National Socialism in Freiburg

Don't panic; it's all history. Yesterday Red Baron attended the opening ceremony of an exhibition: Nationalsozialismus in Freiburg, at the university's auditorium. The entrance to the building was well protected by security staff, for the organizers feared demonstrations by right-wingers.

Mayor Dieter Salomon greeted the audience.
The photo in color behind him shows a scene of a rally
on Münsterplatz during the NSDAP district assembly in 1939.
The guy in traditional costume looks skeptical.
Is he aware of the war that started in September of the same year?

The auditorium was fully packed when Mayor Salomon addressed the assembled dignitaries and everyday people. This remark was the only joke in his heartfelt speech. He deviated from his manuscript several times, speaking off the cuff. With the rise of populists worldwide putting democracies to the test, people in Germany are particularly perturbed. As the Holocaust survivor, the Italian chemist Primo Levi once wrote: It has happened, and therefore it may happen again.

Admittedly the Weimar Republic was an unloved child attacked by the Communists on the left and the Nazis on the right, the latter winning in 1933. So when putting in one, i.e., the populist basket, Donald Trump in the States, Marine le Pen in France, Nigel Farage in England, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and Frauke Petry in Germany, democratic-minded people generally stress the stability of modern democracies, although with an uneasy feeling remaining.

Same rally as in the photo above.
People raising their right hands in the Nazi salute convey an eerie atmosphere.

Following a reception in the auditorium's foyer, attendees were invited to walk 500 meters and see the exhibition at the Augustinermuseum exceptionally open until 11 p.m. on the occasion. The place was too crowded, so Red Baron stayed for a while but shall return another day.

Reichsbischof Ludwig Müller visiting Freiburg in 1935

Here is one of the exhibition items that has already excited me. I did not know that the gleichgeschalteten (brought inline) Lutherans called themselves not only Deutsche Christen (German Christians) but evangelische Nationalsozialisten too.

*

Black Saturdays

At this year's Thanksgiving Dinner at the Greiffenegg-Schlössle, US Consul General James W. Herman eloquently calmed German angst concerning the new administration taking power in January 2017. He praised the idea of Thanksgiving as giving thanks for all the good things you have received during the past year. Mr. Herman encouraged the German people to adopt the celebration of this fest.

Consul General James W. Herman at the Greiffenegg-Schlössle

Pardon? Didn't he know that we have been celebrating the Erntedankfest (harvest festival) on the first Sunday in October from time immemorial, although admittedly mostly in rural areas and without much publicity?

The fact is that over the past years, the German people, or instead department stores and vendors, have adopted American occasions for business, i.e., Valentine's Day, Halloween, and most recently, Black Friday. 

In particular, this year, Red Baron saw the shops full of creepy articles they could never sell for Halloween, showing that the rooting of this custom is not very deep in my country. I also noticed that Black Friday sales are picking up pace in Germany.

Misunderstood Black Friday: for a whole week

We do not need Black Friday in Freiburg because we have black Saturdays throughout the year. Going downtown on a Saturday means you'd better polish up your French and Alemannic dialect for any communication. In particular, the Swiss invade the department stores at Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and Freiburg's restaurants. Black Saturdays are bright Saturdays for Freiburg's merchants. Now at Advent time, the Swiss assault has increased and - thanks to Trump ante portas - is nourished by a Swiss franc getting stronger to the euro every day.

Around Bertoldsbrunnen this morning.

I must admit that I profited from the Black Friday sales on the Internet by completing my private weather station with a wind gauge, paying 25% off. My actual gain was less, with the US dollar getting stronger than the euro daily. Thank you, Mr. Trump.

*

Unisterben

Nearly half of the German-speaking universities disappeared within fifteen years, from 1803 to 1818, which may be described as the great Universitätssterben ("die-off" of universities). Among the talks given at the Ott Fest, a colloquium on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of Professor Hugo Ott, the presentation by Sandra Haas was the most lively and exciting.

Emperor Joseph's decree (©Sandra Haas)

Throughout its history, Freiburg's university was threatened with closure. In the second half of the 18th century, the quality of teaching was terrible at the Albertina. So it was no surprise that Emperor Joseph II also mentioned Freiburg when he decreed the closure of half of the six universities on Habsburg territory. Freiburg miraculously survived while the University of Innsbruck was downgraded to a lyceum, and Brno was closed.

