Top German court considers removing antisemitic medieval relief from church

A Jewish German is calling for the removal of a so-called "Judensau" sculpture at the church from which Martin Luther launched the Reformation. It is estimated that 50 such sculptures exist at churches across Europe.


Presiding BGH Judge Stephan Seiters called the 700-year-old relief, 'Anti-Semitism, carved in stone'

Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on Monday began hearings on the fate of a 700-year-old sandstone relief adorning the facade of the town church of Wittenburg, where Martin Luther once preached.

The case was brought on appeal by plaintiff-lawyer Michael Düllmann, who argued in lower courts that the sculpture is, "a defamation of, and an insult to, the Jewish people." Düllmann, who converted to Judaism in 1978, has been fighting for the object's removal since 2018, saying it should be taken to the nearby Luther House museum.

The sculpture is a so-called "Judensau" (Jew sow) motif, in this case depicting a man in the garb of a rabbi lifting the tail of a pig — which is considered an unclean animal in Judaism — and inspecting its anus, while other figures suck at its teats. In 1570, after the Protestant Reformation, a text inscription referring to anti-Jewish writings by Luther was added to the 13th-century sculpture.

Düllmann, 79, said: "The Church made the German people ready for Auschwitz."

He also referred to Wittenberg's own Martin Luther (1483-1546) as an "arch-Antisemite."

Judge calls sculpture 'antisemitism carved in stone'

Although a lower court in the city of Naumburg found the sculpture exhibited no "slanderous character" in its current context and that Düllmann's rights as a citizen were not infringed by it, BGH Judge Stephan Seiters called the relief, "Anti-Semitism, carved in stone," and noted that as a Jew living in Germany after the Holocaust, Düllmann was well within his rights to call for its removal.

Seiters added that the court must decide whether the information plaque mounted beneath the sculpture in 1988 should be "converted into a memorial." The plaque, which has both German and English texts, refers to the persecution of Europe's Jews and the six million people who died during the Holocaust.

The sculpture itself was restored in 2017, and rests some four meters (13 feet) above street level.

Judge Seiters noted that the court would also be charged with determining whether the church had in fact done enough to distance itself from the anti-Semitic intent of the original relief: "We must also determine whether an insult remains an insult, regardless of any new context it is placed within."

The parish of Wittenberg says it has indeed distanced itself from the message of the sculpture, with Pastor Matthias Keilholz saying: "Over the centuries, we have needed a thorn in the side to repeatedly find new ways to address the hate of Jews and the Church's role in it." The parish has called the "Wittenberger Judensau" part of a "difficult legacy, but also a record of history."

HOW THE NAZIS PROMOTED ANTI-SEMITISM THROUGH FILM
Hitler's favorite director
Leni Riefenstahl was among the Nazi filmmakers who tried to redeem their reputations after 1945. She was responsible for filming the Nazi party's massive rallies and was an integral part of the propaganda machine. Anti-Semitism was inseparable from the party's ideology.
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Jewish leader Schuster: Removing shameful object would only render it invisible

Parish Chairman Jörg Bielig says the church has plans to more clearly explain the object and its historical context. Yet Düllmann has argued against such an approach, saying explanatory texts will only serve to confuse readers and minimize the Church's true role in promoting anti-Semitism.

Moreover, Düllmann is calling on German churches to accept their historical responsibility for the persecution of Jews and remove such sculptures, otherwise "Church anti-Judaism simply carries on."

"The anti-Jewish history of the Church cannot be undone," said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who suggested that an explanatory text would indeed be preferable to removing the shameful object, which would only render it invisible.

Christian Staffa, the German Protestant Church's official charged with combating and addressing antisemitism, underscored the fact that the issue of what to do with the sculpture could not be determined in a court of law but rather must be negotiated through public debate.

It is estimated that as many as 50 such depictions exist at churches across Germany and Europe.

The BGH, Germany's highest civil court, says it expects to deliver a verdict on the case by June 14.

Düllmann has said that he will take the case to Germany's Constitutional Court and even to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) should he fail to win a legal victory before the BGH.

Watch video 03:00 Holocaust survivor takes to TikTok to combat anti-Semitism

js/jsi (AP, dpa, KNA)

A tiny republic with a big heart: Exploring Uzupis in Lithuania

The self-proclaimed republic of Uzupis could be seen as a joke, but its foundation in Lithuania's capital has serious roots. DW's Heidi Fuller-Love meets with locals to learn more.

