olli in munich

Fasching

2010-02-07T22:00:00.001+01:00

Every year the Damische Ritter organises a Fasching Parade in Munich. For those who don't know, Fasching is the name for Carnival in Southern Germany and Austria. This year's parade took place earlier today and I was there with my camera.

I'm not entirely sure what the group featured in the the last two pictures were thinking - or drinking - when they came up with their idea. I would have thought that Germans especially might be a little bit more sensitive about racial stereotyping. 'Essen auf Räder' means 'Meals on Wheels'.

1958

2010-02-06T09:00:00.004+01:00

Mention Munich to many British people and two events will come to mind: the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the Munich air disaster of 1958. The latter happened 52 years ago today.

An aircraft carrying the Manchester United football team back from a game in Belgrade had landed at Munich's airport (that's the old airport at Riem) to refuel. After two aborted attempts to taake of again the pilot decided to have one more go. By the time the plane was ready to go the third time snow had started falling and the end of the runway was covered in a layer of slush. The slush prevented the aircraft gaining takeoff speed and it slid off the end of the runway into a nearby street. 23 people were killed including journalists who had been covering the game, Manchester United staff and eight of the players.

In Trudering, near the site of the crash there are two memorials to victims. I visited Trudering a couple of days ago and took some pictures. The original memorial consists of a wooden crucifix with a tub of flowers beneath bearing a plaque.

A new memorial just a few yards away was dedicated in 2004. The names of the vicitims are inscribed on a football pitch shaped plaque on top of the memorial. The small square in which the memorial stands was renamed Manchesterplatz in 2008.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

As you recover from you night of dionysian excess why not try the Spiegel International end of year pub quiz?

I managed a respectable 29 out of 36 - though I'm not sure whether to be pleased or disturbed that I know so much junk.

Even if you don't do the quiz the page is worth visiting to see the spectacularly unconvincing Angel Merkel barbie doll recently released by the German branch of Mattell. That's her on the left.

Gay Christmas

2009-12-30T23:30:00.003+01:00

Among the many Christmas Markets held around Munich, one of the more unusual is the Pink Christmas Market run by the city's gays. I went last year and was disappointed - apart from a few pink Christmas trees it wasn't that much different from all the other Christmas Markets in town.

Nevertheless, I returned again this year in the company of an Iowa liberal and a Texas conservative to have another look. It was much better. No doubt this was largely down to my fine companions but the drag queen dressed as an angel reciting poems from the central stage was probably also a factor.

Christmas is now a distant memomory and the little booths have been taken down and put away. Now it's time for Silvester - all night parties, gallons of booze and vast quantities of fireworks.

Hundskugel

2009-11-29T14:17:00.004+01:00

While wandering around the backstreets of the Altstast on Tuesday I came across Munich's oldest Gasthaus, the Hundskugel, which dates from 1440.

The name threw me for a moment, but from the sign it's clear that the dogs are playing with a toy ball. (British readers who speak bad German will understand).

Unfortunately, most of the reviews I have seen for the place are less than positive so for my Bavarian fodder I will stick to the very fine and highly recommended - by me - Hackerhaus in Sendlingerstr.

Münchner Freiheit

2009-11-18T15:15:00.005+01:00

For as long as I have lived in Munich (about a year and a half, since you ask) the U-Bahn station at Münchner Freiheit has been undergoing major renovation. Above ground, construction of the terminus and laying of the tracks for the new 23 tram line has been going on at the same time.

Finally the end is in sight, at least for the U-Bahn stop. A couple of days ago I walked down to the platforms to catch the U3 and was met by a shimmering confection of vivid blues and luminant yellows.

It's certainly striking, though it could be a bit much for anyone with a hangover.

Against Stuff

2009-11-17T15:16:00.005+01:00

I ran into a protest march of some sort on Ludwigstrasse today. I think the marchers were objecting to having to pay tuition fees at university.

Bavaria is one of a number of German states that introduced tuition fees for higher education a couple of years ago. Students pay a maximum of 500 EUR per semester. This isn't exactly big money - 1000 EUR per year - but having had free education for so long having to pay any amount seems to be unacceptable.

Die Linke, the Pirate Party and the Greens were all present as well as a host of minor groups (or should I say groups I've never heard of - maybe they're big in Germany).

Tuition fees were not the only object of contempt. Some protestors were carrying banners against capitalism, though they were still wearing fashionable brand name clothing and shoes from eminent capitalist businesses like Adidas and Diesel.

Others were objecting to neo-liberalism. Funny. The German left protesting about Angela Merkel's 'neo-liberalism' in Germany are the mirror image of the American right protesting about Barak Obama's 'socialism'.

The students may not change the law, but at least they had a nice day for their protest and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Dangerous

2009-11-14T20:05:00.013+01:00

Coming from a British city (or, since it is Belfast, an Irish city, depending on your politics) one of the first questions I ask when arriving in a new city is, Where should I avoid?

In Washington DC it was more a case of asking, Where can I go? since the list of places to avoid is long. In Tirana, despite the corruption, poverty and organised crime, no-one was ever able to come up with any suggestions so I happily wandered everywhere.

In Munich, the locals and the expats have tried to be helpful. After a few moments thought they will often tentatively suggest the railway station - a little pick-pocketing, some drugs perhaps. Typical railway station stuff - though I have yet to see any of it. Eventually I did manage to come up with a name of a 'bad' district: Hasenbergl. Naturally enough I decided to pay a visit carrying my big expensive camera.

A quick check of my U-Bahn map revealed that I had already been there unknowingly. Hasenbergl is right next to Feldmoching. I had taken the U2 to Feldmoching - the end of the line - and walked back into the city along the U-Bahn route, in the process walking through Hasenbergl.

I didn't remember any graffiti, burned out cars, bars on the windows, boarded up shops, intimidating gangs of yobs, and all the other features typically found in the dodgier areas of British cities, so I decided to go back for a closer look.

Once again I took the U2 to Feldmoching and started walking back into the city. A wide expanse of greenery forms the dividing line between the cosy low rise homes of Feldmoching and the tower blocks of Hasenbergl - presumably the residents of the former did not want the residents of the latter looking over them.

Hasenbergl seen from Feldmoching

Entering Hasenbergl itself confirmed my earlier impression - it's clearly not a wealthy area but it's still perfectly pleasant. The grass is green, there are plenty of trees lining the streets, there are shops and cafes. The apartment buildings appear well kept and clean - at least from the outside - and lots of windows are decorated with neat curtains and flowers in vases.

Cafe Am Hasenbergl

Back in Belfast I lived near a similar complex of tower blocks and it looked much worse, and was a great deal more dangerous, than Hasenbergl. Yet in Belfast, this particular area wasn't considered among the worst.

Hasenbergl's reputation perhaps has more to do with its past than its present. The complex was built in the 1960's to provide social housing for low income families and over the years it has attracted a higher than average number of foreign born residents. There have been social problems but the city has been working to address these, as have voluntary and faith based organisations.

More recently, the area's isolation from the rest of the city has also been addresed. In the 1990's the U-Bahn arrived when the U2 line was extended out to Feldmoching. Last year Munich's newest shopping centre, MIRA, opened at Dülferstraße on the edge of Hasenbergl.

Hasenbergl U-Bahn station

MIRA shopping centre

It's not a paradise, and undoubtedly beyond the surface appearance there are social problems. Yet if this is the worst of Munich then the people of Munich should be grateful.

One Year On

2009-05-01T08:00:00.001+02:00

It has now been a little over a year since I started this blog. 223 posts later I have decided to take a break. Regular readers will have noticed fewer words and more images in recent postings and I will be continuing to blog from Munich at my related photoblog where my goal is to post one picture a day and where commentary will be kept to a minimum.

Thanks for reading and I hope you will visit me at olli in munich's photoblog.

Dandelion

2009-04-30T07:00:00.004+02:00

St Florians - Messestadt 2

2009-04-29T07:00:00.002+02:00

St Florians / Sophienkirche - Messestadt 1

2009-04-28T09:00:00.001+02:00

U2 - Moosfeld

2009-04-27T11:55:00.004+02:00

Frühlingsfest - Funfair

2009-04-24T18:04:00.002+02:00

Frühlingsfest Flohmarkt 3 - Done Deal

2009-04-20T22:30:00.002+02:00

Frühlingsfest Flohmarkt 2 - Buyers and Sellers

2009-04-20T07:00:00.002+02:00

Buyers

Sellers

Frühlingsfest Flohmarkt 1 - For Sale

2009-04-19T22:00:00.000+02:00

Every year the Spring Festival takes place on the Theresienwiese - the same site as Oktoberfest. It's a smaller version of the better known festival with funfair rides, food stalls and beer tents. On the first Saturday of the Frühlingsfest the Flohmarkt - that's Flea Market for you and me - sets up.

It's huge. The range of stuff for sale is amazing; almost as amazing as the willingeness of people to buy the stuff. I saw one guy cradling a Michelin Man in his arms and another carrying a didgeridoo. Here's a small selection of what was available. Tomorrow I'll post a selection of buyers and sellers.

When Does This Start To Be Fun?

2009-04-19T11:05:00.005+02:00

Watch Out Birdy

2009-04-12T09:38:00.000+02:00

Going Strong

2009-04-11T10:34:00.001+02:00

Big Night Out

2009-04-09T16:31:00.000+02:00

Late Night Walk Home

2009-04-08T00:12:00.005+02:00

Trapped

2009-04-07T09:26:00.000+02:00

English Lessons

2009-04-05T11:23:00.000+02:00

Waiting for the S-Bahn

2009-04-04T16:19:00.000+02:00

Take Your Pick

2009-04-01T16:14:00.005+02:00

Who would have thought that the world's most versatile chef works in Feldmoching?

