Dialog International

Neo-Nazis Now Firmly Established

Lost in the discussion of the European election results from last Sunday  were the alarming results of many of the local elections in Saxony and Thuringia.  Whereas several years ago voters may have cast votes for the NPD as a symbolic protest, the party is now firmly entrenched in many of the city councils.  The neonazis have become an establishment party:

In the east German cities of Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Schwerin, Rostock and Erfurt the main neo-Nazi party the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) won seats in all councils.  In Parthenstein in Saxony the NPD candidate tied with his centre-left social democratic opponent – but then won the vacant seat by drawing straws with his rival.In the state of Thuringia the NPD seized 21 seats, in Saxony 73, trebling their numbers from the last elections in 2004.  In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania it now has representatives in most local councils.

'The local elections of 2009 are a signal that the NPD, at least in most of eastern Germany, is now a fixture on the landscape,' said the Der Spiegel news magazine.

More on the NPD's success at the NPD-Blog.

This report was especially disturbing, as it shows that in the village of Bargischow the neo-Nazis openly agitate against democratic candidates.

Merkel: GDR Was an Unjust State ("Unrechtsstaat")

I watched the interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the TV talkshow "Menschen bei Maischberger" and thought she did a very good job. There is a debate taking place in Germany just now about how to characterize the former East German State.  Some on the right want to damn the former state as totally unjust - if not totally evil -, while others are more circumspect ("Es war nicht alles schlecht in der DDR / It wasn't so bad"). Merkel didn't mince any words: the GDR was an unjust state because it was "based on a lie".  Furthermore, there is nothing to be learned ("überhaupt nichts lernen) from the collapsed system,the current glogal economic crisis of capitalism notwithstanding.  On the other hand, the Chancellor was quick to praise the private sphere: „Leben besteht Gott sei Dank nicht nur aus Staat.“ (Thank God there is more to life than just the state.) She talked about the joys of friendship and family, where one could speak the truth. (""Wir hatten Freundschaften, wir haben miteinander die Wahrheit ausgetauscht, man hat sich geholfen.“ ) i don't think she'll lose too many votes in the eastern states for these comments.

Also interesting was Merkel's admission that she had been approached by the Stasi to be an informer, but was able to get out of it by claiming that she "couldn't keep her mouth shut".

You can watch the entire interview here (unable to embed).

Also worth watching is the panel discussion that comes after the interview with the chancellor.  The always entertaining Gregor Gysi makes the preposterous claim that the GDR was NOT an unjust state "because its goals were just"

Obama Confronts European Anti-Americanism

Speaking at a Town Hall meeting in Strasbourg before a group of French and German students, President Obama criticized the reflexive anti-Americanism that has always existed in "Old Europe" but reached a fever-pitch during the presidency of George W. Bush:

Americans in the past often showed "arrogance" toward Europe, failing to appreciate its leadership on many issues, Obama said.

"But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that can be casual but can also be insidious," he said. "Let me say this as clearly as I can: America is changing. But it cannot be America alone that changes."

The message went over well with the students and also with the French and German media, who so far have given President Obama (and his wife!) high marks for his first official visit to Europe.

Still, anti-Americanism remains in the DNA of much of the German Left, and for them Barack Obama is nothing more than a war-mongerer in a much cleverer packaging.  Lydia Harder writes about this in the FAZ - Der alte neue Feind - The Old New Enemy) :

„Obama mag schwarz sein, sicher ist er nicht links und auch nicht allzu progressiv“, urteilte die Linkspartei schon 2007 auf ihrer Internetseite. Der Präsidentschaftskandidat vernachlässige die schwarze Unterschicht. Er ähnele zwar einer Friedenstaube, werde sich jedoch schnell zu einem „Falken mit scharfem Schnabel und blutigen Klauen“ entwickeln. Auch wenn es um Israel geht, laufe Obama „den Rechten hinterher“ ("Obama may be black, but he is not left and not too progressive", was the verdict of the LEFT Party on its Web site already in 2007.  The presidential candidate neglects the black underclass. He resembles the dove of peace, but will quicky change into a "hawk with a sharp beak and bloody claws".  In the matter of Isreal, Obama is "beholden to the right wing".)

