Salon.com > Siobhan Dowling

How Hitler made Hollywood

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:12:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany — Two months after Adolf Hitler’s appointment as German chancellor in 1933, Jews working in Germany’s groundbreaking film industry were warned there would be no place for them under the new Nazi regime.

“We will not even remotely tolerate that those ideas, which Germany has eradicated at the root, are able to make their way either openly or surreptitiously back into film,” Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announced that March. The powerful UFA studio canceled contracts for most Jews working there the following day.

Thus began the greatest rupture in German film history, marking the end of the golden age for Weimar cinema. Soon not only Jews, but left-wingers began fleeing the country, followed by others who saw no place for themselves in what would become the Third Reich’s propaganda machine.

Will Greece destroy the euro?

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:31:00 +0000

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has asked Germany to give his country more time to meet its obligations under an international bailout. Speaking to reporters after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said Greece needed "breathing space."

Merkel said Greece would have to meet reform targets, saying she would wait until the “troika” of donors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission — reports in late September about whether Athens is making enough progress.

But in words that would have pleased Samaras, she said Germany wants Greece to remain in the euro zone. She said she wants to end a dispute between Greek and German politicians who question Greece’s ability to see reform through and have called for it to be kicked out of the euro zone.

“I am deeply convinced that the new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Samaras will do what it takes to solve the problem in Greece,” Merkel said in what was seen as a rebuke to hard-line members of her own coalition. She added that she wanted to help Greece see “the light at the end of the tunnel."

Ireland’s euro vote: Why it matters

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:46:00 +0000

BERLIN — While the euro zone bickers over how to stimulate growth, the process of implementing the austerity element of Berlin’s vision for Europe grinds on.

So far, five countries have ratified the Fiscal Treaty — the agreement pushed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, and given a preliminary nod in December -- requiring countries to limit their deficits and debt, or else face heavy penalties.

This week the Irish get to have their say. While the other countries simply need parliamentary approval, in Ireland the decision is being made via a referendum. In February the Attorney General advised the government that a public vote was needed, as any significant changes to the constititution in Ireland require a referendum.

Unlike the votes on the Lisbon and Nice Treaties, both of which the Irish rejected on the first go, there is no veto this time. The Fiscal Treaty comes into force when 12 of the 17 euro zone members ratify it.

Europe’s awkward couple

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:56:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany – It started with a handshake, not a kiss. When Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Francois Hollande finally met in person on Tuesday evening, there was little of the warmth that marked her meetings with Nicolas Sarkozy in recent years.

Aides had downplayed the rendezvous as simply aimed at getting to know one another rather than about hammering out any policy. Yet the future of Europe could hinge on whether these two leaders find a way to work well together.

Rarely have two people met for the first time with so much baggage. Merkel refused to meet with Hollande during his election campaign, and made the highly unusual step of publicly backing his rival, fellow conservative Sarkozy. Hollande for his part seemed to be campaigning as much against Merkel as the incumbent, pledging to renegotiate the fiscal pact that she had championed.

Now the two have finally met face-to-face and the encounter seemed cordial if hardly warm. Following the ceremonial reviewing of the guard of honor – during which Merkel had to gently nudge Hollande in the right direction on the red carpet – the two held an hour -long meeting. They then addressed the throng of international journalists in a joint press conference during which Merkel remained stony-faced during much of Hollande’s comments, interspersed with the odd smile.

Merkel’s new vulnerability

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:30:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany – It is a paradox of German politics that Chancellor Angela Merkel remains overwhelming popular, while the parties that make up her governing coalition lurch from one defeat to the next in a string of regional votes.

That was made evident yet again on Sunday when her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered their worst ever result in Germany’s most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia. The party only managed to get just over 26 percent of the vote in the snap election, shedding almost 9 points since securing 35 percent in the last vote there in 2010.

Her junior coalition partners the Free Democrats did manage an impressive comeback, securing a surprise 8 percent and managing to return to the state parliament thanks to its dynamic leader in the state, Christian Lindner. However, the disastrous performance by the CDU will allow the Social Democrats and Greens to form a stable coalition, after operating as a minority government for the past two years.

German unions to the rescue?