Moon Over Munich

2009-03-31T11:01:00.004+02:00

According to my records the picture below was taken on 3 February. Notice the clear blue sky, un-enhanced by any photoshop trickery. As we approach 1 April February's blue sky and sunshine has given way to a relentless greyness punctuated by rain, broken only occasionally by a glimpse of spring.

I've no idea when things are going to improve since the weather forecasting here is the worst I've ever come across. They would probably be more accurate if they just tossed a coin. The German weather service has recently acquired a shiny new supercomputer to help it improve its forecasting. I'm not sure what it have been using up to now - possible an abacus.

The Results Are In

2009-03-29T23:03:00.003+02:00

In fifth place: Triumphator, sampled at Löwenbräukeller. A pleasant and uncomplicated beer.

In fourth place: Animator, sampled at the Hackerhaus. A more complex beer - the flavours of the beer develop on the first taste and continue on the aftertaste.

In third place: Maximator, sampled at the Augustinerkeller. More complex still.

In second place: Salvator, sampled at Paulaner am Nockherberg. In some ways closer to Animator than Maximator, but I have placed it above the latter because of Salvator's hoppiness. This gives the beer a hint of bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malt.

And the winner is: Unimator, sampled at Unions-Bräu. Unimator combines the complexity of Maximator with the hoppiness of Salvator. In fact, it appears to be more strongly hopped than the Salvator and, to me, has an even better balance between hops and malt.

Congratulations to Unions-Bräu. There is no prize other than my continued custom.

My conclusions are, of course, entirely subjective and personal. My drinking partner will, no doubt, deliver her own verdict in time.

Needless to say after a couple of litres of any of these brews the distinctions tend to blur.

Fly on the Wall

2009-03-27T13:15:00.003+01:00

Germany's entertainingly outspoken Finance minister Peer Steinbrück has invited one of his chief critics to a private meeting in Berlin.

Paul Krugman, an American economist with a regular column and a blog in the New York Times, takes regular pot shots at Hr Steinbrück, referring in a recent column to the "know-nothing diatribes of the German finance minister". The Minister even received an entire blog posting from Krugman: The economic consequences of Herr Steinbrueck.

Krugman is certainly not lacking in self-confidence. The column mentioned above begins with the sentence: "I'm concerned about Europe." No doubt this self-confidence - or, perhaps arrogance - was further reinforced by the Nobel Committee who awarded him their 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Nonetheless, if Krugman accepts the invitation (and he should be able to afford the flight with his Princeton post, his NYT columns and his 10,000,000 Kroner Nobel Prize fund) my money is on Hr Steinbrück.

While having a Nobel Prize in Economics might sound impressive, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences have spent the last ten years regularly awarding the Prize to the too-smart-for-their-own-good idiots whose economic theories have landed us in the current mess.

Most famously - or infamously - they awarded the 1997 Prize to Myron Scholes and Robert C Merton "for a new method to determine the value of derivatives". At the time Scholes and Merton were putting their 'new method' to use with Long Term Capital Management - a hedge fund - which turned out to be more a case of Short Term Capital Destruction and had to be bailed out to the tune of $3.6 billion the following year.

So I think it is safe to say that the Nobel Prize in Economics has about as much credibility as those in Literature and Peace.

The clincher, though, is an earlier column from Krugman; an embarrasing song of praise to the financial genius of Gordon Brown - yes, that Gordon Brown.

Has Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, saved the world financial system? Krugman asks in his opening sentence. Obviously with 800 words still to go he isn't going to come out with a straight Yes! Instead, he switches into full cheer leader mode.

Brown and Darling have defined the character of the worldwide rescue effort. Gordon Brown's government has shown itself willing to think clearly about the financial crisis, and act quickly on its conclusions. And this combination of clarity and decisiveness hasn’t been matched by any other Western government.

Eventually he does manage a conclusion: Luckily for the world economy...Gordon Brown and his officials are making sense. And they may have shown us the way through this crisis.

Proof positive I would suggest. Anyone capable of such a magnificent, almost awe-inspiring, lack of judgement about the infernal Brown stands no chance against Hr Steinbrück.

1-0 to the Germans, I think.

Antiquarium in the Residenz

2009-03-26T04:44:00.002+01:00

Still Life

2009-03-25T07:00:00.003+01:00

Following on from yesterday's post here is another tree picture. I came across this tree in English Garden on Sunday when I went for a walk. This is in a part of the park that is much less frequented by visitors, including me.

Sunday's sun had disappeared, replaced by cloudy skies and snow showers but I thought this image worked well in black and white.

Despite its obvious great age and the running repairs that have been done the old tree is still standing and producing new growth.

Lone Tree

2009-03-24T13:10:00.004+01:00

Like most of the world's cities Munich has a selection of Irish pubs to choose from. The Old Irish, also known as the Irish Folk Pub, was Munich's first, opening in 1977. Tucked away in a quiet side street in Schwabing, it's a pub for locals rather than tourists.

One of the more unusual features is the 'Guinness tree' growing up through a grating in front of the pub. According to the explanation in the window this is a variety of the Ailanthus Altissima species that was found growing in the St James's Gate area of Dublin where the Guinness brewery is located.

However, I have found no other references anywhere to the 'Guinness tree' so I suspect someone is having somebody on. It's a nice story though.

Spring

2009-03-22T15:55:00.002+01:00

Weekend Reading

2009-03-20T16:03:00.002+01:00

The Local has an English language version of the story I mentioned yesterday concerning the City's plan to legalise surfing at the standing wave in the Eisbach.

The BBC reports on a forthcoming film about John Rabe, a member of the Nazi Party, who helped save the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of Chinese citizens during the Japanese invasion in 1937.

Spiegel reports on a German plan to take in 2,500, mostly Christian, Iraqi refugees and summarises the response in the German press.

No Longer Verboten

2009-03-19T23:02:00.003+01:00

Abend Zeitung has been reporting on a new deal to allow legal surfing on the standing wave in the English Garden.

The Bavarian State Government and the Munich City Council have come up with a arrangement which would see ownership of the Eisbach wave. It seems that the City authorities can more easily regulate to allow legal surfing than the State authorities can.

The city plans to issue permits to suitably qualified surfers allowing them to legally surf the wave. In return the surfers have to agree that the city has no liability if they are injured in the process.

My Kind of Politician

2009-03-18T13:01:00.005+01:00

2008 was not a good year for the Becksteins. The then Bavarian Prime Minister got into trouble for suggesting that it was perfectly fine to drink two litres of beer then drive home as long as you paced your intake.

Frau Beckstein added to the family woes when she refused to wear a dirndl to Oktoberfest on the very reasonable grounds that she was from Nurnberg where they don't wear dirndls.

The Prime Minister's party, the CSU, then suffered its worst ever performance in a Bavarian election and Hr Becktein was replaced as Prime Minister by Horst Seehofer.

However, instead of sulking, complaining and blaming other people the Becksteins recently displayed that rarest of political virtues: the ability to laugh at themselves.

Every year in Franconia (which is part of Bavaria but don't say that to a Franconian) the Franconian Carnval Association presents Fastnacht in Franken where Bavaria's politicians and dignitaries turn up to be mocked and ridiculed - and to laugh at themselves.

Many of them turn up in costume and this year the Beckstein's turned up in lederhosen and dirndl. Funny enough in itself except that she was wearing the lederhosen and he was wearing the dirndl. This is definitely my kind of politician.

In an earlier post I had referred to Hr Beckstein as Bavaria's Gordon Brown. I now realise that this is a totally unwarranted calumny on this fine politician and wish to apologise unreservedly to the Becksteins for associating them with the humourless and pompous British Prime Minister.

The pictures are from Bayerischer Rundfunk who broadcast the whole event. There are a lot more pictures and video on their Fastnacht in Franken page.

St Patrick's Day

2009-03-15T22:50:00.006+01:00

It's not quite St Patrick's Day yet but Munich's annual parade took place this afternoon. After a beautiful day on Saturday the parade was blessed with traditional Irish weather - grey, wet and windy.

The parade ended up at Odeonsplatz - or should that be O'Deonsplatz - where musicians, singers and dancers entertained those who had ventured out.

We did manage a quick chat with St Patrick who sounded suspiciously Scottish and appeared to have been imbibing enthusiastically for some time.

War Crimes II

2009-03-12T00:23:00.002+01:00

The Munich prosecutors have now filed charges against John Demjanjuk - 29,000 counts of accessory to murder. According to Spiegel:

The public prosecutor's office in Munich said that further steps to bring Demjanjuk to Germany will be taken after close consultation with the government in Berlin. As soon as he arrives, he will be officially charged before the court.

Getting There

2009-03-11T14:54:00.003+01:00

Apart from the excellent exhibition at the City Museum now supplemented by aspects of the permanent and temporary exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, Munich's Nazi past is generally kept out of sight. Given the city's centrality for the Nazis this is a surprising state of affairs - or perhaps not.

Elsewhere in Bavaria (and throughout Germany) the Nazi era is presented and explored in some excellent museums, memorials and archives. Berchtesgaden, were Hitler had his mountain retreat, has the Dokumentation Obersalzberg. Nuremberg has its Dokumentationszentrum at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The concentration camps at Dachau, Fl ossenbürg and Hersbrucke have all been preserved as memorials.

In 2001 Munich council decided to establish the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism to be located on the site of the Brown House which served as the headquarters of the Nazi Party in the city.

Last weekend the mayor, Christian Ude, announced the winners of an architectural competition for the new structure. Work is scheduled to start in 2011.

While it will be some time before the new building is open for business the website of the the Documentation Centre has some very useful resources including a detailed booklet and map which can be used for a self-guided tour. Mp3 files of the text are also available for download for those who prefer to listen. Both are available in English.