Zwar bietet Obama weniger Angriffsfläche für Hassbekundungen und primitive Ressentiments. Niemand nennt ihn geringschätzig „Barack Hussein“. Es wird auch sehr viel weniger „Not welcome“-Plakate beim nächsten Staatsbesuch geben. Doch für viele linke Gruppierungen ist er schon drei Monate nach seinem Amtsantritt nur ein Kriegstreiber mit Charisma, die neue Maske des Großen Satans. (To be sure, it is not as easy to attack Obama with hate and primitive ressentiment (as it was Bush).  No one referes to him dismissively as "Barack Hussein". There will also be fewer "Not Welcome" posters to be seen at his next state visit. But for many leftist groups Obama is seen - just three months after his inauguration - as a warmonger with charisma, the new mask of the great Satan.) 

Of course, it is not just the German Left that persists in its anti-Americanism.  The neo-Nazi party NPD published a long diatribe against President Obama on its Web site, claiming he is nothing more than a continuation of George W. Bush.  They also crticize the Harvard-trained president for being "uneducated" since he said in a recent speech that the automobile was an invention of America.  Still, the right-wing extremists see an opportunity since President Obama and the US are preoccupied with Asia and the war the Afghanistan:

Für Deutschland ergibt sich in dieser Situation die Chance einer Politik im nationalen Interesse, zur Wiederherstellung seiner Souveränität. Die Zeit ist auch reif dafür, daß sich die USA für ihre Verbrechen an den Völkern der Welt endlich verantworten müssen – vor dem Internationalen Kriegsgerichtshof in Den Haag.(This is a chance for Germany to engage in politics in its national interest, to reestablish its sovereignty. It is also time to bring the US before the International War Crimes Court in Den Haag to answer for its crimes against humanity.)

Once again, with respect to anti-American rhetoric in Germany, left meets right.

German Expellees: The Open Wound

I never paid much attention to the fate of the Germans who, after the war, were ethnically cleansed from the eastern territories of Germany.  But last year I read GIles McDonogh's book After the Reich, which went into some detail on the forced evacuation and expulsion of approximately 12 million Germans.  Around 1.1 million were killed or died of deprivation from the ordeal.  For those who are still alive, and for their children, the war never ended.  Nor did it ever end for Poland, which lost 6 million people due to German agression and occupation. Today, more than 60 years later, there are renewed tensions between Germany and Poland over the fate of the expellees:

Berlin and Warsaw are locked in a political row over plans to appoint a German conservative MP accused of playing down Nazi war crimes to run a new museum dedicated to the plight of Germans forced out of eastern Europe after the Second World War.

The dispute, which threatens to jeopardise recently improved relations between the neighbours, centres on the figure of Erika Steinbach, a leading MP in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Party and head of her country’s Association of Expellee Germans. Mrs Steinbach has come to be regarded as a hate figure in Poland because of her support for the plight of 12.5 million of her countrymen who were kicked out of eastern Europe after 1945. She has been accused of playing down Nazi war crimes and of trying to portray German expellees as mere victims.

Frau Steinbach's connection with the eastern territories is rather tenuous.  True, she was born in Rumia (now part of Poland), but her father was from Hanau in Hesse, and he was sent to the east as part of the German occupying forces. Frau Steinbach was just one year old when the family returned to the west. As president of the Bund der Vertriebenen (Association of Expellees) Erika Steinbach has made a number of inflammatory statements, agitating against Poland's membership in the European Union and refusing to recognize the Germany-Poland border (actually set by the Potsdam Agreement without Poland's involvement).  The Poles, in turn, have added fuel to fire by characterizing Frau Steinbach as a rabid Nazi. There must be a way to honor and acknowledge the real suffering of the German expellees without attempting to rewrite history or indulging in pipe dreams of a reconstituted Grossdeutschland.  

Americans know little about this chapter of German history, but that could soon change.  Best-selling American writer Chris Bohjalian has just released his new novel, Skeletons of the Feast which is based on the unpublished diary of a Prussian woman who fled west with her family ahead of the advancing Red Army in 1945. Is a Hollywood blockbuster soon to follow?