Let's take a tour through the self-proclaimed republic of Uzupis in Vilnius

Vilija Dovydenaite is the only official tour guide of Uzupis, one of the world's smallest republics, covering an area of less than 1 square kilometer, with barely 7,000 inhabitants. It's situated in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

Dovydenaite explains that Uzupis means "over the river" as we cross the Vilnele river on a narrow bridge and enter the republic at the heart of Vilnius. Dovydenaite points to a bronze mermaid sculpture tucked into a gap in the wall above the fast-flowing river. "Be careful — if you look into her eyes you'll never want to leave," she warns.  

The bronze mermaid by sculptor Romas Vilciauskas

Down at heel neighborhood...

Home to a thriving Jewish population before World War II, the small independent neighborhood of Uzupis was left derelict after the Holocaust. Empty houses were used as brothels and squats. "At first, artists moved here because rents were cheap," explains Dovydenaite. 

It was a local photographer, Saulius Paukstys, who then got the ball rolling. Paukstys hit on the idea of replacing one of Lenin's statues, which had been torn down at the end of the Soviet regime, with a Frank Zappa bust, despite the fact that the rockstar had never visited Lithuania. Two years later, on April Fool's Day 1997, Paukstys, along with the republic's current president, filmmaker Roman Lileikis, declared independence for the Republic of Uzupis, saying they wanted to create a place where people could be themselves without worrying about social mores. "It was all completely absurd, but it seemed to be a good test of our newfound democracy and freedom," Dovydenaite says. 

Attention, you're now crossing the border to the republic of Uzupis

She tells me that the self-proclaimed Republic of Uzupis has its own president, its own constitution, its own currency and four national flags — one for each season.

"In bad times the last thing you think of is art or poetry, so life was difficult for people who were creative and not adapted to life's daily struggles. This group of people were looking for a way to survive — they were looking for a new way to live together after the Soviet times when tolerance and respect did not exist," she says.

...transforms into an upmarket district

Although the Lithuanian government was initially hostile to the project, they soon got onboard. Within a few decades, the runaway republic had become accepted — although it's not recognized as an official nation by foreign governments. 

You never know what you'll find when strolling the streets of Uzupis

Despite being close to the city's old town, Uzupis, which was surrounded by the river on three sides, was cut off from the rest of Vilnius until the 16th century when a bridge was built to link it to the larger city beyond. Today, there are designer boutiques, trendy cafes and secret courtyards which are decorated with quirky objects. "Ironically, this is now the second most expensive part of the city after the old town — no struggling artist could afford to buy an apartment here now," Dovydenaite says. 

The statue of Archangel Gabriel is an important landmark in Uzupis

A tourist magnet

We visit the Uzupis Art Incubator, the first of its kind in the Baltic States. Artists from around the world come here to create experimental works. Next, we stop at a long wall covered in metal signs. Dovydenaite tells me this is Uzupis' constitution, which has been translated into over 50 different languages. There are more than forty articles, including: "Cats have the right to not love their owners" and "everyone has the right to be in doubt, but this is not an obligation."

"It's written in a funny way, but if you put it in the right context it has a lot of meaning," Dovydenaite says. "It's all about people learning to think for themselves again and express themselves freely after 70 years of oppression. You could say this is the first written document of human rights in post-Soviet Lithuania."

From quirky installations to colorful street art, there's plenty to see in Uzupis. The best time to visit this district, which is the most popular area for tourists in Vilnius, is on April Fool's Day. On the anniversary of the republic's independence, the borders are manned by special guards who stamp visitors' passports, while a former water fountain flows with beer, and the art and music events take place in the streets.

Street art can be found all around Uzupis

Artists lead anti-war protests

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, many of the republic's 7,000 inhabitants have been involved in organizing city-wide protests and initiatives to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine.

I meet Neringa Rekasiute, a local artist who has been involved in a number of art activism projects, such as her video "Swimming Through," set in the pond outside the Russian embassy.

"We dyed the pond red and then Ruta Meilutyte, an Olympic athlete, swam across it," she explains. "I wanted to show that the Russians have blood on their hands, but I also wanted to show hope, to show Ukrainians swimming through all this blood to reach freedom."