For those with some German there is are also three volumes of Memorials, Commemorative Sites and Places of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism in Munich 1933–1945 available as pdf files.

War Crimes

2009-03-09T15:35:00.003+01:00

Ivan Demjanjuk might soon be appearing in a courtroom in Munich charged with war crimes. Demjanjuk, originally from The Ukraine, was a Red Army soldier captured by the Germans in 1942 who then chose to ally himself with his captors. After the war Demjanjuk settled in Germany, but left in 1951 and moved to the US.

In 1983 the Israeli' requested his extradition believing him to be a former guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known to the inmates as 'Ivan the Terrible'. He was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to death but his conviction was overturned on appeal in 1993. The Israeli Supreme Court did not doubt that Demjanjuk has been a concentration camp guard but ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove that he was 'Ivan the Terrible'.

Demjanjuk was then returned to the US by the Israelis. His US citizenship, which he had lost some years before his extradition, was restored. The US Justice Department appealed against this on the grounds that Demjanjuk had indeed been a concentration camp guard, even if not the one believed by the Israeli prosecutors. The court agreed and removed his citizenship once more. Demjanjuk's final appeal against the decision was rejected by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeal in 2004. As a stateless person Demjanjuk was liable to deportation if a country could be found willing to take him. However, neither Ukraine not Poland - where his alleged crimes were perpetrated were willing either to take or to put him on trial.

Meanwhile German investigators at the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen
zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (that's the Central Office of the State Justice Administration for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes to you and me) had been looking into Demjanjuk and had come up with new evidence suggesting that Demjanjuk had been a guard in the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943.

Since Demjanjuk's last place of residence before moving to the US had been the town of Feldafing just south of Munich, the Zentralle Stelle believed that the Munich prosecutor's office could claim jurisdiction and bring charges against Demjanjuk, specifically that he participated in the murder of 29,000 Jews - including 1,900 who were German citizens - at Sobibor.

As far as I understand (and German readers can corect me if I have got this wrong) the Munich prosecutor's office declined to take action on the grounds that they did not believe that they had jurisdiction. However, in December of last year Federal Court of Justice confirmed that they did have jurisdiction.

All that is required now for Demjanjuk to be brought to Munich is some paperwork. Yet the authorities in Munich have been proceeding slowly. I can understand their caution.

A second acquittal would not look good - the prosecutors need to be very confident in their evidence before going ahead. Moreover, if Demjanjuk were acquitted I would assume that since he would have been deported rather than extradited and since he is no longer a US citizen the Germans would be stuck with him, either having to look after him until he dies or find another country willing to take him - which seems unlikely.

I'm sure the German authorities are also concerned about Demjanjuk's age and state of health. He is 88 years old and even if he is nowhere near as feeble as his lawyer and family are trying to argue he's still an old man. His death in custody while on trial is not something the authorities would want to have to deal with.

Connected

2009-03-08T21:05:00.002+01:00

Memorial

2009-03-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

Near the Theresienweise U-Bahn there is a memorial to the victims of a terrorist attack on Oktoberfest that took place in 1980. A bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded just after 10pm on Saturday 26 September. Thirteen people were killed and more than 200 injured.

The authorities concluded that one man - Gundolf Köhler - was responsible. Köhler was associated with a number of right wing and neo-nazi groups. He was also one of the thirteen who died, killed by his own bomb. The central column of the memorial names the twelve innocent victims of the attack.

This column formed the original memorial but last year it was removed from its original site and relocated here with the the shrapnel pierced semi-circular steel wall a new addition. The memorial was rededicated before the start of last year's Oktoberfest.

Krimifest

2009-03-06T17:00:00.002+01:00

When I'm not blogging, photographing or walking Bella I'm often lying around reading crime novels. So I was interested to discover the Munich Krimifestival which begins next week.

Over two weeks German and international authors will be visiting the city to read from and discuss their work.

I'm a fan of Euro crime fiction in translation - particularly the police procedural format - but unfortunately few German writers have made it into English.

Instead we get an endless stream of Nordic writers. After the initial success of Henning Mankell's Wallander series English language publishers couldn't get enough of Scandinavian crime. Many of the translated works are exceptionally good, but as the A-list writers got signed up, the publishers moved on to the B-list, translating works that weren't worth the effort.

One of the few German authors I know of who has been translated in Jan Costin Wagner. However his stories are set in Helsinki. The only police procedural series I know of based in Germany is written by a Scot, Craig Russell, and set in Hamburg.

Munich's dark side has its own chronicler in Friedrich Ani who was born in Kochel, just south of the city. He wrote a series of books set in Munich featuring Kommissar Tabor Süden and is currently producing two other series: one featuring a monk turned detective, Hauptkommissar Polonius Fischer, the other featuring Kommissar Jonas Vogel and his son Max, a blind detective with the Munich murder squad.

These seem to me ideal for translation into English - interesting central characters and a well established series by a well regarded author. Ani has already been widely translated with some of his writings appearing in four other European languages as well as Korean and Chinese.

Two interviews available online give more insight into Ani's work. One is on the website of Tobias Gohlis, a journalist specialising in crime literature. The other is on the website of Jens Nommel whose particular interest is the connection between literature and geogrpahy and whose interview focuses on the role that Munich plays in Ani's work.

More generally, you can find everything you ever wanted to know and more about German crime writing at Krimi-Couch, Krimiblog and Die Alligatorpapiere.

Mind how you go.

Walking Man

2009-03-05T11:00:00.001+01:00

The Walking Man has been striding out at the Munich Re building on Leopoldstrasse since 1995. The sculpture is 17 metres tall and weighs 16 tons. It was created by American artist Jonathan Borofsky.

Other Borofsky works in Germany include the Hammering Man in Frankfurt, Molecule Man in Berlin, Freedom in Offenberg and another Walking Man in Verden.

Both the New York Times and Carnegie Mellon Magazine have carried interviews with Borofsky about his work.

Chico's

2009-03-04T21:52:00.002+01:00

Starkbierzeit

2009-03-02T13:09:00.003+01:00

Monks and beer - it's as traditional as fish and chips, salt and vinegar, bacon and eggs. The names are the giveaway - Paulaner, Franziskaner, Augustiner. While the monastic connections are a matter of history in Munich, elsewhere at Andechs, Ettal and Weltenburg the Benedictines carry on the tradition.

Given this background it's no surprise that Lent and Starkbierzeit run in parallel. Fasting by day the monks brewed an extra strong nourishing beer to make good the lack of sustenance in their reduced Lenten diet.

Traditionally, the creation of starkbier is ascribed to a small order of Italian monks who arrived in Munich in the early 17th century. They were followers of St. Francis of Paola - hence Paulaners. Eventually this beer came to be called Salvator.

The monks are long gone and Paulaner is now in the hands of Brau Holding International AG, a joint venture between the Munich based Schörghuber Corporate Group and Dutch brewer Heineken N.V.

However, the brewery still produces Salvator strong beer and on 13 March at Paulaner am Nockherberg (link broken last time I checked) the first barrel of the new season's Salvator will be tapped before an audience of dignitaries and other worthies. The rest of us can watch it live on local television.

Elsewhere, other local breweries also developed their own versions of starkbier. In honour of the original Salvator most of these have similar sounding names ending in '-ator'.

At Löwenbräu it's Triumphator; Augustiner do Maximator; Unionsbräu produce Unimator. Beyond Munich, Ayinger do a well regarded version called Celebrator. Many other Bavarian breweries also produce the same style of beer - a doppelbock - without labelling it as a starkbier or following the '-ator' convention. Based on personal experience I can recommend the Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel - just be careful walking down the hill from the monstery afterwards.

I had my first starkbier of the season last night - a Triumphator at Zum Franziskaner. Our first serious attempt will come some time this week at the Löwenbräukeller on Stiglmaierplatz.

Riverside

2009-03-01T22:05:00.005+01:00

The sun shone this weekend and the citizens of Munich took full advantage. On Sunday afternnon I joined the crowds getting off the U3 at Thalkirchen. Most of them were going to the zoo but I was going for a walk along the River Isar.

In this part of the city the Isar is surrounded by woods with walking and cycling trails. The river itself is dotted with small islands and edged by gently sloping gravel banks.

Just below Thalkirchen, on one of the gravel banks dozens - perhaps hundreds - of swans gather to take bread from visitors. They are remarkably tame, taking lumps of bread from the hands of small children - who are remarkably brave since, out of the water, the swans are bigger than they are.

Along the river people are walking and cycling, families are out with their children - and their dogs, others are reading books, playing in the water, or just soaking up the sun.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the next few days is not so good - bedeckt and bewölkt.

Fasching

2009-02-27T23:10:00.003+01:00

Fasching, Munich's take on Carnival, has been and gone. I did manage to stand for an hour in the cold and the snow watching the Dance of the Market Women at the Viktualienmarkt, followed by coffee and krapfen to recover, but for the most part Fasching passed me by. If you want to know more and see more I can recommend this fine blog with multiple postings on Fasching.

Next up, Starkbierfest - this one will definitely not be passing me by.

Guard it Well

2009-02-24T20:01:00.004+01:00

Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, was a student at Humboldt University in Berlin when Germany was still a divided country. Years later he had the opportunity to read his own Stasi file which documented his travels, meetings and conversations in the former East Germany. Given this background, I was particularly struck by his most recent article in the Guardian:

For 30 years I have been travelling to unfree places, from East Germany to Burma, and writing about them in the belief that I was coming from one of the freest countries in the world. I wanted people in those places to enjoy more of what we had. In the last few years, I have woken up - late in the day, but better late than never - to the way in which individual liberty, privacy and human rights have been sliced away in Britain, like salami, under New Labour governments that profess to find in liberty the central theme of British history.

The East Germans are now more free than we are.

