A data center project proposed for Pasewalk As reported by NDR the applicant behind a €800m ($833.1m) project has withdrawn its application contract negotiations with the city of Pasewalk related to the project have been ongoing for around three years but fell through due to Pasewalk Mayor Danny Rodewald's request that a separate company based in the city should build and operate the data center Plans for the project first emerged in May 2023 with the applicant seeking to build a data center on 250,000 sqm (2,690,977 sq ft) of land in the Berlin-Stettin industrial park the city hoped to gain €2.6 million ($2.7 million) from the sale of the property alone while the total investment could reach €800 million ($833.1m) The proposed data center would have operated on renewable energy and would create around 70 jobs in the area Details about the data center project itself are sparse DCD has contacted the city of Pasewalk for further information about the number of data centers Berlin is a secondary data center market in Germany with the primary market located in Frankfurt Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia has overseen the daily operations at Birkenstock’s newest production facility The 35,000-square-meter factory in the Berlin-Szczecin industrial park near Pasewalk “It is an honor to take on the leadership of this state-of-the-art facility,” said van Schalkwyk we have ideal conditions to produce our footwear to the highest quality and safety standards I am excited about the opportunity to enhance Birkenstock’s supply chain operations from our Pasewalk location and look forward to engaging with our partners and stakeholders in the local community and beyond.” “Thomas brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record in manufacturing and operations management His leadership will be invaluable as we continue to expand our production capabilities and maintain our commitment to quality and innovation.” Van Schalkwyk holds an MBA from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and has extensive experience in the manufacturing sector He has spent the past one and a half years at the company’s factory in Görlitz van Schalkwyk gained valuable international experience working in South Africa This diverse background will serve him well as he leads the Pasewalk plant which will employ 700 people from around ten different nationalities as of October my goal is to inspire and motivate my team to work collaboratively towards achieving our common objectives,” Van Schalkwyk remarked “I believe in fostering a work environment where employees are driven by a shared purpose rather than obligation I am committed to quality and customer satisfaction and always strive to maintain a holistic perspective on our operations.” Read More SGB Update Stories ©2025 SGB Media. All rights reserved. Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of SGB Media South African-born Thomas van Schalkwyk has been in charge of operations at Birkenstock's newest production facility The 35.000 square meter plant in the Berlin-Szczecin industrial park near Pasewalk began operations in September 2023 Thomas van Schalkwyk has extensive experience in the manufacturing industry he has worked as Head of Production at the Birkenstock plant in Görlitz he was responsible for all production processes production planning and technical purchasing We always keep you up to date: with our free newsletter SHOEZ compact You will regularly receive all information from the shoe industry in a clear form when a new magazine is published US Managing Director Peter Sachs hands over to Lance Taylor Alchemy plans to take over almost half of the Austrian shoe retailer Second best financial year in the company's history Creditors' meeting decides against P&C's takeover offer Sanela Krisat becomes International Sales Director sales representatives and business partners throughout the DACH association Telephone: +49 (0) 6 41 / 7 95 08 – 0Fax: +49 (0) 6 41 / 7 95 08 – 15Email: info@shoez.biz Designed by willsch-media.de Private equity firm L Catterton will control a majority of voting power on outstanding shares. Founded in Germany, Birkenstock plans to enter the public market while emphasizing its unique approach to comfortable footbeds. “Birkenstock is more than a shoe. lt’s a way of thinking, a way of living,” CEO Oliver Reichert said in a letter to prospective shareholders. “We are serving a primal need of all human beings. We are a footbed company selling the experience of walking as intended by nature ... Today, we are crowning this development with an IPO - a logical step that began with the stepping back of the family from the operational business.” L Catterton acquired a majority stake in Birkenstock in 2021 through affiliated entities, with the company joining the private equity firm’s portfolio of brands such as Ganni and Hanna Andersson.  Birkenstock’s direct-to-consumer penetration increased from 30% of revenues in fiscal 2020 to 38% in 2022, with the company investing significantly in its e-commerce platform to support DTC growth since 2016. Its e-commerce site is available in more than 30 countries and makes up 89% of its DTC channel. The footwear brand operates a retail network of 45 stores as of June 30, 20 of which are located in Germany. Birkenstock has recently expanded that network globally though, with locations including New York City, Los Angeles and more. The company believes its vertically integrated manufacturing structure is a key differentiator. Birkenstock assembled 95% of its overall products and 100% of its footbeds within five owned factories across Germany, with certain component manufacturing supplemented in Portugal. The brand’s latest factory in Pasewalk, Germany, will be operational in late 2023, and it plans to expand its recently acquired component manufacturing facility in Portugal over the next two years. Looking forward, Birkenstock plans to support growth with initiatives such as expanding its product assortment and increasing brand penetration globally in countries such as France and Canada. Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts As a channel, it remains key to growth for many retailers. But the era of the DTC brand as we know it is over. The intense pressure to end diversity initiatives has led companies to scrutinize their policies. Many will end up making them stronger. Subscribe to Retail Dive for top news, trends & analysis The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines revenue growth eased from the second quarter signaling some level of caution among consumers.Birkenstock's revenue rose 19.3% to 564.8 million euros ($626.76 million) slightly missing estimates of 565.2 million euros."Some of the Barbie bounce from last year may also have dissipated and clearly some shoppers are becoming more cautious this does not look set to be the start of a downbeat chapter Birkenstock is still alive and kicking in the fashion pack," said Susannah Streeter Hargreaves Lansdown's head of money and markets.The company maintained its annual sales and core profit forecasts.