Four waves of  "die-off" of universities in Germany (©Sandra Haas)

Sandra Haas told the audience that starting in 1803, one may distinguish four closing waves that swept over German universities. The first blow to their existence came in 1797 when the Second Congress of Rastatt resulted in a peace agreement between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Empire. All German territories left of the Rhine River became French in this agreement. Under French rule, the cities of Löwen, Trier, Mainz, Bonn, and Cologne closed their universities.

German universities in 1797 (©Sandra Haas)

The next wave started on February 25, 1803, when the German princes who in 1797 had lost their territories on the left bank of the Rhine were finally "compensated" in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (German mediatization). Most of the land for their compensation was "gained" by secularizing ecclesiastical principalities and the sometimes vast territories of monasteries. So the prince-bishoprics of Bamberg and Fulda were dissolved and lost their universities. At the same time, the city of Dillingen became Bavarian, and the new sovereign downgraded its university to a lyceum.

In the same year, Hercules III of Modena took possession of the Breisgau that Napoleon had imposed on him in the Treaty of Campo Formio, compensating the duke for his territories lost in Northern Italy. As the Freiburg University officials feared the closing of the Austrian Albertina, they sent a letter to Emperor Franz II begging for the preservation of the university. When the Freiburgers learned that the senile Hercules had appointed his heir and son-in-law, the Austrian Erzherzog Ferdinand, as regent of the Breisgau, the letter, fortunately, became obsolete.

A third mortality wave swept over German universities during the years of Napoleonic rule, i.e., the time between 1806 and 1813. Only two new universities were founded during that period, both at the expense of closing existing ones. When the University of Berlin, later Humboldt University, was founded in 1810, Frankfurt on the Oder was closed. Likewise, the foundation of the University of Landshut in 1801 was nothing else than a shift from Ingolstadt on the River Danube to the city on the River Lech. However, Landshut's university lasted only a short time. 1826 King Ludwig I moved the university to the Bavarian capital Munich.

German universities in 1818 (©Sandra Haas)

The fourth wave came in the aftermath of the Congress of Vienna. A "bad" example was Prussia, which was confronted with many "new" old universities due to its territorial acquisitions. The universities of Duisburg, Münster, Paderborn, Wittenberg, and Erfurt overstrained the financial possibilities of the Prussian state and were closed.

The Congress of Vienna also confirmed the Grand Duchy of Baden's existence, which was suddenly faced with two existing universities: The Calvinist Ruperto Carola in Heidelberg in 1368 and the Catholic Albertina in Freiburg in 1457. In fact, Baden was in a difficult political situation with a Protestant population in the north, while the acquired Breisgau was mainly Catholic. As Freiburg's professor and poet Johann Georg Jacobi wrote, it became more urgent to "marry" Baden's Protestant North with its Catholic South than to worry about universities.

Already in 1806, Elector Karl-Friedrich was asked to close one of the two universities, but he answered: By no means, they do not belong to Baden alone; they belong to mankind. The following year, as a precaution and preventively, Freiburg's university officials offered the title rector magnificentissimus to their sovereign.

Following the Congress of Vienna in 1816, Baden's financial constraints were even more significant. The government in Karlsruhe told a delegation from Freiburg that one university in Baden was sufficient. Being compensated by a Catholic bishop and the permanent stationing of a garrison, Freiburg should not complain.

Title page of Karl von Rotteck's Promemoria (©Sandra Haas)

In this messy situation, Freiburg's professor Karl von Rotteck wrote a Promemoria (memorandum) in which he stressed that the longish form of Baden's territory justified two universities. Also, competition between the Ruperto Carola on the River Neckar and the Albertina on the River Dreisam would be good for the quality of teaching. Baden's governor in Freiburg, Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn, added that the study of theology should be Catholic in Freiburg and Protestant in Heidelberg.

On January 23, 1818, the relieving message arrived in Freiburg: an explicit ducal order guaranteed the university's existence. When in 1820, Grand-Duke Ludwig granted the Albertina a yearly government subsidy of 15,000 guilders, the thankful university officials asked their sovereign for his gracious permission to rename Freiburg's university: Albertina-Ludoviciana, vivat, crescat, floreat ad multos annos.

*

Freiburg's Coup With a Cup

Coffee to go has spilled over the Atlantic, resulting in one-way paper cups littering (vermüllen) German cities. While in the States, many customers of coffee shops take their personal permanent mugs along, thus avoiding the pollution of the environment in Germany, it is rarely the case.

Nevertheless, President Obama was seen on his latest and last visit* to Berlin with a presidential paper cup.

