Thursday, February 26, 2015

Potholes

Red Baron is fascinated when languages coin catchy words for specific items or situations. A strange example is the use of Handy in German for a cell phone. Some of my fellow countrymen are greatly astonished when they find out that native English speakers do not know the German meaning of handy.

Many English words are adopted in German, especially in information technology. The term "browser" is used everywhere, although there is a good old German word Stöberer that nobody uses. I am even more impressed when the English-speaking community adopts German words such as Waldsterben or Energiewende with their exact meaning.

What I do not like are Anglicisms introduced into German when there is a perfect term in my mother tongue. So when the previously described Stadtkümmerer was perverted into Citymanager, Red Baron wrote a letter to the editor of the Badische Zeitung complaining about the wrong translation.

Even the German Railway, known for its excessive usage of English, has promised to reduce its Anglicisms. In fact, a Stadtkümmerer does not manage the city. This task falls to the city council and the executive. The city caretaker should not be an office sitter but instead roam the town, listen and talk to the people, and report his findings to the authorities.


Today I learned about the new job opportunity of a Schlagloch-Sheriff (pothole sheriff). Since the job presently does not exist, the ACE (European Automobile Club) operates a website where pothole hunters may bring their findings to the attention of the authorities. I do not drive so much anymore, and the formation of a few potholes in Freiburg's streets following a relatively mild winter does not bother me. However, I am upset by the "language pothole" of Schlagloch-Sheriff.

Why use an English word when we have the perfect example of Staumelder (a person reporting traffic jams)? You guessed it: the correct German word for Schlagloch-Sheriff should be Schlaglochmelder.

Filling a pothole in Freiburg with a bucket of cold asphalt (©BZ/Ingo Schneider)
A Berlin pothole with a direct view of Brandenburg Gate (©dpa)
*

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Butterfest

In Western countries, people of the 21st century live in a fun-seeking society (Spaßgesellschaft). In the course of the year, more and more events relax the daily routine. As we say in German: Man soll die Feste feiern, wie sie fallen (One should celebrate parties as they come). And the fests come rapidly as apparently there are not enough festivities and commercial opportunities in my country. 

So we imported Valentine's Day and Halloween. Since Germany is a world export champion, we exported the Oktoberfest and Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets). In 2011 we nearly adopted Groundhog Day in Freiburg.

When I read the Badische Zeitung of today, I discovered that a Butterfest (no translation necessary) was celebrated last weekend in Landwasser, a suburb of Freiburg. This time we did not import a fest from the West but from the East. In Russia, Masleniza, the butter fest, marks the arrival of spring, although older people remember that in Kazakhstan, there was no spring and that they were dashing through the snow with a troika rather than in a one-horse open sleigh.

Celebrating Masleniza in Landwasser (©BZ/Rita Eggstein)
The origin of Masleniza goes back to the beginning of the Orthodox Lenten season when meat was already banished, but масло (butter) was still allowed. The highlight of Masleniza is the burning of a rag doll hanging from a cross, symbolizing Väterchen Frost (Jack Frost).

City retailers rejoice: Next year, we will market the Böögg in Freiburg and burn it on Freiburg's Rathausplatz.

Burning the Böögg in Zurich (©Wikipedia/Magnus Manske)
P.S.: Note added in, pardon, to prove that new fests come rapidly to Freiburg. On March 3, we will party at the Japanese girls' fest,  雛祭り (Hina-Matsuri). On this day, the Japanese wish all girls a long life until they have become women. Rice cake, rice balls, puffed rice, Chirashi sushi without fish!, and thick white sake (for the women and not the girls) will be on the menu.
*

Monday, February 16, 2015

A Colorful Party Array

©BZ
Yesterday the people of Hamburg elected their new state parliament. The term of office is now five instead of four years for the Hamburgers (!) are pragmatic people and did not like that their Stadtparlament (city parliament) only worked for three years with the fourth year devoted to the election campaign rather than to functional activity.

Why do I write this blog? Two topics I previously dealt with that need some comments in the aftermath of yesterday's Hamburg state elections: Color coding and female qualities.

In fact, Germany's legislatures are becoming more colorful, i.e., despite a minimum of 5% of the votes needed, smaller parties are increasingly presented in German parliaments. Yesterday's results are a good example:

Incumbent Erster Bürgermeister (governor) Olaf Scholz failed to regain the absolute majority of votes and seats with his SPD. Social Democrats are not socialists. They correspond instead to the Democrats in the U.S.

