Niels

1934-1923

A man who secured his place in heaven.

We were shocked when we, Niels' former classmates, received the news that he had passed away on October 14 after a severe operation.

Martin and his Knaben are peeling potatoes
at a school summer camp in Rodenberg (Deister) in 1950.
Niels is the boy sticking his head out on the left.

In the early 1950s, our class 7KM (coeducated Knaben und Mädchen) had a teacher, Martin Kirschstein, who had internalized the virtue of comradeship at the front during the last World War. He infected his class with it, and we became a community whose remaining members still meet up every year.

Bullying* is commonplace nowadays. The word was unknown to us. On the contrary, even the weakest were "pulled along," not just in sports.
*Red Baron experienced bullying at a rural elementary school

Niels was a classmate who always helped and who you could rely on. In my experience, he later perfected helping even in small things.

On our bicycle tour 2003, we visited Schiller's house in Jena.
Niels and his wife Christa rest on a bench in Schiller's garden.

I remember my first cycling tour with the 7KM down the Saale River in 2003, where I took part as an inexperienced cyclist. Many a time, Niels, who was riding at the back of the field, helped me back onto the saddle.

Here are some photos. You will find more on Niels' memorial webpage in German.

The 2004 class reunion that Christa and Niels arranged in Hamburg was memorable. 

They had organized an evening reception in their garden, which Niels loved so much. We, his classmates, had brought a small tree as a gift, and he planted it that same evening.

The following day, he led the 7KM into Hamburg's harbor, where we learned from his experience as a former captain of a supertanker.

 He was the co-cyclist who worried about missing people on the 2008 Lower Rhine cycle tour, "Where are you?"

At the 2008 class reunion in Vienna, Niels is struggling with the deboarding Wiener Schnitzel at Figlmüllers.

At the 2014 class reunion, Niels again planted a tree. This time, in the garden of a classmate who had invited the 7KM on a sunny afternoon.

Niels mainly stayed in the back at the 2018 class reunion in Wulksfelde near Hamburg.

His widow Christa invited us to a Niels Memorial Day in Hamburg on November 17, 2023. It began with a visit to the grave site.

Niels is buried near his aunt. We had brought flowers.

Afterward, Christa received us for a coffee party at her new home, the Heiliggeist-Stift in Hamburg's suburb Poppenbüttel.

Over coffee and cake, our classmate Wulf chatted about his special relationship with Niels. He then recited the consoling poem "On a Grave" by Börries von Münchhausen:

Je länger du dort bist, Um so mehr bist du hier, Je weiter du fort bist, Um so näher bei mir. Du wirst mir notwendiger, Als das tägliche Brot ist, - Du wirst lebendiger, Je länger du tot bist!

The longer you are there, The more you are here, The further away you are, The closer you are to me. You become more essential to me, Than is the daily bread - You become more alive, The longer you are dead!

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Politweariness

In democracies, Politverdrossenheit manifests itself in a shift to the right at the ballot box.

Taststy brown cheese from Holland (©TAZ)

We recently saw this in the Netherlands, where the nationalist, anti-EU, and anti-Islam PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid - Party for Freedom) of the right-wing populist Geert Wilders won the parliamentary elections with 23.5% of the votes and a clear margin to other parties. In his election propaganda, Geert has even proposed leaving the European Union, a Nedxit.

Triumphant Geert and losers Frans Timmermans, the leader of the red-green combination
of the socialists, PvdA and GroenLinks, and Henri Bontenbal of the
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) sat together after the election (©IPS).

The Journal of International Politics and Society (IPS) states, "Tensions around new social inequalities and divisions are expressing themselves almost everywhere through radical right-wing populism or national populism. In many European countries, so-called flank parties have already reached the center of power. See Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy or the Sweden-Democrats' toleration role in the Swedish government. See the rise in polls and regional elections of the ultra-radical, populist AfD in Germany. And how far away is Marine Le Pen from the French presidency? And then, of course, there is the shadow of a possible new presidency of Donald Trump in America.".

An empty wallet. Germany needs brought-forward elections (©AfD)

In Germany, the right-wing AfD is now the second strongest party nationwide, with 22% support in opinion polls. The apparent reason for their rise is a general dissatisfaction with the traffic light coalition government. So the parties forming the German government fear brought-forward elections more than the devil fears holy water.