*He said he would like to come back as a private person to visit the Munich Oktoberfest

On another occasion: President Obama stepping off the plane is
greeting the Marines with a latte in a presidential paper cup
while Michelle is possibly appalled (©CNN).

You will not find this collector's item on the street.

The presidential paper cup (©The Paepae)

The City of Freiburg decided to reduce the volume of garbage caused by paper coffee cups. It introduced the Freiburg Cup, a plastic cup with a one-euro deposit that you may return to any coffee shop participating in the program. These cups are washed and may be reused 400 times except for the cap that, for hygienic reasons, still ends up in the waste. This Achilles heel has already given rise to critics. Another point of moaning concerns the one size only uttered by people who like to drink lattes by the liter.

Freiburg Cups (©BZ/Rita Eggstein)

Overall, Freiburg brought off a big coup. The success is overwhelming. The 5000 cups initially ordered disappeared in one day, not into the landscape but as a collector's item. Freiburg's environmental mayor immediately ordered another 10,000 cups, with many more coffee shops going to introduce the Cup in Freiburg.

With all the publicity, municipal officials are sure that other German cities will follow Freiburg's example soon. When shall we see the Federal Cup not be confused with the Federation Cup?

*

Kärcher

Companies are happy when their brand names become generic names. When I started work at CERN, I remember that adhesive tapes, not only those made by 3M, were called Scotch, while in Germany, I had been accustomed to the generic Tesa produced by the German firm Beiersdorf. Another example is Tempo in Germany, generic for any Papiertaschentuch (paper handkerchief), which the Americans call Kleenex.

The German firm Kärcher produces high-pressure cleaners using hot or cold water. Due to their high-quality, Kärcher products are successfully exported to many countries. In the UK, the umlaut (Tüttel) on the a is simply left out as in the case of an earlier export: Georg Friedrich Händel became George Frideric Handel.

In France, they also write Karcher without the umlaut, with the syllabic stress moving to the last syllable. The French even went so far as to form a new verb, karcher (premier group de conjugaison). Instead of saying, "cleaning something with a high-pressure water jet," they karcher the object. The Kärcher company was delighted.

In 2005 during a youth rebellion in France, the verb karcher became highly political. The then Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, heated up the political climate by insulting the young Maghreb demonstrators as racaille (scum) and declared qu'il fallait «nettoyer» les banlieues au Karcher (one needs to "clean" the suburbs using a Karcher). Sarko proposed to karcher subjects instead of objects; so far, so bad. From that moment on karcher became a synonym for cleaning the suburbs.

Where is the Karcher? (seen on Facebook)

Last month and concerning upcoming elections in France, Kärcher sent a letter to all political parties and presidential candidates asking them not to use karcher in their campaigns, i.e., with the meaning karcher les banlieues. 

Kärcher may expect the same answer they already received when they sent a similar letter in 2010: We do not understand the excitement. Using the verb karcher is free publicity and means that your products are efficient and of good quality. Kärcher would instead do without such advertising.
*

Quo Vadis, America?

Is Professor Koschut covering his face?

Wohin steuert Amerika? Only two days after the presidential election, Professor Simon Koschut of the Free University of Berlin dared to speak about the future US foreign policy, a topic where even our Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confessed: Nichts Genaues weiß man nicht (It's all so confusing). As you may imagine, the auditorium was fully packed.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump made this statement
concerning the fight against internal and external terrorism.

When, following his talk, Prof. Koschut was asked whether he had prepared a lecture B beforehand, he answered: About Hillary's foreign policy, I would have given the talk off the cuff.

A poll shows that Republicans rate President Obama's foreign policy as bad. So in his lecture, B Prof. Koschut cautiously interpreted Donald J. Trump's statements during the election campaign and discovered many contradictory remarks that make a prediction of America's new foreign policy difficult.

Concerning the Middle East, will Trump increase the bombing of ISIS and simultaneously give carte blanche to Assad and Putin? Sending ground troops into the already burning powder keg - something Hillary was occasionally accused of - is unpopular in the States.

Already now, the US has a bigger military budget
than that of all those other countries mentioned taken together

Whether America's resources are totally overextended is doubtful as far as the present military spending of the US is concerned. Increasing the defense budget and, at the same time lowering taxes will necessarily incur new debts. Raising the US debt ceiling? No problem, given the Republican majority in both houses. The stock market is soaring, given new investments, and as I learned, German firms hope for a fat share with their wall-building expertise.

