Ecclesia sanctissimi Salvatoris in portu sacro

Glienicke Bridge around 1912

When you take the Bundesstraße 1 (Federal Highway 1) from Potsdam to Berlin, you will cross the Havel river on Glienicker Brücke and possibly stop for a photo shoot.

Photo shooting in November 2011. The sign reads:
Germany and Europe were divided here until November 10, 1989, at 6 p.m.

©Wikipedia/Mariluna

During the Cold War, the bridge was the border between the East German Democratic Republic (GDR) and West Berlin, frequently serving as an exchange point for spies. The most famous swap occurred on February 10, 1962, when the Soviets handed over U-2 pilot Gary Powers and American student Frederic Pryor against Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher, aka Rudolf Ivanovich Abel. The USSR honored its spy with a stamp just in the year when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist, splitting up into autonomous republics.


When you stand on Glienicke Bridge and look north over the waters, you notice a building with a spire in the far distance, the Heilandskirche of Sacrow.

Ecclesia sanctissimi Salvatoris in portu sacro (©dpda)

The Ecclesia sanctissimi Salvatoris in portu sacro (Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in the Sacred Port) is located on the waterfront of Jungfernsee (Virgins' Lake). In the Latin title, the Slavic name of the place Sacrow (za krowje means behind the bushes) was changed to sacro, the ablative case of the Latin adjective sacer (holy). The Heilandskirche was conceived by the romantic king on the Prussian throne, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, built by court architect Ludwig Persius in the Italian style with a detached campanile (clock tower) and terminated in 1844.

When the GDR closed its borders to the West on August 13, 1961, the barrier ran across the church property such that the campanile serving as an observation tower for the East German border guards eventually became part of the concrete wall. The church nave stood inside the Todesstreifen (death strip) between the wall and the border. Later the East German authorities sealed off the building completely to prevent any escape of people from East to West.

Looking from the campanile down to the death strip.
The concrete wall is to the left (©Pfingstkirchengemeinde)

Just before Christmas, I found the following heartwarming German-German story in Der Spiegel online:

When the wall eventually fell on November 9, 1989, the Heilandskirche, nearly in ruins, became accessible again.

The interior of the Heilandskirche in November 1989 (©Pfingstkirchengemeinde)

On Christmas Eve 1989, Pastor Joachim Strauss, at the age of 77 and after more than twenty-eight years of absence from his church, held the midnight service.

The parish people were already seated when Pastor Strauss entered the dilapidated church
around midnight to celebrate Christmas Eve service on December 24, 1989
(©Birgit Regotzki/Der Spiegel)

Today the Heilandskirche has resuscitated, in all its splendor, a symbol of freedom and peace; amen.

Auferstanden aus Ruinen (Risen from ruins)
is the first line of the national anthem of the former GDR (©dpda)

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True Religion?

Before Christmas, my son sent me a link to a blog: What is "true" religion? 

While most comments on the blog dealt with the question of whether ISIS is "true Islam," I, after a first reading, had retained the following sentence, "Everybody who is religious picks and chooses their morals from scripture." 

I comment: That is most true but beware of those "leaders" who guide you through the process of picking not what you but what they believe.

©dpa

After reading the blog a second time, I must admit that there is more to true religion. I often meet people claiming that Christianity is a true religion and even the true religion because it is based on neighborly love according to Matthew 22, 37,40: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

It is a pity that people no longer read the Old Testament, for love of the neighbor is already laid down in Leviticus 19, 18: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. Christ speaking as a rabbi, was referring to this Jewish text.

What about the Islam? In Qu'ran 42:23, we read: It is that of which Allah gives good tidings to His servants who believe and do righteous deeds. Say, [O Muhammad], "I do not ask you for this message any payment [but] only good will through kinship." And whoever commits a good deed - We will increase for him good therein. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Appreciative. As for the interpretation, I found the following text: Islam advocates brotherly love in faith. Human beings can live in blessing and kindness so long as they love each other, show trustworthiness, and behave according to truth and fairness. This brotherly love in faith also establishes good relations in society when it is done with sincerity and affection. In short, heartfelt love is simply sharing Islam: I love you for the sake of Allah.

