This Will Show Them Russkies

February 24, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Humor Tags: Berlin, Colors, Demonstrations, Paris, Protests, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, War Leave a comment

And if lighting up stuff in the national colors of Ukraine doesn’t help, we may have to consider building a Menschenkette (a chain of people holding hands). As a last resort, we MIGHT even ask them to sing We Shall Overcome. So, like watch it, Putin. Give peace a chance, or something.

Berlin and Paris illuminate buildings in Ukrainian colours in show of unity – The German capital lit up the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous landmark in blue and yellow, the national colours of Ukraine, on Wednesday evening in a show of unity with Kyiv as the crisis with Russia deepens.

German Of The Day: Luftraum

February 21, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Cold War, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Russia, Ukraine Leave a comment

That means airspace.

As in: Time To Acknowledge Ukrainian Airspace Is As Dangerous As 1961 Berlin.

The tools are different, and the location has changed, but NATO and Russian President Vladimir Putin are engaged in a repeat of an epic October 27, 1961, Cold War standoff, when combat-ready American and Soviet tanks faced off in Berlin. Back then, the Soviets were reneging on Post World War II agreements that guaranteed the wartime allies unfettered access to East Berlin, and America successfully sent tanks to the border crossings to maintain those rights.

Today, the Ukraine border is a modern-day Checkpoint Charlie, and, instead of tanks, American reconnaissance platforms are confronting Russian anti-aircraft missile batteries and fighter aircraft. And, rather than backing out of post-World War II access agreements, Russia is set to renege on a guarantee of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

German Of The Day: Rosinenbomber

February 20, 2022 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, History, Hurt Feelings Tags: Berlin, Berlin Airlift, Candy Bombers, Gail Halvorsen, German, Germans, Germany, Language Leave a comment

That means raisin bomber. Or candy bomber, if you prefer.

Bombers like these, and their pilots, are hard to find these days.

Gail Halvorsen, pilot who showered children with candy during Berlin airlift, dies at 101.

Germans Invading Poland Again

December 31, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: Bans, Berlin, Celebrations, COVID-19, Fireworks, German, Germans, Germany, New Year's Eve, Poland, Restrictions 1 Comment

They had not choice. Firework sales have been prohibited in Germany.

Thanks a million, COVID.

Germans flock to Poland to buy fireworks in defiance of ban – Firework sales prohibited in Germany for second year in a row owing to Covid, resulting in growing stockpile.

Have a Happy New Year!

Tesla Model Ys Spotted In German Forest

December 21, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Bureaucracy, Germany, Tesla Leave a comment

Covered in red tape.

Several Tesla Model Y vehicles have been spotted at Gigafactory Berlin. Production has been expected to start any day, but official environmental approval is still uncertain.

Over the last year, Tesla has run into a lot of red tape while trying to get approval to start production at Gigafactory Berlin, a giant new factory located near Berlin in Brandenburg. Most recently, environmental groups had managed to obtain an extension of the public commentary period for the project, which delayed approval for another month. The new period concluded last month, and Tesla has been rumored to be on the verge of approval, but it has yet to happen.

The Merkel Legacy Lives On

December 19, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: Angela Merkel, Asylum Seekers, Berlin, Borders, German, Germans, Germany, Migrants, Terror, Terrorists Leave a comment

Oh, these wonderful German Christmas markets. The smell of gingerbread and mulled wine. Sweet almonds, decorated wood stands, cops with machine guns, security barriers, memorial ceremonies…

It’s that cozy Christmas feeling again!

5 years later, Germany remembers victims of Berlin Christmas market terror attack – On December 19, 2016, Islamist attacker Anis Amri drove a stolen truck through a crowd in central Berlin, killing and injuring dozens. Five years later, the background to the attack remains unclear.

An ALDI In Berlin?

December 16, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy Tags: ALDI, Berlin, USA 1 Comment

What will they think of next?

Oh, not that Berlin.

A sneak peek at the new ALDI in Berlin – The fourth to open on the Eastern Shore, Berlin is getting its own ALDI. Take a sneak peek at the inside of the store before it opens Dec. 16.

We Don’t Want Your Kind Here

November 11, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hostility, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: 2G, Berlin, Coronavirus, COVID-19, German, Germans, Germany, Vaccinations Leave a comment

The German “2G” rule means allowing only those vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to enter indoor areas.

This means that Germany has become a place where the vaccinated must be protected from the unvaccinated. It all makes sense these days somehow. And that’s the scary part.

Germany’s capital Berlin will from Monday tighten the screws on unvaccinated people by denying them access to indoor dining, bars, gyms and hairdressers in an effort to contain a coronavirus resurgence.

Under new rules in the city-state, only fully vaccinated people and those who can show proof of recovery from Covid-19 can enter leisure facilities and a list of other selected venues — a system known as “2G” in Germany.

15,000 Objects?

November 10, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, History, Hurt Feelings Tags: Antisemitism, Berlin, Europe, German Historical Museum, History, Museums Leave a comment

Is that all?

In the 1980s, he began collecting postcards, posters, leaflets, coins, newspapers, magazines, documents, stickers, figurines, photographs and films that testify to anti-Jewish sentiment with the express purpose of making them available to museums and archives as educational tools. He invested an estimated €1m in his collection, which includes an array of posters relating to the Dreyfus Affair, the armbands, diaries, passports and drawings of Jewish people imprisoned in concentration camps, and advertising material for the infamous antisemitic Nazi propaganda film Jud Süss (1940).

The collection “will help us and our visitors reach a deeper understanding of how widespread antisemitic views, images and hate propaganda were in Germany and other European countries from the middle of the 19th century,” says Raphael Gross, the director of the German Historical Museum.

German Of The Day: Impfpflicht

November 5, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Coronavirus, COVID-19, German, Germans, Germany, Hysteria, Language, Vaccinations Leave a comment

That means compulsory vaccination.

And that’s what most Germans want for Germany, believe it or not. Of course, most Germans have always wanted lots of things for Germany in the past that didn’t, well, work out quite so well. But still.

‘Grave concern’ over Covid in Europe as German cases soar – The World Health Organization expressed “grave concern” Thursday over the rising pace of coronavirus infections in Europe, as Germany registered its biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic…

Alarm bells were ringing especially in Germany, the European Union’s most populous country, where the number of new cases over the past 24 hours soared to almost 34,000 on Thursday — an all-time high, according to the Robert Koch Institute health agency.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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