($1 = 0.9011 euros)Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema Sriraj Kalluvila and Krishna Chandra Eluri Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Northeast/North Central Nebraska’s most trusted A THREE-VEHICLE accident Thursday afternoon sent one person to the hospital A Chrysler van involved in the accident is considered a total loss a Burger King sign and a light pole also sustained damage as a result of Thursday’s accident A three-vehicle accident near the intersection of 13th Street and Pasewalk Avenue sent one person to the hospital Thursday afternoon a maroon Chrysler van was traveling northbound at a high rate of speed when it collided with a northbound white pickup and a northbound black sedan Fred Roskens with the Norfolk Police Division children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago according to a federal report released Friday The 2025 Nebraska Passport officially kicks off this week featuring 70 stops organized into 10 themed tours to visit the attractions and collect their stamps WAYNE — Forty-nine Wayne State College students have been inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta the national honor society for first-year academic success VATICAN CITY (AP) — “Conclave” the film may have introduced moviegoers to the spectacular ritual and drama of a modern conclave but the periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a whole genre of historical trivia it’s an opportune time to recognize the indispensable role livestock auctions play in our rural communities in the state but also the U.S beef supply chain — not only in facilitating commerce but in setting the standard for responsible animal handling (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain chairman of the board at Berkshire Hathaway when vice chairman Greg Abel takes over for Buffett as CEO at the start of 2026 Jim Pillen has officially proclaimed May as “Beef Month” in Nebraska — recognizing the essential role that the beef industry plays in the state’s economy One person was injured in a single-vehicle accident just north of Norfolk late Monday morning WeatherThreat.com Closings (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain chairman of the board at Berkshire… stock market needed just a few weeks to roar all the way b… BERLIN (AP) — Central Berlin was in ruins after the Red Army completed the Allied victory ov… RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in Brazil said on Sunday that two people have been arrested in … NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war there are no recent results for popular commented articles Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account Company executives said the footwear brand has room for pricing adjustments to help offset inflation effects on the bottom line Though shares of Birkenstock dropped 10% following the footwear brand’s first earnings announcement since becoming publicly traded Birkenstock’s revenue for the fiscal year ending on Sept showed revenue increase 20% to 1.5 billion euros or about $1.6 billion at current exchange rates its net profit fell almost 60% to 75 million euros “Although the stock market may have suggested a problem BIRK posted industry leading growth at impressive Gross Margins,” Siegel said in an email to Fashion Dive “We continue to see whitespace ahead for the brand.” The Germany-based company also issued a profit warning, saying it expects “a modest headwind to adjusted EBITDA margins due to planned ramp-up costs and an initial under-absorption in Pasewalk,” its new plant in Pasewalk, Germany which is part of its larger global expansion plan On a call with investors following the earnings said the company has room to increase pricing to help digest “the one-off costs through this factory improvements and further investment in our capacity.” He said the company had underestimated inflation effects it expects the added capacity from the new Pasewalk plant will help fulfill future demand It expects revenue for the year to range between 1.74 billion and 1.76 billion euros “Being a public company can carry certain nuances that don’t exist while companies are private,” Siegel said results are the true arbiter of success and results are what win out in the end.” By press time, shares of BIRK were trading at $45.72, below the IPO price of $46 but above its initial starting trade price at $41 managing director in the consumer and retail group of Alvarez and Marsal said the market overreacted following the announcement “Birkenstock should maintain its strong position in the market,” Prendergast said in an email to Fashion Dive solid results all point to success for the future The brand is in a very strong position from a lifecycle standpoint Some of Birkenstock’s footwear competitors are set to announce financial results next month The designer fills the role at the LVMH-owned house after an 11-year tenure at Loewe Fashion Dive has put together a list of luxury fashion financial reporting dates to help keep track of the sector Subscribe to the Fashion Dive free daily newsletter Want to share a company announcement with your peers covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg BERLIN — A 101-year-old man was convicted in Germany of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder on Tuesday for serving at the Nazis' Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison had denied working as an SS guard at the camp and aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners the man said that he had worked as a farm laborer near Pasewalk in northeastern Germany during the period in question the court considered it proven that he worked at the camp on the outskirts of Berlin between 1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party's paramilitary wing "The court has come to the conclusion that you worked in the concentration camp as a guard for about three years," presiding Judge Udo Lechtermann said the defendant had assisted in the terror and murder machinery of the Nazis "You willingly supported this mass extermination with