Süddeutsche Zeitung, 16.03.2006

Yesterday evening Ukrainian poet and playwright Yuri Andrukhovych received the Prize for European Understanding at the Leipzig Book Fair which started today and runs until March 19. In his sensational speech, Andrukhovych attacked the EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen who is opposed to Ukraine entering the EU. (The SZ prints the speech in part, but the full version in German is available as a pdf here). "European understanding has not taken place", the author states bitterly and directs his appeal to the EU member states: "Your help for this cursed country, in whose language I write and explain myself, is my very lifeblood. And it would not be fantastically difficult to help. It would involve one thing only: not formulating anything which kills hope." (Read our interview with Andrukhovych)

Gustav Seibt comments on the new immigration test compiled by the state government in Hessen and includes some of the questions. Seibt finds it "less obscure" than he expected and in fact pretty "functional and practical": ''For the immigrants it will mean a lot of cramming and for the rest of us it's a reassuring talisman". There are questions such as: "Explain the concept of 'Israel's right to existence'". Or another question is: "In one of his most famous paintings the German artist Caspar David Friedrich painted a landscape on the Island of Rügen. What is the motif in this painting?" (Read our article "Taking the immigrant test" here)


Frankfurter Rundschau, 16.03.2006

The Croatian author Slavenka Drakulic explains why she believes that the former Serbian dictator, Slobodan Milosevic died of love for his wife whilst in prison in the Hague: "The secret behind his pursuit of power was Mira's desire to make him the most powerful man in Yugoslavia. She was the most important person in his life - and in his death as well it seems. Their lifelong love story, her manipulative nature, her thirst for power which earned her the nickname 'Lady Macbeth' and their complete dependance on one another. All in all they are a rather curious yet fascinating couple".


Die Welt, 16.03.2006

The greatest enemy of the Russian army is itself, reports author Victor Yerofeyev, where recruits are tortured and raped on such a massive scale that Putin has conceived the idea of establishing a military police. "The recruit Sytchov has become a symbol for the latest scandal. This young soldier at the tank academy in Chelyabinsk was so sadistically tortured by his comrades on New Year's Eve 2006 that he developed gangrene. The medics amputated both his legs, genitals and several fingers. Perhaps the recruit Sytchov will one day become the hero of a pacifist novel of film, but so far, the doctors in a Moscow hospital are still struggling to save the life of the idol of all Russian deserters, who have openly declared war on the army and there are about 40,000 of them. "


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16.03.2006

A decade after millions of official files were made accessible to the public for the first time, Sonja Margolina is observing signs of the archive's "return to secrecy". Soviet bureaucracy which is keen to stonewall any dealing with its own history, is using oblique tactics: "extremely limited opening and working hours, year-long inventories, and other methods of discouraging users. According to Alla Koiten, the archive crisis stems more from a political culture which dates back to the Tsars. 'Every document which in the eyes of the state, landed in the wrong hands, was a potential threat to the establishment. Which is why historical knowledge was usurped.' The archivist believes that opening the archives to the public represents a dangerous loss of control and he unwaveringly considers himself the sole legitimate user of the archive, 'the owner of a secret knowledge which is available to him alone' - every bit the little Grand Inquisitioner."



Die Zeit, 16.03.2006

Film director Spike Lee talks to Katja Nicodemus about his new film "Inside Man", about the increasingly complex cultural conflict and the dire state of black cinema: "That's a bad topic. There was this wave of black cinema. Unfortunately that's starting to ebb away. It really is ebbing away. There are definitely a lot more Afro-American directors. But there's not enough political power. They're making stupid comedies or films about gangsters, hip hop and drugs. It's a political dilemma for me, this glorification of gangsters and their power and their black, macho world. When was the last time you saw a film about the black middle class? In mainstream films why are black people either brainless clowns, pimps or rappers? Why do young black men think it's uncool to go to college?