This sweet German card personifies the essence of Christmas to me: the innocence of a child who can delight and believe in its magical characters and events. The most special of all special times of the year, at Christmastime the world can be transformed and we can share, through a child's eyes and uncritical nature, in the spirit of abundance and giving.
Merry Christmas!
All smiles as European leaders Merkel and Macron greet each other in Brussels ahead of pushing the deadline for "climate neutrality" to 2050. They ended up allowing Poland to exempt itself from the agreement.
By Carolyn Yeager
THE COMMITMENT TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE NEUTRALITY BY 2050 (after having failed to reach the previous 2030 target) was agreed to by all at the current climate summit in Brussels … except for Poland. Deutsche Welle reported:
“Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced he had secured an exemption from 2050 climate neutrality” even though “the bloc had offered generous funding [of 100 Billion euros!] for regions that would be most affected by the fossil fuel phaseout.”
Ursula Haverbeck at age 89, prior to being incarcerated in a German prison. She turned 91 in November.
By Carolyn Yeager
This is the bare-bones report published Dec. 12 by the Associated Press:
BERLIN (AP) — A German court decided Wednesday that a notorious 91-year-old neo-Nazi serving a two-year sentence for Holocaust denial shouldn't be released early.
Ursula Haverbeck was convicted of incitement by a court in the northern town of Verden in 2017 and started serving her sentence last year.
Angela Merkel poses under the famous gate with her Jewish entourage: WJC's Ronald Lauder to her right, the Jewish Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki to her left, and museum director and guide Piotr Cywinski at far left of photo. The white head of Josef Schuster, leader of Germany's Council of Jews peeks over Merkel's left shoulder.
By Carolyn Yeager
IN THE MIDST OF POLITICAL DIFFICULTIES FOR HER PARTY and for her government partnership with the SPD (which just elected new leaders who show little interest in continuing their participation with Merkel's CDU), the German chancellor found time for a seemingly surprise first visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum in Poland.
She is only the third chancellor to ever visit Auschwitz—the previous two being Helmut Schmidt in 1977 and Helmut Kohl in 1989. This past September, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) spoke in Warsaw and condemned pre-1945 Germany for “putting its interests ahead of Europe's” as a whole, saying “Germans must oppose nationalism” and that Germans should not feel they are the “better Europeans.” Steinmeier attacked his own country for what Poland is increasingly pursuing for itself: a more nationalist (Poland First) path. Go figure.
By Carolyn Yeager
THE LONG-RUNNING SCAM OF a “holocaust camp survivors organization” that dates back to 1945 may be coming to an end.
The Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime/Federation of Antifascists (VVN-BdA), is being denied its nonprofit tax benefits status by Berlin because it was cited as a left-wing extremist organization or group by the Bavarian state domestic intelligence agency. According to a report in Der Spiegel magazine, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is keen to cut tax benefits for groups that try to influence political debate.
By Carolyn Yeager
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND HAS PUT OUT an authoritative document titled “God's Unfailing Word” that shockingly calls on Christians “to repent for centuries of antisemitism which ultimately led to the Holocaust,” according to The Guardian news of November 21.
The document says it seeks to promote a new Christian-Jewish relationship.
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, wrote a foreward to the official document in which he said the chief rabbi of Britain Ephraim Mirvis, who was given the privilege of writing an afterword to the C of E report, was “a friend,” and his comments were received in a spirit of friendship, “however tough they are to read.” The two men are said to be personally close.
Soldiers of the Israel Defense Force (enlarge) lay a wreath honoring Jewish victims 'of Germany' at a ceremony Sunday that at one time was meant to honor German soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. This epitomizes the travesty of a so-called "Free Democratic Germany."
By Carolyn Yeager
VOLKSTRAUERTAG TRANSLATES LITERALLY AS PEOPLE'S DAY OF MOURNING.
It originated in 1919 as a day of remembrance for victims of the First World War.
In 1934, the National Socialist government changed the name to “Heroes Remembrance Day,” with emphasis on the fallen German soldiers of the Great War.
After the end of the Second World War, under the rule of the enemy Jews and Communists as allowed and directed by the United States Eisenhower-led Occupation Control Council, the remembrance was expanded to include “victims of violence, terror and oppression, including victims of racism and xenophobia as well as refugees,” according to Deutsche Welle (dw.com).
From the Handbook for Schooling the Hitler Youth
Chapter Thirteen: The Soil as a Support for Industry (Handbook online is here)
The following has been lightly edited for greater brevity -cy
Just as the land gives man home and food, so also it supplies him the foundations of industrial life.
The distribution of minerals in Germany is to be explained in terms of their origin. Since they originate in part out of the interior of the earth, they can come to the surface only by breaking though the earths crust, as for example, by forming mountains. For this reason the presence of ores in Germany is confined primarily to the mountain ranges of central Germany. Even the minerals which originate from prehistoric, oceanic deposits are to be found mainly in central Germany, since these oceanic waters extended to the base of the mountain ranges.
From the Handbook for Schooling the Hitler Youth
Chapter Twelve: The Soil as a Source of Food Supply (Handbook online is here)
The first necessity of all living things is food. From man's first day he must be fed by the gifts of earth, fruits of the field, and the flesh of animals. Vegetation and animal life are in turn dependent upon the nature of the soil and climate. The soil, which supplies food for a people, has therefore the greatest economic significance for men.
Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD Party, Thuringia, celebrates the impressive achievement in Sunday's election, doubling it's vote total from five years ago after being fiercely attacked by the media and the other parties.
By Carolyn Yeager
Alternative für Deutschland Thuringia went from 12.8% of the vote total five years ago to 23.4% on Sunday, with all districts reporting. No other party came close to such an advance. Merkel's CDU (Christian Democrats) was the biggest loser, down 11.7%, from the last election! It's pretty clear the AfD took their new voters away from the CDU.
Nearly 65% of the state's eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's election compared to 53% five years ago.
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