your activity," Lechtermann said Prosecutors had based their case on documents relating to an SS guard with the man's name the trial was held in a gymnasium in Brandenburg/Havel The man was only fit to stand trial to a limited extent and was only able to participate in the trial for about two and a half hours each day The trial was interrupted several times for health reasons and hospital stays Sachsenhausen was established in 1936 just north of Berlin as the first new camp after Adolf Hitler gave the SS full control of the Nazi concentration camp system It was intended to be a model facility and training camp for the labyrinthine network that the Nazis built across Germany More than 200,000 people were held there between 1936 and 1945 Tens of thousands of inmates died of starvation as well as through medical experiments and systematic SS extermination operations including shootings though scholars suggest figures of 40,000 to 50,000 are likely more accurate Jewish prisoners were singled out at Sachsenhausen for particularly harsh treatment and most who remained alive by 1942 were sent to the Auschwitz death camp Sachsenhausen was liberated in April 1945 by the Soviets who turned it into a brutal camp of their own Tuesday's verdict relies on recent legal precedent in Germany establishing that anyone who helped a Nazi camp function can be prosecuted for accessory to the murders committed there Become an NPR sponsor with the foundation stone laid in August of the same year The new facility is the single largest investment in the company’s history at around €110 million The plant will begin with a team of around 200 people in production and administrative roles before expanding capacity and bringing in another 800 employees in the medium term the company’s Görlitz plant will now focus entirely on cork-latex production The new factory clears the way for Birkenstock’s “Made in Pasewalk” series of products International Leather Maker is a business information brandproduced by Edify Digital Media Ltd Follow our social accounts This site uses cookies in order to function properly and to allow us to improve our service.By using this site you consent to the use of cookies. Find out more HERE. We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns After a construction period of around 17 months Birkenstock's new production facility in the Berlin-Szczecin Industrial Park near Pasewalk has started operations it is the largest single investment in the company's history The factory initially starts with around 200 employees who work in both production and administration The capacities in Pasewalk will then be gradually expanded as part of a so-called ramp-up process up to an expansion stage with around 1.000 employees in the medium term Up to 6,4 million pairs of shoes per year will be produced in the new factory the factory in Görlitz is being refocused and completely converted to cork-latex production The current Burger King restaurant was constructed in 1978 Owner Troy Uhlir came before the Norfolk Planning Commission on Tuesday morning seeking a zone change in preparation to construct a new building for the restaurant He said he hopes to break ground on the project in a couple of weeks A new look will soon be coming to the corner of 13th Street and Pasewalk Avenue owner of the Burger King restaurant in the southeast corner of the intersection came before the Norfolk Planning Commission on Tuesday morning on behalf of Double TV Properties to request a change in zoning from multiple family residential local business district and service commercial district to service commercial district on three lots of land at the location Nothing stands in the way of building the Birkenstock factory in Pasewalk The shoe manufacturer now has all the necessary permits to build and operate the new factory The emission control approval process for the construction and operation of Birkenstock Real Estate GmbH's shoe manufacturing facility has now been completed As part of the company's family summer party the Parliamentary State Secretary for Western Pomerania and Eastern Mecklenburg Heiko Miraß handed over the approval notice The comprehensive approval process was carried out within just four months The company had already started construction at the end of April The plant for the production of polyurethane molded parts will consist of a PU foaming plant with ten casting systems and 20 EVA injection molding machines as well as a number of auxiliary systems (CHP cooling systems) and will in the future produce up to 6,4 million pairs of shoes per produce year The Rhineland-Palatinate-based shoe manufacturer is investing a total of around 100 million euros in the new factory The first plastic and outdoor sandals are scheduled to leave the new factory in Pasewalk in summer 2023 They initially want to start with around 400 to 500 employees The workforce is expected to increase to 2024 employees by 1.000 the shoe manufacturer Birkenstock announced that a new factory was to be built in Pasewalk Birkenstock received a letter from the authority responsible for the approval process This includes the long-awaited partial building permit for the lighthouse project in the Berlin-Szczecin Industrial Park With the permission now available for the early start of work the way is clear for construction to begin The Goldbeck construction company commissioned with the project began the first preparatory work in the week after Easter and earthworks are now starting this week - even if a decision on possible public funding is still pending and the latest developments on the raw material markets and in comparison to the The company announced that the initial planning led to a significant increase in the investment amount the investments totaled around 100 million euros - an increase of 25 percent compared to the original plans The construction of the new plant is by far the largest single investment in the history of the traditional company Birkenstock is fundamentally sticking to the tight schedule: Given the delivery bottlenecks on the international steel markets and the associated effects on the construction sector production in the new factory will probably only start at the beginning of the third quarter of 2023 instead of at the end of the first quarter as originally planned we are creating the additional capacities that are urgently needed for our continued global growth – and additional employment opportunities for the people in the region,” said Oliver Reichert “Our investments are therefore a clear commitment to Germany as a location: We are made in Germany.” In the medium term around 1.000 new jobs are expected to be created in Pasewalk This is Radio Schuman, your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news, insights, and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond. From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs, this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans. Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics. No agenda, no argument, no bias, No Comment. Get the story without commentary. Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives. With explanations, engaging Q&As, and lively conversations, the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society. Europe's water is under increasing pressure. Pollution, droughts, floods are taking their toll on our drinking water, lakes, rivers and coastlines. Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters, how our wastewater can be better managed, and to discover some of the best water solutions. Video reports, an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters, from Euronews. We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source, analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing. We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt. Germany's snap elections, which took place just two weeks ago, saw the far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), win its best-ever result. In the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD was the strongest party. In Pasewalk, it won 40.4% of the votes. The quaint city, dotted with a mix of traditional houses and prefabricated flats constructed between World War II and German reunification, is some 90 minutes by train from downtown Berlin. It's quiet and immaculately clean, with a lot of care put into community activities. The residents all know each other and are jovial and friendly. Yet the mayor of Pasewalk, Danny Rodewald, tells Euronews that people in the region feel unheard at a federal level. "As small municipalities in our region, we are underfunded. We need better financial support," he said. Rodewald said recreational facilities are lacking in the city, which is home to around 10,000 residents, many of whom are over 60. While schools, healthcare facilities and hospitals are well developed, he says more investment, including into new housing, is needed. "As a small regional centre, we need support in housing construction — not just social housing, but also regular, commercial housing development. Because I would like to attract city dwellers to move here to the countryside," he explained. Rodewald is keen to stress that the city offers a decent quality of life and that while the AfD won twice the amount of votes at 35% than the second strongest party, the CDU at 17.7%, it doesn't mean that residents are unhappy with their lives. The snap election at the end of February was for the federal government, which is separate from the state level. Residents in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern told Euronews that they wanted to see an end to the war because they didn't understand why taxpaying money was being spent on weapons for Ukraine when homeless Germans were lacking support and food prices had exploded. These decisions are made at a federal level and not the state one. "I think there are quite a few citizens who are dissatisfied, but not necessarily with local politics. This was a federal election, and you can't directly apply those results to Pasewalk," chairperson of the local Social Democratic (SPD) association and lawyer, Michael Ammon, told Euronews. "And yes, there are certainly things that haven’t gone as they should have, and that's why citizens have unfortunately turned away from the major parties," he added. Ammon says that the new government, when it is formed, need to do all it can to revive the economy. "That's difficult enough because there are some factors we simply cannot control. The war in Ukraine, for example, we cannot influence that directly. Prices must come down, bureaucracy must be reduced, and hopefully, that will be achieved," he explained. Ammon says that if the centre-left SPD and centre-right CDU, who are in the process of discussing forming a coalition, manage to put policies in place to solve Germany's economic crisis, "the AfD, with the rest of their policies, won't really appeal to the voters who supported them this time." A record 75% of Groß Luckow voted for AfD, the most in all of Germany. The village of 200 residents lies far away from amenities such as shops and is a 15-minute drive from Pasewalk. Many of the villages in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are isolated. One resident, Detlef, a farmer who plans to retire later this year, is pleased with the rise of the AfD. "The AfD is doing well. But whether anything will come of it, something has to happen. For years, we've only been deceived and cheated here. Promises, always more promises," Detlef told Euronews as he tended to his garden. "But nothing is actually promised. Prices for all kinds of food have become so expensive." "The AfD here, they want things to be better. They want foreigners out — people who don’t belong here. What are they doing here? They just take our money. They don’t want to work. They get apartments, everything is handed to them, while in the big cities, we have homeless people," he added. Detlef is critical of the governments, especially the previous CDU and SPD governments, and hopes that if AfD comes into power, things will change. The AfD has already taken down the election posters in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, whilst other parties such as the Greens, CDU, and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) have not. Enrico Komning, is an AfD directly-elected member of parliament for Groß Luckow, has told Euronews in a written statement that a shortage of skilled workers, high taxes and energy costs, poor infrastructure and bureaucracy is crippling the region. "Structurally weak regions like eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania rely primarily on small and medium-sized businesses, often with only a handful of employees," Komning said, adding that the area is economically reliant on tourism along the coast in its district of lakes, agriculture and skilled trades. He also blamed poor infrastructure for the lack of economic development, pointing to incomplete motorway construction linking cities and larger cities in the area that are still not connected by high-speed trains. "It is unacceptable that in 2025 we still have to