Timothy Garton Ash is only the latest voice to speak out about the erosion of civil liberties in the United Kingdom. Criticism of government policy has also come from Stella Rimington, former head of the internal security service MI5, and Thomas Bingham, former Senior Law Lord (equivalent to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), who described the British as 'the most spied upon people in the democratic world'.

The list of authoritiarian and intrusive legislation enacted and proposed by successive Labour governments is long and depressing. The UK has the most extensive system of surveillance cameras in the world. It took a ruling in the European Court of Human Rights to force the government to remove DNA information on around 900,000 innocent people from the police DNA database.

Last year the government attempted to pass legislation giving the police the power to hold suspect for up to six weeks without charge - a plan ultimately defeated in the House of Lords. The government is in the process of implementing its National Identity Register, designed to collect and collate data on every citizen and resident in the UK and recently proposed yet another database to record details of every telephone call made, every email sent and every website visited by every UK citizen.

Meanwhile, while the police routinely photograph and video UK citizens attending legitimate public protests, those same citizens can now be arrested for taking photographs of the police.

The British government's weasel words and contempt for civil liberties and common decency has been manifested most recently in the case of Binyam Mohamed. Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen and UK resident returned to the UK on Monday after seven years in various prisons and internment centres, including four years in Guantanamo Bay.

The UK High Court, having seen documents compiled by the US authorities, agreed that there was a case to answer regarding his claims that he had been tortured and subject to inhuman and degrading treatment while being held. Disgracefully, the UK government then did all in its power to prevent the release of further information regarding Mohamed's mistreatment and the role of British agencies in that mistreatment.

Finally, though, people are - in Garton Ash's phrase - waking up to this assault on our liberties and are organising across party lines to fight back. On Saturday 28th February the Convention on Modern Liberty will convene in London and across the UK. I hope that the rising tide of opposition will have an impact, though the arrogance of the current government suggests that nothing will change their minds.

I've never had much time for patriotism but I was once vaguely proud to be British - proud of some of the values that the UK stood for even if the state was not always conspicuously successful at living by those values. Not any more though. At least I have the consolation of a second passport and freedom of movement within the EU where I can choose to live in a freer country like Germany.

Guard it well.

Transplant

2009-02-16T22:18:00.000+01:00

Currently standing in the centre of Lenbachplatz are three concrete housing units transplanted from the Olympic Village.

After the 1972 Games the Olympic Village provided low cost and student housing. Now, with the site undergoing major renovation these particular units form the centrepiece of an art and architecture project.

After three months in Ratzingerplatz they were moved to Lenbachplatz in October and will remain there until the end of this month. As well as the buildings there are exhibitions, lectures and public meetings taking place in the houses.

German readers can find out more at the project website.

Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche

2009-02-15T20:00:00.001+01:00

Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in the district of Fröttmaning is the oldest church in Munich. Records of a church on this site go back to 815 though most of the church dates from the 13th century.

Unfortunately, the community the church once served is long gone, demolished to make way for the A9 and A99 motorways which intersect nearby. The church only just survived since the original plan also envisaged its demolition.

The church was also threatened by the creation of a landfill site for the city's rubbish. This rubbish mountain now dominates the church. Fortunately, it has now been landscaped, though everywhere there are signs warning visitors not to light matches because of the presence of gas. Having created this small mountain the city decided to make some use of it by positioning a giant wind turbine on top of it.

Also nearby is a replica of the church which is disappearing into the mountain. This is a piece of public art created by Timm Ulrichs in 2004. Entitled 'Sunken Village' the work symbolises the loss of the local community and the continuing threat to the church from urban development.

Unfortunately, the church's isolated location mean that it is only rarely open but it is still worth visiting. Take U6 to Fröttmaning, head towards the Allianz Arena and then take the bridge across the A9 towards the wind turbine.

U1 St-Quirin-Platz

2009-02-13T07:00:00.001+01:00

'Doesn't Like What it Sees'

2009-02-12T13:42:00.006+01:00

The small town of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg might seem an unlikely place to be deciding the future of the European Union but as the seat of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany that's precisely what has been happening this week.

The Treaty of Lisbon, drafted by the EU authorities after the failure of the Constitution, has been approved by the German Parliament but final ratification requires the approval of the Court. The European Constitution was never tested in the Court since its rejection by the French and Dutch electorate killed it off.

The Treaty of Lisbon has already been rejected by the electorate of Ireland but, true to form, the EU authorities prefer to ignore this manifestation of democracy in pursuit of their own agenda. The Constitutional court will be rather more difficult to ignore.

Previous EU treaties have come before the Court and have gained approval, but the Court has also noted areas of concern in its judgments. The question at issue is whether the Treaty is compatible with the Basic Law of 1949, effectively Germany's Constitution.

Challenges to the Treaty have come from both the Left and the Right and on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week the Second Senate of the Court (left) heard evidence from both challengers and advocates of the Treaty.

Spiegel carried a summary of the response in the German press on Wednesday following the first day of the hearing and it seems clear that the outcome is far from a foregone conclusion. The hearings have now concluded and a judgement is not expected before May.

If the judges do conclude that the Treaty is at odds with the Basic Law it is dead. While the EU authorities simply chose to treat the Irish electorate with a mixture of anger and contempt and carried on regardless it will be impossible to ignore the Court.

Renegotiation of the Treaty to accommodate the Court's objections would be possible in theory but would then require the entire ratification process to start all over again. In particular, in those circumstances it would be impossible for Gordon Brown and the British Government to continue to resist the reasonable demands for a referendum.

This is, after all, the party that having promised a referendum on the Constitution in their 2005 election manifesto (p84) subsequently reneged on that commitment on the dubious grounds that the Treaty is different from the Constitution. (Admittedly, this is not the first time a party has lied to the people in its manifesto).

Better still, by the time any future treaty made it that far we would, I hope, be well rid of Mr Brown and his government of arrogant, authoritarian second-raters.

The big question is whether the political pressure on the Court not to kill the Treaty by finding in favour of the challengers will be such that they will set aside any doubts they might have. I expect they will be getting a lot of 'advice' from the German government in the next few months.

Today's Quirkies

2009-02-10T13:12:00.003+01:00

Zebras in Augsburg, pigeons in Düsseldorf airport, Germany's Lord Elgin and (nothing to do with Germany but a great story nonetheless) the world's most adventurous tourist.

Over

2009-02-10T09:00:00.000+01:00

The 45th Munich Security Conference has been and gone. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Generals and more given their speeches, had their private meetings and gone home.

On Saturday Joe Biden, US Vice-President was the biggest name in town, outlining the Obama administration's new approach to foreign policy. Saturday was also protest day when anti-NATO protesters marched through the city. Around 3,500 protesters turned up monitored by 5,000 police officers.

I went out on Saturday evening after the march was over and was amazed by the number of police vehicles around the city. Even in Belfast at the height of the public order problems I don't recall seeing this many police officers. In the end there was no repeat of last year's violence.

Not that the evening was entirely peaceful. While walking through Frauenplatz I passed four Dortmund fans, in town for Sunday's Bundesliga game against Bayern Munich (3-1 to Bayern for those interested), who were in the middle of a drunken dispute involving much shouting and shoving.

Incredibly, these four guys had managed to find probably the only spot in downtown Munich on Saturday night that wasn't swarming with cops.

Spiegel, rapidly becoming one of my favourite news organisations, has an excellent report on the conference and the implications of the Obama administration's foreign policy for Europe and for Germany in particular. The conference website has video, audio and text of all the keynote speeches delivered at the conference.

Red Line

2009-02-09T21:00:00.000+01:00

MAGNUM'S first

2009-02-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

On Friday we went back to the VKB to see the new photographic exhibition. Magnum's First: The Face of Time 1955 -1956 features early images from photographers of the Magnum agency.

That agency was founded by a group of photogrpahers in 1947 and remains a collective to this day. Among its founders were two of the greats of modern photography: Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa.

The exhibition on display now is the first ever exhibition by the Magnum agency. Originally exhibited in 1955-1956 in Austria, the pictures were then packed into wooden crates and stored in a basement room where they were finally discovered in 2006.

The exhibition runs until 10 May. If you are in Munich don't miss it.

Scaffold

2009-02-08T09:00:00.001+01:00

The North tower of the Frauenkirche is clad from near top to bottom in scaffolding. It looks like it's going to be there for a very long time. On the one hand it does detract from the traditional Munich holiday photograph. On the other it makes an interesting subject in its own right.

'A Kind of "Better Germany"'

2009-02-07T21:14:00.004+01:00

Rising oil prices, the politics of natural gas and concerns over global warming have forced a rethink of the merits of nuclear power in many countries. Now, 28 years after voting to phase out nuclear power the Swedes too have had a change of hear. The Swedish government is proposing that existing nuclear reactors should be replaced as they are decommissioned.

According to Spiegel the Swedish decision has caused both relief and horror among German commentators who have been discussing its implications for Germany. Germany followed Sweden's example when in 2000 the government of Chancellor Schröder decided to shut down all of Germany's nuclear reactors by 2025. Having followed the Swedish example then, the argument is whether the German's should also do so now.

(If you want to know everything you can imagine and then some about nuclear power in Sweden, Germany and 37 other countries you can consult the International Atomic Energy Agency's Country Nuclear Power Profiles database.)

While Germany is not building reactors, Germans are. The ever present Siemens AG has a 34% stake in Areva NP, a company that is 'dedicated to the design and construction of nuclear power plants' - so dedicated that it 'has built about 100 nuclear plants in 11 countries that provide about 30% of the world's total installed nuclear power capacity.'

One page of the Areva NP website offers you the chance to build your very own nuclear power plant. A 3,000 part card model of the Olkiluoto 3 reactor in Finland, currently under construction, is available for the real enthusiasts. The less ambitious or skilled can try their hand at a 350 part model which can be downloaded and printed out.