If Muslims love each other for the sake of Allah, are we Christians doing better? Do we consider people of other religions as our neighbors? And what about nonbelievers. Do they not show love for their neighbors, too, like Dr. Rieux in Albert Camus' novel The plague? In caring for the plague sufferers, the atheistic doctor develops a personal humanism out of solidarity with the victims.


Maybe it is tolerance that makes out a true religion? Religion is the belief in God, but they are intolerant by definition, as there are many religions. The God of the Old Testament is downright jealous, and the Bible stories describe in detail the atrocities committed against people of other beliefs.

Christianity is not better when you think about Charlemagne slaughtering the Saxons when they refused to accept "the" true faith. Wait a minute; was the Father of the Christian West not just waging a war of aggression to enlarge his realm?

Remember the crusaders killing Islamic women and children in the name of God. The Spaniards spreading the Christian faith with fire and swords in South America were just looking for the Inca gold. During the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Catholics killed their Huguenot neighbors.

While at the Thirty Years War outbreak, the Hussite Bohemians declared that this was a religious war, the Catholic Habsburgs retorted; that is nothing else than a power struggle. In a later phase of the war France, the eldest daughter of the Roman Church, supported the Protestants against the Catholic Habsburgs. I will stop here and only just mentioning the religious struggle in Northern Ireland that degenerated into a political showdown in the past.

Most historians claim that Prussia's Frederick the Great, the enlightened philosophical king, was tolerant when he stated alle Religionen [seindt] gleich und guth, wan nuhr die leüte, so sie professieren, ehrliche leüte seindt (All religions are the same and good if only the people who confess them are sincere). He used money from his privy purse to build a Catholic cathedral in Protestant Berlin not because of love for a "true" faith but because of politisches Kalkül (motivated by political necessity). Saint Hedwig's Cathedral was essential to calm down Prussian Neubürger (new citizens) from Silesia, who lived as devout Catholics under Austrian rule.

Saint Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin

The monarch continues his digression in religion: Wenn Türken und Heiden kähmen und Wolten das Landt pöplieren, so wollen Wir sie Mosqeen und Kirchen baun, Fr (If Turks and pagans came to dwell in this country We would build mosques and churches for them, Frederick).

What a difference to the current protests of the PEGIDA* movement in Germany. These European patriots against the Islamization of the Christian occident, a melting pot of people marching in the street full of German angst, are partly driven by the fear that our "Christian" society will be unable to counter the influx of fertile Islamic fundamentalists.
*Patriotische Europäer gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes

Christian occident in danger? Islamic crescent over Dresden's Frauenkirche (©dpa)

It is a positive sign that tolerant citizens manifest their support for the refugees from war-stricken Iran and Iraq by organizing counter-demonstrations. On the other hand, is the tolerance that most Christians nowadays silently show against other religions not just indifference?

Coming back to the original article, the author states at the end: All religious movements are based on faith, and faith, which is belief in the absence of convincing evidence, isn't true or false but simply irrational.

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The Birth of God

They did it again for Christmas: the editors of Der Spiegel, Germany's TIME Magazine, chose a religious topic for their feature article. Here are the links for the years 2012 and 2013.

Title page of  Der Spiegel: God in the eruption of volcano Hala al-Badr

Red Baron's battered copy of the first edition
of Jesus Menschensohn from 1972

Rudolf Augstein, the founder and long-time owner of Der Spiegel, started it all, culminating in his bestseller Jesus Menschensohn (Jesus, Son of Man) in 1972. In the book, Augstein presented rather old results of exegetes who questioned the New Testament content around 1900. Augstein presented their findings comprehensible, spiced with his usually sarcastic remarks.

This year's topic in Der Spiegel is not the birth of Christ as the title suggests, but the origin of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. According to the article, the wrathful and punishing God of the Old Testament came out of the fire. 

Remember the burning bush? Behold, the bush burned with fire and was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [Exodus 2:3-6].

I read in the article that archaeologists now locate "Mount Sinai" not in the Peninsula of the same name but further east in the Arabian Peninsula. Evidence from the bible identifies an eruption of the now-extinct volcano Hala al-Badr as Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in the fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently [Exodus 19:18].

I further read that the Old Testament is full of euphemisms. Saul and David were no kings but miserable warlords frequently beaten by the Philistines.

Red Baron prefers the merciful, loving God born 2000 years ago in a stable: While they were (in Bethlehem), the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because no guest room was available for them [Luke 2:6-7].