However, the reasons for populism in Europe are more profound.

People see that in the past, everything was better, and, above all, they quickly blame the fear of personal social decline on those at the top.

Since right-wing agitators threaten to win the next elections, as in the USA and France, governments are trying to demonstrate their ability to act by spending money and shying away from distribution conflicts. Everywhere in the West, the populist wave is costing money that is generated by making debts. 

Only in Germany is government spending limited by the Schuldenbremse. However, with 60 billion euros suddenly missing, investments in innovations are compromised. Germany's economy risks transitioning from stagnation into a recession. Presently, the German break on debts is in jeopardy with the need for money in investments our grandchildren would benefit from.

Dear voter, accept that it's not going to be like it used to be, and it's certainly not going to get better. Don't you see the world situation? I'm not talking about Corona, the pandemic that has set everyone back economically, nor am I talking about the two ongoing wars that are killing people and destroying buildings and infrastructure. All of this is contributing to a decline in living standards.

However, the most important will be how the Western world copes with a rising India, an awakening Africa, and China's world-power aspirations. The fight of an ever-increasing population for limited resources, i.e., minerals, agricultural products, and, above all, water, has long since begun.

In addition, countries tend to overestimate their growth opportunities. Economic output has stagnated in Italy for many years - and is now becoming apparent in Germany. So, as in the past, economic growth will only be possible at the expense of others. As all try to increase their share of the finite pie available, it leads to a shortage of raw materials and rising prices, i.e., inflation.

Inflation has only just begun. When Argentina, with its 140%, wants to change its currency to dollars, it will only have a delaying effect on its rotten economy. Inflation is the classical way to "reduce" rising national debts by shrinking their actual value.

In the meantime, radical right-wing parties are promising a return to nationalism as a cure for the misery.

The political situation today is often compared to that at the end of the 1920s. We Germans are burnt children. So resist the beginnings, defend democracy, and do not follow populists' promises! 

 Monks once brought Europe to cultural prosperity with their ora et labora. Nowadays, praying is not the order of the day; instead, it is disce et labora if the Western world wants to maintain its standard of living. 

A good education for young people is the only chance for Germany to survive the tough World competition. But we are far from it.

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60 Billion Euros

are suddenly missing in Germany's upcoming federal budgets. The decision of our Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) was a big bang. The story behind it is long, but I'll make it short.

In 2011, parliament introduced a so-called Schuldenbremse* to stop overboard federal spending. Future generations have to pay back more and more debts, although every head of a family has internalized: "You cannot spend more than you earn."
*The brake on debts is only remotely similar to the debt ceiling in the States

The deputies took it seriously and wrote the debt brake on national spending into Germany's constitution. Only in case of an emergency could federal spending be increased.

Such an emergency was the Corona epidemic. Parliament authorized the government to create a  Sondervermögen (special fund) of 100 billion euros to cushion the economic consequences of the Corona crisis.

In the end, only 40 billion euros were called upon. So, in bypassing the debt brake, the traffic light coalition government reallocated the remaining money to a climate and transformation fund to finance Germany's green future.

Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court Judge Prof. Dr. Doris König (third from right)
before the pronouncement of the judgment (©phoenix)

On November 15, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that this reallocation was unconstitutional. Once money has been earmarked by parliament, it cannot be recommitted by the government. Suddenly, 60 billion euros are down the drain.

©TAZ

Following the Federal Constitutional Court's verdict, Federal Economics Minister Dr. Robert Habeck (Green Party), Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats[Red]), and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Liberals[Yellow]) met the press in a daze (bedröppelt).

Given the sudden huge financial gap, the government has no plan B. As a first measure, the traffic light coalition imposed a spending freeze on the climate and transformation fund.

That won't be sufficient.
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Green Champagne?

Thirteen years ago, I wrote about Stephen Clarke's book "1000 Years Annoying the French." It was his best witty book about the Brits' hereditary friends. A sequel to this book did not reach the same class of British humor.

One chapter of Clarke's initial book dealt with champagne bottles. I learned that thanks to the Brits who made the first rigid bottles in Newcastle, the Champagne bottled in France could be safely shipped across the Channel.

At that time, French bottles had difficulties sustaining the internal pressure of up to 600 kPa (about 6 atmospheres) that builds up during the second, the "méthode champenoise" fermentation inside the bottle. Domestic bottles had "excorkulations" and frequently exploded.