Angela Merkel's party, the Christian Democrats, suffered a crushing defeat losing another 6% of votes compared with the last state elections. The CDU, Germany's Republicans, tried to palliate their candidate's failure for governor by circulating the following statement: The right candidate at the right place but at the wrong moment, whatever that means.

©Der Spiegel
The Chancellor, however, described the disaster of her CDU in the Hamburg election as dreadful, absolutely dreadful. Her Bavarian minister of transportation retorted, but at home, we pwned them, referring to the crushing defeat (eight goals to zero) of the Hamburg SV against the Bayern of Munich in a soccer match on Saturday.

The Greens progressed following their slight drop in voter support in recent months.

Die Linke, the post-communists, also gained. The reason is that even or especially (?) in wealthy cities, the number of needy people is progressing. They vote for their party, while well-off citizens are more likely to abstain. In fact, voter turnout in the state election was only 54%, three points down compared with the last election.

The Free Democrats remain in the city parliament. By staying below 5% of the votes, they had been ousted from many state parliaments in recent years. Three months ago, polls showed the Liberals in Hamburg at a mere 2 %, but not only Katja Suding's legs kicked her party to an astounding 7.4%. In election statistics, the FDP is still identified by the yellow color, although recently, the party experimented with magenta.

Katja Suding. A Green Party rival twittered:
Muss man sich mal vorstellen: mit Titten und Beinen anstatt Inhalten
(Imagine, with tits and legs instead of contents). What does the guy know about content? (©dpa)
Germany's tea party, the Alternative for Deutschland, has entered a West German state parliament for the first time. The AfD calls itself national and liberal. It nibbles its votes at the right wing of the Christian Democrats, comparable to Die Linken, who are poaching at the left wing of the Social Democrats. Red Baron hopes the AfD's light blue color will not turn brown with time.

Having lost the absolute majority, Olaf Scholz must find a partner to form a coalition government. Well, we are in Hamburg and not in Casablanca, but: Katja is looking at you, kid.

P.S.: Here comes a cartoon about political dating by one of my favorite artists published in the Badische Zeitung today (February 17). The port city of  Hamburg is proud of its red-light district called Sankt Pauli and its famous stretch Reeperbahn. In the olden days, this long lane (Bahn) served as a production site for long mooring ropes (Reep in Lower German).

©Haitzinger/BZ
Olaf Scholz takes the Green girl into a "coalition" while Die Linke calls him, "You old Bourgeois." The FDP lures that coalescing would be easier (cheaper) with her. The CDU warns in vain: Turn back.
*

Friday, February 13, 2015

City Caretaker

Despite the cold weather, citizens' protests are à la mode in Germany. No, I am not referring to the PEGIDA demonstrations in Dresden but to a retailers' protest in Freiburg called Wir (we).

When Red Baron reads Wir, he immediately thinks of the protests against East German rule in Dresden 25 years ago when people held up posters: Wir sind das Volk (We are the people), eventually leading to Germany's reunification. When the "Pegidans" used the same "sacred" slogan, counterprotesters showed posters: Wirr ist das Volk (People are scatterbrained).

Wir in Freiburg wrote an open letter to Mayor Salomon accusing the city that Freiburg's leitmotif: Z'Friburg in de Stadt, sufer isch's un glatt (The city of Freiburg is clean and looks polished) is no longer valid. There is filth in the streets, and Schmuddelecken (dirty corners) serve as urinals. 

To restore Freiburg's "native" state, the retailer movement asked the city to create the post of a Stadtkümmerer (city caretaker). However, the City Council, including Mayor Salomon, did not like how the open letter was formulated and felt annoyed.

Freiburg's Town Hall in the early morning sun
A close-up
This morning Red Baron walked downtown. When crossing the Rathausplatz, I noticed a poster at the Town Hall. It is Fasnet (Carnival season) in Freiburg. The sign reads accordingly: N'en Kümmerer wer brauch' den schon, ihr häbt doch mich Schneck Salomon (Who needs a city caretaker when you've already got me, Snail Salomon).

On the right is the Bertold monument.
Note the orange vehicle "polishing" the streetcar tracks
On my way back home, I passed the city center. On Bertoldsbrunnen, pedestrians were annoyed by a garbage truck in their way. When I took a photo, a rail grinder car was passing, polishing the streetcar tracks. Is Mayor Salomon not a snail, already active and cleaning operations have started without a Stadtkümmerer?

