If there were any remaining doubts that Berlin would not be fully broken in as Germany's capital before the year was out, they were dispelled by Friday. Government officials, such as the chancellor himself, may be still working from temporary offices, but the frenetic level of sheer officialdom on Friday confirmed that Berlin is, as the Germans say, where the music is played.
The day began with the signing ceremony officially sealing the deal on compensation for Nazi-era forced and slave laborers (see Wednesday's "Digest" for the basic terms of the agreement). Chancellor Gerhard Schröder greeted the gathering which included lawyers and negotiators headed up by Stuart Eizenstat and Otto Lambsdorff, German government officials, Jewish community leaders and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
"At the end of a truly bloody century in which Germany has brought much misery not only to the people of Europe, but also to the people of the world," Schröder said, he was encouraged to see the consequences of Germany's crimes at least somewhat alleviated, though, of course, not "healed." Lambsdorff said that what made the negotiations leading up to the deal so difficult for him was the impossibility of assigning a numerical, monetary value to the sufferings of the Nazis' victims.
Eizenstat urged all those present to keep their expectations regarding actual payment realistic. It could well take all next year to sort through the questions that remain open, in particular, who, specifically, is to receive how much compensation.
German President Johannes Rau asked for "forgiveness in the name of the German people" from all those who were not only forced to work without pay during the Nazi regime but also suffered displacement, the loss of their homes, their rights and the brutal abuse of their human dignity.
For many present at the ceremony, the next item on the agenda was the G8 meeting of the seven leading industrial nations and Russia. It was hardly a surprise that the Chechnyan crisis dominated the discussion. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who had called the meeting back in June, told reporters, "We repeatedly and emphatically urged Russia to fulfill its responsibilities as a member of the United Nations, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Many of us demand an immediate ceasefire, intended to be permanent, throughout the territory of Chechnya," suggesting that one or more of the original G7 group did not back the call for the ceasefire.
The meeting of foreign ministers followed the meeting on Thursday in Berlin of the so-called Group of Twenty, or G20, a more geographically representative gathering comprised of G7 finance ministers and representatives from China, Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia and Russia, among other countries. Just as the G8 meeting failed to come up with a political solution to the Chechnyan crisis, the G20 meeting accomplished little more than the sweetening of the chances that German Secretary of Finance Ciao Koch-Weser will succeed Michel Camdessus as head of the International Monetary Fund.
Also on Thursday in Berlin, former chancellor Helmut Kohl gave a television interview in which he admitted to accepting between 1.5 and 2 million marks ($750,000 to $1.3 million) in cash between 1993 and 1998 in the name of his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He vehemently denied ever taking money for himself or allowing these anonymous contributions to influence any of his policies or decisions as chancellor.
Hans Christian Ströbele, a Green and a member of the parliamentary panel of 15 which officially opened its inquiry into Kohl's shady dealings, said on Friday, "Helmut Kohl just cost the CDU 5 to 6 million marks yesterday."
Berlin as the center of all this buzz and building, this governing and gathering of Groups 7, 8 and 20, naturally makes it an attractive focal point of millennial celebrations in Germany. The city expects 1.5 million visitors to flood the single east-west route between the Victory Column and the Red City Hall with the Brandenburger Gate at its center on the night of December 31.
On Thursday, police unveiled their plans for dealing with the crowds. 1,700 officers, 1,200 security guards and 600 first-aid-ready members of the German Red Cross will be on duty. A subway station will be reserved for treating the injured in case of a mass panic and a complex system blockades will be set up for allowing visitors onto the route or funneling them back out again should the pressure in there reach the boiling point.
Germany and Europe on the Web today:
"It is not only the historic nature of the deal - or the length of time passed - that makes the compensation package extraordinary. Today's deal dwarfs the $1.25bn Holocaust settlement agreed by Swiss banks last year, the battle over looted art in France and the unresolved talks over insurance assets which continued in London yesterday." Richard Wolfe and Haig Simonian place the compensation deal in historical and current political context in Friday's "Financial Times". And: Andrew Bolger on the list of Nazi victims' names to be published next month by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Claims.
Also in the "FT": Tony Barber on the upbeat news indicated by Germany's leading business climate index and its effect on the euro. But an editorial warns: "Such short term improvements come against a worrying policy background." Free registration required for the "FT"
"In a society built on the slogan 'prosperity for all,' many Germans are still waiting for the benefits of the country's economic revival to trickle down to them." John Schmid in the "International Herald Tribune".
"Even in the old countries of Europe, where the holiday season pushes people to outdoor markets for mulled wine and candied apples, Internet buying has had a major impact on Christmas shopping habits." Steve Kettmann in "Wired News" on the rise of ecommerce in Europe. Also: Declan McCullagh on the EU's frustrated and frustrating struggle to tax international ecommerce.
John Hooper has a short but eye-opening piece in Thursday's "Guardian" on a poll revealing "a deep-seated complacency" among Germans "about many of the trends shaping the country's future." In Friday's edition, Hooper wraps up the latest developments in Kohlgate up to Thursday night's television interview.
Also in the "Guardian": A very fine piece from Michael Atkinson on the occasion of the re-releases of two films directed by Fritz Lang: "Many of the directors and cinematographers of noir were German expatriates raised on the bitter sting of post-first world war nihilism (embodied by German Expressionism) and chased off to Hollywood by Hitler. Of these, Fritz Lang had indisputably the greatest impact, and made noir his personal little war zone."
And, as Teldec releases "Bach 2000", the complete works "nattily turned out with a huge cardboard suitcase," Nicholas Kenyon, Director of the BBC Proms, reflects on "one of the most mysterious of Western composers." Free registration required for the "Guardian"
In the "New Republic", James Wood turns a review of Rebellion into a study of its author, Joseph Roth, "the great elegist" of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ("Robert Musil is its great analyst; Franz Kafka is its dark allegorist").
Paul Krassner flies over for the week-long 12th Annual Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam and remains clear-headed enough to turn in a report for the "LA Weekly".
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