BERLIN BRIEFING May 2005

News this month

Benedict ascendant

Most Germans had not given much credence to British bookies who rated the Bavarian cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, odds-on favourite to become the next pope. So it was with some astonishment, much national pride and not a little angst that the home of the Reformation received the news of his election (as Pope Benedict XVI) on April 19th. He is the first Germanic pope since 1523. Edmund Stoiber, the premier of Bavaria, declared the elevation of the former Archbishop of Munich “an historic day” for the southern German state, while one left-wing newspaper mournfully headlined: “Oh my God.”

Pope John Paul II’s right-hand man for over 20 years, the new pontiff is a divisive figure. By all accounts a brilliant theologian, he has been an arch-conservative defender of Catholic orthodoxy. His hard line has earned him both respect and the enmity of progressive Catholics. In his first words to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square, the new pope humbly described himself as an “imperfect instrument” in God’s vineyard. Indeed, many German commentators speculated openly about whether, at the age of 78 (making him the oldest man elected pope since the 18th century), he is merely a “transitional” pontiff.

Past crimes

Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister, is accustomed to controversy. The latest kerfuffle is within his own house: in April, he decreed that diplomats with Nazi pasts will no longer be accorded obituaries in the ministry's in-house magazine. The minister was shocked by a funeral appreciation of Franz Nüsslein, who served as a prosecutor under Reinhard Heydrich in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Nüsslein served a prison sentence for war crimes before joining the foreign service in 1955.

Many former diplomats have publicly criticised Mr Fischer’s decision. The matter escalated when an internal protest letter signed by 76 staff was leaked to the press. The missive attacked “the Manichean vision of history” promulgated by “someone who as early as 1968 said ‘never trust anyone over 30.’” This reference to Mr Fischer's own colourful past (as a zealous demonstrator during the mayhem of 1968) prompted a stern response: the sacking of Frank Elbe, the chief letter-writer and the German ambassador to Switzerland.

Fischer on the hook

Joschka Fischer's troubles do not end with his views on former-Nazi diplomats. Once Germany's most popular Green politician, his standing has plummeted. One April poll put his approval rating at 54%, the lowest in six years. Mr Fischer seems to be paying for his bumbling responses to two foreign-policy controversies. First, after weeks of refusing to respond to attacks from Germany's conservative opposition over visa abuses, which allowed thousands of illegal Ukrainians into the European Union, Mr Fischer finally acknowledged in April that the problem had not been “on [his] radar screen”. The issue's importance has not been similarly lost on others: a televised parliamentary inquiry is due in late April.

There is also a rift in the governing Social Democrat-Green coalition between Mr Fischer and Gerhard Schröder, Germany's chancellor. Mr Schröder supports attempts to lift the EU's embargo on arms sales to China. Although Mr Fischer opposes lifting the ban, he was slow to speak out, thereby hurting his standing among the 70% of Germans who disagree with the chancellor.

(Not yet) leaving on a jet plane

The state government's much-delayed plan for a new international airport at Schönefeld, formerly East Germany's main arrival point, was dealt a blow in April. A federal court in Lepizig has halted construction of Berlin-Brandenburg International until a lawsuit filed by 4,000 nearby residents can be decided in 2006. Construction was set to start later this year, with a projected completion date of 2010.

The delay is a disastrous setback for Berlin's economy, according to an interview with the president of the local chamber of commerce in the Berliner Zeitung. City officials cannot woo firms to Berlin in the absence of good international air connections. By May, only one direct transatlantic flight will be offered from any of the city’s three tiny airports.

Marking time

On May 8th, the date of the Nazi regime's capitulation, Berlin will formally mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the second world war. The so-called “Day of Democracy” will include a mass rally to counter neo-Nazis, who plan to stage their own event by parading through the Brandenburg Gate. Anticipating such politically volatile demonstrations, the German parliament hurriedly tightened restrictions on the right of assembly at “sensitive sites” in March. The unveiling of the official Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is scheduled for May 10th. In April, liberation commemorations were staged at the former Nazi concentration camps at Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen, attended by thousands of survivors, many in their late 80s and 90s, and wearing portions of striped camp uniforms.

Meanwhile, in the west of Berlin, an ugly debate erupted in the local council of Steglitz-Zehlendorf. In a commemorative declaration, conservative leaders equated the suffering of Germans in the war with the suffering of Hitler’s victims. The declaration was finally withdrawn under fire from leftist councillors and Berlin's Jewish community.

Catch if you can

May 2005


Über Schönheit (About Beauty)

Until May 15th 2005

This show at the Berlin House of World Cultures has 24 artists from 16 countries exploring ideals of beauty in modern art. Nam June Paik, a Korean artist known for his video installations, creates a relationship between the moon and Korean dance among 12 linked colour televisions in “Moon is the Oldest Television”. Liu Zheng, a Chinese artist, uses modern technology to comment on (and satirise) traditional Chinese views of beauty. He offers enormous digital photographs of half-naked models draped in finery, posing as emperors, courtesans and concubines. The exhibition is well curated, if a bit heavy-handed. Expect to find some installations more shocking than beautiful.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10, 10557 Berlin-Tiergarten. Tel: +49 (0)30 3978-7175.

For more information, visit the exhibition's website.

More from the Berlin cultural calendar