Monthly Archives: August 2019

Die Zeit: Was sich jedenfalls über Deutschland sagen lässt, ist dies: “Am Anfang war Napoleon.” So beginnt der Historiker Thomas Nipperdey den ersten Band seiner Deutschen Geschichte. Denn wenn es auch die Französische Revolution gewesen sei, mit der “die Grundprinzipien der modernen … Continue reading →

A starting-point of analysis is to question whether the polarization into ‘primacy of politics’ or ‘primacy of economics’ does not amount to an extreme over­simplification of a complex structural interrelationship between the policies of the Nazi State and the interests … Continue reading →

New York Times: The Premacks noted that one of the difficulties in teaching language to a caged subject is finding things to talk about.

The youth hostel was full of families with small children, the café’s tables half full of happy people enjoying a pleasant day. After reading the placard my sense of the macabre prompted me to sit at this table with the … Continue reading →

What a difference forty years makes.

Understand the surrounding streets are filled with tourists. People stream in and out of the Thomaskirche, where a sign levies 1 € to view the Bach Organ. In this context freedom of art means the freedom of advertisers to enforce … Continue reading →

Unlike many cathedrals catering to tourists the Nikolaikirche has signs prohibiting photographs. It is a working church. In the nave I honored the request, but this exhibit caused me to well up with emotion. I felt honored to be here. … Continue reading →

On an overcast August Saturday there was a well-populated parking lot and several buses of visitors, almost all German. Older people (it’s funny to include myself in this category these days) were well-represented, but there were all ages, including plenty … Continue reading →

I find this phenomenon pretty amusing.

Chuck Park: …what I have not seen is organized resistance from within. To the contrary, two senior Foreign Service officers admonished me for risking my career when I signed an internal dissent cable against the ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries … Continue reading →