Reviews of books here on the plight of German refugees and expellees from East Prussia:

Review of Walter Kempowski's Novel "Alles Umsonst"

Review of Arno Surminski's "Jokehnen"

Review of Gunter Nitsch's "Weeds Like Us"

Interview with Gunter Nitsch

The Chancellor and the Pope

This week the Vatican's debacle in rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying bishop took a political turn when Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly rebuked the German Pope:

"This should not be allowed to pass without consequences," Mrs Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin.

"This is not just a matter, in my opinion, for the Christian, Catholic and Jewish communities in Germany but the Pope and the Vatican should clarify unambiguously that there can be no denial," she said.

The outcry from conservative circles in Germany was immediate, begiining with the Pope's brother, who called critics of Benedict XVI "stupid and ill-informed".  And on the Web site kath.net Professor Dr. Hubert Windisch declared that German Catholics could no longer vote for Angela Merkel:

Frau Merkel hat sich am 3. Februar 2009 als Anti-Papst-Kanzlerin erwiesen. Für deutsche Katholiken ist sie nicht mehr wählbar. (On February 3, 2009 Mrs. Merkel showed that she is the anti-Pope chancellor.  German Catholics can no longer vote for her.)

Meanwhile the far right-wing paper Junge Freiheit complains that Holocaust denial is a crime (in Germany) while blasphemy is completely tolerated. This is also reflected in the hated principles of the European Union which makes no reference to God but makes Holocaust denial a crime throughout Europe.  But the Pope, according to the neo-fascist weekly, was not endorsing the views of Bishop Richard Williamson, but rather simply welcoming a sinner back into Church:

Die Rücknahme der Exkommunikation bedeutet keine Anerkennung der Bischofsämter der Piusbrüder, wie irrtümlich angenommen, sondern lediglich die Gnade der Rückkehr in den Kreis der einfachen katholischen Gläubigen, die zum Empfang der Sakramente berechtigt sind: seien sie Papst, Priester, Mörder – oder Holocaust-Leugner. Denn nach christlichem Verständnis sind sie alle Sünder und können eine Vergebung erlangen, die diese Welt nicht bereithält. (The rescinding of the ex-communication does not indicate a recognition of the authority o f Society of Pius X as has been mistakenly believed, but is rather blessing the return to fold of simple Catholic worshipers who are entitled to receive the sacrements: whether Pope, priest or murderer - or Holocaust-denier. For in the Christian faith they are all sinners and achieve a forgiveness denied to them in this world.)

Problem is, some sinners are more welcome than others.  Pope Benedict seems determined to extend a welcoming embrace to any ultra-conservative group that would reverse the course of the Second Vatican Council, while banning any critics from the left who would extend and accelerate those reforms. Case and point: Eugen Drewermann, who yesterday spoke out against those who presented God as a "vendor of barbed wire" ("Lieferant von Stacheldraht“). 

Left Meets Right: The New Face of German Anti-Americanism

Towards the end of the Weimar Republic there were attempts to establish a Querfront (Cross-Front) of the far left and the right-wing extremists to overthrow the established order.  In fact, there was a remarkable degree of fluidity between the communists and left-wing Marxist groups and the NSDAP.  What united these disparate groups was an extreme nationalism coupled with a populist anti-capitalist worldview.

Now a new Querfront is being formed by the enfant terrible of the German left, Jürgen Elsässer.  Earlier this week the socialist daily Neues Deutschland announced that it had fired Elsässer as editor after the journalist had formed a new organization: Volksinitiative gegen Finanzkapital (People's Initiative Against Finance Capital). "People's Initiative" sounds innocuous enough, but when you read a bit about more about Elsässer's plans you quickly realize it is an ultra-nationalist movement (Volksfront) comprised of patriots from across the political spectrum that must come together to combat American "financial weapons of mass destruction" (finanzielle Massenvernichtungswaffen). Supra-national organizations such as the EU or the UN are helpless against the relentless attack of the "Anglo-American" aggressors. Furthermore, the current crisis is just a "drop in the bucket"; the Americans are plotting a "final thrust" (Hauptstoss) that will bring "Old Europe" to its knees and make Germany forever a slave state of American interests. Elsässer outlines the main point of his new movment on the blog Duckhome: 

Hauptaufgabe der Volksfront ist die entschädigungslose Nationalisierung des Finanzsektors und die Abdrängung des anglo-amerikanischen Finanzkapitals aus Europa, in der Perspektive ein eurasisches Bündnis.(The main task of the Volksfront is to nationalize the financial sector without compensation and to force the Anglo-American finance capital from Europe while building a Eurasian alliance.)

