"Spectacle with Submachine Guns"

Manhunt: How a tip by a passer-by turned into one of the biggest police searches in the history of Hamburg.

"I'm Fine"

Nazi war criminals: Aribert Heim worked as a doctor in a concentration camp and is regarded as one of the most sadistic of Nazi war criminals. Forty-three years ago, he disappeared from sight, but the last active Nazi hunters are convinced that the Murderer of Mauthausen is still alive. Now a search team from Stuttgart is on his trail. And they have a number of clues. Five decades after his disappearance there is still an account in Heim's name at a Berlin savings bank. At the regional criminal investigation department in Stuttgart, which is offering a reward of 130,000 euros for his capture, the Heim case fills more than 40 files, more than 200 people have been checked and hundreds of leads have been followed, at home and abroad. The Heim file has not been closed - not yet. The Heim file is the last big case of the last Nazi hunters. And they want to find him, badly. Time is pressing, the biological clock is ticking, and the investigators are hoping this final hunt will lessen the phantom pain arising from their often futile work.

"Fight for Marrakech"

Corporations: Volkswagen has to lower personnel costs more quickly than agreed upon last fall. Due to the low exchange rate for the dollar and high rebates, VW management expect losses of approximately 1 billion euros in North America this year. And the fallout from the corruption affairs is making the talks between management and the works council more difficult in a financially precarious situation.

"We Are Old, Tired and Well Fed"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with social scientist Meinhard Miegel, 66, about the unrealistic election campaign of the political parties, the looming economic decline of the West, and the dignity of shoeblacks:

"We have got to learn to remain capable of acting and solving our problems, even in the absence of growth. ... If we were to smash into a wall there would be some violent reactions. Those reactions aren't happening here, because we have been shuffling along for decades. For 25 years we haven't seen any more real increase in prosperity. ... We are going to suffer a drop in income, and that has to be shared out on the basis of solidarity. Up until now, such losses have been unloaded on a minority. ... What do we actually want? Are we going to put more and more money into automation where it hardly generates any more demand, or are we going to get more people immediately involved in creating value once again, even if they only receive a small wage in return for their labour. ... Wherever you turn we are too expensive for ourselves: as service providers, as craftsmen or whatever. That sort of national economy cannot work. ... A politician must be prepared to sacrifice himself for something he recognises as being right."

"I Can't Afford to Make Any Mistakes"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Syria's President Bashar Assad about approaches to democracy in his country, about the chances of peace in the Middle East and the withdrawal from Lebanon:

"The more interference, the slower the pace of developments will be in Syria, because the democratic process is supposed to permeate the entire country. Of course the unresolved Middle East conflict is impairing developments too. And sometimes the question arises, which should be given higher priority - political development or economic growth. ... When I say that the economy is being given precedence, this is by no means to say that we are neglecting political reforms. During the past five years, the economy may have been given precedence, because it was a matter of improving the standard of living for the population. ... The withdrawal of settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip certainly isn't the wrong step. Nevertheless, on its own it will not bring about peace. That can only be done by fulfilling all the relevant UN resolutions, and those call for the restoration of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the return of the refugees and the issue of a sovereign Palestinian state. ... Some have even suggested that I threatened him (Editor's note: former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri). Others claimed that a security official was pointing a pistol at Hariri's head at the time. That's simply ridiculous. ... We're interested in the investigation because we are convinced that we will be cleared - provided the results are not distorted for political reasons."

"We are Vulnerable"

SPIEGEL interview with the former Prime Minister of Iraq, Ilad Alawi, about the constitution, Iran's influence in the country, and calls for a strong man:

"We urgently need to succeed in creating a sense of national unity and building the foundations of a state, otherwise Iraq will be in danger and with it the entire region. ... The attempts by our neighbours to exert their influence will increase, the entire balance of power will be upset. ... Kurdistan can and must exist as a federal state within this country. But without strong institutions, without national unity and a broadly-based reconciliation, there will be no progress."