talk about dead spots in large parts of rural areas," Komning pointed out. "In September 2026, there will be state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. There is a great opportunity for a change of policy," he said. For now, the pressure will be on for the new German government to revive the economy, especially if they want to bring voters back to the established parties. Today's farm is only the 9th to have confirmed the virus Photo: Kees van DoorenGerman authorities have confirmed a 9th pig farm to be infected with African Swine Fever The virus was confirmed on June 5 in a finishing farm in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The numbers roughly were in agreement with the official report that was made to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) The infection was confirmed on Thursday, June 6 by the German reference laboratory Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) the FLI stated that the exact origin of the infection is unclear Obviously the farm has been closed for transport the outbreak is the only blue coloured farm in Germany It has been over a year since the previous outbreak in domestic pigs was reported in Germany (February 2023) It is the 2nd outbreak on a farm in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The other outbreaks in domestic pigs were in Brandenburg (5) Baden-Württemberg (1) and Lower Saxony (1) minister of agriculture of the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern who commented: “There are currently many indications that we are dealing with a point entry similar to what we experienced in November 2021 when the virus was first detected in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.” the authorities in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district quoted veteriarian Dr Holger Vogel the head of the district’s veterinary and food inspection office “The district is taking the case very seriously and is working closely and in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture The aim now is to contain the spread and prevent it if possible Animal suffering and possible economic damage must also be minimised.” the district has set up a 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone around the affected farm by general decree until further notice There are another 3,500 animals in 67 farms in the protection and surveillance zones Certain regulations apply to animal owners in these areas such as the need to report dead animals immediately pigs may not be moved into or out of the protection zone As a consequence of the ASF outbreak, a slaughterhouse of German packer Tönnies in the town Weissenfels has lost its permit to send pork to South Korea – a permit it only recently had been able to get back The plant had been receiving pigs from the infected farm last week hence the plant’s operations got severely impacted when ASF was confirmed All meat from pigs delivered on June 5 was destroyed the plant was closed for cleaning and disinfection the plant was closed down temporarily again as another case was suspected So far, it looks like the latest outbreak hasn’t had strong financial consequences. Pig prices in Germany have stayed stable ever since Germany’s leading agricultural title Top Agrar reported The other 5 farms are in the provinces Greater Poland (2 The smallest farm (in Lublin province) was home to 10 pigs The current outbreaks bring the Polish total to 513 infected farms You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Zarah Abendschön-Sawall together with her family: "We parents do all we can for homeschooling and then that!?" The hallways are empty and squeaky clean and the chairs in the classrooms are on the desks brick secondary school in Pasewalk to remind you of the dispiriting past few months in German education It is the last few days of the summer vacation in Pasewalk a town in the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and a few teachers are sitting in various conference rooms It is an experiment that the whole country is watching: Is it possible to have normal schooling State education ministers in Germany have promised the "restart of normal operations” after the summer holidays though special hygiene measures will be in place students are to be in a classroom from the morning until the afternoon even the students are really looking forward to it,” says Cornelia Kühne-Hellmessen German states stagger their summer vacations and Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania is the first state in the country to return to the new just as the infection numbers have begun rising again The principal says that despite all of the concerns because it’s about the children being able to learn properly again.” a town with 10,000 inhabitants and only one acute case of COVID-19 it might be possible to block out the threat But in Hamburg (where school starts on August 6) Berlin (August 10) and North Rhine Westphalia (August 12) and in many other regions where the virus is more present parents and teachers are looking critically at what politicians and authorities have done to fulfill their promise of returning to normal operations There are plenty of doubts that the strategies will suffice A teacher at a primary school near Bonn is frustrated So annoyed that he has requested that his name not be printed because he is concerned about running into problems with the department he works for "I have sometimes thought: 'They're off their rocker.'" By "they” he means the officials in the North Rhine-Westphalia’s Education Ministry "who really have no idea what is going on in the schools.” He said he has received the directive that fixed learning groups without social distancing can be taught together in primary schools "but here we only have cross-grade teaching in classes one to four - there aren’t any fixed groups here.” The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 32/2020 (August 1 Seven Decades of Quality Journalism: The History of DER SPIEGEL  Reprints: How To License SPIEGEL Articles  The teacher is also irritated about the last-minute nature of the instructions from Düsseldorf He suspects that this is due to the way the political process tends to work: "There is always a meeting of the governors with Angela Merkel on Wednesdays and the education ministers come to an agreement on Thursdays and the e-mail from the ministries sometimes only arrive at the schools on Saturdays – and then we are supposed to have already implemented all of that on Monday.” He says his colleagues at his school had already reached their limits before