes into publication with German help."

He is also worried that World War Two survivors might be offended by a decision to reprint a book promoting Hitler's hatred of Jews.

"Mein Kampf," which translates as "My Struggle," is available online and published in most countries, including Israel.