Suspected concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk goes on trial in Munich on Monday. A total of 35 relatives of murdered Jews are co-plaintiffs in the case -- more than in any other Holocaust-related trial to date. Taking part in the proceedings is the only thing they can still do for their lost loved ones, they say.
The suspected Nazi war criminal Klaas F., who is number five on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's most-wanted list, is enjoying a quiet retirement in Bavaria. While some alleged former Nazis are facing trial in their old age, the 87-year-old has managed to slip through the cracks in the German justice system.
2009 News Releases | Simon Wiesenthal Center
5. Klaas Carl Faber - Germany Served in German SD in the Netherlands; Sentenced to death in Holland for murders of prisoners of Westerbork transit camp and Groningen prison in the Netherlands in fall 1944; sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 1948; escaped from prison to Germany on December 26, 1952.
Crimes involving the Medellin drug cartel and its late chief, Pablo Escobar, could be reclassified as "crimes against humanity" to enable prosecutors to avoid a 20-year time limit, officials in Bogota have announced.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused the West of breaking promises made after the fall of the Iron Curtain, saying that NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe violated commitments made during the negotiations over German reunification. Newly discovered documents from Western archives support the Russian position.
Contemporary artist Sükran Moral has long been an outspoken critic of women's place in Turkish society. And she has often feared for her safety as a result. Her work is now on display in Berlin and she insists her themes are universal. "This is about violence against women," she says.
Hesse's premier Roland Koch presented the Hessian Culture Prize (Hessischer Kulturpreis) in the city of Wiesbaden on Thursday evening. Winners of the award, which is endowed with 45,000 euros ($67,000) are Catholic Cardinal and Bishop of Mainz Karl Lehmann, Church President of the Hesse-Nassau Evangelical Church Peter Steinacker, Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Salomon Korn, as well as the German-Iranian writer and Islamic scholar Navid Kermani. Kermani had been chosen as one of the winners earlier this year, but then temporarily dropped from the list in May after Cardinal Karl Lehmann and Peter Steinacker objected to sharing the prize with him. They accused Kermani, a Cologne-based writer who was born in Iran, of attacking the cross as a central Christian symbol.
Hesse's premier Roland Koch presented the Hessian Culture Prize (Hessischer Kulturpreis) in the city of Wiesbaden on Thursday evening. Winners of the award, which is endowed with 45,000 euros ($67,000) are Catholic Cardinal and Bishop of Mainz Karl Lehmann, Church President of the Hesse-Nassau Evangelical Church Peter Steinacker, Vice-President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Salomon Korn, as well as the German-Iranian writer and Islamic scholar Navid Kermani.
Kermani had been chosen as one of the winners earlier this year, but then temporarily dropped from the list in May after Cardinal Karl Lehmann and Peter Steinacker objected to sharing the prize with him. They accused Kermani, a Cologne-based writer who was born in Iran, of attacking the cross as a central Christian symbol.
IPI: No Contract Extension for ZDF Editor-in-Chief Nikolaus Brender
With a vote of nine to five, the Advisory Board of Germany's public broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) on Friday blocked the contract extension of the TV station's current editor-in-chief Nikolaus Brender, raising serious concerns of political interference at the public broadcaster. [...] Roland Koch, Prime Minister of the German State of Hesse and the ZDF Advisory Board member who allegedly organised the majority to vote against Schächter's stated choice of editor-in-chief, has stated that falling viewing figures for certain ZDF broadcasts were behind his decision.
[...]
Roland Koch, Prime Minister of the German State of Hesse and the ZDF Advisory Board member who allegedly organised the majority to vote against Schächter's stated choice of editor-in-chief, has stated that falling viewing figures for certain ZDF broadcasts were behind his decision.
With a vote of nine to five, the Advisory Board of Germany's public broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) on Friday blocked the contract extension
Checking German articles, that's wrong. Nine to five would have been the margin needed for contract extension, but the vote went seven to seven. There is some positive in that: the CDU/CSU has nine votes, so two rebelled against Koch. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
But someone has to bring the action. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
Like in most countries in the region, in Hungary, such games have a long tradition. At one time, there was will to stop this somehow, and the public radio and television oversight boards were expanded to include non-political appointees, nominated by NGOs. However, the Right gamed the system with partisan NGOs, and had a virtual majority even under the nominal center-left government.
