“Caused Great Unhappiness”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Polish foreign minister Vladyslav Bartoszevski on Poland’s difficult past with Prussia:

“When we citizens of Poland think of Prussia, it certainly isn’t its virtues that come to mind first. Of course, those virtues also left their traces in Poland, which was annexed by Prussia. A sense of duty, responsibility, diligence: these are Polish qualities too. Also the strict religious attitude of the Polish Catholics is in a sense a mirror image of Prussian Protestantism. … There isn’t any wholesale Germanophobia in Poland. There was only – and still is – a distrust towards the Prussians. … We view the new Germany very calmly. We have come to terms with Berlin as a huge metropolis in the West, which is of economic relevance too.”

“State of Blood and Iron”

SPIEGEL cover story: On the occasion of Prussia’s 300th anniversary, the controversial traditions of the military state are being bathed in a mild light. The governing authorities in Berlin and Brandenburg are celebrating the Prussian cultural heritage as a tourist attraction. However the real Prussia played a sinister role in history. Prussia has always lent itself to a wide range of myths and legends. Over the past 300 years, reformers and reactionaries, monarchists and democrats, Junkers and industrialists, liberals and conservatives, National Socialists and resistance fighters, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have all laid claim to the Hohenzollern state. It was the Prussian mix of East and West, of Enlightenment and absolutism, of progress and backwardness, of civilisation and barbarism that made such opposite camps admirers of Prussia. But the same explosive mixture also made Prussia the most hated German state.

“Crash Course in Leading Culture”

Immigrants of German descent: The individual German states want a change in the way Eastern European immigrants are handled. Resettled families ought to speak German and adjust more quickly – or not enter the country in the first place. According to studies by the justice minister of Lower Saxony, the frequency with which “young immigrants” come into conflict with the law is above average. The main problem is the lack of incentive for the neo-Germans to integrate themselves into German culture and society. The ministers of the interior for the individual German states are therefore considering a change in the refugee laws so as to stem the flow of the tide.

“All Actors Tell Lies”

SPIEGEL interview with Hollywood legend Robert Altman on his reputation as the favourite director of the big stars, clueless journalists and his new film “Dr. T and the Women”:

“My film is made for women and it’s the women who love it … When actors do a picture where they make a lot of money, it’s usually a bad picture. … And if they have the feeling that the work is going to result in a good film, they’ll do it for less money. But, you know, all this talk about money is disgusting. … To me, the success of a film is measured by the amount of joy it gives to the people who see it.”

“A Feeling of Unlimited Fear”

Interview with Miroslava Gongadse, jurist and wife of the presumably murdered Kiev journalist Georgi Gongadse, on the fate of her husband and the scandal surrounding President Kuchma:

“For a long time they denied that it was Georgi’s corpse. I had to fight for weeks before I was allowed to see him. It was dreadful: I knew the living Georgi, whereas now I saw mutilated remains, a body without a head, disfigured by acid, rotting. But I identified Georgi’s necklace, the medallion, bracelet and ring beyond doubt. … My husband was one of the most uncompromising people there are. … He complained to Kuchma in an open letter about the restricted freedom of the press and the unfair presidential elections. … Perhaps they killed two flies with one stone – getting rid of the troublesome journalist and using him in the battle between the political clans. It is terrible to realise that Georgi became something like the small change in the tug-of-war between the Kiev rulers.”

“The Naked Naga’s Bath”

India: “Mahakumbha Mela” is the biggest public festival in the world. 50 million Hindus are expected in the city of Allahabad on the Ganges – and the authorities are worried about terrorist attacks. This year’s festivities are considered the most important since 1857, because after twelve times twelve years the planets once again take on a very special and particularly favourable alignment. The police are in a state of alert, security staff are working with dogs trained to sniff out explosives and with night vision aids. Checkpoints along roads, on bridges and at bathing spots are supposed to reduce the danger of attacks.

“Return of the White Plague”

Epidemics: A tuberculosis epidemic is raging in Russia. Millions of people have already been infected, and those who come down with the disease receive totally inadequate treatment. Now experts are afraid that ethnic Germans living in Russia could bring galloping consumption back to Germany too. Arata Kochi, who heads the WHO’s anti-tuberculosis programme, has handed his boss a grim analysis: “TB kills more people today than any other infectious disease. As a cause of death, it is more important than malaria and Aids put together. Unless a firmer stance is taken, another 70 million people will die of tuberculosis by the year 2020.”

SPIEGEL interview with reproductive expert Hans van der Ven, who engineered the birth of a boy from an embryo that had been in deep freeze longer than any other – nine years.

“Mea Tulpa, Maxima”

Netherlands: Prince Willem-Alexander would like to wed a beautiful Argentinean. But her father, a servant of the dictatorship, stands charged with torture. The investigation has been instigated by Maarten Mourik. The former UNESCO ambassador wants her father’s past clarified by the courts and has the backing of the “thoughtful section” of Dutch society. To the respected diplomat, Máxima’s father is implicated by his service for the military dictatorship alone: “I don’t want a fascist, South American macho to gain any influence on our society via some back door.” If Willem-Alexander wants to marry the beautiful Argentinean, he says, then he will have to renounce the throne. In the Netherlands, people listen to what Mourik has to say.