Indeed, the carbon dioxide trapped within the bottle causes a pressure intense enough to require very thick, strong, and heavy glass. Champagne bottles must withstand the natural forces of sparkling wines. They are designed to resist a minimum pressure of 2000 kPa (about 20 atmospheres) for safety reasons.

So, at the beginning of the 20th century, The standard Champagne bottle still weighed 1,250 grams. In the meantime, the weight has lightened considerably. By 2010, the Comité Interprofessional des Vins de Champagne, starting with a 900-gram bottle, adopted a standard lightweight of 835 grams.

Why is weight reduction so important? Bottles have an oversized impact on a winery's carbon footprint. According to a study from the California Wine Institute, the glass alone is worth about 29%. Still, if you add the packaging and transportation, the whole bottle is responsible for 51% of a winery's carbon output.

The race is on for further weight reductions without compromising champagne bottle safety.

Champagne producers want to go green. Ludovic du Plessis, President of the Telmont Group, pledges, "We are committed to creating the most sustainable, organic Champagne possible, and we are heavily focused on preservation and biodiversity." The Group partnered with French glassmakers and reduced the weight of their Champagne bottles from 835 grams to 800 grams, producing them with 87% recycled glass. Has the Champagne become green?

Generally, empty champagne and wine bottles end up in glass containers and are recycled. Melting them down and producing new bottles is highly energy-consuming.

With a standard 0.5 l beer bottle, the situation is different in Germany. There is an established deposit system. Bottles are reused, i.e., collected, returned, cleaned, and refilled at the brewery up to 50 times.

What is established for beer bottles is not valid for the standard 0.75 l wine bottle. A deposit system is complicated because all wine bottles sold in the north of the republic would have to be transported to the south. There are virtually no winegrowers in the north, while breweries are more evenly distributed geographically in Germany.

Nowadays, white wine generally is bottled with screw caps. Consumers have long since accepted this solution and even welcomed it. Once a bottle has been opened, it can easily be resealed, and the wine is enjoyed glass by glass.

To ensure that wine bottles can also be recycled, a start-up in Cologne called "Abgefüllt (bottled)" fills wine into standard 0.5 l beer bottles and seals them with a crown cork. 

What this means for the consumption of alcohol is not yet clear, as a bottle with a crown cork cannot be resealed as easily and, like beer, invites you to drink up. Drinking wine like beer from the bottle? What a brutalization of drinking habits!

©Gerold Zink/BZ

Recently, Freiburg State Winery jumped on the bandwagon, selling some of their white wines in beer bottles, too.

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The Breisach Gate

The remains of the fortress belt near Breisach Gate (circled)
after the dismantling of the city fortifications (©BJ)

On Monday, Freiburg's archaeologist, Dr. Bertram Jenisch, talked in this year's lecture series "In the Year and on the Day" about the Breisach Gate.

 
As Lagniappe he reported about new traces of Vauban's legacy his institute had recently uncovered when digging into the Bastion St. Louis on which the Colombischlössle is built.

In an earlier blog, I wrote:

When firearms dominated warfare, Freiburg's old city wall became a joke. During the Thirty Years' War and, particularly during the aggressive French wars in the late 16th and early 18th centuries, artillery quickly opened breaches in the fortifications (Bresche schießen) several times.

Vauban's fortification of Freiburg. North is on the left. The Breisach Gate
is located between K: la Bastion de la Reyne and Bastion M: la Bastion du Roy

When Freiburg became a French city in 1677, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban started surrounding the city with modern fortifications, thus integrating Freiburg into France's northern fortification belt. Contemporaries called his work, “La dernière folie de Louis XIV."

Another view shows the road to Breisach with a bifurcation to the north.
The Breisach Gate is the white square within the fortification.

An artist's view of the Breisach Gate with a bridge over the moat that was flooded only in case of a siege. Nearby is the square and towering Katzenturm (cat tower) used as a prison. The Breisach Gate still exists, while the bastions were built over but are partly visible today topographically.

©BJ

Entering Freiburg through the Breisach Gate at the beginning of the 19th century via Gartenstraße (Garden Street). Note the Katzenturm on the right-hand side.

©BJ

Gate openings were undersized, allowing the passage of just one horse-drawn carriage. This is clearly visible at Neuf Brisach, Vauban's masterpiece.

