Albert Einstein and the new Berlin-Brandenbourg International Airport

“Yedioth Ahronot”. published yesterday (6.24.08) on his Hebrew printed edition: “Berlin considering to name it’s new international airport ‘Albert Einstein’ “.To be more precise Der Spiegel  already hinted on October 18, 2007 to additional names  Dietrich, Willy Brandt or von Stauffenberg? see here.

Construction of the new Airport Berlin Brandenburg International, see here, has started at Schönefeld and the new airport is scheduled for opening in 2011. It will be one on the bigest airport in Europe, and  his greatness and vastness demands  the name of an illustrious great men of fame, and Albert Einstein is a perfect candidate.

Photos source.

Well at a first glance, this is indeed a great honor for the Jewish people, to propose the name of Albert Einstein for the new Airport Berlin Brandenburg International, (what today is called the Schönefeld airport) ; in good accordance with the German restitution policy  funded by millions of euros given to the holocaust survivors and  other more discrete help for Israel’s security.
 
But I feel some uneasiness about this possible nomination. Because this is more a German issue than a Jewish or Israeli issue. Einstein lived in Berlin, and in 1933 was at his apogee as a scientists and as an international celebrity. I quote, …” Einstein was elected to the Prussian Academy of Science in Berlin in 1913. When he accepted the professorship of physics at the University of Berlin in 1914, he once more assumed German citizenship. The same year, he became director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute in Berlin. He occupied both positions until 1933.”…
 
 And then  began the great debacle, I quote , …”After the rise of NAZI in Germany, Einstein left for USA. Einstein and relatives left Europe for the United States, on December 9, 1930. In 1933, the Nazi government took his property and deprived him of his positions and citizenship.”…see here.

 
It is only natural that in actual Germany, Albert Einstein’s destitution under the Nirenberg decrees, the calling of the ‘The General Theory of Relativity’ and his seminal contribution to the birth of quantum mechanics  ‘Jewish Physics‘, finally leading to his escape from Germany’s Third Reich in 1930, is considered as an unbearable shame.  
 
The Times, in 2000, nominated Einstein as the ‘Person of the Century’: he was the person whose vision reshaped the view of the universe. The Times only ratified a latent choice of a vast majority of people.

All this to say: Berlin is eager to restitute to Albert Einstein his citizenship and property in the form of a grandiose entrance gate  “Albert Einstein (Berliner) International Airport”. But can you bargain such a deal for the  name of the new Berliner  airport?   Is it not better to remember him as Albert Einstein who opened the gates of our cosmos, not the gates of an airport.

A Jewish State in Germany as an Artwork

In the name of ART everything is possible. Ron Edelman a graduate student at an art university in Weimar, relying heavily on this axiom, proposes to launch an alternative Jewish state in Germany in the state of Thuringia with the town of Weimar as capital, about 10 km from Buchenwald, the Nazi concentration camp.

.

“Magav in Weimar”, Ron Edelman.

I quote from the Israeli newspaper “haaretz”, 

….”Whenever someone launches an initiative towards establishing a Jewish state in addition to the one already in existence, there is invariably a ripple effect. This time, however, an even bigger stir than usual has been caused by the proposed site of the “second Israel”: Germany.”…

…”Ronen Eidelman, a journalist who espouses politically leftist views and is currently completing his masters studies at an art university in Weimar, says the movement that he heads is in fact his final academic project.”…

…” One of the motivating factors which compelled Eidelman to conceive of his idea was the famous speech delivered by Iran’s president calling for the elimination of the state of Israel and the establishment of a Jewish-run entity in an alternate location in Europe. ‘It’s clear that Ahmadinejad is an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier and not some great theoretician, but he touched upon a very exposed nerve.’A video academic work produced by the artist Yael Bartana, which depicts a Polish member of parliament calling on the Jews to return to Poland (“We miss you”), served as the tipping point for Eidelman.

‘The state of Thuringia is becoming more empty of people, the economy is not successful, and there is no immigration,” Eidelman said. “They’re hurting from the fact that there are no foreigners here. Hitler’s dream of racially pure states has proven to be a nightmare. You walk down the street and notice all the girls look alike. I’m going to convince the Germans that a Jewish state here is to their benefit.’ “ see more.

The ‘haaretz’ ‘s article also mention’s another Israeli artist Yael Bertana whose video work, ”Mary Koszmary” (Nightmares), , presented at the Foksal Gallery Foundation was the trigger to Edelsman video, Yael Bertana’s wants to import 3 million of Jews to Poland and in one scene a Polish member of parliament says ” We are missing you” :

.

.

.

.

.

See here for the full scene.

In the Middle East, the law of improbable events becoming real events, works overtime : perhaps Ron Edelman will import a Jewish state to Goethe’s Weimar and Yael Bertana resurrect 3 million of Polish Jews, both in the name of Art.. 

.

German Chancellor Merkel in Israel

I publish on my blog a page of comics drawings called “The DailyComics Dream“, where I tell in short graphical episodes what happens to me under the Nazi occupation of Belgium in WW2 . With this context in my mind, I see the today  visit, in Israel, of the German chancellor Merkel accompanied by seven ministers from her cabinet, as a surrealistic historical meeting.

PM Olmert and Chancellor Markel in the ‘Hall of Remembrance’ at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

I quote from the Israeli press,

..”Merkel and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chaired a joint session of members of their respective cabinets, at which both governments signed off on a range of projects, including in education, the environment and defense. The security cooperation agreement signed between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung includes joint military training projects. “…”Germany already has similar arrangements with France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Russia, while it was the first time Israel entered into such an agreement.”.. see here.

Ehud Barak and Franz Josef Jung Israeli and German defence ministers.

I quote from From the German press via Ynet,
…”The influential Frankfurter Allgemeine ( in German) stressed the “cordial relations” between Israel and Germany, while the pro-Israel Berlin-based Die Welt stated that the relations “have never been closer, and Israel has never been under a greater threat.”….”The Der Spiegel daily referred to Merkel’s visit as “unique” and noted that Germany holds government-level meetings with only five other countries, all members of the European Union.”…” A number of German reporters told Ynet that Merkel’s visit will make headlines on Tuesday, when she is expected to address the Knesset in her native tongue”…see here

Now look at this excerpt,
…”Jordan’s largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), lashed out Monday at Merkel’s remarks on solidarity with Israel, warning she was creating “enmity” with the Arab and Islamic worlds.’… “Germany has no record of enmity with the Arabs, but Merkel is now involving Germany in enmity with the Arab and Islamic peoples and her remarks will encourage the Zionists to commit new crimes” against the Palestinian people, Hikmat Rawashdeh, senior official at the IAF Executive Bureau said in a statement.’… “It is illogical to see the German sin complex towards what the Zionists allege as holocaust find expression in an unjust bias against the Palestinian people, who themselves have become the target of another holocaust as a senior Israeli official put it recently,” Rawashded said.

“If the Germans have committed a sin against the Jews, they are now committing a big crime when they support the expulsion of a people from their land and placing killer gangs in place of them,” he added.”…see more.

The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people (in the old Persian empire) from Haman’s plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) falls on March 20, 2008. According to the story, Haman cast lots to determine the day upon which to exterminate the Jews.  Well the Persian Empire has his modern counterpart: Ahmadinejad’s Iran and ‘Friends’….Not much has changed.