Rather early.

Today, Elisabeth and I visited the local church in nearby Staufen, where I took a photo of the crèche already set up. The scene is not yet illuminated. The people approaching the manger barely resemble shepherds, but the donkey and ox are there, and Mary with the child is already present. The crèches in churches in neighboring France are ready before Christmas, too, but the child is always missing. The figurine will be added on Christmas Night.

Somewhat early as the crèche in Staufen, I wish you all a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

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Freiburg's German-American Stammtisch

The Freiburg-Madison Gesellschaft (FMG) is a local society maintaining and strengthening its ties with Freiburg's sister city Madison, WI, in the US. Our Spiegelgremium (counterpart) in the States is the Madison-Freiburg Sister City Committee. The FMG works in close cooperation with the Carl-Schurz-Haus and the Academic Year in Freiburg (AYF). About forty American students come to Freiburg each year, spending a full Academic Year at the University.

The other day Freiburg's newspaper, the Badische Zeitung (BZ), paid us a visit where we presented the FMG and its activities. Subsequently, an article and the following photo appeared in the BZ showing the members of FMG's executive committee and two students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Greiffenegg-Schlössle, our usual meeting place.

©Thomas Kunz/BZ

You will find FMG's draft program for 2015 on our website. While many of our activities center around the AYF students, we also meet for a monthly Stammtisch (regulars' table) to discuss German-American topics. 

Organized jointly with the Carl-Schurz-Haus, the Stammtisch is open to all citizens interested in American literature, economy, politics, and customs and to all Americans living in Freiburg and its surroundings to get acquainted with their German neighbors. We hope for a good level of attendance in 2015.

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The Popes' Publisher

The afternoon before yesterday, Red Baron joined the Museumsgesellschaft to visit the Herder Verlag (publishing house). Bartholomä Herder founded the Verlag in Freiburg in 1810 and was also one of the founders of the Lesegesellschaft, the precursor of the Museumsgesellschaft. Therefore, I wrote a short biography of Bartholomä that served as my basis for an article in German Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, the publishing house is in its sixth generation, with Manuel Herder at the helm.

The Man and his realm. Manuel Herder shows us his "palace."

The following cartoon shows Manuel's ancestors hovering over the Herder headquarters. The founder, Bartholomä, is shown with a halo. You can read over the entrance to the building: Geist schafft Leben taken from John 6,63: The Spirit Gives Life.

©Herder

The Herders have, above all, published religious literature from the start. So Manuel had a good hand when he made a contract with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to publish his books. Later, when Josef was Pope Benedict XVI, he came to Freiburg and paid Manuel Herder and the Verlag a visit.

Ad multos libros (To(o) many books?).
Writer maniac Ratzinger? (©Herder)

Presently, the Herder Verlag is publishing a scholarly edition of Joseph Ratzinger's complete works in 16 volumes. The photo in the Badische Zeitung shows Manuel handing over volume 4 of Einführung in das Christentum (Introduction to Christianity) to the former pope.

Manuel Herder, with former Pope Benedict XVI, presented the book (©Herder/BZ)

On this occasion, Manuel also met Pope Francis. He presented him with the printed edition of the pontiff's speeches in Strasbourg at the European Institutions on November 25, 2014, entitled: Europa, wach auf! (Europe, wake up!). Francis was greatly astonished and asked: Already ready?

Manuel Herder with Pope Francis presenting the Strasbourg book.
On the left Vatican's Georges Clooney Cardinal Gänswein (©Herder/BZ)

Yes, like the pope, we were impressed. The family-owned Herder Verlag is definitely technologically state-of-the-art. Needless to say, most of its books are simultaneously published as e-books.

A Herder masterpiece from the 19th century, the Rheingräntz-Carte

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Happy Easter!

No, Red Baron is not completely gaga yet, but today he read an article in the Badische Zeitung titled: Winter ist Osterhasenzeit (Winter is the time for Easter bunnies).

©dpa

While Santa Clauses made from chocolate wait to be bought at Christmas markets and elsewhere, chocolate factories in Germany already produce Easter eggs and bunnies. Next summer, they will cast chocolate into hollow Santas and Christmas decorations and fill Advent calendars for the 2015 season.

