Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 28.06.2005

Ekkehard W. Stegemann speculates about the contents of a document that surfaced a quarter of a century ago known as the Gospel of Judas, which will soon be published in an academic edition. "In any event, this find not only broadens the basis for research on the early Christian 'dissidents' known as the Gnostics. It also confirms that among their ranks was a group that identified with despised figures in the Bible. It is true, numerous texts refer to Jesus' disciples or other of his sympathisers. But the 'Judas' who is credited with the authorship of this Gospel is the 'traitor' Judas Iscariot. And for exactly that reason this find is of course of more than just academic interest... In this text Judas is prepared for his role as the one who will be viciously attacked by the other disciples, but in the end will stand above them all. He is the one who sacrifices the physical, human Jesus that wears the true, spiritual Christ like a robe."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 28.06.2005

It was not just any old day in 1969, it was November 9th (a day of remembrance for the victims of National Socialism), that a bomb was placed in the Jewish Community Centre in Berlin, which luckily failed to detonate. Today Wolfgang Kraushaar, whose book "Die Bombe im Jüdischen Gemeindehaus" (the bomb in the Jewish Community Centre) is due out in the next few days, has caused a sensation by naming the perpetrators. Both were members of the Kommune 1 (the first politically motivated commune in Germany, founded in Berlin in January 1967). Albert Fichter planted the bomb and today regrets his involvement, but the brains behind the operation was Dieter Kunzelmann. "Kunzelmann supposedly gave the orders. He may not have been alone, but after everything that has emerged about the case – he was certainly the decision maker. He cleverly stayed underground, pulling the strings. He had people who were prepared to walk through fire for him, while his own risk was remarkably slight. He could just sit in his hideout and wait for the operation to be confirmed."


Berliner Zeitung, 28.06.2005

Jan Brachmann reports on the erstwhile "Cannes of the Eastern Bloc", the Moscow International Film Festival, which is now in its 27th year. "The Russian film industry has gained terrifically in momentum, cinemas are sprouting up everywhere. And, as festival director Renat Davletyarov says, Russian films are topping the box offices... That the USA has just one film in the official competition is not unique to Moscow. Americans are 'success maximalists'. According to programme director Kirill Raslogov, they don't like to send their films to festivals where they're not guaranteed a prize. Things are no different in Cannes. Before the German-Czech film 'Wrong Side Up' was shown in the Pushkin Cinema as part of the official competion, director Petr Zelenka said to the audience: 'I love the Russians because they fight against the American film industry. We need this fight, and we have to wage it with good films and a strong distribution network."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 28.06.2005

Hardcore hiphoppers like Fler, Kool Savas and Bushido are hugely successfull in Germany with their nationalist, sexist and aggressive lyrics. Now they are starting to attract fans from the far Right. The SZ invites Bushido to argue it out with former rappers Hannes Loh and Murat Güngör (joint authors of "Fear of a Kanak Planet"). Bushido, who has a Tunisian father, feels no responsibility for the consequences of his music. But he is a little mystified about his Aryan fans. "One evening when Azad were on stage, their Moroccan manager came up to me and said, 'There are some Nazis out there shouting at Azad for being 'Kanaken' (racist term of abuse). We might have to call off the gig.' Then when I went on stage they ripped off their T-shirts and starting cheering. And then when I was giving autographs later, up came these two-metre oxes and one of them puts his arm around me and is sooo happy, and the more I hit him on his skinhead, the more he loves it. He says to me, 'Come on, write Bushido on my head'. It was weird."


Die Tageszeitung, 28.06.2005

Katrin Bettina Müller sends an enthusiastic mid-term report from the "Theater der Welt" festival in Stuttgart. She was particularly impressed by the festival's "successful bridging of images of globalisation with a patient exploration of local microcosms." The Theatre's best surprises were found "where one least expected them. For example the performance in a children's hospital by the British group theatre-rites or the Hungarian 'Peasantopera'. It swept you off your feet even if you'd never had any previous interest in Hungarian folk music or you'd always suspected peasant theatre of being thigh-slappingly ingratiating. The humour shines wickedly through the libretto, the folk songs are so brilliantly combined with the Baroque composition and the appalling cruelties of which humans are capable suddenly flare up in anecdotal details."