Dialog International

Heinrich Heine Takes New York

Katy, a professional translator of German, noted a significant event on her blog : The other day the venerated New York Times reviewed a translation of a German literary classic. The book is a brand new translation of Heine's Reisebilder by Peter Wortsman. It is very rare that the NYTimes uses its valuable real estate to review a translation from German, much less a new translation of a 19th century book. But the reviewer points out something that I didn't know, even though I lived in New York City for 15 years:

"After his death, a statue of Heine was offered to Düsseldorf. Nationalist sentiment caused it to be rejected. German-Americans then donated it to New York to be placed by Central Park. It was pronounced aesthetically inferior (this has always been a hard place to crack the art scene), and it stands now in the Bronx."

The Heinrich Heine Fountain (also known as the Lorelei Fountain) was dedicated at the south end of Grand Concourse Plaza in the Bronx in 1899. It is an amazing irony that a memorial to Heine, a poet of great subtlety, is now located in a park named after Joyce Kilmer, an American poet-hack who lacked all irony or subtlety.

Professor Paul Reitter of Berkeley has written a fascinating article about the "Heine Monument Wars" (in The Germanic Review - subscription only).  The attempt to erect the Lorelei Fountain in Düsseldorf was sabotaged by a campaign of antisemitism which frightened away potential benefactors (and enraged Friedrich Nietzsche). A German choral group in New York City - the Arion Verein - convinced the sculptor Ernst Herter to bring his project to New York. The monument was to stand at the entrance to Central Park on Fifth Avenue.  This attracted the attention of the Christian Temperance Union, who condemned the figure of the Lorelei as a "pornographic spectacle".  So the fountain was moved to the Bronx, which, it turns out, was not such a safe place even in 1899: the monument was horribly vandalized when the "Personification of Poetry" at the fountain's base was decapitated.  The city of New York placed a round-the-clock police guard at the fountain, but it fell into disrepair - like much of the city - during the 1970s.  A dentist from Düsseldorf rehabilitated the fountain during his annual vacation trips to America, and finally, in 1999 the fountain was restored to its original splendor through the Municipal Art Society’s Adopt-A-Monument Program, with $310,000 as a gift from the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

It is indeed fitting that the first monument dedicated to the exile Heinrich Heine can be found in New York City - not far from the Statue of Liberty, the first stop for so many German exiles, both voluntary and involuntary.

US Supreme Court Upholds US Constitution

For six years the Bush administration has illegally held detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they were tortured and denied all access to due process. At least one released prisoner from Germany has described his kafkaesque ordeal in detail in a book. Today the US Supreme Court has moved to restore the rule of law and has upheld the cherished foundations of the US Constitution.  Here is the summary from Scotus Blog:

"In a stunning blow to the Bush Administration in its war-on-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay have a right to pursue habeas challenges to their detention. The Court, dividing 5-4, ruled that Congress had not validly taken away habeas rights.  If Congress wishes to suspend habeas, it must do so only as the Constitution allows — when the country faces rebellion or invasion."

"The Court also declared that detainees do not have to go through the special civilian court review process that Congress created in 2005, since that is not an adequate substitute for habeas rights.  The Court refused to interpret the Detainee Treatment Act — as the Bush Administration had suggested — to include enough legal protection to make it an adequate replacement for habeas.  Congress, it concluded, unconstitutionally suspended the writ in enacting that Act."

Guantanamo and the Bush torture policy have destroyed Americas reputation abroad for the next generation. The reactions from the two candidates for president were instructive. John McCain would continue the Bush policy of denying due process to detainees and, like Bush, would shred the US Constitution. Senator Obama sees the ruling as the first step to restoring America's integrity:

"The Court's decision is a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo -- yet another failed policy supported by John McCain," Obama said. "This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus."

Reaction to the US Supreme Court ruling in Germany has been one of immense relief. Der Spiegel has an interview with two of the US attorneys who filed the intial complaints on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees that led to today's ruling: Ende des Alptraums (The Nightmare is Over).  Die Tageszeitung published an editorial - Rechtstaat gegen  George W. Bush / The Rule of Law vs. George W. Bush - where Bernd Pickert writes that according to constitutional logic the courts decision should lead to impeachment:

"Nach der US-Verfassungslogik lieferte die Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichts nun eine ausgesprochen stichhaltige Begründung, um im US-Kongress ein Amtsenthebungsverfahren gegen die Regierung zu beschließen."

Impeachment will not happen; the current Democratic leadership is too cowardly to pursue this now.  But the closeness of the court's decision today - 5 to 4 - shows that the rule of law in America is just hanging by a thread. 

 

Less Than Zero: Bush's Farewell Visit to Germany

George W. Bush must long for the old days when a visit to Germany would bring out thousands of protesters.  Do you remember when he transformed the city of Mainz into a ghost town in 2005? Do you recall when his lightning massage of Angela caused an international uproar? And as recently as last summer a visit by Bush to the G-8 summit could cause a full-scale riot in Rostock. But now, on his farewell tour, Bush's visit is met with yawns, mixed with an equal measure of contempt and relief - relief that the nightmare of his presidency is nearly over.