This is the old Nationalist-Bolshevist dream: the "Eurasian" alliance between Germany and Russia against the decadent west.  Thus the Putinization of the German Left is now complete.

The neo-Nazi NPD was quick to welcome Elsässer's new movement.  The NPD representative Holger Apfel stated that Elsässer had "broken the ice" with the right-wing sympathizers in Germany and his movement would overcome the "dualism" of right and left in a common struggle against the forces of globalization and imperialism. The neo-fascist weekly Junge Freiheit also writes favorably about Elsässer and his new project.  Everything came to a head last weekend when Elsässer gave a speech in Berlin about this new movement and the threat of American FInanzkapital.  According to the Tageszeitung, a Holocaust denier by the name of Gerd Walther was in attendance. Congratulations, Jürgen! Your Volksfront is attracting some first-rate talent. 

"The Good Old Days" of the GDR

While Stalin is making a huge comeback in Putin's Russia, his German vassal Walter Ulbricht appears to be gaining popularity in some quarters at the LEFT party (die LINKE).  Der Spiegel recently described how former GDR functionaries - now members of the PDS/LINKE in the eastern German states - are openly expressing their nostalgia for the old days of Stasi and the "Schutzmauer" (the "protective" Berlin Wall):

Selten haben frühere Spitzenfunktionäre der DDR so offen ihre simple Sicht auf die DDR, die Bundesrepublik und die Wiedervereinigung zu Papier gebracht. 19 Jahre nach der friedlichen Revolution ist ihre Gedankenwelt wieder in der alten Ordnung. Die DDR war demnach ein Land, "in dem es sich gut leben und schaffen ließ", aufgebaut "dank der fleißigen, oft aufopfernden Arbeit seiner Bürger". In der Bundesrepublik hingegen gehe die "Angst um den Arbeitsplatz und vor dem Alter um". Die Wiedervereinigung sei eine "Kolonisierung" mit "Deindustriealisierung und Vernichtung großer Teile der Landwirtschaft und ganzer Wirtschaftszweige". "Wo bleibt", fragen die Autoren, "das Gedenken an die Opfer der Kolonisierung Ostdeutschlands?" (Seldom have former key functionaries of the GDR so openly displayed in print their simplistic view of the GDR, the Federal Republic and Reunification.  19 years after the peaceful revolution their mindset is once again aligned with the old order. In their view, the GDR was a "great place to live and work", built up by hard self-sacrificing work of its citizens", while in the Federal Republic there was only anxiety about employment and growing old."  The Reunification was a "colonization" that destroyed the agriculture and entire segments of the economy. The authors ask, "why don't we commemorate the victims of the colonization of East Germany?")

Comments such as this pose a problem for the LEFT party, which is surging now in western Germany and seeking to form coalitions with the SPD in states like Hesse. The CDU/CSU have begun a crusade against the LEFT party, arguing that the former SED functionaries deserve to be imprisoned rather than elected to office.  Of course, they conveniently overlook that their own party leader - Angela Merkel - was an opportunistic young functionary herself in the GDR.

In fact, the LEFT party is made up of 5 disparate factions, as Dan Hough outlines in an excellent recent article (pdf)on the LEFT party and its future. Firstly, there are the non-ideological pragmatists, who are actively involved in governing in the eastern German states, second, Hough identifies the modern socialists, who are seeking to develop a nationwide progressive vision of socialist reform, third, the younger alternative members, who are energized to fight against globalization, fourth the Westlinken of the old left  -primarily members of far-left splitter parties that found their way to the predecessor organization of the LEFT party, and finally there are the Old Ideologues in the east - these are the former SED functionaries who are nostalgic for the Stalinist past.  It is this last group, small in numbers but quite visible because of their preposterous statements, that is preventing the LEFT party from being viewed as a responsible coalition partner. 

Steinmeier for Chancellor

We Americans are so consumed by US presidential politics that we've nearly forgotten that Germans will be going to the polls next year. But events over the weekend have reminded us of this fact in a big way.  The Social Democrats (SPD) have made a very shrewd decision:

Kurt Beck quit as the leader of Germany's ruling Social Democratic Party, clearing the way for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to be the party's candidate for chancellor at next year's national election.           