The latest round, just in this month: the providers of the morning news show [one boycotted by the leader of main opposition party Fidesz] were kicked out, and a new, Fidesz-close team took over. Now the boycotting turned 180 degrees -- and the government withdrew state support for the puvblic television...
However, the two main parties had no scrupples to collude when, also in the past month, the two main FM radio frequencies were re-tendered: the radios using it until now lost, and one Socialist- and one Fidesz-close company were awarded. (Because there was US capital in one of the ditched radios, even the US Congress issued a protest.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
The reality TV singing contest "Afghan Star", inspired by the popular "Pop Idol" format, has taken Afghanistan by storm. But a documentary about the show reveals the power of the resurgent Taliban, who forced the exile of the programme's host.
Conservative Party officials made two basic errors in their attack on two schools said to be run by a radical Islamic group, it emerged yesterday. During Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday and in briefings afterwards the Conservatives claimed there was no evidence that the schools had been registered or inspected by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog; they also said the schools had received money from an anti-terrorism fund. But yesterday the claims were beginning to unravel. The most obvious mistake was the allegation that they appeared not to have been registered or inspected.
Conservative Party officials made two basic errors in their attack on two schools said to be run by a radical Islamic group, it emerged yesterday.
During Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday and in briefings afterwards the Conservatives claimed there was no evidence that the schools had been registered or inspected by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog; they also said the schools had received money from an anti-terrorism fund. But yesterday the claims were beginning to unravel. The most obvious mistake was the allegation that they appeared not to have been registered or inspected.
Attracted by the siren call of permanent employment in a high profile institution, young graduates from all over Europe flock to Brussels with their sights set on jobs in the European Commission. But making the move to the Belgian capital is not always an easy transition. Café Babel reports on the trials and tribulations of those who seek entry to the corridors of power. They have different nationalities and come from different backgrounds, but scan through the CVs that flood into in-trays at the European Commission and you will find that certain qualifications come up time and again: primary degrees in Communications, masters in International Relations, additional masters in European Business Studies--and these diplomas are almost always supplemented by stays abroad in Erasmus type student exchange programmes. For young Estonian lawyer Ana Vork, completing a second masters in European Law in Brussels was crucially important: "It was extremely useful for my internship in the European Commission, and it will give me a much needed edge in the exams for the European civil service." For Paolo Sergio, an Italian-Czech graduate of the Free University of Brussels' Institute of European Studies, students should be wary of investing in private courses that do not always result in a much coveted first job: "the College of Europe in Bruges is a lot like the Ivy League universities in the US: you pay for future contacts, and the opportunity to build a personal network. But it is important to bear in mind that networks are virtually useless when you are a young graduate with no experience. They only become useful when you are accepted by the civil service, but you still have to get through the entrance exam."
Attracted by the siren call of permanent employment in a high profile institution, young graduates from all over Europe flock to Brussels with their sights set on jobs in the European Commission. But making the move to the Belgian capital is not always an easy transition. Café Babel reports on the trials and tribulations of those who seek entry to the corridors of power.
They have different nationalities and come from different backgrounds, but scan through the CVs that flood into in-trays at the European Commission and you will find that certain qualifications come up time and again: primary degrees in Communications, masters in International Relations, additional masters in European Business Studies--and these diplomas are almost always supplemented by stays abroad in Erasmus type student exchange programmes. For young Estonian lawyer Ana Vork, completing a second masters in European Law in Brussels was crucially important: "It was extremely useful for my internship in the European Commission, and it will give me a much needed edge in the exams for the European civil service."
For Paolo Sergio, an Italian-Czech graduate of the Free University of Brussels' Institute of European Studies, students should be wary of investing in private courses that do not always result in a much coveted first job: "the College of Europe in Bruges is a lot like the Ivy League universities in the US: you pay for future contacts, and the opportunity to build a personal network. But it is important to bear in mind that networks are virtually useless when you are a young graduate with no experience. They only become useful when you are accepted by the civil service, but you still have to get through the entrance exam."