Local readers will be proud to know that the model was designed right here in Bavaria in Rottenburg a.d. Laaber by Thomas Pleiner. His website is worth browsing. It's incredible what this man can do with paper and card. I'm very tempted to print out the basic version and give it a go. If I do, I'll be sure to post a picture of the end result here, providing it isn't too embarassing.

Friends

2009-02-07T13:31:00.003+01:00

Fröttmaning lies - almost - at the opposite end of U6 from the Klinikum Großhadern stop where I recently visited. The Fröttmaning stop is where football fans alight to get to the Allianz Arena.

I was there a few days ago taking pictures - one of which features in an earlier post and more of which will follow at some point.

Two long walkways lead from the platforms across the tracks to the stadium. While crossing, I looked back and saw these three friend chatting and laughing as they headed for the train.

Following last night's experimentation with panoramas, this image is my first experiment with a technique known as HDR which involves blending different versions of the same image at different exposures into one image. For anyone interested this is the original image from the camera.

Alte Pinakothek

2009-02-07T02:17:00.005+01:00

This is an image I took on Saturday night of the Alte Pinakothek. It is a panorama view made by stitching together three separate images. It's really too small for viewing at this size, but if you click on the image a 1200 pixel wide version will open.

Kriegsgräberstätte

2009-02-06T11:30:00.005+01:00

The suburb of Großhadern in the South West of Munich is home to the Klinikum Großhadern, the city's largest hospital and the research and teaching hospital of LMU. Take U6 as far as you can and this is where you will end up.

A ten minute walk takes you past the newly built apartments onto a tree lined road which leads to the Waldfriedhof - the woodland or forest cemetery. On the other side of the road is a very different cemetery, the Kriegsgräberstätte, a burial site for the victims of wars. It's not a military cemetery though - civilians and soldiers are buried side by side here.

A memorial at the entrance rises like a sail. Rows of simple tomb markers contain only basic information - name, date of birth and date of death. Sometimes the information is incomplete, sometimes they are simply marked unbekannt - unknown.

Most striking is the absence of the personal shown in traditional inscriptions - 'in loving memory', 'sadly missed', or a bible verse. There is no reminder of the communities or families that these dead came from and that remembered them.

Perhaps that's no bad thing. There is no glory in war - even in wars that have to be fought - but there is always destruction and disruption, not only for the dead but also for communities and families.

(The last of the photographs below is a collage of photographs of some of the memorial stones in the cemetery. Clicking on it will take you to a larger image.)

Sky 2

2009-02-05T20:24:00.004+01:00

Signs of Spring

2009-02-05T07:00:00.000+01:00

Could it be springtime? Despite the forecast for snow this weekend the last few days have been sunny and clear. Admittedly, I have neither heard cuckoos nor seen snowdrops, but the woodpeckers are hammering in the woods and the trees are in bud.

The surest sign of spring is the return of the petanque players to the Hofgarten. For the last few months the paths around the edge of the garden, normally busy with overlapping games, have been empty. Quite apart from the cold, the snow, ice and mud have kept the players away.

On Tuesday, though, they were back in force with their rucksacks of pretzels, sandwiches, beer and coffee. Should the snow return they will have to pack their boules away for a little while longer. But we have turned the corner.

Getting Ready

2009-02-04T09:00:00.001+01:00

The Munich Security Conference starts on Friday and over the last few days the names of those attending have been made known. Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy will be in town, as will the new US Vice-President, Joe Biden. The UK is only sending the boy Milliband, so clearly Gordon doesn't take it too seriously.

On the Conference programme are discussions on NATO, Russia, Natural Gas and the Middle East: The Future of European Security and Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and the Future of Nuclear Weapons: Is a Zero Option Possible? The assembled worthies will also find time to discuss security issues in Afghanistan, the Transcaucasus and the Balkans as well as Global Challenges and the Crisis of International Order.

Good luck chaps.

The protestors have also announced their intentions. The main demonstration will take place on Saturday with a march from Marienplatz to Odeonsplatz via a very circuitous route. The protestors are expected to number around 5,000. Extra police have been drafted into the city to provide security at the Bayerischer Hof, where the Conference will be taking place and, no doubt, to deal with those among the protestors who will be looking for a fight.

There was evidence today of the police's preparations: piles of crowd control barriers were stacked in the Hofgarten near the entrance to Odeonsplatz, and a police helicopter was circling low around the square.

The weather forecast for the weekend is for snow - heavy or light depending on whose forecast it is. I'm sure the police would prefer driving rain to keep the number of protestors down - there's nothing like the prospect of getting cold and wet to dim the enthusiasm for world peace. If it does snow, though, perhaps the Conference participants and the protestors could get together in the English Garden and sort out their differences with a giant snowball fight.

'not yet been made sufficiently clear'

2009-02-03T18:33:00.008+01:00

Pope Benedict's decision to rescind the excommunication of four bishops belonging to the Society of Saint Pius X continues to generate plenty of debate - especially in the light of his subsequent decision to appoint Gerhard Maria Wagner Auxiliary Bishop of Linz in Austria.

Spiegel today published an article discussing the reaction in Germany from a variety of people, including the Catholic Archbishop of Hamburg, Werner Thissen, originally reported in the Hamburger Abendblatt.

Reuters carried a similar report with comments from former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who was writing for the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

The most significant intervention came today from Chancellor Angela Merkel. Chancellor Merkel has a reputation for caution, and it says something about how strong feeling is among some in Germany that she chose to speak out - the words of the title above are hers.

Her comments came in the unlikely setting of a press conference with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, who is on an official visit to Germany, and were offered in response to a journalist's question. A video of the conference is available from the Federal Government website. The question, and the Chancellor's response, come about eleven minutes into the video.

Rescued

2009-02-02T12:58:00.007+01:00

Police in Erfurt have recovered the statue of Bernd Das Brot stolen from outside the city's Rathaus. Bernd, a children's television character, and something of a cult figure, was taken by a group of squatters in the city protesting against plans to redevelop their squat.

Bernd turned up in the video below which was released by the squatters and which portrayed him as being sympathetic to the group's case.

Bernd is famously pessimistic and depressed as he gets dragged reluctantly into new adventures by his freind Chili Das Schaf and Breigel Der Busch. You can get a taste of their adventures in this video clip from Kika, and you can Tanzt Das Brot on YouTube.

Sky 1

2009-02-01T13:33:00.003+01:00

Quirky

2009-01-31T09:00:00.001+01:00

From The Guardian: naked German hikers are annoying their Swiss neighbours.

From the Daily Telegraph: the Bavarian - or should I say Frankonian - town of Volkach is setting up a dog DNA database to catch those people who don't clean up after their pets.

And finally: a 23 year old man in Limbach-Oberfrohna in Saxony managed to crash his car into a church roof 7 metres off the ground - pictures and video.

Mind how you go!

Georg Elser

2009-01-30T07:00:00.001+01:00

In an earlier post I told the story of Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on Hitler. In that post I linked to the Georg Elser Documentation Centre. Somehow, though, I managed to miss another outstanding website dedicated to Elser.

The information on this site is almost overwhelming. There are links to audio and video files - including audio of Hitler's speech on the night of the attack - to contemporary newspaper reports and photographs, and to the Gestapo report drawn up during the investigation into the attack.

The site also has information on post-war commemoration of Esler including books, films and memorials.

Naturally everything is in German but some basic knowledge will get you around the site and a translation programme like Google Translate or Babelfish will do the rest - most of the time.

Kandisky at the Lenbachhaus

2009-01-29T13:05:00.005+01:00

Last week I finally got to visit the Kandinsky exhibition that I had mentioned previously. If you haven't seen it yet I can highly recommend it. We had the benefit of a tour guide, but there is also a very comprehensive audio guide that is included in the entrance price (which makes a pleasant change). The exhibition has been hugely successful; so much so that it has been extended for a further two weeks until 6 March.

For first time visitors you should know that the Kunstbau is across the street from the Lenbachhaus. This exhibition space sits on top of the Konigsplatz U-Bahn station and access is by the same steps that take you to the station.

As well as the graphic works in the Lenbachhaus there is also a fascinating display of photographs in the Kandinsky room of the museum showing the artist and his friends and colleagues in Munich and Murnau. Naturally, there is also a shop.

Once the exhibition ends the Lenbachhaus will be closing down for three years to undergo a major renovation and expansion. The work will be carried out under the direction of Foster + Partners, the architects responsible for the redevelopment of the Reichstag.

As well as renovating and redeveloping the existing building and grounds, the museum will also be expanded with a new building directly behind the existing one. In anticipation of the project the Lenbachhaus currently has an exhibition, Working With History, on the work of Foster + Partners in redevloping exisiting structures.

The exhibition also previews the plans for the redevelopment. Judging from the graphics on display (reproduced below) the new building seems to bear some resemblance to the almost completed Brandhorst Museum.

While the Kandinsky's will be travelling with the exhibition I'm not sure what will happen to the rest of the museum's collection. I hope at least part of it will go on display elsewhere in the city. It would be a great shame to lose all access to the collection for three years.

Rogue Shepherd

2009-01-28T07:00:00.000+01:00

The New Testament describes the character and role of a bishop or overseer in a number of texts: they are watch keepers and shepherds of the church (Acts 20.28); they should be above reproach, able to teach and of good repute (1 Timothy 3.1-7); they should be blameless (Titus 1.7); and their model as shepherd and bishop is Christ himself (1 Peter 2.25).

On every count Richard Williamson is unfit to be a bishop. Unfortunately, Pope Benedict XVI seems unable to recognise this.

Since you may have no idea who Williamson is here is a little background.

While the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) introduced a series of reforms in the Roman Catholic church a number of traditionalists were not happy with the outcome. Among these was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who established the Society of Saint Pius X in 1970.

