SPIEGEL cover story: Argument over embryo research in Germany.

“Europe Just Keeps on Going”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the president of the European Commission in Brussels, Romano Prodi, on Chancellor Schröder’s proposals for Europe, on attempts at torpedoing the Eastern European candidates for membership and the criticism by the heads of state directed at him personally:

“Even now, the European Commission should be viewed in the role of an executive body, as defined by Schröder. The position of the European Parliament needs to be strengthened. … You can argue about whether the Council ought to become a second chamber representing the governments of the member states. There are other, possibly better suggestions. … France is now forced to take a stance and to speak its opinion at once. … Anyone who stops enlargement is taking on a huge responsibility. … I’m not in Brussels to show off my strength. I am here to get policies implemented.”

“Heil, Mr. Hitler”

From the SPIEGEL series “Presence of the Past”: Did the parvenu Hitler come to power thanks to millions donated by big industry? In fact the National Socialists managed to rise to power without any significant help from the industrial barons. Until the Nazi dictatorship was actually in place, Fritz Thyssen remained the only big industrialist who gave Hitler his full backing. The others donated far more money to the bourgeois right-wing parties DNVP and DVP than to the suspect NSDAP. Most of all it was the membership fees, donations in the form of money and goods, entrance fees and the unpaid labour of the party members and followers themselves that permitted the Nazis to lead a non-stop election campaign from 1930 onwards. Once the Nazi’s power had been established, the status-conscious corporate bosses reacted like any other elite: they slickly submitted to the new masters.

“Historic Bargain”

Contemporary history: The heirs of the Jewish Wertheim family are suing Karstadt for damages. The department store group is alleged to have profited by Aryanisation. The heirs accuse the new owners and their business successors of having capitalised on the family’s predicament, deceived and cheated them – in order to get hold of their shares.

A BASF subsidiary wants to buy Libya’s oil reserves. The US government is trying to thwart the deal.

“Imprisoned by Fear”

Afghanistan: Totally isolated and suffering sanctions by the rest of the world, the Taliban are tightening the rule of Islamic law as they issue tougher and tougher decrees. But even the strictest warriors of God sometimes have to capitulate before reality. The kingdom of the Taliban is being visited by scourges reminiscent of the Middle Ages: war, famine, drought, disease and the cruelty of its rulers. The Afghan populations is exhausted and drained. It depends on the UN and Red Cross relief organisations – the international organisations provide the most jobs. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing the country, those who are still able to.

“Midwife of the Bomb”

Armaments: Edward Teller, the “father of the hydrogen bomb”, has named its true inventor: Richard Garwin, a 23-year-old physicist who was earning some extra money in the Los Alamos arms workshop during his summer holidays. Garwin had studied under Teller at the University of Chicago and written his PhD thesis for the co-developer of the atom bomb Enrico Fermi, who had also recommended him for the job as a trainee at Los Alamos. The young physicist who now considers himself a critic of American nuclear armament was never too concerned about his fame as a builder of bombs. If Garwin had taken up the invitation to attend the detonation of the first H-bomb he would probably already then have reached the verdict he voices today, almost half a century later: “If I had a magic wand I’d want to undo everything again.”

“They Just Want to Have Their Fun”

Interview with American arms critic Richard Garwin on the security of the US nuclear arms arsenal and the nonsensicality of the planned missile defence system:

“Normally a nuclear warhead consists of 4000 to 6000 individual components. Except for about ten of these, which are part of the atomic charge, every individual component can be checked, tested and replaced when necessary. … We have developed a metallurgical procedure that permits a considerable reduction in the harmful effect of the plutonium charges in our nuclear weapons. … Supposing that of Russia’s 6000 nuclear warheads, 300 were flying towards the USA; to shoot down just every second one would cost about 125 billion dollars.”

“He Was a Casanova”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Georgia van der Rohe on her father Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, her unconventional love life and her career as a dancer and actress:

“I describe my father - in very friendly terms - as a non-father. … I saw acting as a way of surviving during the Nazi era – with my name that was hard enough as it was. … I can only recommend a love life that is full of variety – it’s wonderful. I experienced my last great love when I was in my early seventies and I enjoyed it very much. … I learnt an enormous amount from Erwin Piscator, every day. To be quite honest, he took some getting used to in human terms. He seems to have suffered from an inferiority complex.”

“Submissive Helpers for Little California”

Spain: The vegetable growers of El Ejido became rich thanks to harvest workers from North Africa. Now they want to employ Catholics instead of Muslims, and are finding support in the new Foreigners Act.

“Only Interested in One Thing”

Authors: A well-known editor-in-chief is shocking her fellow French countrymen. Catherine Millet describes her sexual acts and orgies in minute detail and exclusively. The radicalness of this laconic and minute account – which is not a declaration and certainly not a confession, not a provocation and not a glorification of sexuality – lies in its total, unheard-of casualness. Because Catherine M. doesn’t even know any sense of shame, she cannot be shameless.