Auf Wiedersehen, Andi

The German World Cup winner, footballer Andreas Brehme, has died. I feel compelled to mention the time that I met him. 

It was July 1994, and I was spending the summer interning in the (then) UAHC Education Department at 838 5th Avenue, NY. At that time I was still a naughty smoker, and would pop out at lunchtime for a quick ciggie in the park. 

I was on my way back to the office, when I was passed by a gentleman who reminded me of Asterix the Gaul.

I realised that Andi Brehme was walking down 5th Avenue. Germany had just gone out of the World Cup to Bulgaria, and he was taking in the sights. I increased my pace to try and catch up, with no idea what or if I would say anything. I caught up with him just before the main door of 838. I tapped him on the shoulder, smiled, and said, "Schade Andi, aber gut gespielt!", then turned into the building. As I turned I could see his furrowed brow, trying to figure out how a woman had spoken to him about football in perfect German on a NY street and then disappeared through a door under a gigantic stone Biblical quotation.

It was sad to hear of his death. He was really quite young. Here is a link if you'd like to know more about his career:  BBC Sport.

 

The Jew in the Box

I don't know if you have come across the phrase "The Jew in the box"recently, but it has been all over. The mother of ravaj is proud to note that CNN, Time magazine, The New York Times and NBC's Today show have all shown an interest in the latest exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. It is actually called "The Whole Truth:  Everything you always wanted to know about Jews". A sister of ravaj happens to be one of the curators. We are proud of her. While it is a pity that the media have fixated on one element out of thirty showcases in the exhibition, at the same time the international exposure has probably helped the profile of the museum. If you wish to form an opinion of your own, and are unable to visit Berlin before September, here are a number of links for various commentaries to help out:


Museum defends 'Jew in a Box' exhibit by CNN_International

version viewable by American viewers may be found here.

A story from the New York Times is here. This is a quote from it:

"Michal S. Friedlander, a curator at the museum and an American-born German Jew, said that most of those who criticized the show had not actually seen it. 'That's the whole point, what's appropriate and what's inappropriate and letting people come to their own conclusions.'"

btw, having always considered this sis to be a bit of a Luddite, I was delighted today to discover that she has at least one blogpost to her name!

Benjamin Weinthal's report and review in Foreign Policy may be found here.

Time magazine online

Criticism in the Jewish Daily Forward

Last for now, a link to an interview on the Today Show in the USA on the NBC channel. If you want more, you're on your own!

Did He See It Coming?

Pauls of the world are in mourning, as Paul the Psychic Octopus is dead. The obvious question: did he see it coming? Sadly, we shall never know. The Guardian reported:

"Stefan Porwoll, the manager of the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany that the tentacled psychic called home, said Paul appeared to have died peacefully of natural causes during the night.
"We are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life here and that the care provided him by our dedicated displays team could not have been bettered," Porwoll said. (He continued), "We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine.""

Or you could read about firefighters striking on Bonfire Night, or the cholera epidemic in Haiti, or Tariq Aziz having been sentenced to death. No? Ok then, Paul. it shall be.

Paul the Psychic Cephalopod

Paul is an octopus that lives in Germany. He has come to our attention because during this World Cup, Paul has predicted the winner of each match the German team has played. This includes the shock defeat to Serbia (seen above), and today's semi-final loss to Spain. Six games in a row now the prediction has been correct. Is this a miracle? Might God really be interested in football? Who knows ...

Meanwhile, now the Germans are out, what next for Paul? I wonder how much it would cost to sign him for QPR?!

Springtime for Pretzels

'The Producers' is about to be produced in Berlin. The trouble is that it is illegal to show a swastika in, I believe, just about any situation in Germany. Thus the hooked cross symbol has been replaced in the production by ... a pretzel. Thanks to the mother of ravaj for pointing this story out to her this morning!

Personally, I think Charlie Chaplin did it better:

a playground in berlin

almost three and a half years ago, germany's official holocaust memorial was opened in berlin, not far from where hitler hid in his bunker as his evil dreams crumbled all around him. here is the ny times report on the opening.

i went to see the memorial a couple of weeks ago. it appeared to be a wonderful place for children to play. you can have a mean game of hide-and-seek among the steles. i also saw many young people jumping from stone to stone. it was an interesting question to consider: what is one supposed to do when visiting this memorial? there is an underground information centre, for which i was not in the mood. there is a small, separate memorial for homosexual victims of the holocaust. and there are these wonky, crooked paths up and down and at all angles and heights that make a grid between the stones. part of me was annoyed that people could be so happy in a place commemorating such evil and misery. part of me was rather happy that there was some joy in such a sad place. i don't know if it is a very good monument, but it is definitely a wonderful playground.

german bees

not that i wish to bee boring, but news just in from germany that the bee population there has dropped by 25%. is anybody listening?