America will be strong again, but those countries protected by the American shield shall pay for it. High-paid NATO officials in Brussels are already apprehensive about their posts rather than about the future of the defense alliance.

©Der Spiegel

An unpredictable nation? At least Prof. Koschut assured the audience that President Trump cannot revoke the Paris Climate Protection Agreement but can block its application.

©Der Spiegel

When congratulating President-elect Donald Trump, Chancellor Angel Merkel laid down the rules: Germany and America are bound by common values: democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law, and the dignity of each and every person regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation or political views. She said cooperation with the United States must be based on these values.

My Bundestagsabgeordneter (member of parliament) Gernot Erler said in an interview: My hope is that the American institutions and moderate factions of the Republican party will hem in (einhegen) the new president.

We all know Hope dies last, but let's wait and see.
*

Post-Factual

During the US election campaign, I learned a new German word: postfaktisch. In 2010 the term was coined by David Roberts, a blogger in post-truth politics describing a debate based on passion and emotion rather than reason and evidence. In fact, the word post-truth is more precise than the construct post-factual.

Der Sonntag, Freiburg. Photo©AFP

The post-factual concept is multilayered and should not be confused with "simple" lies. The fact is, facts no longer play a principal role in political debates, for "facts" derive from a Lügenpresse (lying press). It no longer matters whether a candidate for political office tells the truth as long as he sticks to statements his followers like to hear and swallow. When the press is no longer the primary source of information, social media take over where everybody (even bots) can write what they like and thus influence the vox populi.

The die is cast. This morning I was watching television. At 8:29 a.m., Donald J. Trump was still missing one electoral delegate. At 8:30 a.m., the Wisconsin result came in: Habeamus principem! One US journalist expressed his hope: Our system of checks and balances will save the American democracy. Franz von Papen made a similar statement in 1933.

As I stressed in my previous blog, the similarities between Germany's past and America's present are depressing. This morning Bill Clinton's slogan, It's the economy, stupid, hit back when Trump announced his victory. I will double America's economic growth, he said. I will not only renew our infrastructure but make it better. I will be fair to our allies and friends, but America first. In his statement, he left out the wall for, according to him, the Mexicans will build it without creating new jobs in the States. Anyway, the march of angry Republicans on Washington is no longer necessary and therefore canceled.

This morning Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Donald Trump, appealing to the old and venerable American democracy while the European political establishment keeps its fingers crossed. On the other hand, American experts said on television that with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court justice to be appointed will be conservative. With the political change, government officials in Washington will be replaced by Republican-minded staff down to the last clerk.

How will domestic economic growth go along with the creation of jobs? In 1933 following the Machtergreifung (Nazi takeover), Reichsbankpräsident Hjalmar Schacht prohibited the foreign exchange of the Reichsmark and started printing money for the construction of autobahns and, above all, for German re-armament. These actions more than halved unemployment in the Weimar Republic, i.e., from 5.7 million in 1932 to 2.1 million in 1936. Financing government expenses by loans? With majorities in both houses of Congress, it will be easy for a Republican president to have the US debt ceiling raised.

Will America honor its climate goals? Donald Trump does not believe in climate change.

*

Elbphilharmonie

Although many foreigners regard German technology as top-notch, we are miserable finishing major construction projects.

The most striking example is the Hauptstadtflughafen Berlin-Brandenburg (capital airport). Groundbreaking was in September 2005, and completion was planned for 2011. Since then, many severe mistakes in the planning and construction have been heaping up, delaying work. Now the opening of the airport should take place in one year. Costs have exploded from initially 2.5 billion to 6.5 billion euros in 2016. At present, Willy Brandt, whose name is reserved for this building site that will someday be finished, is no longer turning over in his grave but instead rotating.

The other example is Stuttgart 21, Baden-Wurttemberg's capital's new underground central train station. The project was started in February 2010, and the station's commissioning was initially planned for December 2019. In the meantime, the date was changed to December 2021, while experts regard the station's opening by the end of 2022 as more likely. Initially planned for 4.5 billion euros, Die Bahn (Germany's federal railway) corrected the sum to 5.987 billion in July 2013, deliberately avoiding the 6 billion mark (not marks but euros!). Independent cost estimates involve a final cost of 6.8 billion euros instead.

So with some pride, on November 2, a minor construction project, although significant for costs and delays, finally came to an end.

