Word: germanism
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...Year Without Summer [1816]. There was quite a lot of volcanic activity for several years prior to that, and it created a cloud of dust high up in the atmosphere. The earth cooled very quickly, at least in the northern hemisphere. And crops started to fail. So [German inventor Karl Drais] saw that it was more and more expensive to feed a horse, and he came up with what was originally called a Draisine. It was really a scooter that eventually evolved into a bicycle. People couldn't feed their horses, and they started driving these Draisines - just like...
...When German artist Ottmar Hörl created a gold-colored gnome giving the infamous Hitler salute earlier this year, he meant it as a satirical work, a mockery of Nazi ideology. When gallery owner Erwin Weigl put the gnome in the window of his Nuremberg store, he didn't even notice the Nazi connection - he just thought the gnome was waving. But when a local newspaper published a photo of the gnome, both Hörl and Weigl suddenly found themselves at the center of a criminal investigation that became a national talking point. Giving the Hitler salute...
...hostile to democracy. The Grundgesetz guarantees basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, but it also gives the state the power to ban organizations that threaten the democratic order. Clauses prohibiting the use of symbols which violate the constitution, including Nazi symbols, were added to the German penal code in 1960. In the past few decades, as Germany has seen a rise in right-wing extremism, these laws have been used as tools against neo-Nazis. In 1994, denying the Holocaust itself became a crime. (See pictures of Kristallnacht...
...January, controversy flared when the German state of Bavaria banned Zeitungszeugen, a weekly publication containing facsimiles of Nazi-era newspapers. The series gives a chronological look at events in Germany from January 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor, to the end of World War II in 1945. As well as reprints of original Nazi and communist papers, it includes commentary written by eminent historians...
...misused by neo-Nazi groups. But McGee fought back, saying the reprints were educational. After a noisy public debate and a court case that ended in McGee's favor, Bavarian authorities were forced to back down. The publication is now available - and selling well - at newsagents in most German cities...