In reading the article, a scene from March 1990 came to my mind when I revisited a place where I had lived as a boy: Entering the house located in the former GDR where I had spent a couple of weeks of my early youth everything including the room where I once slept seemed so small, but nothing had really changed. Even the water faucet halfway up the narrow staircase where I had my morning wash was still in place. I knocked at a door, and from the inside, somebody said: Herein! I opened the door. There the whole family was sitting around a table manufacturing Easter decorations. I knew that in the West, people were already working on decorations for Christmas.

Winter is not incumen in in Germany yet. Therefore the first wave of shopping Lebkuchen (gingerbread) in September passed unnoticed. An expert said that if people buy Lebkuchen in cold September weather, the shelves are empty and ready to take Chocolate Santa Clauses and filled Advent calendars. We hope temperatures will soon drop, helping with the Christmas chocolate sale.

For Red Baron, any season is good to eat chocolate; in summer always out of the fridge.

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Speak German! You Immigrants

Most western democracies are characterized by the antagonism between right and left, e.g., Conservatives and Labour in the UK. In France, the two camps are bitterly opposed, while in Germany, they live through a grand coalition. Whereas in the US, there is a two-party system in other countries, the spectrum is usually enriched with right and left-wing parties. German history has shown that if the extreme parties become too strong, a nation becomes ungovernable (Weimar Republic).

Germany's party spectrum is quite colored, as I explained in a previous blog. It started with the success of the Green Party (11%), taking away quite a number of votes from the Social Democrats (SPD). The left-wing party Die Linke (at 9%) meant another drain such that the historically grand SPD now stagnates at about 24% of the votes while the other major party, Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), is going strong with 41% having absorbed a good part of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP presently at 2%).

Recently a new party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD at 6%), was formed. In poaching votes at the right wing of the CDU, the AfD made it into several state parliaments. This populist party would like, among other things quit the euro. They advocate a national instead of a European foreign policy, ignore climatic change, and demand compulsory German lessons for immigrants. So far, nobody has chosen brown as the color code for the AfD; they are presented in charts with a light blue instead.

The CDU, particularly its Bavarian wing, the Christian Social Union (CSU), does not like to have the ground cut under its feet. In moving their party platform to the right, the CSU hopes to stop the drain of votes to the AfD, avoiding the depletion the SPD had suffered from Die Linke.

CSU party leaders, old and new:
Edmund Stoiber and Horst Seehofer with their wives (©dpa)

With so many people fleeing their war stricken countries and looking for a safe harbor in Germany their integration into our society has become a big issue. Recently the CSU forwarded the following idea: Wer dauerhaft hier leben will, soll dazu angehalten werden, im öffentlichen Raum und in der Familie deutsch zu sprechen (Those who want to stay in Germany permanently shall be urged to speak German in public places and in their families). That sounds in Bavarian dialect that zuagroaste Hansln, die wo fia immer in Deitschland bleim wolla, dahoam gfälligst Deitsch ren. Strangely the CSU means a saubers Deitsch and not the Bavarian dialect. There are exception to the demand as a political stand-up comedian stated: Selbstgespräche sowie unter der Dusche gesungene Lieder bleiben auch weiterhin in einer anderen Sprache als Deutsch erlaubt (Talking to oneself as well as singing songs in the shower are still allowed in another language than German).

The CSU demand started a shitstorm. Even the secretary general of their sister party CDU wrote on Twitter: Ich finde ja, es geht die Politik nichts an, ob ich zu Hause lateinisch, klingonisch oder hessisch red (I think it is not the business of policy whether I talk Latin, Klingon, or Hessian dialect at home).

Other parties used stronger wording: Nicht auszudenken, hätten die Amerikaner einem Thomas Mann verboten, daheim deutsch zu reden (That the Americans had put a ban on Thomas Mann to speak German at home is unthinkable). A Green Party member used a hefty German expression defying translation: Was ich zu Hause spreche geht die CSU einen feuchten Kehricht an (It is none of CSU's business what I speak at home). and he continued referring to Germany's past: Welcher Blockwart soll denn das kontrollieren? (Where is the "block leader" to check this?).

Crazy.

P.S.: Today (December 9, 2014), the CSU modified their demand in changing the phrasing: shall be urged to speak German in public places, and in their families to shall be motivated to speak German in public places and in their families.