P.S.: In its weekend edition of February 14, 2015, the Badische Zeitung asked: Wie schmuddelig ist Freiburgs Innenstadt wirklich? (Actually, how filthy is Freiburg's city).

A rubbish heap in Freiburg (©BZ/Rita Eggstein)

P.S.: Today (February 19), the Badische Zeitung published an article titled: Stadtkümmerer muss hungrig sein (A city caretaker should be hungry), meaning that he should not sit in an office but walk the city, look around, and talk to retailers and citizens. And there is already a candidate for the job. The guy is an expert on city marketing from Upper Bavaria and a frequent visitor to Freiburg. When asked, he said: I'll kick-start the job for two weeks, but I can't do it any longer.

Who will follow? Here comes Superkümmerer:

(©Thomas Muffler/BZ)
*

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Women Power

In the winter of 2012/2013, Red Baron attended a series of public lectures on Freiburg's Mediaeval history titled Auf Jahr und Tag (In the year, on the day). I reported on the presentation of the proceedings and the book with all the papers given.

The lectures about Freiburg's early history were so successful that the organizing institutes presented another series about events linked to particular dates in Freiburg's modern history during this winter term.

The series started in November last year with a lecture on May 24, 1525, a date when revolting farmers occupied the city- It will end in March of this year with a talk about November 11, 1948. On that date, the city council approved the plans for the reconstruction of Freiburg, which had been destroyed four years earlier in an air raid on November 27, 1944, another of those key dates.

Last Monday, Dr. Ute Scherb spoke about:

©Ute Scherb
On February 28, 1900, Ash Wednesday, Freiburg's university opened its gates to female students. Before that date, women had been tolerated as Gaststudenten (auditors) in some university lectures* but without the possibility of acquiring an academic degree.
*As early as 1790, when Freiburg's society ladies  stormed Georg Jacobi's university courses

The square in front of the main building of Freiburg's university, in its original shape,
during the Gründerzeit seen from the site of the new university library.
To the right is the building of the old library and a female student.
Until last year a four-lane street running in the front divided Freiburg's city.
Since traffic was banned on August 27, 2012, the old campus of 1900 will become
the new university campus once the construction work in the area is finished (©Ute Scherb).
In the 19th century, Switzerland was more advanced in women's education than Germany. The first female high school fulfilling the matriculation standards was opened in Switzerland in 1860, so the University of Zürich accepted female students starting in 1866. With all this progressiveness, nobody in the audience could explain the irony of why women in Switzerland got the right to vote only in 1971. In contrast, in Germany, women's suffrage was introduced in 1919.

The first high school for girls in Baden was opened in Karlsruhe in 1893. Subsequently, around 1900, the first female graduates claimed their right to a university education. The opposition in Germany to female university students was considerable. In 1876 the professor of Catholic theology in Freiburg Alban Stolz pointed out the direction: The female sex is physically and intellectually weaker. Should I mention here that the fundamentalist Stolz was an outspoken anti-Semite too?

When the decree of the Baden Ministry of Education granting female students the right to enroll in Freiburg's university arrived in the city on February 28, 1900, suddenly, all doors opened. Freiburg's first female student was Johanna Kappes, a graduate of Karlsruhe's high school. She enrolled in the medical faculty, finished her studies successfully, and left Freiburg University with a doctor's degree in medicine. At that time, educated, wealthy citizens (Bildungs- und Besitzbürger) were the driving forces. In the beginning, female students frequently had their chaperones with them, protecting them in a male university world.

Today there are more female than male university students in Germany. Although generally finishing their education with better exams than men, women still face discrimination concerning higher positions. Nevertheless, among all the males, Red Baron had two female bosses during his professional life. I remembered my excellent experience when I later had to choose applicants at selection boards for jobs at CERN. Besides, I was impressed by the female candidates generally being better educated than their male competitors.

When in 2009, saying goodbye to my successor at CERN, I was happy to learn that a female scientist I once had recruited was taking over. This must have been some initial spark: In November 2014 CERN Council elected its first female Director-General: Fabiola Gianotti.

CERN's new and "old" DG (©CERN)

More women power

(©dpa)
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen at the Security Conference in Munich on February 6, 2015, on the war in eastern Ukraine: Es gibt in der Ukraine schon zu viele Waffen (There are already too many weapons in Ukraine).

