Cover story: Record of the events surrounding the intended merger between Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank, and the reasons behind its failure.

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with the head of Allianz, Henning Schulte-Noelle, on Allianz’s future strategy after the failure of the merger and on the future of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank.

“Japan cannot free itself from the political tutelage of the USA because the Japanese nation is totally fixed on America in its entire way of thinking. … Don’t misunderstand me: I am very much in favour our friendship with America, in fact I like the country a lot. But true friendship requires that we deal with each other as partners with equal rights. … What frightens me most of all is China. It seems that the Chinese president Jiang Zemin is at the moment seriously investigating ways of conquering Taiwan by force within eight days – apparently even using strategic nuclear arms. A crazy idea ! … The accusations regarding Nanjing are complete nonsense. The so-called massacre was invented by the Americans in 1946 during the Tokyo war crimes trial. … There is still a lot of historical material on this topic, and both countries should set up a joint committee of historians. Independent observers from third party countries would also have to take part. Then one could investigate how many people the Japanese really did kill in Nanjing.”

“Lost Earth”

Environment: The expansion of the deserts is one of the most dangerous environmental problems, affecting over a million people. Foreign aid workers in Burkina Faso are resorting to new concepts to slow down the loss of arable land. The expansion of the desert, known as desertification, has long ceased to be exclusively the work of adverse weather conditions, falling ground water levels or climatic disasters. Increasingly it is being caused by social conditions. Population pressure leads to over-use of the land and to increased competition for the soil’s meagre resources. For decades now, various NGOs and donor countries have been committed to fighting desertification and hunger. They drill wells or hand out free food, trying all sorts of different strategies. There is still a great deal of controversy over what type of development work is most effective. A suitable strategy that conforms to the latest findings about the complex causes of the dwindling farmland is “land care”. Modern land care is not only innovative, its special charm is that it doesn’t cost too much either. Rather than providing material aid, land care focuses on counselling and conflict management.

“Mugabe’s Last Trump Card”

Zimbabwe: Incited by the cornered government, veterans of the liberation war are squatting the farms of white landowners. But the theft of land is uniting the black and the white opposition. Twenty years after Mugabe came to power, almost a third of the fertile farming land still belongs to 4500 big landowners, most of them white; while twelve million blacks share the rest. This allowed the president to exploit the majority’s hunger for land for his own political ends. But when he tried to extend his own powers even further by changing the constitution, the electorate rebelled. As a lure he had added a clause providing for the dispossession of white big landowners without any compensation. However, Mugabe suffered a devastating defeat at last month’s referendum. No sooner was this setback announced publicly than Mugabe sent out his faithful followers, using intimidation and hostage-taking to force through what the referendum prevented them and their president from doing – confiscating privately owned arable land. In fact the one thing that Mugabe’s squatters have achieved so far is to tear down the racial barriers more than ever before. For the first time since independence, white farmers are not only displaying political involvement, they are even supporting an opposition party headed by a black trade union leader.

“Murphy Is with Us”

World Exhibition: The final run-up to the Expo 2000 in Hannover. By June 1, thousands of workers, planners and engineers have to have finished setting up the billion-dollar show. It remains uncertain, though, whether the Babylonian chaos of world show and vision of the future can actually be controlled. At the moment, the future of the world as presented on the 160 hectare site is still as chaotic as the building site of the Tower of Babel – even up to the plethora of languages, mentalities and morals. For years, Murphy and his Law that anything that can go wrong will do so, seemed to be the only faithful partner of the Expo and its constantly changing management. The organisers of the Expo still stick to their expectations of selling 40 million entrance tickets, though internally the management reckons with 20 to 25 million visitors at the most. At least the impressive cultural programme accompanying the mega-event – which includes concerts by Santana, Ray Charles, the Scorpions together with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and a marathon Faust production – could occasionally lure the desired hundreds of thousands into the Lower Saxon capital.

“Extremely Polite”

Contemporary history: Initially, the Nazis collected foreign Jews in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, intended to exchange them for expatriate Germans and foreign currency. 2332 people were released from Bergen-Belsen in this way during World War II; Himmler allowed them to leave for Switzerland, Spain and Palestine.