Vor dem Besuch Bushs auf Schloss Meseberg bei Berlin am Dienstag und Mittwoch ist alles ganz anders. Es gibt keine Globalisierungsgegner, die Großdemonstrationen organisieren, und keine Oppositionspolitiker, die lange Forderungskataloge an den US-Präsidenten richten. Die öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit ist bisher nicht viel größer, als wenn sich ein Staatschef aus Mexiko oder Brasilien angekündigt hätte. (Ahead of the visit by Bush to the Meseberg Castle outside of Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday everything is different this time. There are no globalization protesters organizing huge demonstrations, no politicians with their list of demands for the president.  So far the public interest in Bush's visit is not much greater than if the head of state from Mexico and Brazil were to visit.)

Mexico or Brazil?  What an insult! The FT Deutschland calls the visit more of a "wellness tour" for George and Laura Bush.  They can stroll through the gardens with Angela Merkel and her husband and not have to worry about meeting rude political leaders from the Green Party, much less the "commie" LEFT party, who might ask him embarrassing questions about the torture policy of his administration:

Andere Politiker haben die Visite in den letzten Tagen genutzt, um sich möglichst weit von dem Präsidenten zu distanzieren. Der Tenor quer durch alle Parteien: Bushs Regierungszeit war ein Desaster. Den meisten Volksvertretern dürfte es daher ganz recht sein, den Texaner nicht mehr treffen zu müssen. (In the last few days other politicians have taken advantage of the visit to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the president.  The common thought that crosses all party lines: Bush's presidency was a disaster. Most of the representatives are only too glad that they won't have to meet with the Texan ever again.)

As far as I know, President Bush has not asked to meet with Murat Kurnaz from Bremen, so that he could apologize for detaining and torturing the young man in Guantanamo for five years, even though the US military knew he had no terrorist connections. As far as I know , President Bush has not asked to meet with Khalid el-Masri, a German citizen, to apologize for the "unfortunate mix-up" where US intelligence kidnapped him off the street and flew him to a Black Site in Afghanistan where he was tortured. As far as I know, President Bush does not intend to apologize to the German people for using the US air base at Ramstein as a CIA "Drehscheibe" (hub) for rendition flights.

Being George W. Bush means never having to say you're sorry.

America's Newest Export to Germany

Recently I reviewed the book The Age of American Unreason and noted that today America's hottest exports to Europe are "infotainment"  and junk science.  Millions of Americans reject the science of evolution and instead embrace "creationism" - literal interpretation of the Bible that the earth was created in six days approximately six thousand years ago.  According to the creationists, humans and dinosaurs cohabited the earth.  Just this week it was reported that Texas State Board of Education is again considering a science curriculum that teaches the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution, setting an example that several other states are likely to follow. This is code for teaching creationism. Texas has the second largest public school system in the US. Thousands of Americans have flocked to the Creation Museum in Kentucky to see replicas of Noah's Ark and learn about the "science" of the Bible.

Now a group of entrepreneurial creationists want to build a "Genesis Amusement Park" in the vicinity of Heidelberg, so Germans can finally wean themselves of Darwin:

Der   biblische Vergnügungspark soll im Raum Heidelberg entstehen. Dort plant die   in Zürich ansässige Firma Genesis-Land AG bis 2012 auf einem rund 50 Hektar   großen Gelände ihr rund 120 Millionen Euro teures Projekt. Entstehen sollen   unter anderem eine in Originalgröße gebaute Arche Noah, Museen, Achterbahn,   Übernachtungsbetriebe und Vortragssäle. (The Biblical amusement park is to be built near Heidelberg.  There the Zurich-based company Genesis Land AG hopes to complete its project that will cost 120 million Euros on a 50 hectares land parcel. The attractions will include a "actual size" Noah's Ark, museums, roller coaster, hotel accomodations and lecture halls.)

American tourists figure into the business model for the park and its location: "Schließlich   sei der Raum Heidelberg besonders für US-Amerikaner eines der   Hauptreiseziele in Europa." (Certainly the Heidelberg area is a top tourist destination for Americans).

The Swiss developers are having some difficulty raising the necessary capital for the park from European investors.  No problem: US private equity groups know that investing in ignorance and junk science provides a superior return.  It is America's newest growth industry and it is going global.

Is this satire?

The left-leaning Tageszeitung in Berlin has ignited passions on both sides of the Atlantic with its cover headline Onkel Baracks Hütte (Uncle Barack's Cabin). Even the New York Times picked up the story:

A leftist German newspaper provoked outrage and condemnation for printing what many readers called a racial slur about Senator Barack Obama. The newspaper, Die Tageszeitung, printed a front-page article about Mr. Obama’s becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and used a photograph of the White House and the headline “Uncle Barack’s Cabin,” in German, a reference to the antislavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which contains negative racial stereotypes.

True, the term Uncle Tom is usually used in a pejorative sense, often by blacks in condemning other blacks for giving into racism. But over time the actual 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe has largely been forgotten. The book is an abolitionist classic and was read as such in 19th century America. It is no longer read here, but is read by young students in Germany who study American history. Certainly taz (as Die Tageszeitung is called) has been supportive of Barack Obama's candidacy and is known for its strong opposition to racism in all its manifestations. The fact that the word Hütte appears with an image of the White House makes it clear that the editors were attempting satire.

taz editor Bernd Pickert writes:

Wir geben mit der Zeile und dem majestätischen Bild des Washingtoner Machtzentrums dem Triumph Ausdruck, dass Onkel Tom passé ist - in Zeiten Onkel Baracks ist alles ganz anders. Schade, dass das missverstanden werden konnte. (By combining the phrase with the majestic image of the Washington seat of power we are expressing the triumph that Uncle Tom is passé - the age of Uncle Barack things are far different. It is unfortunate that this could be misunderstood.)