Lefebvre's relationship with the Vatican deteriorated until in 1988 Lefebvre ordained four members of the society as bishops. All were then considered schismatic and excommunicated by Pope John Paul II.

Benedict XVI has now chosen to rescind the excommunication of the four bishops and restore them to the Church. (Lefebvre himself is now dead).

Normally the internal workings of the Vatican would pass unremarked, except that only three days before the Vatican announced its decision Williamson, one of the four bishops restored to the Church, said on Swedish television that while Jews had died in Nazi concentration camps there were no gas chambers and that the number of dead was 200,00-300,000 not 6 million.

I have found videos of the interview here and here, and transcripts of his remarks are widely available online. The interview was recorded last November in Germany where Holocaust denial is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in jail. Indeed, Spiegel reports that the 'Regensburg public prosecutor's office...has opened an enquiry into his remarks.'

Spiegel also reports that the Vatican has been trying to claim that Williamson's beliefs are not pertinent to the revocation of his excommunication.

The Vatican has said that Williamson's comments on the Holocaust had no bearing on the excommunication issue. "This act regards the lifting of the excommunications, period," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters. "It has nothing to do with the personal opinions of one person, which are open to criticism, but are not pertinent to this decree."

I studied theology and the philosophy of religion for six years - admittedly in a Protestant context - but this particular piece of casuistry is beyond me. This man is not being restored to communion with the church as a lay person but as a bishop - a pastor, leader and teacher, a man who is supposed to manifest spiritual and moral discernment.

Perhaps we could expect nothing more from him, but surely we could have expected more from Benedict himself, whose childhood and youth were spent in Bavaria during the Nazi years. Surely he of all people should be able to understand that Williamson's views are very specifically pertinent. Restoring Williamson is, in the apposite words of the Jerusalem Post, an 'extraordinary sign of moral indifference' by Benedict.

I will leave the last word with the Süddeutsche Zeitung (as translated by Spiegel):

The pope's reconciliation with an offensive anti-Semite is shocking. Benedict points to the fact that the bishop's tirades had nothing to do with his ex-communication more than 20 years ago. By doing this, the pope is not recognizing the fact that, as the head of more than 1 billion Catholics, he is not operating in a vacuum of dogmas and canon law. With the rehabilitation of the bishop, Benedict XVI is sabotaging the Christian-Jewish dialogue while endorsing those who have sharply criticized his papacy.

Even without the issue of the Holocaust denial, the reconciliation with the Lefebrivists would be a mistake. Of course the pope has to be concerned with the unity of the church. However, that which Benedict XVI is winning back on the right wing of the church, he could lose in the center. Many Catholics see it as the church's duty to work toward a humane world alongside other faiths. They want their pope to build bridges with the Protestant churches and with Judaism. However, Benedict seems to lack the magnanimity here that he is now showing to the reactionaries.

Pope John Paul II, a conservative man, was particularly concerned with reconciliation with Judaism and dialogue between the religions. … Now it seems as if Benedict XVI wants to undo that work.

Munich Zoo

2009-01-27T00:44:00.004+01:00

A wintry day in January might not seem like an obvious time to visit the zoo, but despite the cold the sun was shining and the sky was blue. While some of the animals are in hibernation and others are distinctly dozy, the great advantage is that there is hardly anyone else there. The zoo lies to the south of the city centre along the Isar and is easily accessible by U-Bahn. Some of the pictures below were taken through glass so are not entirely sharp.

Hauptbahnhof B & W

2009-01-25T22:56:00.004+01:00

Competition

2009-01-23T13:23:00.003+01:00

This is BMW World with the distinctive bowl of the BMW Museum and the BMW headquarters in the background. While the Museum has the more interesting content BMW World, which opened in 2007, is architecturally a much more striking building.

BMW's main competitor, Mercedes-Benz has its own museum in the company's home town of Stuttgart. This is another strikingly designed building opened in 2006. (The entrance fee is also much lower than the BMW Museum.)

Now Porsche, also based in Stuttgart, is about to open its new museum. Like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the people at Porsche have commissioned a superb new building and, from the images I have seen, seem to have outdone the others. The museum will open on 31 January.

I feel a trip to Stuttgart coming on.

It's hard to imagine any of these businesses taking on this kind of project in the current economic climate so we can be grateful that they put the money into these projects during the good times.

In the interests of fairness and completeness I should also mention Volkswagen's Autostadt in Wolfsburg, and the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. I couldn't find anything for Opel.

Vote Early, Vote Often

2009-01-22T12:00:00.002+01:00

It's election year here in Germany. While Bavaria got its State election out of the way last year, 2009 sees no fewer than five of the sixteen states voting.

Hesse was first, with the election taking place on 18 January. This was less than a year after the previous vote which failed to produce a stable government. This time round the SPD vote collapsed and the CDU formed a coalition government with the FDP.

This was good news - sort of - for Angela Merkel after the CSU's poor showing in Bavaria. While the CDU retained control of Hesse their vote is down on their showing in 2003 and is only marginally better than their performance in 2008 - their worst in Hesse since 1966.

Also voting this year are Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia - all on 30 August - and Brandenburg on 27 September. All four states are interesting because current polls sugggest that Die Linke, the Left Party, will do well in each of them. In Saarland and Brandenburg that could lead to a possible SPD-Die Linke coalition and in Thuringia to a Die Linke-SPD coalition - that is, a coalition with the SPD as the junior partner.

Meanwhile the Federal election will also be taking place on 27 September pitting the Chancellor against the Foreign Minister. The opinion polls throughout 2008 and into this year have been remarkably consistent with the CDU/CSU as the larget bloc but not able to form a government without the support of one of the minor parties. If the FDP poll well enough then a CDU/CSU-FDP coalition is the obvious option.

I'm no analyst but it looks to me like the SPD is in serious trouble. With only 25-26% of the vote in the polls its hard to see how they can achieve power without either continuing in the grand coalition- assuming the CDU/CSU are not able to form an alternative coalition - or establishing their own alternative coalition. However, since the SPD has said publicly that it will not work in coalition with the Left Party at the national level the only option would be to join with the Greens and the FDP - and I've no idea how those three parties would come up with a shared agenda.

Finally, elections to the European Parliament will take place on 7 June, and on 23 May the Federal President will be elected. The President is elected by the members of the German Parliament and by an equal number of delegates selected by the 16 State parliaments.

If your not already overcome by the excitement of it all you can browse all the opinion poll numbers in great detail online.

Ausser Dienst

2009-01-21T09:00:00.001+01:00

Hugendubel is the German equivalent of Waterstones or Barnes & Noble. Here in Munich the company has nine stores including a very good English language store.

I was browsing in the store in the Fünf Höfe when I came across the recently published work of former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. In Ausser Dienst - Out of Service - Schmidt looks at Germany's place in the post-Cold War world and offers some glimpses into his own life and work.

Unfortunately, it is exactly the kind of book that is unlikely ever to appear in English since English language publishers are more interested in the drivel produced by inconsequential British and American politicians who are of no significance compared to Schmidt.

Denied the opportunity to reads the book by my linguistic ineptitude, I was left struck by the cover photograph. Schmidt, now 89 years old, sits with his right hand on a walking stick and in his left hand - in the very centre of the picture - a very conspicuous cigarette.

At a time when most politicians - even those inclined to a surreptitious smoke - would be terrified to be captured smoking in public Schmidt's unapologetic embrace of his tobacco habit is refreshing.

Last year Schmidt's habit nearly got him into trouble when he and his wife Loki were reported by an anti-smoking group for breaking the newly introduced smoking ban by lighting up in a Hamburg theatre. Loki at least was unrepentant: 'I've been smoking since I was ten. I won't stop'.

Long Weekend

2009-01-20T07:00:00.003+01:00

Absentmindedly reading the advertisements on the U-Bahn yesterday I noticed a sticker attached to the side of the carriage. SMASH WE CAN it read, with a website address: www.no-nato.de

Back online I had a look. It turns out that nearly every year since 1962 Munich has hosted the International Conference on Security Policy. The conference website lists some of the speakers from previous years. In 2008 speakers included Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, General Secretary of NATO, Mohamed Elbaradei, Director General of the IAEA and Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defence.

This year the conference takes place on 6-8 February at the plush Bayerischer Hof hotel in central Munich. Among the prominent participants, named on the conference website, will be Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy and Senator John McCain.

The protesters - who appear to go under the name of the Action Alliance - are appealing for supporters to join them in Munich on that weekend for a spot of 'planning, demonstrating and sabotaging.'

I'm not entirely sure who the 'Action Alliance' are but Die Linke - the German Left party - appear to be involved and, judging from the general anti-G8, anti-World Bank, anti-WMF, anti-globalisation, anti-capitalism tenor of the website I think it is fair to say that the usual suspects are behind it - the anarchists, the liberals, the leftists, the pacifists, the thugs, the dreamers, the exploited working classes who still appear to have time and money to travel the world protesting about their exploitation.

Undoubtedly the protesters will be met by an equally determined police force and I'm sure the city centre will be tightly patrolled and controlled. Fine if your behind the barriers at the Bayerischer Hof, but not much fun for the rest of us. If you were planning a weekend break in Munich any time soon I would give this particular weeekend a miss.

Gisele and Olaf

2009-01-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

Insurance company and a banks don't just ruin the economy. Some have other, more worthwhile roles.

The Vericherungskammer Bayern has an art gallery in the lobby of the company headquarters on Maximilianstrasse. The current exhibition features photography from Gisele Freund, which I visited yesterday with a fellow blogger.

Her early works on display give an idea of the political atmoshpere in Germany in the years before the second world war with a series of images of public demonstrations by communist groups in Frankfurt.