the holidays supervising some of the kids with in-person teaching and others "It was consistently a double workload.” One and a half weeks before the first day of school there have been "thus far only generalities from the ministry.” Cornelia Kühne-Hellmessen in Pasewalk is further along Her state’s Education Ministry has now sent out 85 advisory memos on how to handle COVID-19 in the school fixed age groups are to be organized that don’t need to maintain distance from one another but which are not allowed to meet or mix with other groups "The goal is to avoid larger groups,” the principal says the students are only allowed to eat in the spaces assigned to their age group Kühne-Hellmessen intends to mark a fixed area for each age group where they must stay during recess The suggestions from the education ministers otherwise point to self-evident things like ventilation and sneeze etiquette but they don’t provide answers to many important questions She is head of the Janusz Korczak school in the western German city of Gütersloh and is still waiting for information about how to handle those members of her staff that were exempted from in-person teaching before the holidays Sixteen colleagues of hers were recently exempted from teaching duties "If in two weeks that means 10 people are working part-time at 20 hours each then I’m already missing 200 teaching hours per week,” Heidrun Elbracht calculates The principal points out that Plexiglas walls are being erected everywhere in public there are only hygiene instructions.” She says she feels abandoned the head of the Trade Union for Education and Science (GEW) in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg She believes that the state ministers are "simply dumping vague formulations and impractical instructions on the school leadership as well as on teachers.” She says that the memos sent by the ministerial bureaucrats includes a lot of "should” and "categorically,” which means the public pressure from many parents for a rapid return to normality will simply be passed onto the teachers Moritz believes Stuttgart’s rules on mask mandates are "totally grotesque.” She explains that the rules state that they don’t need to be worn in primary schools and they are mandatory outside of the classrooms in the secondary schools "If I was a student who doesn’t want to wear a mask I would just run around all the time with a snack in hand.” Baden-Württemberg Education Minister Susanne Eisenmann has declared that it is a top priority that "we all together prevent a second wave.” That idea only falls apart when it comes to "how.” Teacher associations would like to have protective screens on their desks The Education Ministry would like to deploy teachers as security guards "at least during the breaks,” they are to watch over the entries to the restrooms in order to limit the number of people inside "if there are waiting areas for school transport or local transport near the school appropriate supervisory measures must be taken after school hours to ensure that distance and hygiene rules are also observed there.” Many teachers are wondering: Are they nuts When it comes to the relationship between the ministries and their schools it’s also true that some principals are pleased that the rules aren’t too restrictive Tatjana Strucken belongs to this self-confident group The 45-year-old leads the European School in Kerpen which is located between the western German cities of Aachen and Cologne The secondary school has almost 2,000 students and a staff "with which we get an awful lot done,” she says When the schools had to close in mid-March several teachers established an online learning platform with groups for all students and teaching staff Others trained the employees with improvised sessions on digital teaching methods the transition into distance schooling worked relatively well Strucken and her team developed two full-fledged class schedules for the new school year – one with regular classes and one with smaller groups the European School is prepared for a potential partial closure: "We are managing a sensible mixture of face-to-face and distance learning,” she says Tatjana Strucken believes that imposing a standard solution for all schools would be restrictive: "Schools are much too diverse to be managed centrally And then there’s the fact that scientific knowledge about the virus continues changing from week to week – for example on the question of how infectious children really are but it seems like children below the age of 10 are considerably less infectious than the average of the population This is according to the calculations of Korean researchers who evaluated almost 60,000 contacts by more than 5,700 people who were infected with the coronavirus The children only passed the virus on to members of their own household in 5 percent of cases Older students between the ages of 10 and 19 are considerably more infectious than the average of the population and infected 18.6 percent of their own households this means that what currently seems harmless for first graders is risky for secondary schools the early opening of schools in the spring led to a setback in the fight against the virus – and to a new lockdown of educational establishments According to research by the Complexity Science Hub daycares and universities noticeably decreased the reproduction rate measuring new infections The team working with statistician Peter Klimek is certain: "School closures are very effective.” Michael Blanck is a teacher for math and physics at Oskar Pitch secondary school in Pasewalk He admits that there is a lot of nervousness among the teachers about standing in front of the class without protection but what does a student do before or after class or if they went to a party and drank from the same bottle as other people.” Blanck the state chairman of the Education Association would have liked a mask mandate within the school building He says he will always wear protection when the students get close to him during class "The level of caution has decreased everywhere,” Blanck says "What can we do about students who consistently break the rules on the coronavirus?” His boss Kühne-Hellmessen is also aware that "every hour of class under normal conditions represents a risk.” She believes that it’s especially difficult that there is "this constant uncertainty We can only think from one day to the next.” The Education Ministry often uses the phrase "insofar as the infection occurrences allow,” which means that a forced quarantine of classes or grades And only a few people claim