EXPLORING EASTERN EUROPE: LITHUANIA
Vilnius: Pearl of the Baltic
Vilnius, the exciting, multicultural capital, has sidewalk cafes, pubs and bars with live music, picturesque lanes, a castle complex and a great number of churches. Its historical center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. One of the best-known sights in Vilnius is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus and St. Ladislaus, seen here.
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Edited by: Benjamin Restle

Tobacco industry severely damages environment: WHO

Tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, and they contain thousands of toxic chemicals that can end up in the environment, according to the World Health Organization.



Tobacco products are the most littered items on the planet, the WHO says

Smoking not only kills people, but also severely impacts the environment, the World Health Organization said in a report released Tuesday.

The report, Tobacco: poisoning our planet, published to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, said smoking kills 8 million people every year.

Along with that, the production and consumption of tobacco leads to the loss of around 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, and 22 billion tons of water every year, it said.

Smoking industry is a massive CO2 emitter

Tobacco use and production also contributes significantly to global greenhouse gases, emitting around 84 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.

"The industry's carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming," the report warns.

Watch video 02:26 Recycling cigarette butts with mushrooms

Cigarette filters also severely damaging

Around 4.5 trillion cigarette filters — which contain non-biodegradable microplastics — end up in oceans, rivers and beaches every year, said Rüdiger Krech, the WHO's director of health promotion.

Tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, Krech said, adding they contain over 7,000 toxic chemicals "which leech into our environment when discarded."

Krech said the cost of cleaning up discarded tobacco items almost always falls on taxpayers and called on the tobacco industry to do more. Germany pays around $200 million (€186 million) to clean up tobacco waste.

Watch video 01:49 Doing Your Bit: Less smoke and more smoked fish

The report called on policymakers to consider banning cigarette filters because of their harmful impact on the environment.

The WHO also calls attention to the plight of tobacco farmers exposed to harmful emissions throughout the course of their work and life. Krech said some farmers were poisoned by the nicotine they absorbed through their skin.

It is important, Krech said, that "the industry pay actually for the mess that they are creating."

rm/nm (dpa, Reuters)

Climate change puts agrivoltaic projects in Northern Africa in the spotlight

With record-high temperatures in Northern Africa and worries over food security rampant from Egypt to Morocco, agrivoltaic projects in the region are getting ever more attention.

Installing solar panels without losing agricultural areas seems like a sound idea

As food and energy security emerge as top priorities in several regions, an innovative use of existing technologies might help serve both: Agrivoltaic projects allow energy production and agricultural activity on the same land, potentially increasing farming productivity.

Several agrivoltaic pilot programs, in partnership with mainly  European research centers and agencies, are underway on the African continent. Results are nearly in for the research phase of one such one project in Algeria, Watermed4.0, according to German research organization Fraunhofer ISE, one of eight institutions involved.

"We only had the first harvest of potatoes so far. Early data had some promising results: under the agrivoltaic installation there was a significantly higher yield and size of the crop compared with an uncovered reference field — about 16% more," Brendon Bingwa, project manager of Agrivoltaics Africa at Fraunhofer, told DW. Additional work will provide more data and evidence, he added.

The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) noted that sharing experiences is essential for new processes like agrivoltaic programs. "It would be desirable if data and experiences on projects in this field were shared publicly for further assessment," a spokesperson told DW. 

Helpful change in microclimate

The shading effect and ensuing improvement of the microclimate in the areas below photovoltaic modules are among the main benefits of agrivoltaic projects, which could not only increase agricultural productivity, but also allow the cultivation of new crops.

These technologies will be increasingly crucial amid climate change, said Ezio Terzini, manager of the photovoltaic and smart devices division at the NEA, Italy's public research agency. The agency has partnered in a proposed agrivoltaic project led by environmental organization Green Cross International to build a five-megawatt photovoltaic power plant in an agricultural region in Morocco. 

"Many formerly fertile agricultural areas located in mild climate zones now suffer from progressive infertility due to rising temperatures or water scarcity," Terzini told DW. "Other areas are exposed to extreme weather phenomena. Agrivoltaic projects could help with both, restoring fertile conditions to areas in progressive abandonment."

Agrivoltaic projects can also produce electricity to pump and desalinate water, opening the doors to agriculture in difficult regions and desert areas.

Export potential

Terzini pointed out that the southern shores of  Mediterranean countries have long boosted the spread of photovoltaic installations over large areas, exacerbating the trade-off between electricity and food production. While electricity is a medium-term necessity, food production is the short-term priority.
"The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine is looming over a serious food crisis that will significantly affect Africa — we need to find solutions for increasing food production in this area," Terzini said.

