Tätervolk

October 21, 2009 By 1 Comment

The word Tätervolk is used to refer to the collective guilt of a whole population.

It has been used in the context of the German people’s responsibility for the events of the Second World War, ie. that the nation as a whole was guilty of the crimes committed.  This idea was, however, dismissed at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: ,

Alte Strassen – Neue Namen

October 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

So heißt das Motto zur Zeit in Butzbach (Hessen). Einige Straßennamen gibt es dort nämlich nicht nur zweimal sondern tlw. mehrmals und das führt des öfteren zu Verwirrungen, bei Rettungsdienst, Feuerwehr und Briefzustellern. Deshalb wurde beschlossen, dass einige Straßen neue Namen bekommen. Insgesamt werden ca. 80 Straßen umbenannt. So wird zum Beispiel in der Kernstadt der Birkenweg zum Kiefernweg.

Die Stadt Butzbach übernimmt auch die Folgekosten, denn die Ausweise der Bürger stimmen dann ja nicht mehr. In nächster Zeit wird es wohl kaum lohnen neue Stadtpläne zu kaufen oder Updates für Navigationsgeräte zu installieren, man sollte wahrscheinlich warten, bis alles aktuell ist. Zumindest diejenigen die in der Nähe wohnen.

Auf dass die Verwirrungen ein Ende haben!

Filed Under: Aktuelles, Cymeradwyo Tagged With: ,

Anything is possible in German politics

October 16, 2009 By 1 Comment

… or so it would seem.  After the recent general elections (Bundestagswahl) we can expect to have a so-called “black and yellow coalition” in power.

The colours refer to the CDU and FDP parties, who are not actually so far apart in many of their policies, but still have a lot of debating to do until they agree on everything.

What worried me a little bit was a comment that I heard on the radio a few days ago, that “all topics are open to discussion”.  I would have expected that some topics did not need to be discussed, and it reminded me of the last round of coalition talks 4 years ago, where the CDU and SPD discussed raising the VAT rate.  One party wanted to raise it by 1%, the other did not want to raise it at all, and in the end they agreed on 3%!

Over the next few weeks the parties – including the CSU as well – will thrash out their policies and come up with a contract by which they will theoretically govern the country for the next 4 years.  I am wondering how much they will undo the work of the previous CDU/SPD coalition, and in particular how many policies will be agreed upon, that neither party had in their manifesto during the election campaign.

Scrapping the Gesundheitsfond would be a good start…

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,

Please click on ACCEPT to give us permission to set cookies [more information]

This website uses cookies to give you the best browsing experience possible. Cookies are small text files that are stored by the web browser on your computer. Most of the cookies that we use are so-called “Session cookies”. These are automatically deleted after your visit. The cookies do not damage your computer system or contain viruses. Please read our privacy information page for more details or to revoke permission.

Close