(©Reuters)
Chancellor Angela Merkel, following her visit to the US at a joint press conference with President Obama in the White House on February 9, 2015, on the war in East Ukraine: Wir setzen weiter auf eine diplomatische Lösung. Eine militärische Lösung sehe ich nicht (We continue to count on a diplomatic solution. I don't see any military solution).
*

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Horst or the Four Brewing Heroes

Today Freiburg's Sunday paper Der Sonntag published an article about the Braukollektiv (Brewing Collective): Vielfalt aus der Flasche (Varieties from the bottle).

The Braukollektiv unites four young men in their love for real beer. They love and brew craft beer in a private brewery at Lenzkirch, southeast of Freiburg.

Here are my Four Brewing Heroes of the Braukollektiv:

From left: Chris Murphy, Gil Scheuermann,
James Tutor und Bernhard Frenzel (©Der Sonntag/RAS)
In October last year, I met one of the Four, James Tutor, at a beer seminar where the man from California introduced the Collective's first brew: Black Sheep, an Indian pale ale.

Black Sheep IPA (©Braukollektiv)
The reason for the article in Der Sonntag was that, following their success with their pale ale, the Four marketed a new type of beer, a brown ale baptized Horst. The beer's brown color and slightly bitter taste are determined by chocolate malt, a roasted malt imported from California. 

The Four only brew small quantities of 2200 liters, a little more than 1% of a charge that Freiburg's beer company Ganter generally brews. The beer of the Collective is sold in a couple of places here in Freiburg.

Horst, Californian brown ale (©Braukollektiv)
One of the selling sites, the Artjamming Café, is close to where I live. Red Baron will hasten to buy a bottle of California brown ale and celebrate his "Status" on Facebook: What are you doing? by answering  Drinking Horst.
*

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Manspreading

Red Baron likes to learn new words. Today I read in the Badische Zeitung about Manspreading (with a capital M). The New York Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) uses posters to fight against the bad habit of men occupying too much space on subway seats by spreading their legs. There is, however, a compelling argument frequently brought forward and hardened in many scientific publications: Keep it cool, man, your fertility. The MTA is mistaken: manspreading is not a space but a cooling or, rather, a cool issue.

©MTA
How to translate manspreading into German? Mind you, neither Mannausbreitung (that sounds like spreading measles) nor Mannspreizung (a medieval method of torture?) sounds right in German, so I expect that "Manspreading" will become one of those words we will import from the States.

©MTA
When looking through other MTA posters, I learned another word: primping. Here we have a nearly perfect German equivalent at our disposal: aufhübschen. As far as clipping is concerned, we do not clip our nails in Freiburg's streetcars but cut them in the solitude of our bathrooms. Although I hate them, I keep one of those clippers in my hand luggage, for scissors are permanently confiscated at airports.

Remember: Keep it cool, man.
*

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

The Moon Has Risen

You will get various answers when you ask a German on the street to quote a poem. In most cases, your counterpart will know the first line of, e. g., Goethe's Erlkönig (Elf-king) or Schiller's Das Lied von der Glocke (The song of the bell). However, if the person quotes what is known as the Abendlied (Evening Song), you can be sure that he/she will know by heart at least the entire first verse.

Der Mond ist aufgegangen.
Die gold'nen Sternlein prangen
am Himmel hell und klar.
Der Wald steht schwarz und schweiget.
Und aus den Wiesen steiget
der weiße Nebel, wunderbar.

The moon has risen.
The golden stars shine
in the sky brightly and clearly.
The woods stand black and silent.
And magically, from the meadows
the white mist is rising.

Matthias Claudius' 250th birthday
For me, the English translation misses the romantic touch Germans will feel with the poetry of Matthias Claudius.

Statistics reveal that the Abendlied written in 1773 is more popular than two poems by Goethe: The Erlkönig and Wanderers Nachtlied (Wanderer's Nightsong), come only in second and third place.

The author of Germany's most famous poem died in Hamburg 200 years ago on January 21. Between 1770 and 1775, Claudius was editor-in-chief of a Hamburg newspaper Der Wandsbecker Bothe (The Wandsbek Messenger). He published works of such prominent authors as Goethe, Lessing, Herder, and Klopstock in its literary section.