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Back to the Roots?

In an earlier blog, I wrote that most beer drinkers know about the German purity decree. This decree is not German since Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria ordered the Reinheitsgebot on April 23, 1516. Since 1994, the Tag des deutschen Bieres (Day of the German Beer) has been celebrated on April 23.

The other day in Munich, Red Baron was shocked about his ignorance when he read on a sign at a Maibaum on Viktualienmarkt (Munich's touristic food market) that the Munich Reinheitsgebot already dates from anno Domini 1487. In that year Duke Albert IV the Wise of Bavaria-Munich cast an order of the Munich magistrate of 1453 into law, dass Bier und Greußing* nu füran auch aus nichts anderem dann Hopfen, Gersten und Wasser gesotten werden (that from now on and forever beer and mild beer shall be seethed using nothing else than hops, barley and water).
*a beer with less hops



Yeast is not mentioned here because, in those days, mash fermentation started spontaneously by bacteria from the surrounding air. This is similar to my mother's method of leaving milk in an open receptacle in the kitchen for two or three days until it became set.

Six years later, on February 16, 1493, Duke George the Rich of Bavaria-Landshut issued another purity decree for his territory: Item die Bierbräuer und andere sollen auch nichts zum Bier gebrauchen denn allein Malz, Hopfen und Wasser, noch dieselben Bräuer auch die Bierschenken und andere nichts anderes in das Bier thun, bey Vermeidung von Strafe an Leib und Gut (Also the beer brewers shall use nothing else for making beer than malt, hops, and water and shall as the beer-houses not put anything else into the beer thus avoiding punishment for body and property).

Following the reunification of the various parts of Bavaria Duke Wilhelm IV proclaimed on April 23, 1516, the above mentioned common purity decree for the whole of Bavaria: Wir wollen auch sonderlichhen dass füran allenthalben in unsern stetten märckthen un auf dem lannde zu kainem pier merer stüchh dan allain gersten, hopfen un wasser genommen un gepraucht solle werdn (We want in particular that everywhere in our towns, markets, and in the countryside to any beer no more than barley, hops, and water shall be taken and used). Later, this Bavarian purity decree formed part of the Reichsbiersteuergesetz (Imperial taxation law for beer) and was called Vorläufiges Biergesetz (Preliminary Beer Law) in the Federal Republic. Preliminary because its articles now are part of the Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch (Legal code for food and fodder) of September 1, 2005.

Back to the roots? We Germans should not be too proud as in 1438, Duke Philip III the Good of Burgundy had already issued a Pflichtenheft (functional specification document) demanding that for the production of bierre, only water, Burgundian hops, and barley must be used. Purists claim that Duke Philip was not concerned with the purity of the beer but instead wanted to protect the monopoly of Burgundian hops.

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Christopher Clark

He was in Freiburg, Professor Christopher Clark from Cambridge, and gave a lecture in perfect German and in the framework of the Saturday University: Die Schlafwandler - Wie Europa in den Ersten Weltkrieg zog (The dreamwalkers - how Europe went to war in the First World War).

Professor Clark and a lady announcing his lecture

Red Baron went early to get a seat in front (ears and eyes obligent) and found the Audimax of the University already half full. At 11 a.m. s.t., the auditorium was fully packed, and when Professor Clark started his lecture at 11 a.m. c.t. some latecomers had to stand.

Had all those people come to listen to what you read in many reviews of Clark's book: Germany was not to bear the blame for the outbreak of the Great War? It is impressive; more than 250 000 copies of the history book of nearly 1000 pages have already been sold in the German edition, not counting the upcoming holiday season. Two months ago, another known specialist, Professor Gerd Krumeich, teaching in Freiburg, remarked at the end of his lecture about the Great War somewhat jealously: How can anyone read such a book? Read mine; it is shorter (Juli 1914. Eine Bilanz, 362 pages).

There is a difference in opinion between the two historians about the war. A nuance is that Clark thinks all the actors in 1914 are guilty, whereas Krumeich states that Germany takes the Lion's share. In his lecture, however, Clark made it clear that the Schuldfrage (question of guilt) is not the main objective of his book. The question concerned him was how the European countries slipped into the Urkatastrophe (seminal catastrophe). The Great War destroyed four empires (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) and cost the lives of ten million young men.