Beck, whose popularity plunged to record lows during his 2 1/2-year tenure, said in a statement that he had asked Steinmeier to contest the September 2009 election against Angela Merkel in his place. He will be replaced as party chairman by Franz Muentefering, 68, a former vice-chancellor who clashed with Beck over plans to unpick labor-market policies before leaving front-line politics to care for his sick wife.    

      

Steinmeier, 52, speaking during a televised press conference outside Berlin today, said he and Beck ``agreed that the party must make a new start'' to be at once ``strong at the center and end factional fighting.'' He added that it was ``a hard day'' for the Social Democratic Party, known as the SPD.

Steinmeier is the only German politician more popular than Angela Merkel.  He is a fixture on the international stage and has the reputation for cool competence.  I wrote earlier about how the SPD was losing members; this move could reverse course give the party new momentum, since Steinmeier has a reasonable chance to assume the chancellery. Kurt Beck's erratic course has been damaging.  Of course, there are risks with Steinmeier as well: he was one of the architects of Gerhard Schröder's reform policies that have alienated many on the left and contributed to the growth of the LEFT party.  But Steinmeier has a talent for for coordination and building consensus, and that is what is required in a political system that relies on coalitions.  Franz Walter points this out in Der Spiegel:

Das deutsche Regierungssystem prämiert Koalitionsfähigkeit, nicht Spitzenkandidatencharisma. Daher wäre die richtige Frage in der Kandidatendebatte der SPD gewesen: Wer schöpft das Koalitionspotential am besten aus? (The German system of government puts a premium on the abilities of building coalitions, not the charisma of the candidate.  That would be the right question to ask in the candidate debate in the SPD. Who is in the position to take advantage of the opportunities for coalitions?}

Of course, not everyone is thrilled with the events over the weekend.  The old SPD hand Albrecht Müller of NachDenkSeiten is appalled that his party would turn over its future to pollsters and lobbyists:

Steinmeier wird auf diese Weise zum Kanzlerkandidaten gemacht werden. Das gründet nicht auf Leistung, nicht auf begründeten Wahlchancen und auch nicht auf der inneren Willensbildung der SPD-Gliederungen. Es gründet auf Propaganda, die sich leicht zu arrangierender Umfragen bedient. Und auf dem Willen der Bertelsmänner, der Springer, der Wirtschaft etc.. (So this is how Steinmeier is picked to be the candidate for chancellor.  It has nothing to do with performance, nor a realistic chance for the election nor the internal support of the SPD membership.  It is based on propaganda that makes use of opinion polls that are easily manipulated.  And it is based on the desires of Bertelsmann, Springer and big business....)

I think, however, that most realists and pragmatists will go along with the decision as the only viable course for a party that was falling into irrelevance.

The Putinization of the German Left

Vladimir Putin has carefully built up a large cadre of Russian youth  - called Nashi (official Web site) - who worship their leader an intimidate all opponents of the Russian authoritarian state. Nashi has been particularly energized by Russia's glorious victory over Georgia in the recent Five Day War.

Now some German leftist bloggers and journalists have become de facto branches of Nashi. Take for example the absurd claim by Putin that the US initiated the conflict in order to influence the outcome of US presidential election. Putin's propaganda organ Pravda published the story. The left-wing daily Junge Welt pounced on Putin's statement and offered proof that the US has given Georgia a "Green Light" to commence bombardment in South Ossetia. Furthermore, according to Junge Welt, "only idiots and cynics" would be concerned about the territorial integrity of Georgia. The left-leaning blogger Jens Berger - Der Spiegelfechter - has attracted a wide following with his carefully-written blog posts that "prove" that the west is engaged in a massive cover-up - presumably coordinated by the United States - of the US/Georgia military aggression in the region. Berger has become almost a German edition of Pravda with his pro-Putin / anti-American commentary and analysis.

Der Spiegelfechter has moved into George Orwell's realm in its most recent post, where he charges the German television network with censorship of an interview with Vladimir Putin it broadcast the other night. Accusing the western media of censoring Putin is rich, considering Putin's massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Russia, which apparently also involves the mysterious deaths of respected journalists such as Anna Politkovskaya, and - as reported just today in the New York Times - Magomed Yevloyev, a noted critic of Vladimir Putin.  Of particular interest in Der Spiegelfechter post are the admiring photos of Putin and fawning statements of the commenters.  Die Nachdenkseiten has now picked up the theme of German media censorship of Putin.