Common German knowledge too is the beginning of Claudius' poem Urians Reise (Urian's Journey):

Wenn jemand eine Reise tut
so kann er was erzählen.
Drum nahm ich meinen Stock und Hut
Und tät das Reisen wählen

Anyone who goes on a journey
Will have quite a lot to tell
Therefore I took my stick and hat
And chose to go traveling.

Claudius wrote other and less romantic poems: 's ist Krieg! 's ist Krieg! (It's war, it's war) where he claimed that he is not guilty ...

Wenn wackre Männer, die sich Ehre suchten,
Verstümmelt und halb tot
Im Staub sich vor mir wälzten und mir fluchten
In ihrer Todesnot?

When brave men seek glory
wallow in front of me in the dust
mutilated and half-dead
curse me in their mortal agony?

150 years Wandsbecker Bothe (©McZack/Wikipedia)
Herder called Claudius the greatest genius with a heart glowing like hard coal. Still, when the Wandsbeker Bothe fired Claudius in 1775, his appreciation by the great men of German literature cooled off rapidly. He was confronted with being a university dropout when super-educated Wilhelm von Humboldt dismissed him as an absolute zero.

When during the Napoleonic rule, Claudius jumped on the bandwagon of those Germans criticizing the dictator: Cränz einen Welteroberer nicht, Schlepp lieber ihn zum Hochgericht (Don't crown with a wreath a world conqueror, instead drag him to the place of execution) he, in Goethe's eyes, had gone too far. The lifelong admirer of Napoleon called Claudius einen Narren, der voller Einfaltsprätensionen steckt (a fool full of simplistic pretensions).

Here is the full text of Claudius's Evening Song of 1773. Already as early as 1790, Johann Abraham Peter Schulz set the verses to music, a tune that is still popular with the young:

Abendlied

Der Mond ist aufgegangen.
Die gold'nen Sternlein prangen
am Himmel hell und klar.
Der Wald steht schwarz und schweiget.
Und aus den Wiesen steiget
der weiße Nebel, wunderbar.

Wie ist die Welt so stille,
und in der Dämm'rung Hülle
so traulich und so hold
als eine Stille Kammer,
wo ihr des Tages Jammer
verschlafen und vergessen sollt.

Seht ihr den Mond dort stehen?
Er ist nur halb zu sehen
und ist doch rund und schön.
So sind wohl manche Sachen,
die wir getrost belachen,
weil uns're Augen sie nicht seh'n.

Wir stolze Menschenkinder
sind eitel arme Sünder
und wissen gar nicht viel.
Wir spinnen Luftgespinste
und suchen viele Künste
und kommen weiter von dem Ziel.

Gott, lass uns dein Heil schauen,
auf nichts Vergänglich's trauen,
nicht Eitelkeit uns freu'n.
Lass uns einfältig werden
und vor dir hier auf Erden
wie Kinder fromm und fröhlich sein.

Wollst endlich sonder Grämen
aus dieser Welt uns nehmen
durch einen sanften Tod;
und wenn du uns genommen,
lass uns in' Himmel kommen,
du unser Herr und unser Gott.

So legt euch denn, ihr Brüder,
in Gottes Namen nieder –
Kalt ist der Abendhauch.
Verschon uns, Gott, mit Strafen
und lass uns ruhig schlafen –
und unsern kranken Nachbar auch.

Evening Song

The moon has risen.
The golden stars shine
in the sky brightly and clearly.
The woods stand black and silent.
And magically, from the meadows
the white mist is rising.

How still is the world
and, wrapped in the dusk,
as intimate and lovely
as a still chamber
where you can sleep
while forgetting the day's grief.

Do you see the moon up there?
You can only see half of it,
all the same, it is round and beautiful.
The same goes for many things
that we laugh at without hesitation,
just because our eyes don't see them.

We proud children of man
are vain poor sinners
who do not know much at all.
We spin gossamers of air
and search for many skills
and further depart from our goal.

God, let us see your salvation,
let us neither trust in any transitory things,
nor enjoy vanity.
Let us become naive
and here on earth, let us be, in your eyes,
devout and happy like children.

Without grief, will you finally please
take us out of this world
by a gentle death;
and when you have taken us,
let us get to Heaven,
you, our Lord and God.

So then, brothers,
lie down in the name of God –
The evening breeze is cold.
Spare us punishment, God,
and grant us peaceful sleep –
and also to our sick neighbor.

