SPIEGEL ONLINE
- April 27, 2012
The global solar industry has entered a brutal phase of consolidation and nowhere are the effects as dramatic as in eastern Germany. Several companies have already declared bankruptcy, leaving towns and cities in the region struggling with job losses and tax revenue shortfalls. The future bodes ill. By Charles Hawley more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- April 26, 2012
Since reunification, people have been abandoning eastern Germany in search of jobs and a better life in the west. But many are now returning home. Homesickness is one reason, but improvements in the job market and quality of life are also attractive. By Maximilian Popp more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- March 20, 2012
Closed swimming pools, potholed streets, run-down buildings. Many western German cities, especially in the industrial Ruhr rust belt, are looking worse for wear after years of neglect in which they've had to transfer billions funds to help rebuild the former communist east. Now their mayors want to stop paying. more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- January 20, 2012
Tourists are increasingly discovering the rural charms of northern Germany. But with industrial pig breeding operations moving in, that charm may soon be destroyed by the stench of swine slurry. Locals are up in arms -- but factory farming may be the region's last chance to create jobs. By Markus Deggerich more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- July 29, 2011
The photographer Roman Bezjak spent five years traveling around Eastern Europe taking pictures of communist-era buildings. His images show grand gestures in concrete and weird constructions that could be in a science-fiction movie. His intention was not to judge the structures, but to show them from a new perspective. By Benjamin Maack more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- July 01, 2011
The latest annual report on extremism in Germany suggests that neo-Nazis have swapped the skinhead look for a boy-next-door image, making it harder to identify right-wing extremists. Although overall extremist crime is down, the tendency towards violence is increasing -- within both the far left and right. By Sebastian Fischer more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- May 19, 2011
Forty-seven former members of the Stasi now work at the agency charged with addressing its misdeeds. Agency head Roland Jahn, a victim of the notorious East German secret police himself, is on a crusade to get rid of them. But some think he's taking things too far. By Stefan Berg more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- May 12, 2011
A massive exodus is causing cities across Germany to swell while draining rural areas of people, money and life. While funds are needed elsewhere, should more be done to save dying communities? By SPIEGEL Staff
more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- April 08, 2011
Up to 80 vehicles were involved in a mass pile-up on a German highway Friday which left several people dead and dozens more injured. The accident was apparently caused by a sandstorm after strong winds in the area. more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- February 25, 2011
Sexual abuse, solitary confinement and complete lawlessness -- children's homes in the former East Germany were hell on earth for many of the young people who passed through them. But unlike their fellow sufferers in the West, they are still waiting for a full reappraisal of the past. By Maximilian Popp and Steffen Winter more... [ Forum ]
