Freiburger Kippa-Tag

©Jüdische Gemeinde Freiburg

Yesterday, Freiburg's Jewish Community organized its first Day of the Kippah.

Irina Katz is addressing the crowd assembled in front of the New Synagogue

Irina Katz, chairwoman of Freiburg's Jewish community, even claimed that it was the first Kippa-Tag in Baden-Württemberg.

We, the participants, protested against a resurgence of antisemitism in Germany. Antisemitism is also on the rise in other European countries. In France, thousands of Jews have already left the country for Israel.

Nip it in the bud! In Germany, people wearing the kippah in the street were verbally abused, spat at, and sometimes physically attacked. Walking from Freiburg's New Synagogue to the Square of the Old Synagogue, we wore the kippah as a symbol of tolerance against xenophobia and exclusion.

In front of the memorial of the Old Synagogue, Irina Katz is at the microphone; behind are
the orators, Mayor Martin Horn, and the City Councilors Simon Waldenspuhl and Monika Stein.

Antisemitism has developed into a complex conglomerate of old Christian sentiments against the Jews as formulated by the Church Fathers - later" modernized" by Martin Luther - mixed with the rejection of the Israeli settlement policy in Palestine.

In our faraway societies, sympathy for Israel's struggle for survival clashes with the rejection of the Palestinian population's treatment by the Jewish State. This dilemma frequently leads to a new form of antisemitism, nourished in Germany primarily by our fellow Islamic citizens.

At the Square of the Old Synagogue, a listening crowd

At the rally at the Square of the Old Synagogue, City Councilor Simon Waldenspuhl demanded that Freiburg cut its partnership with the Iranian city of Isfahan. While a murmur passed through the audience, Red Baron and another guy spontaneously shouted Nein.

Later, I discussed this with the orator and accused him of hypocrisy. Although he had spoken comprehensively against exclusion, he excluded the citizens of Isfahan. Freiburg has always understood its sister cities as a means of building personal contacts and getting to know the people of our partner cities, but never as a political connection.

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5G

Shaping Freiburg Digitally! was the title of a workshop last November. The officials asked their citizens to help describe and subsequently determine Freiburg's digital future, a laudable undertaking. Here are the guiding principles ...

... and here were the topics to be discussed at the workshop in groups:

Red Baron went to the workshop and attended the working group on education, science, and culture, only to be overwhelmed by a large number of high school teachers asking for faster Internet and demanding free tablets for their schools.

The official chairpersons of the working groups had to draft proposals for the city council's attention. These papers were to be discussed and refined at a later date.

So, in July of this year, during a meeting called "Check-Up," printed copies of the drafts were pinned to the wall for those present to study. We were asked to garnish the papers with colored stickers annotating the content and style of the documents.

Once all comments had been glued to our draft on education, science, and culture, the discussion began. This proved tedious for one lady, who kept harping on the harmful biological effects of the high frequencies of the new 5G mobile standard.

My knowledge so far was that of a mere thermal effect on human tissue. I was seconded in my view by another physicist present. The lady continued to pester, eventually admitting that she was a homeopath. At that point, I was carried away, remarking, "That explains everything." Back home, I decided to take a closer look at the 5th Generation.

According to experts on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation, radio waves become "safer" at higher frequencies and therefore are not more dangerous than those of lower frequencies. Notabene, this is not true for extremely high-frequency radiation, such as UV, X-, or gamma rays. They indeed interact differently with the human body and pose a health risk.

The skin acts as a barrier to radio waves in the 5G frequency band, shielding internal organs, including the brain, from exposure. "This kind of radiation doesn't penetrate," says Christopher M. Collins, a professor of radiology at New York University who studies the effects of high-frequency electromagnetic waves on humans.

This is why, in cities, 5G service requires many antenna towers, because walls, buildings, rain, leaves, and other objects can block the high-frequency signals. Human skin absorbs 5G signals, thereby delivering thermal energy to surrounding tissue.

Imagine all those people panicked by angst, throwing their mobile phones away
(Found on Facebook).

However, the adversaries of 5G believe in the damaging effects of any electromagnetic fields on cell membranes, on mitochondria - the energy suppliers of cells - and even on the DNA of body cells, resulting in mutations, a weakened immune system, and ultimately an increased risk of cancer.