This potential is significant. According to Fraunhofer's project manager Bingwa, the agrivoltaic projects would go beyond simply easing local food security concerns. "The project in Algeria is an example: Strawberries are the second crop. Production would satisfy local markets and allow exports, thanks to cold storage facilities, which are not part of the ongoing project, but would be an added advantage if implemented."

Future agrivoltaic projects could indeed use electricity to power cold-storage facilities to shield crops from high temperatures, prolonging the shelf life of the harvested crops.

This additional service would be controlled by data-based control systems, which are currently being tested to optimize water use.

"I hope that we will witness progress from this demonstrator phase to building them in communities in the next five years, with wider impacts on the region," Bingwa said.

A stronger local economy would also positively impact  job markets, eventually decreasing the probability of migration flows.

It may be a small project, but the Algeria agrovoltaic installation shows that the underlying concept has many benefits

Though a small project, the Algerian agrovoltaic installation shows that the concept has many benefits.

Business models

The Algerian  project shows  how institutions from different countries — including Algeria, Germany, Spain and Turkey — can successfully combine their technological know-how. Spain's University of Murcia, for example, brought its expertise in digitalization to Watermed4.0.

The next step is to find a suitable business model to make these experimental systems pay off. According to Bingwa, public funding is critical to the research, but private investors and local players are also needed to make these projects viable and replicable.

Solar-powered irrigation systems

The research-phase agrivoltaic projects combine several technologies, including solar-powered irrigation systems. The German development agency GIZ  and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations have already worked on these systems.

The UN said that these systems require reinforcing the technical capacities of local staff and farmers. They were designed to "enable advisers and service providers to provide broad hands-on guidance to end-users, policymakers, and financiers. Thus, risks related to system efficiency, financial viability and the unsustainable use of water resources can be minimized," a FAO spokesperson told DW.

FAO is currently working on three projects in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. The Rome-based organization said that projects in strategic regions could provide good practice examples, allowing operations to be scaled up. That will also require the collaboration of local policymakers, which will need to create the framework for investments.

"Strong institutions and clear policy vision help advance the adoption of such technologies," the spokesperson concluded.

European court condemns Turkey over Amnesty head's detention

Human rights defenders won the case, and Turkey was asked to pay costs and damages for detaining the head of Amnesty International's chapter in the country.



Taner Kilic was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of links with a Turkish dissident

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Turkey acted unlawfully in detaining the local head of the human rights group Amnesty International in 2017.

The court found no evidence that Taner Kilic had committed any offense.
Why was Kilic detained?

Authorities had detained Kilic in June 2017, charging him with having links to the US-based preacher and Turkish dissident Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey says staged a 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

He was released after 14 months in detention, but in July 2020 was convicted of belonging to a terror group and given six years and three months in prison.

The ECHR now says that the original detention took place even though there was "no reasonable suspicion that Mr Kilic had committed an offense."

The court also ruled that his subsequent conviction on other charges was "directly linked to his activity as a human rights defender," and interfered with his freedom of expression.

Seven judges, including Saadet Yuksel from Turkey, unanimously ruled in Kilic's favor.

Turkey had accused him of belonging to the group due to his alleged use of a phone messaging app, his children's schooling, newspaper subscriptions and the fact that he held accounts in a bank linked to the Gulen movement.
What did the court rule?

"This long-awaited European Court ruling confirms what we have known from the start — that Taner Kilic was arbitrarily deprived of his liberty when jailed in a high security prison on trumped-up charges," said Amnesty International's Europe director, Nils Muiznieks.

Kilic is not currently in prison and has appealed the verdict, but Muiznieks says he could go back to jail if Turkey's Court of Cassation does not uphold his appeal.

Turkey was ordered to pay $26,300 (€24,500) in damages and $10,735 (€10,000) in costs.

The ECHR has recently ruled against Turkey over the detention of Selahattin Demirtas, an opposition leader, and Osman Kavala, a philanthropist and activist.

Demirtas has been in prison since 2016 on several charges, while Kavala was given life without parole for involvement in protests in 2013.

er/nm (AFP, Reuters)

Turkey seeks to tighten media control with 'fake news' bill

A new bill, if approved, is expected to bring further restrictions on online freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey.



Critics of the proposed 'fake news' law say it is another step toward complete government control of the media

A bill now before the Turkish parliament that purports to want to combat "fake news" is being sharply criticized for potentially expanding the control of the government over the internet and the media.