that the schools are well prepared organizationally for this moment Heike Riedmann from Families in the Crisis initiative says she gets messages almost every day from "totally nervous parents” who don’t know if their child can go to school with a runny nose and when their child needs to go into quarantine 46 fourth graders were sent home after having contact with a teacher who tested positive The 10-year-olds were to go into at-home isolation according to the Karlsruhe Health Department and stay as far away from other family members as possible Riedmann says that a lot of time had been wasted since March "The ministries had months to solve technical problems to rent additional spaces for the winter months when it seems like grades will need to be split up.” She argues that simply opening the doors to the schools and seeing if things go wrong or not is simply not enough the chairman of the German Council of Parents also argues that the time was not used to "optimize the teaching plan,” or to prepare schools for online schooling if the number of infections makes new lockdown necessary He believes it’s a waste of resources for every school to try to find an appropriate online teaching system "Why can’t this be steered by the federal government?” he asks According to a survey of teacher’s associations the digital equipment in schools in Baden-Württemberg is so bad that distance teaching is not possible The Education Ministry didn’t manage to get a central teaching platform called Ella to work and many teachers don’t even have work email addresses Teachers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are in a similar situation Many schools couldn’t even register for a new digital learning platform there called Itslearning Those who have solved these kinds of equipment problems the head of the Modern School in the Hamburg district of Gros-Borstel can look forward to the start of the school year in about two weeks: "We are prepared for everything.” In case of a second lockdown the students could be taught online without having to transition Beyer is sitting in one of the school’s classrooms on a rainy day in late July an electronic board is hanging on the wall that allows teachers to write and show worksheets and videos Beyer says that every teacher has a computer and every student has a tablet and that they are all networked with one another can watch the teacher at the same time as they can see a solution to a math problem and getting the equipment was a pure management issue not an onerous process limited by administrative hurdles The teachers were already using an electronic schoolbook that registers homework and attendance "When a student doesn’t register in the morning on time the parents get a message on their cell phones,” Beyer says The reality in the public education system is usually different There are single mothers like Doreen Borchert who has chronic lung problems and thus needs to be especially careful during the COVID-19 pandemic The office administrator from Munich tried to work from home 25 hours per week and to entertain her two-year-old daughter on the side and support her eight-year-old son in his distance learning But her private laptop is too old to be able to play the instructional videos her son was supposed to watch So she ended up sharing her work laptop with her son: She used it in the mornings and he took over in the afternoons But that meant that he was not able to take part in the video chats with his teachers When Bavarian students restarted in-person classes following the Pentecost holiday in May since classes were divided in two to keep numbers down Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is planning to evaluate where students stand once school starts again The idea is to determine the degree to which some students have fallen behind "Some were quite successful in digital instruction," says Kühne-Hellmessen were unable to keep up." It is now up to the schools to provide targeted and individual assistance to the weaker ones adding: "We will take on the challenge." Still she doesn't sound completely convinced that they will be successful The difference between what educators want to do and what they can do seems too great Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Education Minister Bettina Martin says it is vitally important to "re-prioritize the interests of the children Their right to an education must once again be honored." Martin must admit that she can only guarantee a minimum of four hours of classroom education daily for elementary schools and five hours daily for secondary schools in the 563 schools in her state There simply aren't enough teachers to ensure fulltime in-person lessons given that 400 teachers belong to risk groups and must work from home "I can only promise what is realistic," she says Zarah Abendschön-Sawall is among the many parents who suffered through the months of coronavirus lockdown The 34-year-old from near Heilbronn has five children couldn't deal with the school closures at all He suffers from ADHD and flipped out regularly at home She says that because her 12-year-old daughter had to stay at home for months she has fallen behind in both English and math but we eventually became more negligent because we ran out of energy," says Abendschön-Sawall who is in the process of taking over her parents' equipment-manufacturing company She is disappointed in the efforts of many of her children's teachers She says there was ample time during the last days before summer vacation to get through subject matter that had been skipped during the lockdown she says her daughter spent all day in school on Monday watching movies "We parents do all we can for homeschooling and then that!?" education minister for the city-state of Hamburg says that priorities have to be changed for the upcoming school year "Not enough attention has thus far been paid to the happiness and education of children and to their social development," he says The interruptions in schooling in the past several months can be overcome Otherwise I'm concerned about lasting adverse effects for this generation of schoolchildren." Whereas parent associations have begun demanding that the 2021 Abitur (Germany's school-leaving tests) be adapted to account for the loss of classroom instruction Rabe is currently more concerned about opportunities for those leaving school and their ability to find work-training programs Hamburg schools were unable to maintain their intensive job preparation programs and contact facilitation When the coronavirus case numbers begin to climb