East Germany

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Lightning-Rod W. German Cop Unmasked as Stasi Spy

Revelation likened to discovering Kent State shooters were KGB agents

(Newser) - The West German cop whose shooting of an unarmed protester in 1967 changed the country forever has been unmasked as an East German spy by historians going through Stasi files, the New York Times reports. The shooting sparked a wide, sometimes violent left-wing protest movement many believe spawned Germany's current...

German Tempers Heat Up Over Cold War Tourist Traps

'Snackpoint Charlie,' actors in military uniforms labeled disrespectful to dead

(Newser) - The Disneyfication of Cold War landmarks in Berlin has irked people with bad memories of East Germany, the Independent reports. Critics, including former Allied officers and those who suffered under oppressive rule, argue that the atmosphere around places like Checkpoint Charlie—where actors in military uniforms hustle tourists for coins...

Berlin Pols Target 'Disneyland' Soldiers

They're turning serious monument into 'Disneyland:' officials

(Newser) - German politicians want the fake Cold War soldiers who pose near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate gone, because they’re turning a somber symbol of the nation’s unification into “Disneyland,” Der Spiegel reports. The performers don American, East German, and Soviet military gear and snap photos with tourists...

German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses
German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses
Mar 4, 2009 2:10 PM CST

German Cops Raid Neo-Nazi Houses

Cops seize banned music as anti-Semitic violence rises

(Newser) - German police are searching houses nationwide for neo-Nazi propaganda that may be fueling anti-Semitic crimes, Reuters reports. The probe of 200 houses and businesses belonging to Germany's extreme right comes as extremism increases in East Germany, the country's poorer half. "The primary aim is to seize and confiscate prohibited...

Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks
 Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks
Analysis
Aug 25, 2008 10:05 AM CDT

Germany Is Crux of Russia Talks

Merkel could be valuable go-between

(Newser) - A fretful Eastern Europe is hoping Germany can play a key diplomatic role in its stare-down with Russia, the New York Times reports. Until recently, relations between Moscow and Berlin were too cozy for the Caucasus’ tastes, but East German-born Angela Merkel has distanced herself from Russia just enough to...

Germany Revives Schools to Turn Out Olympians

Return to East German model to restore Olympic glory

(Newser) - Concerned over its sixth-place overall finish in the Athens Olympics, Germany is taking steps to centralize its athletic training program in a move reminiscent of the notorious East German training machine, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a country where membership in local sports clubs is the norm for athletes,...

Verdi, Naked and Anti-American
 Verdi, Naked and Anti-American 
Apr 12, 2008 6:51 AM CDT

Verdi, Naked and Anti-American

Austrian Marxist uses opera to slam US capitalism

(Newser) - A German staging of Verdi’s “A Masked Ball” leaves Uncle Sam wearing little but a mask, Der Spiegel reports. In a rebuke of US capitalism, the production parades naked retirees on a set of the World Trade Center's ruins, and offers a female singer with a Hitler mustache...

Berlin Journos Say They Were Stasi Spies

Two top Zeitung editors admit informing for East German police

(Newser) - Two top journalists for a Berlin paper have admitted they worked as informants for the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, prompting an investigation of the paper’s editorial staff, the Guardian reports. Berliner Zeitung’s top editor ordered an inquiry after a senior stafffer was identified as a 1970s...

Giant Bunnies Hit Silver Screen
Giant Bunnies Hit Silver Screen
Feb 18, 2008 12:10 PM CST

Giant Bunnies Hit Silver Screen

Doc details how N. Korean officials devoured monster rabbits meant for poor

(Newser) - Giant bunnies overran the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, reports Der Spiegel—in the form of a 5-minute documentary on the international intrigue that ensued when a German rabbit breeder sent a dozen of his 20-pounders to North Korea to be bred to help alleviate hunger. Instead, they met a tragic...

Stasi Ordered to Shoot First
Stasi Ordered to Shoot First
Aug 12, 2007 3:08 PM CDT

Stasi Ordered to Shoot First

Defectors stood little chance at Berlin Wall

(Newser) - During the Cold War, East German border police were ordered to shoot all attempted defectors, a newly discovered Stasi document confirms. “Do not hesitate with the use of a firearm, including when the border breakouts involve women and children, which the traitors have already frequently taken advantage of,”...

East German Women Are Heading West
East German Women Are Heading West
Jun 1, 2007 5:11 PM CDT

East German Women Are Heading West

And Neo-Nazi parties are courting the men left behind

(Newser) - Young, educated women are fleeing eastern Germany—and Neo-Nazi parties are flourishing in the vacuum  they leave behind. One-and-a-half million people, two-thirds of them women, have left left the economically stagnant east since the mid-1990s, a new study shows.

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