If enacted, the law could allow the government to further narrow down journalistic activities, critics say.

In Turkey, almost 90% of national media is already controlled by the government, and critical media outlets are under heavy financial and judicial pressure. The newly proposed bill aims to target social and online media — a space the government hasn't been able to entirely control until now.

Under the law, the offense of "openly disseminating information that misleads the public" would be added to the Turkish penal code. Those who disseminate information that is deemed to be false about the "internal and external security of the country, public order and public health" would face up to three years in prison. If the offense was committed by someone concealing their real identity or as part of the activities of an organization, the sentence would be increased by half.
Imminent discussion

Parliamentarians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) put the proposal to amend the press law before Turkey's parliament on May 26. The parliamentary Committee on Justice will start discussing the bill on June 1.

According to its makers, the bill aims to protect people from "swearing, slander, insults, smears, discreditation, hatred and discrimination."

"The act of intentionally producing or disseminating fake news has become a serious threat that prevents citizens' rights to access true information in Turkey," a statement justifying the bill said.

However, the lack of a clear definition in the bill of what "disinformation" or "fake news" actually is has raised questions about what such accusations will be based on.

Thousands of social media users in Turkey have already been victims of doubtful legal proceedings in this regard. Social media posts are frequently cited as evidence in indictments against journalists, intellectuals and politicians, and evidence in trials to do with charges of "insulting the president" is also usually taken from social media posts.

Communication experts and opposition parties agree that the general purpose of the bill is to control and restrain freedom of opinion and expression.

Watch video05:04 Exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar speaks to DW

'Incomprehensible type of crime'

Yaman Akdeniz, a professor of law and cyber-rights defender, told DW that the bill's establishment of a new offense defined as openly disseminating information aimed at misleading the public will cause difficulties in practice.

According to Akdeniz, the description of this crime in the bill shows that the mode of legal procedure will not be different than in the case of other crimes such as insulting the president.

"Actually, it is an incomprehensible type of crime on paper. It has been defined rather broadly and is open to being applied arbitrarily. It seems that it will be used frequently in the upcoming election period. We will see that prosecutors start initiating investigations into news with a big impact and into social media content," he says.

Gurkan Ozturan, the Media Freedom Emergency Response (MFRR) coordinator at the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), told DW: "When you look at the subtexts and even between paragraphs, it is possible to say that it contains very dangerous elements and a very broad scope. To put it very briefly, it seems that anything that does not echo information published by the Directorate of Communications can be considered as a potential crime."

The proposed law contains 'dangerous elements," says Gurkan Ozturan

MHP deputy Feti Yıldız, one of the first signatories of the bill, has responded to such criticism. Speaking to DW, Yıldız said, "We are not preparing anything to harm, imprison or impugn people. We say that anyone who willingly spreads fake news that undermines internal and external security will have to put up with the consequences. It's that simple."
'Pre-election preparation'

According to the main opposition party, CHP, the primary aim of the government is to control both the internet and social media before the election.

CHP deputy Utku Cakırozer, who followed the preparation stages of the proposal in the parliament's Digital Media Commission, told DW that during the negotiations, opposition parties criticized the bill for narrowing down online freedom of expression and media freedom.

"Before the election, the government not only wants to prevent the press from reporting freely and objectively, but also wants to create an atmosphere of pressure that will restrict citizens' right to criticize and freedom of expression on social media. Perhaps this is what we should focus on," he said.

Watch video26:05 One-man rule: Can Turkey survive Erdogan?

Press card issues

Another critical item of the proposal has to do with the issuing of press cards.

According to the bill, in order to obtain a press card, a person must not be convicted under the anti-terror law and the law on the financing of terrorism.

If the proposal becomes law, any reporter whose press card has been canceled in connection with such convictions will not be able to receive a press card for a year after the date of cancellation even after the obstacles have been removed. If the press card is canceled as a result of activities and behaviors deemed contrary to press moral principles, the press card will not be issued again for a period of five years.

These are some other crimes as well for which journalists will be unable to obtain a press card for a year from the date of cancellation even if they no longer stand convicted: slander, crimes against public peace, crimes against the constitutional order and its functioning, crimes against national defense, crimes against state secrets, and espionage.

