Florists in Dresden Germany

Chemnitz: Syrian asylum-seeker convicted of killing that sparked far-right riots - DW (English)

The man accused of the killing that led to a week of far-right violence last year in Chemnitz was found guilty of manslaughter at a court in Dresden on Thursday, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. Alaa S., a 23-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker, had maintained his innocence, while state prosecutors demanded a 10-year prison sentence for "joint manslaughter and serious physical injury." The prosecution case was largely based on the testimony of an employee at a nearby kebab shop. In an interview with public broadcaster ZDF a few days before the verdict, Alaa S. swore that he did not touch either the victim or the knife that killed him. His lawyers pointed out there was no DNA evidence linking him to either, though in their final statement on Thursday, prosecutors said his guilt had been proved nonetheless. The main suspect, 22-year-old Iraqi Farhad A. who had previously been accused of stabbings, has not been found and is believed to have fled the country. A third suspect, another young Iraqi, was released last September for lack of evidence. For the people of Chemnitz, the verdict is unlikely to bring closure to what escalated into a series of ugly events last year, and attracted major media coverage to t...https://www.dw.com/en/chemnitz-syrian-asylum-seeker-convicted-of-killing-that-sparked-far-right-riots/a-50120472

Southern Germany offers a scenic look at mountainous highs and historic lows - CT Insider

We didn’t visit our relatives this time because, while they live in an uncrowded area, the rest of the country is popular for big cities, such as Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne and Frankfurt. We prefer mountains, lakes and villages. We rented a car (do check with your insurance agent ahead of time; I learned later we weren’t covered in Germany all week) and we didn’t even stop in Munich, where the famous, crowded Oktoberfest was underway. Instead, we headed a short ways south for the combined scenic towns of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, stopping along the way near Oberammergau to see Ettal Abbey. It’s a nicely kept Benedictine monastery where you can buy not only a little ice cream in the gift shop but bottles of their beer. (This is when I first indulged my sophomoric amusement at how German words can mean something different to us, as I bought a bottle of Ettaler Kloster-Hell, or simply Hell for short. Later came Badgasse road, the Schmuck store and “Gute Fahrt!” on a gas station handle.) The Akzent Hotel Schatten (and restaurant) was a good choice in G-P, located on a cobblestone street in a 19th century building with a great view of the nearby mountains. The food was solid. German cuisine can be on the mild side, but the pork cutlet bathed in a mushroom gravy with spaetzle noodles worked for me. (I consider gravy a food group.) Speaking of food, we noticed similarities in breakfast at hotels in Mittenwald nearby, Oberstdorf to the west and our hotel at Lake Konstanz: the bread and rolls are great and abundant in the morning, mostly absent at night. (A good thing.) There are coldcuts for breakfast, as in Italy, but there is also fruit and some great cheese samples, along with eggs. Get a hotel with breakfast included. I expected to eat more sausage but didn’t have to; there were better options (schnitzel and even a nice steak in gravy) although not many green vegetables to be found (then again, the menus were in German). Local attractions include the rushing waters of Partnach Gorge, cable cars up Alpspitze (a lovely mountain in the northern limestone Alps) and even taller Zugspitze (mountaintops we visited included large Christian crosses near their summits), Neuschwanstein Castle (much-visited and known as “The Disney Castle”) and the old-town colorfully painted old houses and incredibly lush flowers in so many window boxes. We actually enjoyed the regular chiming tone of a nearby church bell, and there was a street festival going on for t...https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainment/ctpost/article/Southern-Germany-offers-a-scenic-look-at-14981609.php

Germany: Who killed Daniel H.? - DW (English)

Underground (NSU) terror group was able to go off the radar here for a long time without being detected. And since 2014, regular anti-immigrant PEGIDA rallies have been staged in Saxony's capital, Dresden. Moreover, in 2015, a far-right mob rioted and fought the police because they opposed an asylum-seeker shelter being set up in the town of Heidenau.&...https://www.dw.com/en/germany-who-killed-daniel-h/a-47955256

Letters to the Editor, Aug. 9, 2019 - Snoqualmie Valley Record

Jews (and other perceived enemies) at the same time it loosened gun restrictions for other groups.” Further, Dagmar Ellerbrock, an expert on German gun policies at the Dresden Technical University, reported that, “In my records, I found many Jews who well into the late 1930s possessed guns.” Moreover, the turning point was not gun restrictions, but Adolf Hitler’s legitimizing “outright murder on a large scale – without any legal proceedings whatsoever – and that the country largely accepted the Nazi propaganda that presented this step as necessary.” Greenberg concluded “A lack of guns was not the issue. If the majority of Germans had wanted to use these guns to fight the Nazis, they could have.” Our country is indeed in danger of tyranny. But the dangers stem from interference in our elections by foreign adversaries, Trump’s welcoming of this interference, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusal to allow legislation to block our adversaries from harming our democracy. Gun regulation is a red herring. Peter Bullard Snoqualmie -- -- ...https://www.valleyrecord.com/letters/letters-to-the-editor-aug-9-2019/