The City of Freiburg placed us in immediate danger
by offering free WiFi4Fr in the conference room.

The authorities, the Ministry of Health in Stuttgart and the Ministry of Environment in Berlin, both led by Green ministers, are waving their hands. "There are no health-relevant effects below the current limits," assures the Ministry of Health in Stuttgart.

Berlin's Ministry of Environment confirms that, based on the current state of knowledge, there is no scientifically valid evidence of endangerment to humans, animals, and plants from high-frequency electromagnetic fields below the official limits.

The editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal Reviews on Environmental Health, Dr. Carpenter, wrote in 2013, "The rapid increase in the use of cellphones increases the risk of cancer, male infertility, and neurobehavioral abnormalities." However, mainstream scientists continue to see no evidence of harm from cellphone radio waves so far.

"If phones are linked to cancer, we'd expect to see a marked uptick," David Robert Grimes, a cancer researcher at the University of Oxford, recently wrote in The Guardian. "Yet we do not."

However, Dr. Carpenter defended his high-frequency view. "You have all this evidence that cellphone radiation penetrates the brain," he said. Still, after some discussion, he conceded that the increasingly high frequencies of 5G could, in fact, have difficulty entering the human body and acknowledged, "Maybe it's not that big a deal."

In Germany, the tone has become rougher concerning the health effects of 5G frequencies. Scientists are declared "counterfeiters" and "liars," politicians "ignorant," or "corporate lackeys."

Once again, German angst is the driving force behind such tantrums, as the head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques (IPM) in Freiburg, Karsten Buse, suspects. He calls the uproar the Nocebo effect, the opposite of the placebo effect, "I'm afraid it's hurting me - so it's hurting me," and continues, "The word radiation alone reminds people of X-rays or irradiation by radioactive materials."

Buse is an expert in the field. At the beginning of his academic career, he dealt with people's fear of electrosmog, which meant high-voltage lines or post office transmitter masts. "Angst is a health burden; you have to take it seriously," Buse concedes. But he also says, "I regard the fear that is spread as completely exaggerated. Many millions of mobile phone users - some already for a long time - undergo a daily self-experiment using their mobile phones; this should have been reflected epidemiologically, but it hasn't, especially not in the cancer registry. Non-ionizing radiation cannot alter individual atoms or molecules, destroy genetic material, or cause cancer."

The critics, however, want a moratorium, a halt to 5G expansion until further studies bring clarity. An Action Alliance, "Freiburg 5G-free," intends to achieve this through a residents' meeting for Freiburg.

Martin Horn only slightly looks enthusiastic (©BZ).

Here, members of the Action Alliance present Mayor Martin Horn with a list of signatures requesting a residents' meeting to discuss the endangerment of the population from mobile radio waves, especially in connection with 5 G. They had to collect 2500 signatures and easily reached the quorum: 3875 names are on their list. According to the city administration, the residents' meeting will take place on 13 November.

Elsewhere, concerned citizens have already achieved a moratorium, e.g., in the canton of Geneva. In April, Belgians stopped a 5G pilot project for the EU capital, Brussels.

Regarding the health effects of cell phones, Red Baron sees those emerging in a couple of years among future generations. Young mothers pushing their strollers with one hand while texting with the other, teens glued to the screens watching the latest music video, younger children playing on their mobile phones, shoot-em-up games, they all bend their necks excessively.

Medical students become orthopaedists! A job with an assured future.

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Freiburg Splinters

On June 10, I introduced splinters, bits, and pieces of information that may interest my readers, but do not justify writing a blog. This time, the splinters from Freiburg will interest my friends from our sister city, Madison.

The Fish Ladder

On Monday, September 16, on my way to the reception for the newly arrived American students of the Academic Year 2019/2020 in Freiburg (AYF), I crossed the river Dreisam on the Schwabentorbrücke, admiring the new fish ladder.
*Organized annually by the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft (FMG) at the Greiffenegg-Schlössle

The old fish ladder made of wood had become rotten, possibly accelerated by the frequent low water levels of the Dreisam, which had laid bare parts of the wood (CC).
*Oakwood permanently kept underwater may be conserved for centuries.

