Norman Finkelstein’s book „The Holocaust Industry“, in which he claims that Jewish organisations are making money at the expense of former slave workers under the Nazis, has set off a heated debate in Germany. DER SPIEGEL takes a critical look at his theses.

“Open Gates”

Green Card: The chancellor wants to expand the Green Card arrangements. Experienced social democrats are concerned about unrest among their traditional clientele, the trade unions. The business world feels that Schröder’s latest announcement of wanting to extend the Green Card to other business areas, too, in which there is a lack of qualified experts, does not go anything like far enough. Long-standing social democrats and trade unionists are suspicious of even more Green Cards. They feel that additional training of the local work-force should be given precedence.

“Programmed Mass Murder”

Contemporary history: The computer corporation IBM’s past is catching up with it. A new book reveals the involvement of the German data processing experts during the holocaust. The author attacks the US corporation fiercely. IBM is claimed “mainly through its German subsidiary, [to have] turned Hitler’s programme for the extermination of the Jews into a technological mission, which the company carried out with frightening success.” In the USA, the first suits are being filed against IBM for its involvement in the extermination operations – billions of dollars are involved.

“Hints from Rübezahl”

Secret services: A wild spy story is putting the Federal Intelligence Service, BND, in a tight spot. Were the intelligence workers taken for a ride by two frauds in their hunt for an alleged KGB supermole? According to the investigations by the Munich public prosecutor’s office, two army officers who served with the BND are believed to have sparked off the investigations against the head of the BND’s department for security, Volker Foertsch, by supplying forged intelligence material, and to have made a lot of money in the process. The Service paid 440,000 marks to a mysterious Moscow agent whose code name was Rübezahl, for his information about the alleged KGB spy Foertsch, and to a second phantom. In actual fact the two spymasters are believed to have pocketed at least the bulk of the money.

“Business Deals with the Trusting”

Separations: Boris Becker’s ex-wife Barbara is taking advice from a dubious businessman who already has German criminal investigators on his trail: Daniel Deubelbeiss lures naive investors on a professional basis. The Munich public prosecutor is investigating the businessman who now leads an affluent life in Miami – on suspicion of fraud.

“I’m the Cheerleader”

SPIEGEL interview with head of Compaq Michael Capellas on the stock market crash and the future of the wireless Internet:

“I only look at our share prices once a week nowadays. Particularly in the USA, the fixation on the share price, on its daily, even hourly, changes, is totally exaggerated. … Instead it’s a matter of developing a completely new generation of Internet access devices – some of them wireless, some of them for satisfying very specific needs. … Down with interest rates, down with taxes, stabilise the price of energy. But the President doesn’t need my advice for that. I think George Bush knows what he needs to do.”

The uneasiness at DaimlerChrysler is increasing. How much longer will the large shareholders hang on to Jürgen Schrempp?

“The Last Enclave”

Belarus: The Minsk opposition wants to bring down the despot Lukashenka in much the same way as power changed hands in Belgrade, and are counting on help from the West. But only the Americans have boycotted the ruthless head of state, while Berlin has let down the opponents of the regime. Schröder does not want to frighten off Lukashenka and is focusing entirely on Moscow and the safety of the gas and oil pipelines that pass through Belarus. The backing of the hard-liners of the opposition by the United States is a real headache to German coalition politicians. But as yet there is no evidence that the Belgrade revolution can be duplicated in Minsk. In Serbia, tens of thousands followed the call for protests against Milosevic every day; whereas the people who live outside Minsk don’t know anything other than Lukashenka’s television and the newspaper “Sovyetskaya Belorussya” which they are obliged to subscribe to. At the moment, there is no such thing as a mass opposition in Belarus.

“Upswing in the Realm of Shadows”

Iraq: Ten years after the Gulf War, the Kurds believe that their dream of a state of their own is within reach. But the prospects of a free Kurdistan are clouded by the troops of the Baghdad dictator and the fraternal feud among themselves.

“Death Sentence for the Big Bad Wolf”

Wildlife: The land of the whalers and seal hunters is now going wolf hunting too. Despite conservation conventions, Norway is to lift the ban that protects the grey coats – causing an international uproar. Where is the previously wiped out predator to survive if not in the barren Nordic borderlands? In the meantime, the number of animals has risen to eighty – to the delight of wildlife biologists and conservationists. But Norway’s farmers and hunters are not prepared to bury their age-old hatred for the predator: because the grey head occasionally steals the sheep that freely roam the summer pastures, and because he enjoys a share of the abundant elk, they are calling for the death sentence.

“Patrols in the Flesh”

Medicine: Doctors are enlisting the help of some bizarre allies in their battle against chronic wounds: bluebottle maggots. These devour dead tissue and produce antibacterial substances. The tiny scavengers often succeed where doctors with their highly potent drugs and state-of-the-art techniques of wound management have failed. In Germany, some 3500 patients have been treated using this biological procedure which displays virtually no side effects. No other Western country uses more of the squirming wound cleaners for medical purposes against stubborn open wounds. As antediluvian as the method may seem, its success justifies its supporters.

“A Dissolute Saint”

Authors: The writer Saint-Exupéry tends to be viewed as a hero of that powerfully emotional gentleness preached in his world-wide success “The Little Prince”. Revelations from the estate of his wife now paint a contradictory, almost sombre picture of the author. Consuelo’s memoirs, dug up from some forgotten chest 20 years after her death, cloud the official hagiography with which Saint-Exupéry has been worshipped ever since his tragic end. Without being a vindictive reckoning up, they disclose the dark depths of a relationship that was for a long time believed to be of little relevance. And they reveal an inconstant and unfaithful man who treated his wife as his personal property, who wanted to be loved without loving, who ran away and returned, wanted to be free and yet remained dependent.