German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a mensch, which, in Yiddish, means a decent and upright person. She proved it yet again on Sept. 14 at a rally in Berlin where she praised the Jewish community and condemned antisemitism. “That far more than 100,000 Jews are now living in Germany is something of a miracle,” […]
Old Bamburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a time capsule — a stunning open-air museum of architectural styles. Bamburg’s collection of beautifully preserved Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance buildings, all located in a conveniently compact area ideal for strolling, transports a visitor back to pre-war Germany. During World War II, Bamberg was largely […]
When Germany entered World War I a century ago this summer, millions of Germans saw them off in a burst of patriotism, assuming that a great victory was imminent. Swept up by the nationalist fervour, 100,000 German Jewish men joined the ranks of the armed forces. Of these, 80,000 served on the front lines and almost […]
Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive German art collector whose father acquired a treasure trove of 19th and 20th century European master works under questionable circumstances during the Nazi era, passed away in Munich on May 5. He was 81 and had been suffering from a heart ailment. Gurlitt’s death closes a chapter in the history of […]
Quedlinburg, a somnolent town of 28,000 in the foothills of the Harz Mountains, is caught in something of a time warp. Quedlinburg’s historic 1,300 half-timbered buildings are its chief claim to fame, attracting visitors from all over Germany, the rest of Europe and from around the world. For that reason, Quedlinburg has been a UNESCO World […]
The far-right National Democratic Party, known in German as the NPD, is an ugly, festering sore on Germany’s body politic. The NPD is shamelessly xenophobic, jingoistic, racist and, worst of all, antisemitic. Given Germany’s central role in the Holocaust, it beggars the imagination that there are still German politicians, even on the fringes of society, who […]
Adolf Schicklgruber, otherwise known as Adolf Hitler, was a dispatch runner in the German army on the Western front during World War I. A private in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, or the List Regiment, he later claimed the war radicalized him and constituted the most formative years of his life in terms of […]
Radical Islamists from Germany have been pouring into Syria to fight in the civil war, the German newsmagazine Focus reported recently. Disquietingly enough, some of the Islamic fundamentalist fighters who’ve joined the rebel movement trying to unseat Syrian President Bashar Assad are German Christian converts to Islam. This may come as news to most people, […]