The famous last words of the last verse: Spare us punishment, God, and grant us peaceful sleep – and also to our sick neighbor are like a prayer. Subsequently, the poem of the Protestant author - long since appreciated in Germany's Lutheran hymn book - found its way into the Catholic hymnal in 2013.

Of recurrent relevance are a few lines Claudius sent to his son Johannes in 1799: Don't despise any religion for it is meant for the spirit ... It is easy to despise, son, and it is much better to understand.
*

Monday, February 2, 2015

All Quiet on the Southern Front?

Although it was the weekend of the vote on Freiburg's new stadium, the Badische Zeitung titled its Saturday edition: Atomendlager am Hochrhein (Permanent atomic disposal site on the Upper Rhine), in other words, the monster had resurfaced.

Since I last informed you about the topic in April 2014, it had all been quiet on the southern front until last Friday. On January 30, 2015, the Swiss Federal Office for Energy told the press that following its investigation into possible sites for the permanent storage of high-level radioactive waste, which had started in 2008, they had eventually homed in on two sites located on the Upper Rhine.

©Badische Zeitung
The Zürcher Weinland south of Schaffhausen and the East Jura (Bözberg) in the Canton Aargau are favored because of their suitable geological formation. As the next step, the NAGRA (National Association for the Storage of Radioactive Waste) will perform extensive geological drilling. 

By 2020 it shall define the two sites more precisely and apply for permission to store high-level radioactive material. The government in Berne will decide about authorization in 2027, followed by a debate in parliament and a popular vote. What will happen if the people decide against the proposal? I do not know. Red Baron will no longer be concerned.

The people of South Baden are scared: It is now clear that all radioactive waste from Switzerland will be disposed of near the German border. Some ask for a European solution claiming that better storage sites may be found elsewhere. However, Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, and do you really think any European country will accept Swiss radioactivity in its backyard?

While the Swiss are already stepped to the plate (die Schweizer machen bereits Nägel mit Köpfen), the German Kommission for the Standortfindung will have time until the end of this year to find a consensus on a site in Germany for the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste. 

Rumors have it that the site selected may be located on the Upper Rhine on the German side of the border, geological formation oblige. Will we find a tunnel connecting the two underground storage sites one day?
*

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Freiburg's New Soccer Arena

Today Red Baron voted on a new soccer arena for Freiburg. The SC Freiburg soccer team plays in Germany's First Bundesliga (Federal Division). It receives the guest teams in a stadium where the playing field is 4.5 meters too short and slants by 1 meter over its length. The capacity of the present Dreisamstadion is limited to 24,000 spectators, so it was high time either to enlarge the current facility or build a new one.

Artist's view: The site of the new soccer arena for Freiburg at the airport.
The broad curved street in front is Madison Allee.
To the right is Freiburg's exhibition ground with halls and parking lots.
The blue buildings in the foreground on the left belong to the technical faculties of Freiburg's University.
The land along the airstrip further up is actually undeveloped;
the fictitious buildings illustrate possible extensions for the university, and
the future soccer arena is situated in the background (©HHVision).
The cost for a new arena is 70 million euros, and the expense for the necessary infrastructure around the new facility will amount to another 47 million. Taxpayers' money will be involved up to 38 million euros, a figure that does not please everybody.

And as it is written: Then the ... elders of the people, assembled in Freiburg's city hall together with Mayor Salomon, voted 33 to 10 in favor of the new stadium, but then they schemed: Let us cover our ***es and have a public vote, "or there may be a riot among the people." 

To make a long story short, Freiburg's Municipal Council decided on November 18, 2014, to build a new soccer stadium in the Wolfwinkel (wolf's corner) near Freiburg's local airport. We, the people, had the final say today, on February 1, 2015.

The battle of posters (©BZ)
When Red Baron received his polling card in early January, he did not find any indication about what he should vote on. This lack of information prompted Germany's Spaßpartei (fun party) Die Partei to put up posters suggesting that on February 1, voters should neither check yea nor nay but instead vote for their party.

Endorsement for Die Partei
Although at the beginning of the campaign, many people thought that a positive outcome of the vote was a mere formality, lately, the adversaries brought up some good arguments concerning the project's financing.

Yesterday Freiburg's soccer team played Frankfurt in the Dreisamstadion and won 4 to 1. This was a good omen. 

Tonight at 1900 hours, the dice were cast. The people of Freiburg decided 58% to 42% in favor of the new soccer arena. However, voter turnout was only 45% of the electorate.
*