Finished (©Der Spiegel)

Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie will be the new landmark of Germany's biggest port, located within the harbor.

©Der Spiegel

Newspeople have already started comparing the Elbphilharmonie with the Sydney Opera House.

©Der Spiegel

The cornerstone-laying ceremony for the building was in April 2007; the initial authorized costs were 241 million euros, and the completion of the Elbphilharmonie was scheduled for 2010. 

Six years later, the total costs reached 789 million euros, i.e., a more than threefold increase in money for a construction period of nearly 10 years instead of four. NDR's (North German Broadcasting) satirical television show Extra Drei rightly tweaked the exultant photo above.

Expensive (©NDR)

At the inauguration ceremony, Hamburg's mayor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrat) said that the decision to build the Elbphilharmonie was correct, indirectly praising his predecessor Ole von Beust (Christian Democrat). Scholz had to swallow the high costs. The Elbphilharmonie is not only a fascinating building, he said, but one of the best concert halls in the world.

This is the true Hanseatic spirit: Forget party lines when it concerns Hamburg's interests. With both Hamburg soccer teams ranking last in their respective national leagues, they are no longer attractive to watch. Therefore the city needs other tourist highlights. It would like to attract more people, not only those visiting Hamburg's red-light district Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit but also cultivated music lovers.

In connection with the inauguration, Red Baron learned that the word Philharmonie is of French origin. The two components root in ancient Greek philos, meaning friend, loving and harmonia euphony, music. Humanistically educated Frenchmen coined the word philharmonique, from which the English philharmonic and the German philharmonisch were derived and adopted.

The official opening concert is scheduled for January 11, 2017, and on January 18 already, Red Baron will listen to Haydn's Die Schöpfung (The Creation). I truly deserve it; whenever I was in Hamburg over the last ten years, I always wondered whether I would live long enough to listen to music at the Elbphilharmonie. Let us keep our fingers crossed.

*

A Certain Smile

On the street where I live, there are two houses of student fraternities, one opposite my apartment, the other just neighboring. It is nice to see so many young people around though noise levels sometimes are high when they party in their gardens during warm summer nights. As some sort of compensation and in the spirit of good neighborship, we, the adjacent residents, are invited to most of their events. Red Baron usually finds one or two exciting topics when reading their semester program.

The Burschenschaft Teutonia started the winter semester 2016/17 on October 22 with a highlight. For two days, the Chinese ambassador was their guest of honor. His Excellency Shi Mingde wanted to learn about the activity of German fraternities. While granting just one hour for Freiburg and Mayor Salomon to sign the city's Golden Book, he lived with the fraternity students from Saturday afternoon to Sunday noon. He opened "his" program by speaking at the Teutonia fraternity house about Die Rolle Chinas in der Weltpolitik, Einblicke in die Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Chinas (China's role in world politics, Insights into China's politics, economy, and society.

Red Baron entered the neighboring building somewhat early. He had lots of time to talk to the Teutonia Aktivitas (students active in the fraternity) and their Alte Herren (former student members). Many of the "old boys" had come to listen to Shi Mingde from far away, e.g., Delmenhorst, a small town near the port city of Bremen.

His Excellency was welcomed by the Erstchargierter der Aktivitas (head of the active fraternity) and by the chairman of the union of former fraternity students. Both speakers emphasized that Teutonians are cosmopolitan and liberal-minded.

Note Teutonia's flag behind the speaker:
Voran und beharrlich für Freiheit, Ehre, Vaterland!
(Ahead and persistent for freedom, honor, fatherland)

And so was Ambassador Shi Mingde. Rumors have it that China sent its best man to Germany in 2012. Indeed: His Excellency was excellent in his presentation and spoke excellent German. In his younger years, he was ambassador to East Germany and lived through the disappearance of the GDR. He said their way to socialism was doomed because the GDR lacked reforms. 

Taking this as a bad example, China sought and found its own way of integrating the market economy into communism, a combination that led to yearly double-digit economic growth rates over the last 35 years. When China started its economic development, the average annual income per capita was U$ 200. It is now around U$ 9000 while for Germany the figure is U$ 43,000. China's gross domestic product presently is 10 billion U$ while that of the States is 18 billion but keep in mind that one-fifth of the world population is Chinese.