The new fish ladder is made of stones set in concrete. Nobody expected it to become an attraction. Despite the late hour, people were bathing in the cold waters of the Dreisam, leaving little room for fish to jump. OK, there is no high cotton in Freiburg, and our corn only grows low due to the lack of rain (CC).

Turning Moats into Playgrounds

Later, I passed a sort of valley, a vestige of a moat. Military architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban had it dug when fortifying Fribourg-en-Brisgau, la Ville de Sa Majesté.

From 1677 to 1697, Freiburg was a French city under King Louis XIV, serving as an essential link in France's northern belt of fortifications.

The allusion to "Turning Moats into Playgrounds" is appropriate when looking at today's photo.

Not much is left of Vauban's masterpiece. Here is the vestige of a tower, partly covered by soil.


Stone Fall

©BZ

At the end of August, during the night, parts of the sill of the former Augustiner Church, now the core of Freiburg's Augustiner Museum, fell onto the sidewalk. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

When Red Baron passed during the day, the whole sidewalk was fenced off. Well, it's the glue again! Remember my blogs about the new university library? This time it was not just a tiny metal lamella but stones, with the heaviest part weighing 15 kg.

Nowadays, glues are used everywhere. However, in construction and building work, there should be a CAVEAT. When thermal movements are involved, the glue layers become brittle, and gravity takes over.

Those still-hot days in Freiburg are now followed by cooler nights, so the differences in daily temperatures are more pronounced. In the case of the glued sill, thermal expansion during the day is followed by thermal contraction at night, which stresses the glue. By the way, those lamellae at the windows of the university library are now riveted.

Warming Stripes for GLOBE

Last Friday, Red Baron was on the train for his annual class reunion in a suburb of Hamburg.

Remember the pot of coffee and Butterkuchen served on the ICE (Intercity Express)? Unfortunately, the quality of the butter cake has degraded over the years. This time, I just had a pot of coffee and a hearty bite of a Laugencroissant I had bought at the Freiburg station. The dictionary translates Laugencroissant as a delicate triangular croissant pastry with a slightly salty crust.

           Greta started it all (©Facebook)

Because of my train ride, I missed the Fridays for Future demonstrations both in Freiburg and the Hanseatic city. Still, I am very concerned when thinking of my grandchildren. By placing CC in the text, I reminded you that we have started to see the effects of climate change in our everyday lives here in Freiburg.

More than 20,000? (©dpa)

While I was on the train, Freiburg saw its largest crowd in history. More than 20,000, primarily young people, demonstrated at the Square of the Old Synagogue to demand a livable climate for their future.

On Facebook: Freiburg's mayor was among the crowd (©Fionn Große)

You may have already seen the "Warming Stripes for GLOBE from 1850-2018".

©BZ

Menetekel is not written on the wall but painted on a streetcar (©BZ)

Freiburg's public transport company now reminds riders of their streetcars that it is nearly too late to stop climate change. They reproduced the Warming Stripes on one of their trams, showing the dramatic rise in temperatures during our recent summers.

Meanwhile, our coalition government had entered into its long-term planned discussions at the chancellery in Berlin on what they called a climate package for Germany.

After 19 (!) hours of deliberations, parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus* as the Latin poet Horace once wrote. Worn out, Angela Merkel went before the press and presented the compromise reached between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
*The mountain went into labor and delivered a ridiculous mouse, Horace (65 - 8 v.Chr.), Ars Poetica, Verse 139

The timid measures proposed are too small; they come too late.

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Stamps

Like any other national postal service, the Deutsche Post issues commemorative stamps.

German Constitutions

On 14 August 2019, the German Post released a stamp on the 100th anniversary of the Weimarer Verfassung (Weimar Constitution). The text of Article 1 is printed on the stamp:

The German Reich is a republic. The people are vested with the authority of the state.

This was a complete break from the monarchy and an assault on the obedient mentality of the German people. It must have been too much too soon, as the dictatorial takeover by the Nazis in 1933 proved.

The Weimar Constitution replaced the constitution of the Second Reich that was formed by Bismarck following the defeat of the Erzfeind (archenemy) France. The document's main aim was the unity of the German tribes, so the first article reads very technically:

§ 1: In place of the constitution of the German Confederation agreed between the North German Confederation and the Grand Duchies of Baden and Hesse, as well as the treaties of 23 and 25 November 1870, concluded with the kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg concerning accession to this constitution, the attached constitutional final draft for the German Reich shall take the place of the constitution of the German Confederation agreed between the North German Confederation and the Grand Duchies of Baden and Hesse.

