Angela Merkel is the most unlikely personification of the conservative political party she is trying to save.
Germany
Beetlemania Comes Home
“The Beetle has as many shortcomings as a dog has fleas,” Volkswagen executive Carl Nordhoff once joked. “But who would think of getting rid of his dog because of that?”
‘Old Bull’ and Friends Honor Culture an Ocean Away
Saxony is a long way from the badlands of the American West, and most of the Germans decked out in native American tribal gear have never set foot in the United States. They draw a curious crowd of onlookers as they dance to traditional Sioux drumming.
Distant Germans Feel Pull of ‘Homeland’
“I don’t say that I live badly. I have my husband and sons. I live with God,” says Zina Ida Leipi. “When a person has bread, water, and peace, then he is happy.”
Jewish Renaissance in Berlin
“Jewish life today is different than before the war,” says Boris Feldmann. “The revival of Jewish life in Berlin is the revival of Russian-speaking Jews.”
Grateful Berlin Recalls US Rescue
Sgt. Charles Bass neatly filled in the last entry of Dieter Hahn’s school attendance booklet with the words: “1946-47, evenings and Sunday mornings, softball and democracy.”
Germans Use Their Green Thumbs to Cultivate the Cities
Barbara Sauer is one of 84,000 Berlin gardeners who spends the summer months cultivating her garden in a so-called “garden colony.” The topography of Germany’s metropolis is dotted with more than 800 such garden colonies.
East or West, New Ways Are Best – Sort Of
“The Wall at the end of the street was our horizon,” says Michael Gabbert. “It was unimaginable that these two parts of Germany would ever be together.”
Curb-Side Symbolism as Berlin Rebuilds
The proposal to demolish the Palace of the Republic has fed suspicions among eastern Germans that the West is attempting to erase all signs of their past identity.
Better to Mention the War Than to Forget It
It took more than half a century to complete the reconstruction of Berlin. It took only a few weeks to reduce it to rubble.