September 2014: Gerd Krumeich (right) and Christopher Clark (left) discuss in the presence
of a "moderator" at the German Historians Day in Göttingen (©Ziko/Wikipedia)

The years before the war were a time of significant instability. One international crisis followed another, with Germany mostly acting impolitically. Who had the power in the European capitals? 

Clark said structural deficiencies in the decision-making reminded him of Heisenberg's Unschärferelation. Is the uncertainty principle now valid in history?

This was a Steilvorlage (hand on the plate) for Red Baron. In the discussion, I said that in physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle meant that if you fix one parameter of an object, e.g., its speed, then its location is known only with uncertainty. I asked the historian whether he could clarify his statement. 

He answered what he meant was that when you approached a government official for a decision in those days, he (women regrettably were no decision-makers in those days) would shrink back, i.e., taking no fixed position. Clark admitted:  I have to work on the uncertainty metaphor.

Reading Clark's book is "heavy," although Red Baron bought The Sleepwalkers as an e-book. Having read only four-fifths of it so far, I promise to come back to it.

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Too Little, too Late

Two world leaders met
and the summit labored and brought forth a mouse.

Looking for help (©BZ/Haitzinger)

We read in the press that the US and China agreed on a future reduction of greenhouse gas emissions even though only 41% of Americans recognize that the climatic change observed is man-made. The Beijing agreement is hailed by a few as a significant breakthrough but is seen with mixed feelings by many.

The positive aspect of the mutual understanding is that China, being the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide with nearly 10 billion tons per year, no longer insists on its status as a developing country with a per capita emission of only 7.1 tons of carbon dioxide per year compared to 16.4 for the US and 9.7 for Germany. It seems that China eventually recognized its responsibility towards its citizens* when Chairman Xi announced to level off fossil fuel consumption by 2030.
*We all have seen those pictures of massive air pollution in the streets of Beijing

Total emission and emission per capita of carbon dioxide in 2012 (©BZ/dpa)

The main reason for Xi's decision is that by 2030 China will have little left to burn.

China's yearly consumption of coal (©Der Spiegel)

Fossil fuel reserves of our planet and
coal reserves of selected countries (©Der Spiegel)

Red Baron did a back-of-the-envelope calculation based on the two graphical presentations above.

China's coal consumption leveling off in 2030 as promised by Chairman Xi

China's reserves of coal amounted to 110 billion tons in 2014. In extrapolating the yearly consumption, the rate will increase from 3.6 in 2012 to 4.2 billion tons annually in 2030. In that year, the country will be left with a reserve for another 10 years when using coal at a constant rate of 4.2 billion tons per annum*. So it will be high time not only to level off but to peak off coal consumption in China as indicated in the sketch. So what some consider a significant breakthrough in China's climatic policy is just born out of necessity.
*A scientific MIT-Tsinghua University study also concluded that China's coal consumption will peak 17% higher in 2030 compared to the year 2014

At the same time, President Obama announced that the US would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. When he made the promise, did he consider the new political constellation in Washington? I understand the coal lobby is strong among Republicans, with many simply denying man-made climatic change*. Indeed America's coal reserves are much bigger than those of China. 

In addition, "new" fossil fuels are gained by fracking. Presently cheap fossil energy is consumed in the States at a high rate, with a per capita emission of 16.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year, as mentioned before. China's present value of 7.1 will possibly stay below 8 by 2030, considering the scenario developed above and relatively moderate population growth.
*cf. Jim Inhofe's book published in 2012: The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future

And my country, green Germany? The goal is a 40% reduction of carbon dioxide emissions below 1998 levels by 2020. Only 32% will be reached with the present measures, and drastic actions are needed. The fight is on for the shutdown of lignite-fired power stations.

Still the biggest polluter: Kraftwerke (fossil power stations)
(©Wikipedia/Robert A. Rhode))

The Minister of Environment claims that only by shutting down a couple of those old polluters the goal of 40% by 2020 can be met, while the Minister of Economy and Energy states: You cannot shut down nuclear power* and fossil power at the same time. A delicate fact is that both ministers belong to the Social Democratic Party.
*Nine nuclear power stations are already shut down in Germany, with the rest to follow until 2040.