Ambassador Mingde did not want to talk about China as a world power. He said that his country had been a world power before it was subdued by the colonial powers in the 19th century, but it became liberated in 1949. When asked about human rights, he defined them as the right to eat and to be housed. While Germany has a "wealth problem," China still is a developing country with 40 million people living below the poverty line. For China, fundamental human rights consist in providing enough food and decent housing for all its citizens. The economic situation in China's inland must still be improved while the economic development in China's coastal regions is rapidly moving in the direction of quality rather than quantity.

The relations between Germany and China are excellent, for they have much in common. The two countries rely on growth through innovation, are against protectionism, and cooperate in the economic development of the world. There are currently 2800 German firms active in China and 2000 Chinese enterprises working in Germany.

Concerning energy, Ambassador Mingde admitted that China still depends too much on coal. China produces only 8% of its electricity from renewable energies but will increase the share to 15%, while in Germany in 2015, the percentage of electricity produced by wind and sun was 32%. To lower CO₂ emissions by 40% and at the same time fight smog in China's cities, the country will reduce the burning of coal but increase the present share of only 2% of nuclear energy by building new nuclear power stations. This will certainly not please his audience in Freiburg, Ambassador Mingde said. Still, the progress of replacing coal with renewable energy alone is too slow to satisfy China's needs for electricity. Although Germany will phase out its nuclear reactors by 2022, he added, it still produces 18% of its electricity by nuclear power compared with 70% in France.

In the discussion, Ambassador Mingde said that Chinese firms sometimes find it difficult to demand overtime from their German staff due to their well-being, while Chinese people are highly motivated. At present, 35000 ambitious Chinese students are studying in Germany.

When the much-applauded ambassador left the lecture hall, I tried to get a close-up photo. When I pushed the button on my iPhone, I noticed a red distance-measuring flash from another digital camera nearby, spoiling my shot. Here is my photo of Ambassador Mingde, where the red color is nothing else than a technical artifact.

PS: For mutual investments and settlements of firms, it is not all roses between China and Germany, with the aforementioned difference in work ethic only being a minor problem. While so far, China has used its enormous foreign exchange reserves unhampered investing in German high technology firms, German investors in China are facing restrictions when buying Chinese company shares. A few days ago, when our minister of economics visiting China touched on the subject, China's government representatives were annoyed. Nothing serious. In the era of globalization, Ambassador Mingde said in his talk that we all depend on each other. I cannot imagine how German car manufacturers would do without the Chinese market. Are we open to blackmail?

*

Give Me Four Years

Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit. This slogan of 1936* makes me think about Make America great again in 2016.
*Boiled down from the Verordnung zur Durchführung des Vierjahresplans dated October 18, 1936 (Order for implementing the Four-Year Plan).

Small hands but an impressive thumb (©Der Spiegel)

Yesterday night at the monthly Stammtisch of the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft, the topic of discussion was the presidential election in the States. The renewed investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails is grist for Donald Trump's mill.

Ten hours ago. They are close (©NYT)

As masters of ceremony Jason Brown and René Freudenthal from the local Carl-Schurz-Haus guided the participants of the Stammtisch through the labyrinth of the presidential election, with René arguing for Hillary Clinton and Jason trying hard to make a case for Donald Trump. The discussion was lively, and we foreigners learned new words: Fly-over-state and striking expressions: Hillary is a wonk, and Trump speaks his mind.

But let me come back to the two slogans. On Tuesday, former Trump rival Gov. Scott Walker introduced the presidential nominee at a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Here is what I read in yesterday's Wisconsin State Journal: This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and are having a bad case of buyer's remorse. Trump said that Wisconsin is one of several states where you can change your early ballot if you think you've made a mistake. You can change your vote to Donald Trump and make America great again. She will never make America great.

I am far from comparing the two persons involved when I compare Gebt mir vier Jahre Zeit with Make America great again. However, to Germans, having lived through the rise and fall of the Third Reich, the similarity in the meaning is depressing, particularly when realizing that the period of four years is the same. In 1940, Germany was in the midst of a war it had started.

 Regarding the presidential four-year-term Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Trump biographer David Cay Johnston thinks that Trump would make it as president for just one year while his impeachment will drag on longer. From David's lips to God's ears!

In June 2010, Kathleen Canning, visiting professor at Freiburg's university, talked about the Tea Party Patriots and the resulting political polarization in the US at a Stammtisch of the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft. She was apprehensive about the resulting hatred, comparing the threat of physical attacks against the political adversary to the situation in the Weimar Republic. I told her: Fear not! For most Europeans and me, the States were a bulwark of democracy.