Many of the works on display are portraits of some of the twentieth century's greatest writers. There are images of James Joyce that's him to the left), Viriginia Woolf, Andre Gide, Boris Pasternak and many more. Some of these can also be found on the website of the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The exhibition ends on Sunday, so if you are in Munich this weekend will be your last chance to see it. Next up (4 February - 10 May) is an exhibition of photographs from 1955-56 from the Magnum agency including works by two of the agency's founders, Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

After the VKB it was on to the Bayerische Landesbank, better known as Bayern LB. The BLB Gallery at their headquarters in Briennerstrasse also puts on regularly changing exhibitions.

Currently showing here is an exhibition of the work of Olaf Gulbransson, a Norwegian artist who spent much of his life in Munich. As well as a selection of his portraits and landscapes the exhibition has an extensive display of cover art for the Munich based satirical magazine, Simplicissimus.

There is an online archive of the magazine in pdf format which includes all of Gulbransson's covers, and a short article in Munich Found gives the history of the magazine. This exhibition runs until 1 March.

Entropa Launched

2009-01-15T19:12:00.005+01:00

In the end they didn't take it down, cover it up or ignore it. The official launch of David Cerny's work took place today as planned. The speech by the Czech Deputy Prime Minister was well judged - apology, humility and assertion well balanced. I haven't yet heard what the artist, who was brave enough to turn up, had to say.

Below are two versions of the portrayal of Germany in the piece for those who are curious. The first is from the glossy brochure that accompanied the work; the second is the piece as executed for the sculpture courtesy of Spiegel.

There was some controversy over this piece because some commentators suggested that the pattern formed by the roads was reminiscent of a swastika. I can't see this myself in the first version, but in the piece on display I can see how some people could make the connection.

Entropa 2

2009-01-14T15:21:00.003+01:00

The nice people at Spiegel now have a photo gallery online with more detailed images of parts of the Entropa sculpture currently causing a fuss in Brussels.

Entropa

2009-01-14T09:49:00.007+01:00

The po-faced, self-important, space-wasters in Brussels are in a colossal huff. To mark the start of the Czech Presidency of the EU a giant sculpture commissioned by the Czech government from artist David Cerny was installed at the European Council building.

The piece, titled Entropa, was ostensibly the work of 27 different up and coming artists - one from each EU member. In fact, the entire piece was produced by Cerny and two associates.

As well as the sculpture Cerny also produced a brochure containing information on the 'artists' involved with their comments on their contributions.

The Euro nabobs, however, don't like being made to look foolish. Nor do they take well to humour, irony, satire or, indeed, any form of criticism. So the campaign against the sculpture has already begun.

Elements of the installation are certainly provocative - Bulgaria portrayed as a Turkish toilet, France as a nation on strike, Holland a flooded landscape with only minarets visible above the water - but, having wearily wandered through museums of modern art across Europe bored out of my mind by the visionless, self-satisfied tat that passes for contemporary art churned out by celebrity artists, Cerny's piece is outstanding.

And what of Germany? The 'artist' Helmut Bauer has created a grey landscape covered with autobahns and produced an explanatory text (pp 20-21 of the brochure):

The mobile relief is a moving metaphor for Germany as the country of the automotive industry and motorways. The sagging of transmissions is necessarily cyclical. It reveals the banality of similar visions yet it draws attention to the absurdity of European transport policy, which shies away from seeking effective alternatives to petrol-driven engines and ever expanding motorways.

'John O'Connell' has turned Ireland into a set of woolly bagpipes (pp 26-27):

In today’s unifying Europe, there is something like a need for inner ethnic exoticism and the marketing of a distant, idealized Ireland. The stereotypes associated with the Irish and Ireland are used as one of the decorations of the entertainment industry.

'Khalid Asadi' has left a blank space for the United Kingdom (pp 54-55):

If art and associated attitudes are not to become pleasing-appearance ready-made goods, but a living, albeit perhaps fleeting, organism, art should be able to improve exactness of its message in the time allotted to it and thus, paradoxically, define itself in history. This improvement of exactness means that its individual, selective sieve can cover the so-called objective sieve. Where their nodes do not coincide, ‘free space‘ opens. Energy of the free space is proportional to the power of sharing, or, more precisely, it is the sum of the freely pulsating words which, in this context and in each specific time, is able to define (tangle up) different meanings naturally through spontaneous intuition. These screen points are spatial holograms of historical memory, experience, and therefore each such new overlap becomes another non-linear tangle to the naked eye.

My favourite is Cerny's acknowledged contribution for the Czech Republic (pp 10-11):

Let the head of state have his say! A constant stream of brilliant Václav Klaus quotes. Words of wisdom that deserve to be etched in stone. The President’s sublime, pertinent comments about the whole world, and especially the EU, whizzing across a three-line alphanumeric LED display. He is OUR president, we elected him, so let’s show him off to the world with joy in our hearts. He’s not just a skier, he’s a great guy!

Cerny himself has released a statement discussing the work. This is part of his explanation:

The original intention was indeed to ask 27 European artists for participation. But it became apparent that this plan cannot be realised, due to time, production, and financial constraints. The team therefore, without the knowledge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decided to create fictitious artists who would represent various European national and artistic stereotypes. We apologise to Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and their departments that we did not inform them of the true state of affairs and thus misguided them. We did not want them to bear the responsibility for this kind of politically incorrect satire. We knew the truth would come out. But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself.

Europe can, perhaps, laugh at itself. The bigger question is, can the European Union laugh at itself? Cerny continues:

Grotesque hyperbole and mystification belongs among the trademarks of Czech culture and creating false identities is one of the strategies of contemporary art. The images of individual parts of Entropa use artistic techniques often characterised by provocation. The piece thus also lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space. We believe that the environment of Brussels is capable of ironic self-reflection, we believe in the sense of humour of European nations and their representatives.

Ironic self reflection? In Brussels? Wishful thinking Mr Cerny - and you know it.

This story will run for a few more days yet. The official unveiling is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday 15th, and the Czech Deputy Prime Minister - the man who commissioned the piece - is promising another statement.

You can follow the story with Mark Mardell at the BBC and Bruno Waterfield at the Daily Telegraph. And I do highly recommend looking at the brochure - before it disappears.

Last Orders

2009-01-13T17:36:00.002+01:00

Germans are drinking less beer according to a story in The Local. (The original story can be found in Die Welt.) The German Brewers' Association reports that per capita beer consumption in Germany dropped by 2.2 litres in 2008 to 109.5 litres. I've been doing my best to compensate but obviously I'll have to try harder.

Lebensgefahr! Really!

2009-01-12T14:54:00.009+01:00

Abendzeitung carried a story reporting that nineteen people fell through the ice on the lakes around Munich over the weekend.

In the worst case a 38 woman pushing two young children in a pram fell through the ice on Wörthsee. As local residents and the fire brigade tried to rescue her the pram with the children in it also slipped in. Fortunately the rescuers managed to get all three out of the water alive.

The paper also reports that despite attempts by the authorities to restrict access, many people are still try to get through putting their own and their rescuers lives at risk.

Which all just goes to prove that there are no national distinctions when it comes to stupidity.

Ohel Jakob Synagogue

2009-01-11T09:00:00.000+01:00

'Decidedly Grey'

2009-01-10T09:00:00.001+01:00

Reviews of the film Valkyrie have been mixed. Last Sunday the times carried a review of three books about the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler that is the subject of the film. It's worth reading to get a sense of how different von Stauffenberg's perspective was from that of Georg Elser whom I posted about recently.

From Old Peter

2009-01-09T10:11:00.003+01:00

For views over Munich from the city centre, you can choose between the tower of the City Hall, one of the Cathedral towers and the tower of St Peter's. Yesterday I finally managed to get both myself and my camera to the top of St Peter's. I didn't stay long - just long enough for my fingers to freeze as I took some photographs.

The classic view with the Cathedral in the centre and the City Hall to the right - roughly North West.

Looking South, the city was obscured by the haze. The twin towers belong to Maximilianskirche and the spire - I think - is Mariahilfkirche.

Looking East, beyond the roof of St Peter's is Heilig Geist Kirche and in the centre the Old City Hall, now the home of the Toy Museum.

Looking North, in the centre beyond the City Hall is Theatinerkirche in Odeonsplatz with Ludwigskirche further in the distance on Ludwigstrasse.

Lebensgefahr!

2009-01-08T13:06:00.003+01:00

On my morning walk with Bella today we passed the frozen lake in the English Garden again - this is the one with the warning signs instructing people to stay off the ice. It was a playground.

As well as the curlers, there were also five people out ice skating, a bunch of kids playing ice hockey, one guy running, a woman walking her dog and some parents just wandering around with their kids.

We stopped to watch the curlers for a while, then Bella decided to join them. I held her back. Unlike these Germans with their complete lack of respect for rules and authority, I had no intention of disobeying the warning signs. Besides, it looked really cold and I have a lousy sense of balance.

(I should point out that the comment about the Germans' lack of respect for rules and authority is a humorous play on the traditional stereotype of Germans. I feel I need to explain this because, as is well known, Germans have no sense of humour.)

Further round I spotted 'competitive dad' who was playing ice hockey with his small son - or possible daughter. He had cleared a patch of ice and placed two nets to make a little rink. Most of the time he was obviously trying to teach the kid how to play, but every so often he would beat the kid four times in a row and then score a spectacular goal.

Altogether I counted around thirty people on the ice - and one dog. I assume these are all local folks who know when and where the ice is safe. Even so, I can't help feeling nervous when I see all those little kids out there.

Slipping and Sliding

2009-01-06T10:42:00.004+01:00

Warning sign by the Isar weir at Oberföhring

Curling on the frozen lake in the English Garden

Munich in Black and White

2009-01-05T12:54:00.004+01:00

In yesterday's posting I linked to a couple of old photographs from the website of the Federal Archives. For those who may be interested in images of Munich from the past this is a great site to visit.