"We Harbour Murder within Us"

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with US psychologist David Buss about the violent nature of human beings, homicidal step-fathers and his own fantasies of murder:

"Some murders are undoubtedly pathological. [...] But that isn't true of most murders. [...] Murders are a result of a disposition that has arisen through evolution. ... People commit murder because at one time murder gave perpetrators a reproductive advantage in certain situations. ... When there is a step-father in the home of a young child, the child's risk of being murdered increases one hundred-fold. [...] What is going on here is not unlike what lions do. When a male lion drives away a defeated male, it kills the latter's offspring in the pack. That defeats the rival's genes, and in addition the female will become pregnant again sooner, so he can spread his own genes again more quickly. ... I've had a number of murder fantasies. The most intensive of them concerned a man who wanted to harm my reputation. [...] Let's just say I had some very vivid fantasies. He's still alive, as far as I know."

"Under Red Silk Sails"

History: China is celebrating an admiral who conquered the seas 600 years ago with a fleet of unparalleled size, but without establishing or exploiting colonies. Communist leaders are pointing to him as an example demonstrating the feasibility of a peaceful world power, then and now. The name of the admiral is Zheng He. Born in 1371, he was in fact a Muslim. He shared the fate of thousands of children who were kidnapped by the troops of the Chinese emperor in the province of Yunnan in 1382, following a military campaign, and who fell into the hands of trained castrators. The boys were to serve at court, but only men without genitals were allowed to command the palace guard or wait on noblewomen and concubines. Zheng He rose to become Grand Eunuch and the commander of a fleet so powerful, that it would be centuries before the world would see the likes of it again. Between 1405 and 1431 he set out seven times on long voyages. Thanks to their navigational skills, he and his captains may even have reached the coasts of America or Australia.

"We Were a Special Elite"

Interview with German golfer Bernhard Langer about his return to the world's top players and the race for distance using new materials, mental coaching and the Tiger Woods phenomenon:

"I don't think I am any stronger mentally than I was before. Your nerves don't get any better; if anything they wear thinner. Certainly, you gather experience, which helped me in a tournament like most recently the British Open. You have to play the course tactically. ... Good and bad are closer together than in just about any other sport. We swing the club at almost 200 kilometres an hour. If the moment of impact is open or closed by just one millimetre, if the ball is hit fully or clipped, then already it is not a good shot. And there are lots of other things in addition: the position of the ball, trampled greens, the wind - we aren't playing on a billiard table. ... Every few years there is a new generation of golf clubs, which are good for another five metres or more. I myself profit by these technical developments. My current driver and a modern ball with a very thin outer shell and a firm intermediate shell in that combination give me a greater length than I've ever been able to hit before. Nevertheless, it isn't just a question of length, but also of how many strokes it takes you to reach the hole."

"The Dark Side of Medicine"

SPIEGEL cover story: Patients with back, heart or knee complaints are systematically subjected to useless procedures. Many of the treatments that are tried out are based on fallacies or financial interests. This becomes particularly clear when doctors themselves become patients: they undergo treatment less often than the rest of the population. According to the renowned "New England Journal of Medicine", twenty to forty percent of all patients are subjected to medical procedures which have no or no appreciable benefit. Humbug and dangerous superabundance are also rife in the pharmaceutical business. The World Health Organisation believes that a mere 306 substances are truly indispensable - in Germany, 2349 substances are on the market.

"The Night on the Rhine"

Art: On Saturday, celebrities from the fields of politics and culture will be opening a new museum in Brühl, a museum devoted to the exceptional artist Max Ernst. The house has long become a talking-point on account of some curious arguments.

"Compressed Air Diet"

Cars: Volkswagen is presenting a new fuel-efficient engine. The petrol engine, which is referred to as the "TSI", is extremely small and is fed with air by a compressor and turbocharger, generating 170 hp and consuming a standardised average of 7.2 litres per hundred kilometres (39 miles to the gallon). Although this is no better than a diesel engine, the figure is nonetheless some ten percent more efficient than for the best petrol engines with the same power output. The TSI engine is astonishingly small for the amount of power it produces. Its cubic capacity of just 1.4 litres generates more than twice as much force on its pistons as other engines of the same capacity. The compressed air principle serves both to boost power and to economise on fuel, because smaller engines also have less mechanical resistance.