Chemnitz: Syrian asylum-seeker convicted of killing that sparked far-right riots - DW (English)

Daniel H.'s death, took another 8% and now has five of the 60 seats in the city council. Karsten Hilse, an AfD Bundestag member for Saxony, says last year's demos have been misrepresented. "Of course there were some far-right extremists there," he said. "But a young man was murdered, and then citizens got together who weren't far-right extremists, but just normal people like you and me, who said, 'right, this is enough now'." "What annoyed a lot of Chemnitzers is that hardly anyone talked about the murder afterwards, but only about the people who demonstrated," he argued. "But if you're a normal citizen, you go to work, you pay your taxes, and then you say ok, now I'm going on the street to say: 'I just don't...https://www.dw.com/en/chemnitz-syrian-asylum-seeker-convicted-of-killing-that-sparked-far-right-riots/a-50120472

Green party politician remains most popular head of federal state in Germany: poll - Xinhua | English.news.cn - Xinhua

With an approval rate of 66 percent, Daniel Guenther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, was the second most popular head of a federal state in Germany, followed by Stephan Weil of Lower Saxony who was ranked third with 60 percent. At the bottom of the ranking was Berlin's governing mayor, Michael Mueller (SPD), whose work was only rated positively by 27 percent of people living in the German capital's federal state. Following a big win in the European Parliament elections in May, where the Green party in Germany won 20.5 percent of votes and became second strongest political force, support for the Green party in Germany is at a historic high. According to last week's Trendbarometer, the Greens would gain the same number of votes as the governing conservative union CDU/CSU if elections were to be held. With regards to a first Green German chancellor, Winfried Kretschmann recently told the Funke Media Group that a German government led by the Greens would not involve a radical change of policy. "Nobody needs to be afraid of a Green Chancellor. We are not trumps or Erdogans or Orbans who throw everything overboard," Kretschmann told the German newspapers. The head of Baden-Wuerttemberg noted that he did not see "big differences" in alliances with the CDU/CSU and the SPD. "In socio-political issues, we make progress with the social democrats, in economic policy with the CDU/CSU". http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/16/c_138229413.htm

German conservative politician resigns over far-right ties - DW (English)

Now, the local lawmaker has left Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. Robert Möritz, a local politician from the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, surprisingly announced his resignation from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on Friday, saying he wanted "to shield the party from further harm" and calm the political uproar. It recently emerged that Möritz had ties to Germany's right-wing extremist milieu, and has a symbol tattooed on his arm associated with neo-Nazism. Möritz said his resignation was about sending a signal, and that "sometimes, life is about focusing on one's true priorities." He added that he nevertheless fully subscribes to the conservative CDU's values. News of Möritz' links to Germany's far-right milieu had brought Saxony-Anhalt's government — a coalition between the CDU, center-left Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens — to the verge of collapse. On Thursday, the state's CDU issued an ultimatum to Möritz, demanding that he distance himself from the far-right or face repercussions. Read more: Right-wing extremists in Germany to face amped up intelligence The CDU governs Saxony-Anahlt in a coalition with the So...https://www.dw.com/en/german-conservative-politician-resigns-over-far-right-ties/a-51756713

German Man Arrested After Failed Attack on Synagogue - The Wall Street Journal

Halle’s university hospital. A senior security official identified the suspect as Stephan Balliet, 27, a German citizen from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Halle is located, and said he wasn’t previously known to authorities. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said prosecutors had enough information to assume a far-right motivation behind the attack, even though it was too early to make a final determination. The 35-minute video of the assault was streamed live on Twitch, a streaming platform owned by Amazon.com Inc., according to Storyful, a social-media intelligence company owned by News Corp, which also owns The Wall Street Journal. Christiane Prinz, 49, who owns a hairdressing salon opposite the synagogue, said she saw the suspect, dressed in a dark-green military outfit, launch a projectile over the synagogue’s gate into its front yard and cemetery, after which there was a loud bang. .webui-slideshow-inset a:link, .webui-slideshow-inset .webui-slideshow-inset a:visited { color: initial; } div...https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-killed-in-shooting-in-eastern-germany-11570621267