“The Windsors of Germany”

Cover story: He himself regarded himself as a “solitary protruding” figure – rightly so: as a novelist and opponent of Hitler, Thomas Mann became the most famous German writer of the 20th century. Now his unusual family is also increasingly becoming an object of public curiosity – especially through the television film “The Manns”, which is already being celebrated as a “national event”.

“Inherited Unhappiness”

Interview with genealogist Marianne Krüll on the lies, secrets and denial of eroticism in the Mann family, and the curse of ancestors, which appears to weigh heavily on descendants even when they think they don’t know much about it:

“All families have certain topics which act in mysterious ways, having a strong and dynamic effect on the souls of people in the family. … I think, when so many dramatic things happen in a family, as they did in Thomas Mann’s, this can become focused in individual members who express themselves artistically. The fact that the Mann brothers, Thomas and Heinrich, chose literature probably has to do with the fact that their parents didn’t even consider other forms of art. … Klaus, the son of Thomas and Katia, was very welcome as a child, but nevertheless appears to have been unhappy. Why? Katia Mann was not a particularly motherly person; and then there was the father who in truth loved male bodies. So that does pose the question: what went on in their bedroom? … Many family members, including those from other generations, collaborate to uphold the lies of a lifetime and the taboos, so as to preserve the façade.”

“Telltale Prints”

Terrorist attacks: For the first time, a suspected accessory to the terrorists is facing a court in the USA. And once again, all the leads point to Hamburg. Two payments made from Germany could put Zacarias Moussaoui in the death cell, having been charged last week by a US court in Virginia. The 33-year-old is strongly suspected of having been in very close contact with the Hamburg terrorist cell. The man who sent the money, calling himself Sabet, has been identified as one of the heads of the Hamburg cell: Ramzi Binalshibh, 29, who has gone underground and is now being sought world-wide.

“They Were Seduced”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Saudi Arabian minister of the interior Prince Naif Ibn Abd el-Asis on terrorism and Islam, the conflict in the Middle East and the arrogance of the West:

“It’s true that Saudi Arabian citizens were on board the planes. But who can say with absolute certainty that these Saudis were the perpetrators. So far no one has proven that. There’s a surah in the Koran which states that violence is permissible in self-defence. It’s quite possible that young people were led astray to commit this act. … Bin Laden is not particularly intelligent, he’s not a great thinker and certainly not capable of setting out to influence people psychologically. … There’s no reason at all why Muslims and Christians should come into conflict with each other. … If it weren’t for the excessive support of the state of Israel by the Americans and the Western world, our relations would be excellent. We have no other cause for argument with the West.”

“We Were Simply Unlucky”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the head of Bayer, Manfred Schneider, on the Lipobay disaster and the anthrax hysteria, the world-wide pressure on the pharmaceutical industry and the plans for restructuring the company:

“Bayer isn’t tottering. During the first nine months we still made a profit of 800 million euros after tax. A large pharmaceutical company would perhaps have got over it a bit more easily than us, but that doesn’t prove that our strategy of basing our activities on four areas of business, has failed. Our problem is that the world-wide economy crumbled at the same time. Other than that, our polymers and our chemicals would have made up for the Lipobay debacle. We aren’t going to give up our four-pillar strategy, and that includes pharmaceuticals. We have an excellent research platform, and we are building upon that. … The fact is that America was temporarily in a state of emergency. Suddenly there was a fear that millions of Americans might be infected by anthrax. But it’s also a fact that we have the only drug that is licensed in USA against all currently known forms of anthrax, namely Cipro. We are selling that to the government at a special price of 95 US cents per pill. That’s a perfectly normal business transaction. If you purchase 100 million tablets, you have the right to a bulk discount, and a high one at that. … A new study carried out by Boston Consulting shows that over the last 30 years, conglomerates have made more money than focused companies. I know that I’m not the analysts’ favourite right now; but I can live with that.”

Report on the deployment of 1500 German soldiers in Afghanistan and the new line being taken in German foreign policy.

“Cursing Can Be an Art Form”

SPIEGEL interview with British artist Martin Creed, 33, the winner of this year’s Turner Prize, on the controversial award and Madonna’s faux pas while giving the laudatory address:

“Madonna’s speech was itself more or less an act of art. I think she was concerned about the issue of freedom of speech. I certainly have nothing against swearing. The speeches held at that sort of event are often very boring, but hers was really good. … I wanted to win the prize, because the event helps me show my work to a large audience. But neither does it make me a better artist. In fact it’s harmful in that it distracts me from my work for a while. Awards, including art prizes, are a silly affair really. Madonna hinted at that too, incidentally – she showed that you shouldn’t take everything so seriously.”

“Soap Opera in the Desert Dust”

Car racing: For six years, the rally drivers Jutta Kleinschmidt and Jean-Louis Schlesser were a couple. Then the German driver switched over to a competitor, marking the beginning of a private feud on the race track. The next, potentially dangerous climax of this feud will be the Dakar race.

“Synchronicity in the Bottleneck”

Brain research: Scientists in Bonn have deciphered the mechanics of memory. Synchronously active nerve cells level the way for sensory impressions to enter into human memory. Over the past years, brain researchers had already come across the mechanism of synchronised 40 Hertz oscillations before: the brain uses them to process visual stimuli. But the fact that synchronisation is also used in memory is a completely new finding. “Memory performers” who memorise long strings of digits do so by associating them with pictures or stories in their minds. The Bonn discovery now suggests that they are making use of the fact that processing information is all the more effective, the more certain areas of the brain are synchronised with the hippocampus and the olfactory cortex.

“Steel Surgeons”

Medicine: Robots are spreading relentlessly in the field of medicine, mill-cutting bones, sewing coronary blood vessels, putting spinal columns in traction, and drilling more accurately than any dentist. Modern intervention strategies combine “key-hole surgery” through tiny openings, endoscopy using miniaturised cameras, and computer-aided diagnostic procedures. But it is the robots that add the finishing touch to this trend. The new robot nobility includes “Robodoc” and “Otto”. Thirty of the US-made systems known as Robodoc are already deployed in German operating theatres. Otto comes from Berlin, constructed at the famous Charité clinic, and is a particularly skilful assistant when drilling in screws. The army of robots in the service of medicine is growing all the time. “RoboDent” for example, introduced last spring in Berlin, minimises discomfort in the dentist’s chair. However, the experts all agree that a lot of work still needs to be put into their development. The wish list is headed by better means of communicating with the robot colleague while he goes about his work. Sensors that measure movement and temperature and automatic laser probing of the area during surgery are meant to stop the energetic, tenacious and quick assistants from straying off on their own as a mechanical beings.

“Dying for the Statistics”

Forests: The new report on the state of forests in Germany says that almost a quarter of German trees are ill. A study dealing with the mountain forests challenges the figures and complains about faults in the way the data was collected. The criticism focuses particularly on the assessment of forest damage, which only judges the health of a forest by the density of leaves in the treetops and the proportion of leaves and needles that are yellow. However, the number of leaves is not a suitable indicator of a tree’s vitality. This systematic measurement, which costs several million marks a year, only tells you whether a particular year was dry or wet, hotter or colder. Nevertheless the ministries and forestry authorities doggedly insist on the expensive procedure, which is now being used in 38 European countries – on Germany’s advice.