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:56:00 +0000

BERLIN — Germany’s engineering sector has been hit by an industrial action this week. That’s a sign of just what an island of prosperity Germany has become within the ocean of troubles that is the euro zone.

While workers in many other countries fear for their jobs as their economies tumble into recession, here newly confident labor unions are demanding massive pay rises — and going on strike to get them.

On Wednesday around 30,000 workers in Germany’s vital manufacturing sector downed tools in a coordinated action that affected over 100 companies, including Daimler and Bosch. The strikes continued on Thursday with an estimated 115,000 workers staging a walk out in around 400 companies, including Porsche and Audi, as part of industrial action to secure a hefty 6.5 percent pay rise forGermany’s 3.6 million metalworkers.

Yet, while some workers in troubled countries may look with envy at their German comrades’ brazenness, in fact the action taking place from Berlin to Bavaria could end up being to the benefit of workers in Madrid, Athens or Lisbon.

The EU austerity disaster

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:11:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany — Europe is on the hunt for growth, but has little idea where to find it.

Many EU countries are being forced to follow a strict austerity path to slash their debts, but these measures seem to be sapping their ability to grow their economies and create jobs.

Some analysts warn that in the absence of measures to boost growth, more bailouts and debt write-downs could be in the cards.

The latest figures are certainly worrying.

The euro-zone economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, the EU's statistics office Eurostat confirmed on Tuesday, and unemployment reached an average of 10.7 percent in January, the highest since the euro was introduced in 1999.

That figure masks the huge discrepancies within the bloc. For example, while Spain’s unemployment is now at 22.9 percent, Austria’s is only 4 percent.

Most attention recently has focused on the drama in Greece, which has required a second bailout in two years to keep from defaulting on its debts.

Can Greece thwart a complete meltdown?

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:39:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany — Amid growing unrest, Greece’s government has finally approved tough austerity measures, yet it is far from certain if the deal will be enough to avert disaster.

As lawmakers in Athens debated a bill Sunday that would impose yet-more severe austerity on the country, outside the parliament building tens of thousands of people gathered to voice their opposition to the deal. Violence flared, as buildings were set on fire, and the police engaged in running battles with rioters.

Around 150 shops were looted and over 40 buildings, including the Attikon, a 19th-century theater-turned cinema, were torched. Unrest also flared in the second largest city of Thessaloniki, and on the islands of Corfu and Crete.

The violence may have been perpetrated by a minority, but there is little doubt that the onslaught of yet more cuts to wages, spending and public jobs is massively unpopular in Greece.

Why Germany opposes a powerful euro solution

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany — With the debt conflagration now blazing across Europe’s borders, the world is urging the euro zone’s leaders to staunch it by unleashing the powers of the European Central Bank.

Many European leaders are advocating this as well. The problem: Germany is resolutely opposed to this.

The stakes could hardly be much higher. Forget about tiny Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Italy, the zone’s third largest economy, owes $2.55 trillion. It will have to refinance a staggering $530 billion next year alone, and investors are currently demanding unsustainable rates, in excess of 7 percent. Meanwhile, France’s interest rates are rising, and ratings agencies are threatening its AAA status. Even Germany — the continent’s economic powerhouse — is having trouble financing itself.

Fear is mounting that Europe’s debt crisis could rage out of control, ultimately causing the breakup of the currency union or worse.

Pirate party takes Berlin

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:00 +0000

BERLIN, Germany -- They arrived at Berlin's imposing parliament building, mostly wearing hoodies and sneakers, carrying orange pirate flags, the symbol of their party.

As they tried to enter the city-state's legislature the day after their historic win, a stern woman at the security desk told them, "nein," those party symbols are strictly "verboten."

And so began the first day of the Pirate Party's newly changed status as legislators, after an unexpected election result that has shaken up the staid world of German politics.

The band of internet-freedom activists shocked themselves and pretty much everyone else when they won close to 9 percent in the Berlin state election on Sept. 18, allowing them to send 15 very unconventional new politicians to the regional parliament.

And a recent opinion poll gave the Pirates 7 percent nationally, enough to make it into the federal parliament.

A week after their Berlin triumph, however, it was clear the astonishment had not worn off. They hadn't prepared to win or to take office.