Click to enlarge.

The situation around the Breisach Gate from a bird's eye view in the 19th century. Today's Holzmarkt (wood market) was the Viehmarkt (cattle market), the former Kaiser Straße has become Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, and the road Dauphine Straße built for the visit of Marie-Antoinette to Freiburg in 1770 has made way to Federal Road 31 into the Black Forest.

©BJ

Towards the end of the 19th century, the building was raised by one story, and two side wings were added. It served as a school at the time.

Today, the interior and forecourt of the Breisach Gate are used for gastronomic purposes. 

©BJ

Dr. Jenish presented a slide showing the various sites in Freiburg where he and his team had been active in recent years.

On top of the former Bastion St. Louis, the Colombischlössle (©BJ)

The Bastion St. Louis - a small red dot marked "b" on the above plan - was recently dug up as part of the redesign of Colombipark.

      

A drone photo shows the digging site (©BJ)

(©BJ)

In addition to many objects from the time when the bastion was built, the most spectacular find was an inclined tunnel that led from the surface to the fortress's apron. It was probably used for reconnaissance purposes during a siege. 

Dr. Jenisch's lectures are always good for a surprise.

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To Say What Is

In the entrance area of the Hamburg headquarters of DER SPIEGEL©

was the motto of Rudolf Augstein (1923-2002), publisher of the German news magazine DER SPIEGEL (The Mirror). The publishing house commemorated the 100th birthday of its founder on November 5 with a festive event at which our Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, gave a speech.

Young Rudolf fought on the eastern front during the last World War. In 1941, he wrote to his parents, "My dears, I will make the world sit up and take notice and be the first Augstein in the encyclopedia."*
*Here is the Augstein article on Wikipedia

Rudolf was wounded five times and turned home to Hannover in 1945 with one arm being shattered. He knew how to write and immediately wrote articles for the local press. In particular, he wrote for the weekly magazine This Week, published by the British military government, then took over the publication and was issued license number 123. He renamed the magazine DER SPIEGEL. Issue number one appeared on January 4, 1947. Augstein is 23 years old at the time.

DER SPIEGEL came across as old-fashioned. It printed long articles, sometimes spraying over five issues, and had only small black-and-white photos in low resolution.

One date changed it all. In its issue 41 of October 10, 1962, DER SPIEGEL reported in detail on the NATO simulation game "Fallex 62" under the title Bedingt abwehrbereit (Conditionally ready for defense), criticizing the Bundeswehr (Federal Army) and its Minister of Defense, Franz Josef Strauß.

Augstein had attacked the Adenauer administration repeatedly. Apparently, enough was enough. The government certified Augstein, as Chancellor Konrad Adenauer put it, "An abyss of treason" and had the editor of DER SPIEGEL and the article's author arrested accordingly. Augstein spent 103 days in pre-trial custody.

Rudolf Augstein on his way to jail. DER SPIEGEL© cover picture of issue 44, 1962.

A storm broke loose. People took to the streets for the freedom of the press and held up posters, "DER SPIEGEL dead, freedom dead." The end of the so-called "SPIEGEL affair" came when the liberal party left the Adenauer government and Strauß lost his office.

No government since then has made such a massive attempt to undermine the freedom of the press. Even Germans who had previously regarded DER SPIEGEL as too riotous and dubious now recognized its political significance. The magazine became known not only throughout Germany as Das Sturmgeschütz der Demokratie (The assault gun of democracy).

In addition to conservative politics, Augstein* criticized the Church. His book "Jesus, Son of Man" was published in 1972. The Catholic theologian Karl Rahner judged, "It is a frontal and total attack on the one whom all Christian churches profess as the founder of their faith, Jesus Christ."
*He was a baptized Catholic

Augstein also wrote a biography of Prussia's King Frederick the Great. Nobel Prize author Günter Grass judged, "On the one hand, he was the absolute liberal; on the other hand, he had an increasingly German national attitude, especially in his old age."

In 1989, like Grass, the then editor-in-chief of DER SPIEGEL, Erich Böhme, was critical of German reunification and wrote that he did not want to be reunited. In the following issue, Augstein disavowed his editor-in-chief, "Unlike him, I want to be reunified or reunited, although not at any price."

Augstein died in 2002. He is still listed as publisher in DER SPIEGEL’s masthead.

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