Cover story: Fischer’s wild years. What role did Joschka Fischer play in Frankfurt?

Report about the company Intershop and its way into crisis.

“Caught on the Wrong Foot”

SPIEGEL interview with the founder of Intershop, Stephan Schambach, on his company’s collapse on the stock exchange:

“We still aim to be one of the major companies for corporate software. We aren’t going to give that up. … Now we’re first working at a turnaround plan. We have to improve our marketing and sales. We’re going to see where we can cut costs. … I’m not able to comment on any take-over by a group. But so far no one has approached us.”

“It Resembles the Methods Used by the Nazis”

SPIEGEL interview with journalist Robert Jay Lifton on America’s growing criticism of the death penalty and the louder and louder calls for its abolition:

“Two psychohistorical lines of development can be traced in America. One of them is our culture of violence. The westward migration of the Americans was a march of violence. This is joined by the Manichaean world view, rooted particularly in the Protestant church, according to which there is only absolute good and absolute evil. The existence of the death penalty follows almost inevitably from these two factors. … The sense of fairness, which is fortunately very widespread in America, is increasingly taking offence against the gross arbitrariness with which death sentences are passed. … In America too, the realisation will win through that the death penalty and democracy are as irreconcilable as fire and water.”

“This Regime Is Corrupt”

France: The Fifth Republic is being swamped by an unparalleled series of scandals revolving around corruption, company favouritism and illegal party funding. The investigating magistrates have launched investigations against hundreds of entrepreneurs and politicians. Only few have had to go to prison, like the former members of government Bernard Tapie, Alain Carignon and Jean-Michel Boucheron. Dozens are still awaiting trial, among them the former Gaullist prime minister Alain Juppé. At the centre of the storm: head of government Jacques Chirac, who is running for presidency once again.

“Conspiracy in the Gentlemen’s Club”

Precious metals: Charges have been filed against the head of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, for manipulating the price of gold. Deutsche Bank is also believed to have been involved in the shady affair. The prosecutor claims that the cartel fraudulently pushed the price of the precious metal to an artificially low level over a period of many years. The go-ahead for the dealings came from the White House.

“Parking Lot in Space”

Space technology: At the moment, anyone who wants to register a new satellite has to wait for years to be allocated an orbit. Can a new exchange help to overcome the congestion? Roger Smith, head of the corresponding department at the International Telecommunication Union is strictly opposed to the idea of introducing capitalism even in space: “That would simply favour the rich countries.”

“Marching Up of the Crustaceans”

Fishing: What is going on along North America’s Atlantic coast? Lobsters are multiplying at a phenomenal rate. The creatures are crawling around the sea floor closely packed despite the increasing number of fishermen going after them. Incredulous researchers are seeking an explanation for the lobster miracle.

“Agnes in Wonderland”

Authors: A new tone is entering German literature from the provinces. In her novel “Agnes Sobierajski”, Silvia Szymanski writes daringly about children, desire and love. Her novel, like the two earlier books, is a sparkling piece of prose: full of presence, including presence of mind. Forget metropolitan novels! There is plenty to discover about life here, in the provinces.

“That Handsome Thing, Berlin”

Metropolises: Berlin, that eternal place of becoming, has been the seat of the German government for over a year now. The big surprise is that the city is actually finding itself – arousing enthusiasm in many new citizens. Little by little, the living cohesion of the once antagonistically and brutally divided city is returning – far beyond all the sinister images conjured up of a new German craving for status and of centralist presumptuousness, but also far from those glittering legends of the “Golden” Twenties which encumbered Berlin for so long. The city is firing imaginations and sensuousness alike, a roughened sentimentality of daily life cushioned by the robustness typical of the region. Nowhere else does one feel at home this quickly.

“A Diesel that Takes Off”

Aviation: A technology freak in Saxony has converted a diesel engine for cars to an aeroplane engine, thus lowering the running cost for motorised aeroplanes by up to 70 percent. Experts all agree that leisure and business flyers all over the world have long been awaiting this kind of engine. As yet, pilots roar through the air powered by technological dinosaurs that have hardly changed since the 1930s. Although the aircraft diesel engine does not yet quite achieve the same performance as its thirsty competitors, this issue is already being addressed. The 110 horse power diesel is almost maintenance-free and has a distinctly longer service life than a petrol engine. This could make aeroplanes more interesting as a commonplace form of transport in Europe too, for instance for business travel and courier services.