Press organizations have long criticized the government on the grounds that it was being arbitrary in its regulations on press cards. Many press organizations and unions now emphasize that one of the most serious censorship and self-censorship mechanisms in the history of the country is now being prepared and called for the withdrawal of the proposal.

Edited by: Timothy Jones

Social class: Germany's forgotten career hurdle

Today many German companies support diversity in the workplace and are making efforts to create better opportunities for women and people of color. But socioeconomic background is a factor that often goes overlooked.

Workplace discrimination due to socioeconomic background can be harder to recognize than sexism or racism

In Germany, all doors are open to you if you work hard and do a good job.

It's a nice idea, but unfortunately one that doesn't fully reflect reality. "As long as you come from the right social class," might be important to add. Talent and commitment often aren't enough on their own. A potential employee would also have to understand the hidden codes of the company elite. That includes knowing how to behave, which clothes to wear, the right hobbies to have and how to communicate such that doors to the executive floor open.

In other words, socioeconomic background plays a key role in determining which academic and professional opportunities are available in Germany — and how much discrimination a person will face in their career.  

Discrimination starts early in Germany. "More than 80% of children whose parents went to university go to 'Gymnasium,'" said Konstantina Vassiliou-Enz, referring to the most advanced type of German secondary schools, usually a precursor to university. "For children from families with less formal education, it's not even half." Vassiliou-Enz is a journalist and co-founder of the Diversity Kartell consultancy, which campaigns for more diversity in the media.

A child's educational path often correlates to that of their parents. For example, 79 out of 100 school children with college-educated parents will go on to study at a university, compared with just 27 out of 100 whose parents did not attend university.

In a US study, fictitious job seekers with elite hobbies like sailing or polo were more likely to be invited to an interview

The many sides of social background

Education is just one example of how social background can influence your future. A family's socioeconomic position also plays a role. Do the parents have assets? What kind of jobs do they have? Exacerbating the problem, people born into a lower social class are often discriminated against for other reasons, for example, if they have families who recently migrated to Germany.

"The income and educational level of the parents are particularly decisive for educational success in Germany, and children with a migration background, for example, are more likely to come from low-income families," explained Vassiliou-Enz.

A long journey to the top

Even for those who do make it to the top, the very decision to invest in their own education isn't an easy one. People who grew up in precarious financial situations often can't count on support from their parents if they run into financial problems, Vassiliou-Enz said. Sometimes, they're the ones supporting their parents.

This means not everyone can afford to do unpaid internships, for example. Those from privileged social classes also often have better professional connections, putting them in a better position to land these coveted internships in the first place. People who choose to study also have to consider whether they're ready to take on student debt. This is a more difficult decision for people with a lower socioeconomic background.

Put simply: "People from poor families have to take disproportionately more risks and do more to move up than those born into the middle class or college-educated middle class," says Vassiliou-Enz, who herself grew up in what she calls a poor family. "I didn't want to pay to go to college," she recalled. Growing up in a family that was short on money, she said, she wanted to earn her own money first, rather than racking up student debt.

Helping others climb the ladder

"In my own case, it was because my parents had been unemployed for very many years, since the mid-1990s, to be exact," Natalya Nepomnyashcha told DW. "Of course, this left them with no self-confidence at all. And that gets passed on to the children, who also feel they might not be able to achieve that much."

Nepomnyashcha did, in fact, make it to the top of the career ladder. But it wasn't a straight path. Her parents had emigrated to Germany from Ukraine, and she grew up in a marginalized area in Bavaria.

She managed to move out of the "Hauptschule," a type of vocational secondary school in Germany, to the "Realschule," a step below Gymnasium. Despite her good grades, however, she was not accepted at the Gymnasium. After graduating from secondary school, she completed vocational training and a master's degree in the United Kingdom.

Today, Nepomnyashcha works for a renowned management consulting firm and, on the side, founded the organization Netzwerk Chancen, which helps young people from lower social classes advance their careers.

"It's absolutely fundamental to first let go of what you have been told: That you're not good enough, that you'll never have a good job," she said. "It's important to realize what your talents are, what your strengths are, what jobs you enjoy."

Netzwerk Chancen supports young people from challenging social backgrounds to navigate every step of their career path by offering free coaching, workshops, mentoring and help finding work.

Social background is an important aspect of workplace diversity, says Netzwerk Chancen's Natalya Nepomnyashcha

Social diversity pays off

To prevent discrimination on the basis of social origin, it's necessary to do more than support those who are affected; obstacles also need to be removed. Most people probably don't feel that they discriminate against others from a different social milieu. However, studies show that people tend to favor those who are similar to themselves — a phenomenon known as unconscious bias.