The Archive has more than 11 million photographs and posters dating from the 1860's. Only a fraction of these have been digitised, but since that fraction includes more than 100,000 images there is still plenty to look at.

The start page for the digital photographic archive is available in German and English but obviously the search text needs to be in German. Also, since this is a Federal government site it deals with the whole of Germany, not just Bavaria or Munich.

Another great resource, specific to Bavaria, is the Bavarian State Library. The Library's photographic archive is also in the process of being digitised. One of the most significant elements of the collection is the Hoffmann Archive. Heinrich Hoffmann was Hitler's personal photographer and given Munich's significance for the Nazis the city is well represented in the collection.

Again, the start page for the Library's photographic archive is available in German and English, but search text must be entered in German.

'A True German Hero'

2009-01-04T10:00:00.001+01:00

The recently released film Valkyrie, tells the story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an aristocratic army officer who was one of the key conspirators behind a plot to kill Hitler in 1944. His was one of only two serious attempts to kill Hitler during the war.

The other would be assassin was Johann Georg Elser, born this day in 1903. Unlike von Stauffenberg, whose active opposition to the Nazi regime took time to evolve, Elser opposed the regime from the very beginning.

On 8 November 1923 the Nazis had attempted to seize power in what became known as the Beer Hall Putsch when Hitler and his supporters took over the Bürgerbräukeller on Rosenheimerstraße. where the Bavarian State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr was holding a meeting.

The Putsch failed, but when the Nazi's finally took power in 1933 Hitler returned to the Bürgerbräukeller every year on 8 November to commemorate the events of 1923.

A meeting of the Nazi Party at the Bürgerbräukeller around 1923
Bundesarchiv

In the weeks before the anniversary in 1939, Elser visited the Bürgerbräukeller regularly and managed to hollow out a space in a pillar behind the stage where he planted a bomb designed to kill Hitler as he gave his speech.

The bomb was set to detonate at 9.20pm when Hitler should till have been present. That evening, though, a heavy fog prevented Hitler from returning to Berlin by plane and it was decided that he would return by train instead. Crucially, this meant that Hitler left the beer hall earlier than normal - thirteen minutes before Elser's bomb exploded. Eight people were killed - seven of them members of the Nazi Party - and more than sixty injured, but Hitler had survived.

The aftermath of the explosion
Bundesarchiv

Elser was arrested the same evening as he tried to cross the border into Switzerland. Initially, he was not suspected of involvement in the attack but gradually his role became clear. He was taken to Berlin were he was tortured. Later he was transferred to Sachsenhausen and then Dachau.

A show trial was planned, but with the war drawing to a close and Germany facing defeat Hitler ordered his execution. He was shot dead at Dachau on 9 April 1945.

I only became aware of Elser by accident as I read about von Stauffenberg. I find it strange that Elser is a largely forgotten figure while von Stauffenberg is lauded as a hero. I'm not disputing the latter, but Elser's resistance seems somehow more heroic.

He never flirted with the regime. He opposed it even in the good times when many Germans still supported Hitler and the Nazis. He had no circle of co-conspirators, no military networks, no aristocratic family history or tradition.

Elser seems to have been a much more problematic figure than the aristocratic, 'patriotic' and conservative von Stauffenberg. Elser was a working class, communist supporting, pious Protestant. Despite his communist sympathies, even the East German regime payed little attention to this man and his actions. He seems to have been to much of an individual, to much of a maverick.

The Nazi's could not believe that Elser acting alone could have come so close to killing Hitler. They were convinced that he was being directed by British agents. Sadly, there were others who also could not believe he acted alone. The rumour spread that he himself was a Gestapo agent and that the entire plot had been staged by the regime.

Today Georg Elser is commemorated in Munich by a small pedestrian square, Georg-Elser-Platz, off Türkenstraße. The Georg Elser Halle, a concert hall in Rosenheimerstraße was recently demolished. The Bürgerbräukeller was never rebuilt after the attack and the ruins were finally removed in the 1970's. The site is now occupied by the Hilton City hotel. In the passage way between the Hilton and the Gasteig there is a commemorative plaque.

The plaque outside the Hilton City Hotel. It reads: On this spot in the former Burgerbraukeller, the carpenter Johann Georg Elser on 8 November 1939 attempted an attack on Adolf Hitler. He wanted to put an end to the National Socialist terror regime. The plan failed. Johann Georg Elser after 5½ years in prison was murdered on 9 April 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp.

It is scant recognition for a brave and far-sighted man and while I realise that a posting on an insignificant blog adds little, on the anniversary of Georg Esler's birth it is the least I can do.

If you are interested in finding out more about Elser Spiegel has a good English language article. There is also a German language website dedicated to Elser and Radio Bremen has a web page linking to multimedia presentations telling Elser's story.

Like Belfast After a Riot

2009-01-03T22:06:00.003+01:00

I don't see much of the city when I'm walking my dog. My eyes are scanning the pavement looking out for broken glass - something Munich has more of than any other city I've ever been in.

Since New Year's Eve the problem is worse than ever. My dog and I have been rolling and swaying along the streets like a couple of drunks coming home from the pub as we try to avoid the scattered shards. Perhaps smashing bottles is an old Silvester tradition I hadn't previously heard of. Or perhaps these people lack basic motor skills - and the basic social skill of clearing up after themselves.

Tonight on our walk we picked our way the Hauptbahnhof and I decided to take the U-bahn back. I descended the first flight of stairs, turned the corner and found that the next flight of stairs was covered in broken glass. I don't know how many bottles had been broken but every single step had broken glass on it and the shards were spread across the full width of the steps.

Short of picking my dog up or finding a brush there was no way of geting down these steps. I turned back, went to the information desk to ask where I could find a lift or alternative stairs. I explained about the broken glass. He shrugged.

I lived for two years in Tirana. It's not a particularly clean city, but in two years there I never came across anything like this. I grew up in Belfast, another dirty city, but we only ever managed to achieve this much broken glass in the streets by rioting.

This is a wealthy city. There's no excuse for this.

U1 - Candidplatz

2009-01-03T10:00:00.001+01:00

Anglomania

2009-01-02T12:32:00.004+01:00

The Last Night of the Proms in Hamburg, Scottish country dancing in Frankfurt, Shakespeare in Mainz. These are some of the manifestations of German Anglomania discussed by John F Jungclaussen, Die Zeit's UK correspondent, in his Radio 4 programme that I mentioned in an earlier posting.

As a result of listening to the show, British Day in Hamburg is now in my diary for 2009. The programme was broadcast today, 2 January, and is available on the Radio 4 website for the next seven days.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T10:20:00.012+01:00

New Year's Day, and the blue skies and crisp chill of the last week have given way to a bleary grey sky as though the smoke from last night's fireworks still hangs over the city.

My ambition to lie in was thwarted by my dog who sat by the foot of my bed howling until I got up and did the right thing.

Bella was in the mood to walk and we eventually reached the Kleinhesseloher See, the small lake by the Seehaus, which was almost completely frozen over.

The lake's resident population of ducks and geese was confined to one small spike of open water.

In case anyone was foolish enough to venture out onto the ice there were warning signs and life belts dotted around the edge of the lake bearing an ominous looking skull and crossbones.

Clearly ice skating and sledding were out, but the middle symbol had me stumped. Curling perhaps?

At least one person had clearly taken the warnings as a challenge.

Others had taken advantage of the setting for their Silvester celebrations. The evidence - spent firework casings and empty champagne bottles - was still visible beneath the falling snow.

Happy New Year.

(PS Apologies for the low quality of these pictures. They were taken with the camera on my elderly mobile phone.)

Lukaskirche

2008-12-31T21:00:00.000+01:00

Dinner for One

2008-12-31T10:00:00.002+01:00

One of the more recent Silvester traditions brings us back to the Anglo-German relationship. Every Christmas Eve, television channels throughout Germany broadcast an 11 minute sketch called Dinner for One.

The sketch had its origins in British musical hall comedy of the 1920's but the version broadcast in Germany was filmed in Hamburg - in English with two English actors - in 1962 and has never been shown in the UK. It first featured as a New Year's Eve broadcast in 1972 and since then has become the most repeated TV show ever.

The sketch has given rise to a whole series of offshoots including a lego version and a version featuring Bernd Das Brot, a children's television character on the KI.KA channel. The script is also available online. You can read more about the history of the piece and analysis of its popularity in Germany at the Guardian, the BBC, Slate, and - in German - Spiegel.

If you can't be in Germany for New Year's Eve you can watch the original sketch below courtesy of youtube, and below that, the two part Bernd Das Brot version, Dinner für Brot.

Silvester

2008-12-30T09:00:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow is Silvester - New Years Eve. The name comes from Saint Silvester, whose feast day is 31 December. The Local, a Berlin based English language website has a good background story or the origins of Silvester and some of the traditions associated with it including 'mustard-filled doughnuts, firecrackers, and melted lead.'

Inevitably, alcohol pays a major part in the celebrations and a generous measure is available at Isartor where the world's largest feuerzangenbowle is helping keep the winter chill at bay.

Trachten for Dogs

2008-12-29T19:30:00.004+01:00

I spotted this in a shop window a few days ago. Originally there was another stuffed dog wearing lederhose as part of the display but it seems that someone in Munich or some passing tourist with too much money decided to spend nearly EUR 200 on traditional Bavarian dress for their dog. In case you can't read the price label that's 179 for the dirndl and 189 for the lederhose.

Alter Südfriedhof

2008-12-28T11:55:00.005+01:00

Like my fellow blogger, I too have been wandering through the Alter Südfriedhof (Old South Cemetery) in the snow.