There is no mention of human rights in the entire text.

When reading the first article of the Paulskirchenverfassung (Frankfurt Constitution) of 1849, you may get the same impression:

§ 1: The German Reich shall consist of the territory of the former German Federation*.
*formed in 1815 following the Restoration after the Napoleonic Wars.

Be not mistaken. Those sitting together in Frankfurt's Paulskirche and debating had the French Declaration of the Rights of "Men" in their minds and hearts. Starting with article 138, we read:

§138.1: The freedom of a person is inviolable.

In 1999, the German Postal Service issued a stamp, 50 Jahre Grundgesetz, commemorating the German constitution of 1949, which the founding fathers and mothers meeting in Bonn humbly called the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany.

As a result of the crimes against humanity of the Nazi regime, the first paragraph of the Grundgesetz reads:

Article 1: Human dignity is inviolable. All state authorities must respect and protect it.

A Green Guy

Another special stamp this year commemorates the great Alexander von Humboldt. His scientific achievements are extraordinary and well known, but I did not know he had other thoughts, too.

As a result of his observations during his extended travel at the beginning of the 19th century, he wrote, "There is no doubt that slavery is the greatest evil of all that has tormented mankind."

In 1803, Alexander von Humboldt noticed that the irrigation system of the City of Mexico had dried up the nearby valleys and laconically wrote in his diary, "Man rapes nature."

This observation made him one of the first Greens when, later, he specified his doomsday scenario more clearly: "Man has three ways of destroying nature: By deforestation, artificial irrigation and gaseous fumes."

We are experiencing the burning of the rainforest, and fights for clean water resources are flaring up, but how did this guy know about the carbon dioxide issue in our time, when CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels around 1800 were still negligible?

Alexander must have been a gifted speaker, too, when Goethe judged him: "In eight days you can't read from books what he's telling you in one hour."

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Back to My Roots

My faithful readers will know that I spent most of my professional life at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, also known as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.

Alumni welcome 2019

You may also have read that I helped launch the union of CERN alumni last year, participating in its baptismal celebration, First Collision. In fact, the most exciting moment in the life of a particle collider is when physicists observe the first collisions.

©CERN

I volunteered when the alumni were asked to help with the CERN Open Days 2019.

After being assured of my stay, I took the train from Freiburg to Geneva. When I stepped onto streetcar number 18, I was excited because all trams and buses flew CERN flags and those of the Open Days.

The following morning, at my hostel. View of the Alps and Mont Blanc

Once I checked in, I went to see the lady responsible for the Open Days and asked whether my affiliation could be changed.

The LHC is shut down until 2021 for an upgrade to reach its final energy of 14 TeV.

LHC superconducting magnet string underground.
You barely see the curvature of the ring tunnel.

Initially, I was scheduled to help channel visitors into an underground accelerator pit. This was too much for an octogenarian. Besides, my presence would be more helpful in assisting the people of my former group in explaining the mysteries of ionizing radiation. Rachel also helped me establish a CERN computing account. This was more complicated - safety oblige - than 20 years ago.

Then, I began exploring my former workplace.

A development I lived through. Click to enlarge.
I frequently had coffee with Robert Cailliau.

I only knew that Werner Heisenberg was a table tennis champion.

A unique coffee only found in the Geneva region, the renversé

Later, I was busy registering properly (CERN Badge) and collecting my gear for the Open Days (T-shirt and name badge), easily surpassing my daily walking step target.

In the evening, there was a reception for the alumni helping with the Open Days
 at the tennis club "Le Smash." Note the white cylinder hanging from the wall:
An RP radiation monitor (see text below)

On Saturday morning, the radiation protection crew is waiting for visitors.
In front, right: one of the radiation measuring instruments on display (©CERN).

While we were waiting at our stand at 9:18 a.m. for our first customers,
there was already a waiting time of two hours to visit the ATLAS experimental area.