Red Baron's gloomy guess is that the world will miss its goal of limiting the temperature rise to two degrees centigrade by 2100. Why are we more concerned with climatic change and speak little about our planet's limited resources?

So even when we lose the climatic battle, renewable energy is needed. It is part of intergenerational justice that we create the energy sources of tomorrow for our descendants.

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Demining Switzerland

To the tourist, Switzerland is a beautiful country with flowery alps in summer and sunny ski slopes in winter, a land of cheese, chocolate, and the Swiss franc, i.e., therefore expensive.

Few of those visiting Switzerland know that the country is still a military fortress where every male not only has to serve in the armed forces but keeps his assault rifle together with a soldered-up can of ammunition in his wardrobe. 

Somehow this is a tradition, for in the Middle Ages, Swiss soldiers were known for their crossbows, halberds, and bravery. On many occasions, they had fought and won battles against the Kaiser and the Habsburgs. As a result, the Eidgenossen (confederates) eventually gained independence from the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. 

Swiss soldiers were coveted by European powers and were fighting on all fronts. In many a battle, the Swiss stood against the Swiss, and frequently the country paid a high death toll. Nowadays, the only Swiss soldiers serving outside Switzerland are those of the Swiss Guard protecting the Pope.

Defending the Swiss border in 1914 (© DLM)

The Swiss Wehrwille (combat spirit) to defend the country was strengthened during the two World Wars. They built the Alpenfestung (Alpine Fortress) and mined strategic roads, tunnels, and bridges, particularly those crossing the High Rhine. Extraordinary caves inside the foundations were permanently filled with TNT to be exploded in case of an invasion from the north. If it was not for the Germans, it was aimed against the Warsaw Pact forces during the Cold War.

Even the historical wooden bridge crossing the Rhine at Bad Säckingen
had explosive chambers filled with TNT (©dpa)

Explosive chamber in the
Bad Säckingen bridg (©Lipp/Der Sonntag)

Only recently, Switzerland had emptied all foundations of bridges of their permanent TNT loads. Red Baron does not know how often he had passed over tons of TNT crossing the Rhine between Switzerland and Germany in the past. Swiss experts assured the somewhat astonished traveler that in case of a fire, TNT would not explode but simply burn and stink. For an explosion, you need a detonator, and they were always kept apart in good custody.

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Odd Munich

My blog about Elisabeth's and my visit to Munich comes late. Red Baron lived in Bavaria's capital from 1957 to 1966, first as a postgraduate, and later, I had my first job there. Knowing the city quite well, I like to visit the place from time to time, meet old friends, and look at new attractions.

Entrance to the Platzl Hotel

Elisabeth and I stayed at the Platzl, a charming hotel in the city's old part just opposite the infamous Hofbräuhaus.

All in one place: Hofbräuhaus and Hard Rock

As Goethe knew and wrote in Faust: Wer vieles bringt, wird manchem etwas bringen; und jeder geht zufrieden aus dem Haus (Who brings a lot, brings something that will pass: And everyone goes home contentedly).

Despite the strike of the Deutsche Bahn (German Railway), we safely arrived at Munich Hauptbahnhof. We completed the check-in and took our first walk passing the municipal taxation office. During my stay in Munich, I always entered the building head bowed and came out fully bent.

Therefore I had never noticed the inscription high up Moneta Regia (Royal mint) that the Munich citizens translate as money reigns or Money makes the world go round, as Liza Minelli once sang in Cabaret.

We saw a man unloading a fat gander from his bicycle, possibly for a performance, on our way through the city.

Gander looking ...

and attacking

When the animal noticed me taking pictures, it came toward me, protesting and attacking. I escaped just in time, passing the (again infamous due to the Hitler-Putsch in 1923) Feldherrnhalle. We reached the entrance to the Hofgarten, where a jazz band was playing.

The following morning started with a shock. During my stay in about 1000 hotels in a lifetime, I had to repair showers, but here for the first time, the water refused to enter the showerhead. I turned all faucets and nearly destroyed the valves in vain. I called reception. Eventually, a man came to my rescue, showing me how to operate the shower.

For the solution to the mystery, wait until the end.