To be fair, some left-leaning sites like Telepolis have balanced their articles on the Georgia conflict with reports from Human Rights Watch on the ethnic cleansing taking place there. But it is instructive to read the numerous comments to the piece: many readers believe that the claims are false and the Georgian victims were really just paid actors.

What's behind this cult of Putin on the German left? Are these authoritarian remnants of the Stalinist past? Thomas Schmid, managing editor of Die Welt, looks for historical explanations in his piece: Why Russia Attracts the Left Even Today:

Die Deutschen neigten spätestens seit Herder dazu, Russland und den Osten zu verklären und ihnen gewisse Rohheiten nachzusehen – oder sie gar insgeheim zu bewundern. Eingeklemmt zwischen dem vermeintlich überzivilisierten Frankreich und dem erdverbundenen Osten, neigte man in Deutschland dazu, über den zivilisatorischen Zwang zu stöhnen – und ostwärts zu blicken. Die Sympathie für Russland hat die Abneigung fast immer überwogen. (Since Herder the Germans have tended to idealize Russia and the East and overlook  - or secretly admire - the certain brutality. Stuck between the overcivilized France and the earthy East, Germans have tended to groan under the weight of civilization and look to the East.  Sympathy for Russia has always outweighed any aversion.)

 

How Green is My Castle

For once the SPD is showing some strong leadership - in renewable energy.  The ancient city of Marburg with its castles and medieval churches is being dragged into the solar age.  The story has been picked up by the New York Times:

This fairy-tale town is stuck in the middle of a utopian struggle over renewable energy. The town council’s decision to require solar-heating panels has thrown Marburg into a vehement debate over the boundaries of ecological good citizenship and led opponents to charge that their genteel town has turned into a “green dictatorship.”

The town council took the significant step in June of moving from merely encouraging citizens to install solar panels to making them an obligation. The ordinance, the first of its kind in Germany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings, which fewer people oppose, but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs.

[...]Marburg, a historic university town where the Brothers Grimm once studied, is a model of enlightened energy production and consumption. In addition to the windmills and solar installations, the town’s utility company buys hydroelectric power from Austria, is transitioning its fleet of buses and other vehicles to natural gas and even lights footpaths with solar-powered lamps.

Not everyone is happy about the Solarsatzung.  Some are afraid that solar panels on the old structures will destroy the charm and turn off the tourists - a big business for the city. Leading the charge against the new regulations are the local Christian Democrats who claim the Eco-Dictators are infringing on the rights of property owners, even though home and business owners already have to comply with strict regulations - such as where to locate a fuel tank or what type of roof tiles can be used.  The Tageszeitung asks why the CDU is pushing back so hard in Marburg when they were so pro-solar in Heidleberg:

Die Haltung der hessischen CDU steht vor allem politisch auf schwachen Füßen. Das zeigt ein Blick in die 150 Kilometer südlich von Marburg gelegene Universitätsstadt Heidelberg. Dort müssen ab 2010 bei Heizungserneuerungen in Altbauten 10 Prozent aus erneuerbaren Energieen stammen. Und nicht nur dort, sondern in ganz Baden-Württemberg. Angeordnet hat dies die Stuttgarter CDU-Landesregierung. Fragt sich, warum die CDU in Heidelberg als ökologische Innovation feiert, was sie in Marburg als Ökodiktatur bekämpft. (The attitude of the CDU in Hessen is politically very questionable. This is apparent if you look just 100 miles to the south of Marburg in the university town of Heidleberg. In that city any renovations in heating systems of old structures must have 10% renewable energy by 2010. And not just there, but in the whole state of Baden Wuerttemburg - as mandated by the CDU state assembly in Stuttgart.  It's curious why the CDU considers something innovative in Heidelberg but tries to stop it in Marburg.)

Of course, when it comes to solar energy, Heidelberg, Marburg and virtually any German city is light years ahead of US towns and cities.  In my town, which gets more sun than most German cities, you can count the number of solar panels on one hand.