Der SPIEGEL traces the development of Vodafone’s hostile takeover of Mannesmann. The journal is based on talks with the dealmakers.

Der SPIEGEL takes a hard look at the suggestions for the restructuring of the EU Parliament and the EÙ commission put forth by Germany’s ruling Social Democrats.

“Cartel of Silence”

Middle East: Joschka Fischer is coming under increasing pressure – in Berlin as well as in Brussels – because of his excessively pro-Israeli stance. Fischer’s critics from all parties feel encouraged by Israeli human rights campaigners. During a parliamentary hearing in Berlin in February they had told the Germans not to join a “cartel of silence” in the face of the scale of the violence – also displayed by Israelis. The EU has as yet not agreed upon a common concept for the Middle East, but that is likely to change soon.

“The Force of Horror”

Cover story: He was an outsider and a failure, and yet he still came to power. The Germans saw Hitler first as their saviour and then as the epitome of evil. In this SPIEGEL series, prominent historians from Germany and elsewhere will be analysing the reasons for the long-term effect of Hitler’s dictatorship.

“The Incarnation of Evil”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Joachim Fest, on his youth under the swastika, and Hitler as the epitome of inhumanity:

“People project everything they consider abominable, inhuman and despicable on the figure of Hitler, whereby he was indeed all of that. That’s why I think he still has a long career ahead of him. … Virtually every well-known tyrant in history had some emancipatory idea or other, but Hitler didn’t. On the contrary, he tried to reverse the emancipatory processes. … To my mother’s horror, my father made no secret of his contempt for the Nazis around our family table – we were three sons and two daughters. … My father refused to send his three sons to the youth organisation Hitler Jugend – even though he was repeatedly instructed to do so. To the horror of everyone else who lived in the building, he kicked out the HJ leaders who turned up at the house two or three times. … Broadly speaking, every class in society failed: the military, the church, the trade unions, the parties. Everyone except for the Communists, but the Nazis had declared them an enemy, so I wouldn’t overrate their resistance against the new government.”

“Pensions in the Red-Light District”

Morals: The governing SPD and Greens want to introduce their bill against the immorality of prostitution before the Bundestag this week. The bill is to open the way for whores to be granted social security. If enacted, the bill would give prostitutes, call boys and rent boys access to health insurance, the national pension scheme, unemployment benefits and long-term care insurance. They would also be eligible for state-funded retraining programmes.

“Immorality Is to Be Abolished”

SPIEGEL interview with Christine Baumann (SPD), Minister for Women’s Affairs, on prostitution as a profession:

“There must be an end to the immoral status of prostitution. Courts generally regard the transactions between prostitutes and their clients as being contra bonos mores and hence void under civil law. One of the fatal consequences of this for the women is that they are also excluded from the social security system.”

“You Try Eating Raw Potatoes”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with head of Nestlé Peter Brabeck-Letmathe on industrially manufactured foods and the sense of insecurity among consumers, the arguments with Third World groups over bottled baby food and the globalisation of tastes:

“As far and away the largest global supplier of food and beverages, we influence the lives of almost all the consumers in the world. … There is unanimous agreement about the need for a substitute for mother’s milk, also within the World Health Organisation WHO, whose code about infant nutrition we adhere to very strictly. After all, the transmission rate of the HI-virus from mother to child via mother’s milk is around 15 to 25 percent. … We are not seeing a globalisation of tastes, but in fact a growing diversification on a hitherto unknown scale. … We at Nestlé stand for genetic engineering. As a global enterprise we have a global responsibility. I am currently engaged in talks with the South African and Chinese governments. They are entirely in favour of our continuing to use genetic engineering. … The big advantage of the USA is that the American consumer has complete faith in the state health authorities. That isn’t the case in Europe, where on the one hand you have the political opinion of the European Commission, and then in each country you have a separate food authority which in turn has its own opinion. Added to which there are the opinions of the retail trade and industry, the press and the NGOs. As a consumer you end up not knowing what to do.”

“Hitting a Bullet with Another Bullet”

USA: The new master of the White House has ordered a rapid elaboration of the plans for a missile defence system, even though many experts doubt whether such a defence system could function reliably. Moscow is still hoping to find a political solution.

“Serving Mankind”

SPIEGEL interview with the Karmapa Lama, one of the highest-ranking Buddhist spiritual leaders, on his role model the Dalai Lama, life in Indian exile and the hopes for Tibetan autonomy:

“We were not even able to prevent the Chinese from occupying Tibet in 1951. So how are we going to oust them today? We only stand to lose a war once again – and some of us could lose our refugee status in India … More and more often, affluence ranges ahead of traditions. It’s becoming more and more difficult to keep our culture and our spirituality alive.”

“Make Way for Your Majesty”

Airbus 380: Convoys of monstrous low-loaders are to crawl through villages and vineyards bearing German sections of the fuselage for the super-jumbo. Since the existing motorway between Bordeaux and Toulouse is unsuitable for this type of lorry, the simple “Route Nationale” and quiet country lanes are to be levelled, lengthened, straightened and have their roundabouts removed over a length of 250 kilometres. After the initial shock over the sudden building orders, mayors, local inhabitants, farmers and conservationists are now hurriedly closing ranks to put up a resistance.

“The Healing Powers of a Manure Heap”

Medicine: Doctors are beginning to realise why more and more children are suffering from allergies: they lack viruses, bacteria and worms as sparring partners for their immune systems. Soon new vaccines consisting of soil microbes and intestinal bacilli are to afford protection against asthma, hay fever and neurodermatitis. As yet, scientists are still speculating as to how viruses, bacteria and worms allow the immune system to mature. What is certain though is that every baby needs to train its immune system.

“I’m a Straightforward Person”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with writer Donna Leon on corrupt politicians and pointless elections, the divide between Europe and America, and the disappointed hopes of her Comissario Brunetti:

“Brunetti and his wife Paula used to vote for the left. But today they both find the entire system so repulsive that they probably wouldn’t go to the elections at all any more. … Brunetti deeply mistrusts Rome and the government there, but so does every Italian. At least, in the 30 years that I have been living here I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about Rome. Italians love their towns, their region, their dialects. They don’t care for mindless patriotism as practised by the Americans. … When courageous public prosecutors got together under the slogan of “mani pulite” (clean hands) in the 1990s, everyone thought: at last the corrupt politicians and state officials are going to get their due. Today everyone realises that nothing is happening. Like many people here, Brunetti experienced a psychological shock. … I’ve ambled through life lethargically, without any ambition and always wanted only one thing: to be happy. That’s also true of writing. I can’t work in a disciplined fashion in order to fulfil some plan or order. I can only start something when I really feel like it.”

“I’m Not a Nice Little Girl”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with French actress Laetitia Casta, on her acting career, her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival beginning this week, and on the darker sides of the world of fashion models:

“The whole of life harbours the risk of failure. I don’t think that I am under any great risk as a mannequin in the cinema. I’m not trying to convince anyone or prove anything. I want to make films because I enjoy it. … Everyone expects me to make very commercial films, with my name being used to fill the cinema auditoriums. But that has always been out of the question for me. “The Strong Souls” is an author-directed film. And if only four people want to see it, that’s fine by me … I assure you that no one has ever offered me drugs. Maybe other people have been through tougher things, maybe they therefore lack the strength to resist the temptation. I believe that tempters have a very sensitive perception of what approach to use, and who is vulnerable. They see an opening and strike there.”