I am not so sure these days, having watched television scenes where Trump supporters shouted: Kill her! David Johnston said in his Spiegel interview: I would be greatly surprised that some sort of violence wouldn't erupt after the election, mainly when the result is close. And Trump is fueling the sentiment, apparently not knowing what he is doing.

Found on Twitter: Crusader's Pastor Thomas Robb wrote:
You can see it on the shirts, buttons, posters, and ball caps
such as the one being worn here by Trump speaking at a recent rally.
... But can it happen? Can America really be great again?
This is what we will soon find out!

Red Baron heard Trump supporters on television say they are willing to take up arms in case of Donald's defeat. Are they prepared to march on Washington?

Johnston said about Trump that he is a megalomaniac without a moral core. Well, one of Trump's statements that he used loopholes in the law to avoid taxes seems to be just a venial sin compared with some of his other remarks during the election campaign. 

While well-behaved Americans pay their taxes, Trump gets away with his statement and even scores with his voters when he explains: It is Hillary's fault! Why didn't she close those holes when she was in power (?), insinuating that she was not capable then and would be incapable as president too. Red Baron is looking into a deep abyss of demagogy.

*

Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof

Once in a while, Red Baron visits cemeteries. Following my encounter with Brecht one evening, the next day, I wanted to see his tomb at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof. The Berlin district Dorotheenstadt dates back to Prussia's Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm who in 1670 gave the real estate to his second wife Sophie Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The plot was located between the city wall and Großer Tiergarten, i.e., the princely hunting ground. With Berlin growing, a new residential district was soon laid out in the area named after Princess Sophia Dorothea.

In the following, I will present the burying sites of famous people at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof who rendered services to Prussia and its capital, Berlin. Their biographies are available on Wikipedia, so I will just add some personal observations and remarks. Let us start with Bertolt Brecht.

Eugen Bertolt Friedrich Brecht (February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was a poet, playwright, and theater director of the Berliner Ensemble. This Ensemble was jointly run by Bertolt, and his wife Helene at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, where Red Baron recently saw Schiller's Die Räuber. I adore Brecht's development of the German language. When he was once asked: What book is most important for you? Brecht, a lifelong atheist, answered: Don't laugh: It's Luther's Bibel. He admired Luther for his powerful German style.

Here is Martin Luther at Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof pointing to "his" book.

At times Brecht was a communist and, as such, suffered from the political takeover of the Nazis. When the Reichstag building burned on the evening of February 27, 1933, he knew that the battle for a democratic Germany was lost and impressively wrote:

Zu Berlin im Jahre neunzehnhundertdreiunddreißig stand
Dann an einem Montagabend des letzten Reichstags Haus in Brand.
(At Berlin in the year nineteen hundred thirty-three
Then on a Monday evening, the building of the last Reichstag was on fire).

Bertolt's and Helene's tombstones are of touching simplicity.

Nearby you will find Heinrich Mann's (March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950) stele. He was a German novelist, and his life was always overshadowed by his younger brother Thomas. Whereas most people only associate Heinrich with the movie Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), starring Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola, I admire Mann for his social-critical novel Der Untertan describing the servility of German society in the Second Reich. Taken from Mann's novel Professor Unrat Carl Zuckmayer wrote the script of The Blue Angel with Josef von Sternberg being the movie director.


Opposite those authors are the tombstones of two famous German philosophers.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 – January 27, 1814) was a founding figure of German idealism that developed from the philosophical writings of Immanuel Kant. From Wikipedia, I learned that Fichte and not Hegel was the originator of thesis–antithesis–synthesis as a philosophical tool.

Fichte was one of the fathers of German nationalism and is known for his Reden an die Deutsche Nation (Speeches to the German Nation) he delivered under French occupation in Berlin in 1808: Germans should be Germans and have character. He also said that making Jews free German citizens would hurt the German nation, a remark that induced Freiburg's street renaming commission to place Fichte's name in their category B of "charged names," i.e., the original street sign should be supplemented with an explanatory text.

Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831) became the philosopher of German idealism. He studied theology in Tübingen, where he planted a freedom tree together with Hölderlin and Schelling as a freshman. The three danced around, singing revolutionary songs.

When Hegel saw Napoleon the evening before the French troops crushed the Prussian army in the Battle of Jena and Auerstädt, he enthused: I saw the Emperor – this world spirit – riding out of the city on reconnaissance. It is indeed a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, concentrated here at a single point, astride a horse, reach out over the world and master it ... this extraordinary man, whom it is impossible not to admire.