The Pinakothek der Moderne (museum of modern art) was inaugurated already in 2002, but Elisabeth and I visited the art gallery for the first time. If you love contemporary art or degenerated art, as the Nazis called it, that is the place to see it. Taking pictures was allowed, so I took lots of photos of paintings by German expressionists and abstract painters, but I am not showing them here because of copyright. The only picture presented below is by a French artist who painted it in 1914. The man had well anticipated the mechanical killing of modern warfare.

The handwashing facilities in the restroom of the Pinakothek der Moderne look modern too:

Following lunch and espresso, Elisabeth and I passed the inner court of the university on our way to the Englischer Garten when I stopped and stared, looking at the wall to the right.

Inner court (Lichthof) of  Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian Universität

Those who read my blogs remember that I had written about the Horace citation Dulce et decorum est pro patria more, which was once carved into the marble of the inner court. Now I read the following inscription:

Monument of a pius remembrance to the death of three wars.
They did not succumb in vain to their fate. 1959

Not all those who perished in a war lost their lives in vain! This unexpected inscription is far from the proposal Red Baron remembers and wrote about: Mortui viventes obligant (The living are obliged to the dead).

So far, all efforts to rename the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität to Geschwister-Scholl-Universität have been aborted. Nevertheless, a plate at the entrance commemorates the Weiße Rose (White Rose), reproducing the flyers against the Nazi regime that sister and brother had distributed in the inner court to their fellow students:

Elisabeth and I passed the well-protected US Consulate near the Englischer Garten on our way back to the hotel.

A fortress

The following morning it was raining, and we visited an exhibition called Rembrandt-Tizian-Belloto, the latter better known as Canaletto. There were a few Canalettos and Tizians, but just one Rembrandt painting. 

Photos were not allowed, so here I present a picture of a reproduction at the entrance to the exhibition: Canaletto's view of Dresden with the famous Frauenkirche (Our Lady's) on the left.

Note the bollards crowned by red lights protecting the synagogue against bomb attacks by cars.

The new synagogue in Munich is well protected. We arrived around 11 a.m., but two guards at the entrance told us that the building was already closed for Sabbath.

The closed entrance

So we visited the Jewish Museum nearby. The small and relatively poor public exhibition shows a few cult objects. No photos were allowed, an order I regretted in the case of the special exhibition War 1914/1918, Jews between the fronts.

On two floors, the efforts of the German Jews to show their loyalty to their country were documented. Although the Jews enjoyed equal rights in the Second Reich under the Kaiser in practice, they were not on equal footing in any European countries preceding the Great War. The following photo I took at the entrance to the museum.

German Jewish soldiers are celebrating Hanukkah 1916 - the commemoration of the rededication
 of the Holy Temple - in the snow showing the nine-armed menorah.
The Festival of Lights frequently coincides with the Christmas holiday period,

I am sorry that I cannot document the tragic fate of Hans Bloch, a Jew from Munich, with documents (pictures were not allowed within the exhibition). He and his father fought in the First World War, and young officer Hans was attributed the Eiserne Kreuz First Class, the highest distinction a soldier could get. 

After the war, Hans studied law, got a doctor's degree, and became a lawyer. Somehow, his Jewish origin became forgotten because in 1934, on the 20th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, Chancellor Adolf Hitler bestowed a special commemoration medal on Hans Bloch. 

As a Jew, he was no longer allowed to exercise his profession, but as a war veteran, the Nazis did not harm him. When Germany started the Second World War, Hans wanted to fight for his country, but as a Jew, he was not allowed to serve in the German army. When his appeal against this decision was refused, he committed suicide by electrocution in 1942. I never imagined such a tragedy.

Passing the Viktualienmarkt (Munich's famous food market), I saw the following Maibaum (maypole) with a note that shook my knowledge of the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot.

The Bavarian purity decree was not issued on April 23, 1516,
but as early as November 30, 1487

Elisabeth and I had dinner at the Schneider Weisses Brauhaus in the evening. Remember my blog, What's Brewing. At the Brauhaus, they had several wheat beers on tap and some bottled, including TAP5 with the unusual 8,2% alcohol. Here is the complete list:

Red Baron started with TAP7, our original (5,4%), continued with TAP11, our light wheat beer (3,3%), and ended with TAP4, my green (6,2%).

Tap4, Mein Grünes

Standing naked, under stress, waiting for the water, would you have found the nob for activating the shower?

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