Die Welt 11.07.2007

On the anniversary of Srebrenica, Berthold Seewald considers an aspect of the massacre that has drawn little attention so far and that best-seller author Petros Markaris refers to in his most recent crime novel. "One estimates that the Hellenic voluntary army that fought as part of the Bosnian-Serbian Drina corps numbered 100 men. That's not many, measured against the public opinion that was massively on the side of the Serbs. Laconically, Markaris rimes off the civil wars during the freedom wars in the 19th century, the civil wars during the first and second world wars, until 1949, the guerilla wars of the 19th century, the catastrophes against the Turks, the defeat against the Germans and most recently the self-decimation under the military dictatorship of 1967 to 1974. Greece is a sad example of how wars and political repression have influenced the Balkans and continue to do so. The fact that only 100 went up against Srebrenica can be attributed to the mitigating influence of the EU."


Die Tageszeitung 11.07.2007

Cord Riechelmann has carefully inspected the "Atlas of Creation," a book published by Harun Yahya (also known as the Turkish Mulism creationist Adnan Hoca) which is meant to overturn Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The book is to some extent an atlas for evangelicals, and comes from a group that also promotes wild conspiracy theories about the Holocaust. What Riechelmann finds most interesting in the new volume is its fabulous illustrations. Because: "To be modern means to comprehend the world as a picture. (...) The new evangelicals have had to learn to imply modernity... they use scientific tools to undermine science. The mean trick in Yahya's 'Atlas of Creation' is that it uses the same methods and means of presentation as modern biology, and - scrapping the old protestant scruples against the graven image - turns these against the image of biology. The irony is that Yahya can only do this because Darwin himself relied on visual techniques as an instrument of his thinking."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 11.07.2007

Tobias Kniebe is, like many, disappointed by the fifth Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." He says: "The ending feels completely arbitrary, and the idea that, in the end, only love can give you the strength to win, is a cliché as old as humanity itself. You have to worry about the last two films, and even more about the content of the last book: So there will be another duel. And then another. And then - you've got it - at least one more."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 11.07.2007

Given the shrinking market for books, and the increasing dominance of large book-store chains, Hubert Spiegel is concerned about the upcoming autumn publishing season. So many new books by German authors are coming out that they could work against each other, he says. "Despite all the revelry over the rich harvest of books - there have been fish ponds in which the pickerel couldn't be seen for all the herring. And the way out of the economic crisis cannot be to sell as many books as poorly as possible."


Frankfurter Rundschau 11.07.2007

Arno Widmann is convinced that Tom Cruise should play Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg in the film (more) based on the 1944 plot to kill Hitler and he should do so in the historic location: the Bendlerblock in Berlin. "Peter Steinbach, director of the German Resistance Memorial Center in Berlin, says he would find it 'unbearable for the commemorative courtyard to be used as the backdrop for the execution of the protagonist Stauffenberg played by Cruise.' That's just crazy. You can't seriously say that Stauffenberg is being killed again in the form of Tom Cruise. That's not an argument but a reaction of contempt. Peter Steinbach simply doesn't want the evil Scientology dunce to play his hero Stauffenberg in his commemerative courtyard. That's understandable. But not justifiable. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg is history. He doesn't belong to his heirs, nor does he belong to the historians. Over decades, the Peter Steinbachs of the Bundesrepublik have tried to show us that we should all give a lot of thought to National Socialism and the opposition to it. Now it turns out that they didn't really mean all of us."