“You German Bastards”

Jobs: Billion-dollar losses, ramshackle machinery and cars that nobody wants: following BMW’s withdrawal, the Rover workers at Longbridge are fighting for their survival. An unknown group of investors from London, called Alchimy, is to take over – not buy – Longbridge and to receive billions from BMW into the bargain in order to put the plant back in shape. Many people in Longbridge already suspect it will ultimately all be in vain. For one thing there is the wounded pride when car companies throughout the world shake their heads at the mere mention of Rover. And in particular there is the deeply disappointed love of the Germans, the miracle workers from Bavaria, who only needed to bring their marvellous technology, their world-famous image, their excellent managers to Longbridge.

“An Eraser in the Head”

Addiction: Researchers into drug addiction all over the world have been competing as to who would be the first to find a therapy which addresses the neurophysiological causes of addiction instead of messing about with the symptoms. Berlin scientists now believe they have found the answer. Using a procedure that may seem rather paradox at first sight they intend to “delete” the memory of addiction in heroin addicts, much like a file on a hard drive.

“Whaling with a Check Book”

Environment: At the conference for the protection of species in Nairobi, participants are arguing over the trade in whale products. Japan and Norway want to end the international ban on trading in and killing certain species of whales. Tokyo is helping things along with economic aid to small countries that are entitled to vote. Once trading in whale meat is once again legal, the path will also be clear for relaxing the ban on whale hunting which the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is due to negotiate in July in Adelaide, Australia.

“Horror Fathers and Child Prodigies”

Cinema: At the Berlin Film Festival in February, Hollywood’s child of Fortune Paul Thomas Anderson won a Golden Bear for “Magnolia”. His three-hour film is a multi-character, overextravagently eventful panorama of a family’s fate, made in Los Angeles.

“Wow! It Could Rain Frogs!”

SPIEGEL interview with the director of “Magnolia”, Paul Thomas Anderson, on his Catholic childhood:

“My father was already a total film freak before me; I learnt everything I know about film as a child. … Films are a kind of second nature to me. But I nevertheless went to the film school at New York University at the age of nineteen. For two days. Then I decided I already knew everything they could teach me there, and went home again … My parents were both Catholic, but not so strict that we had to go to church all the time. On the other hand, this idea of sin, that basic sense of guilt, particularly concerning sex – that becomes very deeply rooted, you never get rid of that. Otherwise I would certainly never have made a film about the porn film industry.”

“Dealing with Hitler’s Stolen Goods”

Stolen art: The “Linz List” on the Internet lists works of art once stolen by the Nazis, and some museum directors are now handing over individual treasures to the heirs of their former owners. Such reparations are not accidental, but the result of an appeal by German Cultural Affairs Minster Michael Naumann. His experts are even “considering” a state-organised investigation into further National Socialist heritage in museums: embarrassingly late, abroad people are already much further. The ulterior political motive: the Germans want to animate Russia to be similarly generous in relinquishing the artwork captured by them during the war.

“A Sort of Commodity”

In-depth interview with the German international basketball player Dirk Nowitzki on his life in the American professional league, the brutality beneath the basket and comparisons with Michael Jordan:

“A few years ago I could have named just about all the players on any NBA team. And suddenly there they were in front of me: my idols. … I was incredibly nervous during the first few months. I’d never before played in such huge sports halls, in front of so many people, on television. … Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. No one can compare with him. I am a different type in terms of my temperament and style. … Basketball in Würzburg is worlds apart from basketball in the NBA, you could almost say it’s a different game that’s played here. It’s certainly rougher. … I had read about the roughness in the NBA and seen games on television. But the pictures are deceptive: it’s all a lot more brutal. … There are only few players who have never won a championship and who nevertheless have achieved superstar status. I can only place my hopes in the future. We have a young team and one that I believe in. One or two years from now we’ll be ready. … It wasn’t the money that attracted me to the NBA but the opportunity of playing in the best basketball league in the world.”