again Rabe says that regular school operations should not be the first target of pandemic suppression measures the schools and daycare centers aren't the first to close down I hope we say: We'll close them as a last resort." A section of an ingenious tunnel built by U.S and British spies to intercept Russian phone conversations in Cold War Berlin has been found after 56 years in a forest 150 kilometers from the German capital led from Rudow in West Berlin to Alt-Glienicke in Soviet-occupied East Berlin By tapping into the enemy's underground cables Allied intelligence agents recorded 440,000 phone calls gaining a clearer picture of Red Army maneuvers in eastern Germany at a time when nuclear war seemed an imminent threat The western part of the tunnel was excavated in 1997 and part of it is preserved at the Allied Museum in the former American sector of Berlin The Soviet authorities dug up the eastern part in 1956 "It seemed to have vanished without a trace," said Bernd von Kostka a historian at the Allied Museum "I looked through the East German Stasi files and there was nothing to be found about its whereabouts We assumed it had been melted down because it was made of valuable metal." The find is one missing piece of a puzzle that will take decades to solve completely because access to intelligence files about the construction and discovery of the tunnel — a tale worthy of a John le Carre novel — is still restricted The man who discovered the buried segment is Werner Sobolewski formerly employed in a civilian capacity by the East German army He was chopping wood in his local forest in Pasewalk near the Polish border north of Berlin when he stumbled across the wide metal pipe He remembered it being used for military exercises at the local barracks where he had worked before the fall of the Berlin Wall He recalled too that it was then rumored to have been a part of the Allied spy tunnel infamous throughout eastern Germany after the Soviets exposed it in a major propaganda campaign in 1956 and Kostka traveled to Pasewalk to identify it last week "We would like to have it in the museum so that we have a part of the eastern tunnel," Kostka said in an interview at the Allied Museum "The sections we have are from the western side It shouldn't stay buried underground." The western tunnel segment is a prize exhibit at the Allied Museum which is also home to the original Checkpoint Charlie guard hut and a Royal Air Force Hastings plane used in the Berlin airlift of 1948 and 1949 Displays describe the complexity of building the tunnel and tapping the wires The British had already constructed similar underground listening posts in Vienna and brought the idea manpower and know-how to the project Codenamed "Stopwatch" by the British and "Gold" by the Americans at a cost of $6.7 million (then a vast sum) and operated jointly by the CIA and the British SIS Yet the KGB learned about the tunnel when it was still in the planning stages thanks to intelligence from George Blake the notorious British double agent who was later imprisoned the KGB concealed its existence from the Soviet military because they wanted to protect their valuable mole The tunnel operated for 11 months and 11 days intercepting some of the Red Army's most secret communications including those between Moscow and the military headquarters in East Berlin Historians do not know why the Soviet authorities chose to expose it when they did The reason is still buried in the Kremlin's files "It was clear that the tunnel had a finite lifespan and would be discovered one day," Kostka said "But the Allies expected the Soviet authorities to sweep it under the carpet." they held their first international news conference in 11 years of occupation and bused in as many as 50,000 East German citizens so that they could see firsthand the treachery of the west Yet it was also a propaganda coup for the U.S as the tunnel's ingenuity impressed American observers "It's a great Cold War story," Kostka said Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression an emergency ward nurse in eastern Germany returns home to see his wife and three children over the border in Poland he will be stuck: authorities there will quarantine him for two weeks He is one of two dozen Polish medical staff who work at a hospital across the border in Pasewalk where preparations for an expected wave of coronavirus patients are being hindered by the closure of once-open borders “We medical staff are fighting together against the coronavirus but we can’t go home to our family,” he said describing the predicament he and colleagues have been in since Poland’s emergency quarantine laws came into force on Friday Since Poland joined Germany in the European Union 16 years ago the border areas east of Berlin have essentially become a single engineers and other essential workers commute back and forth when one of Jamro’s colleagues went home from work only to find himself quarantined and unable to return for 14 days hundreds of doctors and nurses are in a similar position border closures and quarantine rules have snapped the supply chains which deliver medical supplies and food sectors that have come to rely on moving staff across borders are now scrambling to hold on to employees at a time when they’ve never been so badly needed head of the hospital where Jamro may soon be operating ventilators to keep coronavirus patients alive has found temporary accommodation for some of his Polish staff their partners and children – and even their pets “We’re doing everything so they don’t have to leave,” he said of the commuters who make up a third of his staff “We’re renting vacant holiday homes and rooms for them,” he said For the border states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg losing the commuters is a disaster on top of the economic hit from a Germany-wide lockdown The state governments are offering anyone from Poland who is willing to stay in Germany 65 euros a day plus an extra 20 euros per family member for temporary accommodation “Those affected are massively engaged in hospitals and healthcare but also in manufacturing and food production,” said Patrick Dahlemann Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s minister in charge of the effort to keep some 3,400 Polish commuters Commuter numbers in neighbouring Brandenburg are similar Even if Warsaw and Berlin reach an agreement to exempt healthcare workers from quarantine rules my children see me every day,” said Jamro “Let’s see what happens next week: if my children get ill I’ll probably have to go home.” Powered by PageSuite