Unfortunately, this was not the case when fulfilling my duty at the Radiation Protection Stand during the Open Days. There, I mostly stood to explain to visitors in my languages what natural radioactivity is and that eating a banana increases your personal radiation dose by 0,1 μSv*. This is due to the fruit's high potassium content, which includes the naturally occurring radioactive nuclide ⁴⁰K.
*Sievert (Sv) is the SI unit when measuring radiation. This is a big unit, so in radiation protection, doses are expressed in mSv, μSv, or even nSv

Bananas are good for your health.

Many visitors were unaware that they are also a natural source of ionizing radiation. Two people cuddling up for a night irradiate each other with a dose of 0.05 μSv, equivalent to eating half a banana.

A passenger on a plane traveling from Europe to the States is exposed to a dose of 50 μSv due to cosmic rays. Doses to flying staff accumulate, so pilots and cabin crews are professionally exposed "workers." While at CERN, people working in radioactive areas or with radiation sources wear dosemeters to determine their personal radiation doses, those to flying staff are evaluated by calculation. In fact, exposure to cosmic rays is well known along the routes planes take on a routine basis.

Lying in the sand

The natural exposure rate from terrestrial and cosmic radiation in the Geneva region is approximately 70 nSv/h; however, there are regions worldwide with higher exposure to terrestrial radiation. During my time at CERN, the sands from the beaches in Kerala, India, were notorious for being natural radiation sources.

At the exhibition, we had worse. The sand from a beach at Guarapari, Brazil, gave a dose rate of 230 nSv/h. This is due to a high concentration of natural Thorium. They operate Thorium mines in Brazil. Would Einstein go to Guarapari Beach? Definitely.

On the evening of the first Open Day, again, the view from my hostel.

The RP exhibition focused on sources of natural radiation, explaining that professional exposures and radiation doses from CERN activities to the population living on and around its sites are negligible; CERN's "activities" contribute only infinitesimally to doses from natural sources.

All these demonstrations were very popular with our visitors and, in most cases, instrumental in dissipating their underlying angst.

The Sunday afternoon crew (©RP CERN)

The operation of a high-energy accelerator produces radiation. Radiation has become a political issue, and CERN management has understood. So, I was only mildly astonished to learn that, despite restrictions on personnel at CERN, 70 people are currently working in the RP-Group, whereas when I retired, I had a staff of about 50.

At the end of those highly successful Open Days at CERN, I was tired but simultaneously satisfied, having helped my former colleagues sell our trade to the visiting public.

Drinking my well-deserved craft beer
and relaxing in the evening sun on the terrace of the CERN restaurant.

Same view in full moon: Goodnight and goodbye, CERN

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The Andlau Palais

One of my very first blogs (number five) dealt with the country estate of the noble family derer zu Andlau at Hugstetten near Freiburg.

The Andlaus bought two standard 50 times 1000-foot plots
to build their noble house.

Noblesse oblige, so the Andlaus also had a noble house downtown, Freiburg, a Palais on Herrenstraße.

The Andlauhaus in 1943

The ruins of the Andlauhaus in 1960

Like many other historical buildings in Freiburg, the Andlau Palais was destroyed in the bombing raid on November 27, 1944. The plot was flattened, tarred, and used as a parking lot in the sixties.

In 2015, a lady looked into the excavation.
She is standing before the former entrance, where the remaining stones will be reused.

Freiburgers frequently asked why the ugly gap on Herrenstraße was not closed. 

Freiburg's archdiocese sought to fill the empty site in 2012, when the disastrous Tabartz-van Elst affair made headlines in 2013. As the Bishop of Limburg, he used church money to build a palace residence for himself. Immediately, the Catholic Church scrutinized all building activities in 2015, and the Freiburg project was put on ice.

The Freiburg Office of Historical Monuments found few traces of the Andlau Palais.

Only in 2016 did the Church resume building activities.

Red Baron had only visited the place a long time ago. So suddenly, he stood before the nearly finished building last week.

The new construction somehow recreated the former building. In particular, parts of the historical portal made from sandstone were salvaged during the excavation and were integrated into the facade of the new building.

The Church calls its new premises Münsterforum. The forum will house the so-called C-Punkt, a visitor and information center for Freiburg's Minster Church, and rooms "for various spiritual and musical events." The Archdiocese and Caritas will operate a café-restaurant on the ground floor. It will be run by people with and without disabilities.

Freiburg is looking forward.

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