In 1818, Hegel accepted Johann Gottlieb Fichte's orphaned chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin. In his lectures, Hegel called the French Revolution a glorious sunrise and continued: Ein Enthusiasmus des Geistes hat die Welt durchschauert, als sei es zur wirklichen Versöhnung des Göttlichen mit der Welt erst jetzt gekommen (Enthusiasm of the spirit has sent a shiver through the world. It seems that only now the divine is reconciled with the world).

Two of Prussian's famous sculptors are buried at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof. Christian Daniel Rauch (January 2, 1777 – December 3, 1857) was one of them. Rauch created the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars on Berlin's Kreuzberg and the statue of Frederick the Great on horseback, still riding Unter den Linden. My late son took a memorable photo.

Johann Gottfried Schadow (May 20, 1764 – January 27, 1850) competed directly with Rauch. Schadow's portrait statues include Crown Princess Louise, the German Jeanne d'Arc, and her sister Frederica. The latter figure is on display at the Friedrichswerder Church in Berlin, where I took my first digital photos in 2001. The quality is not too bad.

One of Berlin's famous citizens is buried here. Johann Friedrich August Borsig (June 23, 1804 – July 6, 1854) was the founder of the famous Borsig-Werke (factory). In Wikipedia, we read: Despite tremendous costs, the first locomotive, bearing factory number 1 and the name BORSIG, was finished in 1840. This locomotive had an interior frame, a two-axle front pivoted bogie, and an extra dead axle behind the only drive axle. On July 21, 1840, Borsig let it compete against a Stephenson-built locomotive on the Berlin-Jüterbog railroad. The Borsig locomotive won by 10 minutes, proving that despite the lack of experience, Germans could build locomotives that were at least as good as the British models. So the import of locomotives and engineers was no longer necessary. By the way, the same happened with British cars in the second half of the 20th century.

Not all that glitters is gold. My father, a native Berliner, retained a slogan from his father highlighting the social grievances of industrial workers in the Second Reich: Wer nie bei Siemens-Schuckert war, bei AEG und Borsig, der kennt des Lebens Elend nicht, der hat es erst noch vor sich (A man who has never worked at Siemens-Schuckert, at AEG, and at Borsig does not know the misery of life, for it is still ahead of him).

The memorial stone above is dedicated to opponents of the Nazi regime who were murdered by Gestapo henchmen when the war was already lost. The inscription reads: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5,10). Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor, was one of them. He was a founding member of the so-called Confessing Church that strongly opposed the gleichgeschaltete Reichskirche (Lutherans forced into line with the Nazi regime).

Hans von Dohnanyi and Justus Delbrück belonged to a resistance circle created by Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg who worked at the Foreign Ministry of the Third Reich. His nephew, Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg with his attractive wife, once was the young hopeful of the Christian Democrats until he had to leave his post of Minister of Defense in Chancellor Merkel's government. He had his doctor's degree obtained by fraud.

Until November 1989 the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof belonged to East Berlin. One of the first "West Germans" buried there was Johannes Rau (January 16, 1931 – January 27, 2006), who was a professed Lutheran and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). His party colleagues called him Bruder Johannes (Friar John).

Subsequently, we read on his tomb: He also was with Jesus (Matthew 26:69), a statement that Social Democrat Johannes never denied, contrary to Simon Peter. Rau initially served as Ministerpräsident (governor) of North Rhine-Westphalia and was extremely popular for his attitude: reconcile and not divide. In 1999 he was elected Germany's Federal President. Rau married in 1982 and became a father for the first time at the age of 54. When he died in 2006, his youngest daughter was only twenty.

Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (March 18, 1922 – August 19, 2015) was a German SPD politician. He was a journalist and became the spiritus rector of the Ostpolitik promoted by German Chancellor Willy Brandt, for whom he served as Secretary of the Chancellor's Office from 1969 until 1972.

In 1999 I met Egon Bahr personally when, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of German unification, he gave a talk at the German School in Geneva. While he was outlining the initial processes that led to unification, I hung on to Bahr's every word, for he was a unique witness of history lived through and a master of the German language too. He was speaking bühnenreif (ready for the stage) without manuscript or interjections (you know what I mean). He started a phrase and finished it in beauty, never turning around or correcting himself. The only other person I have met who was blessed with such a talent was a Swiss politician, Kurt Furgler.

Cemeteries are thrilling history books. This ends my trilogy of the 2016 Berlin blogs.

*