Discrimination based on social class can be harder to recognize than discrimination due to age, skin color or if they or their parents migrated to Germany, for example. That makes it all the more important that people in educational institutions and human resource departments are trained to recognize bias and critically examine their own actions.

This starts, for example, with job advertisements, Nepomnyashcha pointed out. Her organization recommends that job postings pay less attention to applicants' qualifications on paper and more to their actual competencies, since many socially disadvantaged job candidates often haven't been to top universities or don't necessarily have excellent grades. They can still be talented nonetheless, she emphasized.

Half of managers have observed discrimination against workers due to social background, a study from Charta der Vielfalt showed

German media organizations are also considered to be relatively homogeneous and lacking in diversity on this level. Most newsrooms are staffed by people with college degrees.

"But that is now changing in some media houses," Vassiliou-Enz said. Hessischer Rundfunk and SWR, two regional German broadcasters, no longer require a university degree to be considered for their journalism traineeships. They now also accept vocational training.

Yet even when the topic is uncomfortable, it pays for companies to focus on diversity: According to a study by management consulting firm McKinsey, 50% of the projected skilled labor shortage in Germany could be remedied if companies embrace a more diverse workforce.

This article was originally written in German.

Plastic packaging might be biodegradable after all

Leipzig researchers have found an enzyme that rapidly breaks down PET, the most widely produced plastic in the world. It might just eat your old tote bags.


Christian Sonnendecker in his lab at the University of Leipzig, where he and other researchers have found a new enzyme that can "eat" PET plastic

While scavenging through a compost heap at a Leipzig cemetery, Christian Sonnendecker and his research team found seven enzymes they had never seen before.

They were hunting for proteins that would eat PET plastic — the most highly produced plastic in the world. It is commonly used for bottled water and groceries like grapes.

The scientists weren't expecting much when they brought the samples back to the lab, said Sonnendecker when DW visited their Leipzig University laboratory.

It was only the second dump they had rummaged through and they thought PET-eating enzymes were rare.

But in one of the samples, they found an enzyme, or polyester hydrolase, called PHL7. And it shocked them. The PHL7 enzyme disintegrated an entire piece of plastic in less than a day.

To test the rate at which the seven enzymes broke down PET, Sonnendecker and his team added a mixture of water, a phosphate buffer, which is often used to detect bacteria, for example, and the new enzyme to seven individual test tubes

After adding the mixture to the test tubes, the team added tiny slivers of PET plastic to each container to see how quickly it took to degrade

Two enzymes 'eat' plastic: PHL7 vs. LCC

PHL7 appears to 'eat' PET plastic times faster than LCC, a standard enzyme used in PET plastic-eating experiments today.

To ensure their discovery wasn't a fluke, Sonnendecker's team compared PHL7 to LCC, with both enzymes degrading multiple plastic containers. And they found it was true: PHL7 was faster.

"I would have thought you'd need to sample from hundreds of different sites before you'd find one of these enzymes," said Graham Howe, an enzymologist at Queens University in Ontario, Canada.

Howe, who also studies PET degradation but was not involved in the Leipzig research, appeared to be amazed by the study published in Chemistry Europe.

"Apparently, you go to nature and there are going to be enzymes that do this everywhere," said Howe.

PET plastic is everyone

Although PET plastic can be recycled, it does not biodegrade. Like nuclear waste or a nasty comment to your partner, once PET plastic is created, it never really goes away.

It can be refashioned into new products — it's not hard to create a tote bag from recycled water bottles, for example. But the quality of the plastic weakens with each cycle.

So, a lot of PET is eventually fashioned into products like carpets and — yes — an exorbitant number of tote bags that end up in landfill sites.

There are two ways to look at solving this problem: The first is to stop production of all PET plastic.

But the material is so common that even if companies stopped producing it immediately, there would still be millions of empty soft drink bottles — or tote bags fashioned from those bottles — lying around for thousands of years.

This is what a grape container looks like after it's been treated with the enzyme PHL7 — the white particles are leftover terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, chemicals that can be used to create brand new PET rather than a lower quality version

The second way is to force the plastic to degrade. Scientists have been trying to find enzymes that will do that for decades and in 2012 they found LCC, or "leaf-branch compost cutinase."

LCC was a major breakthrough because it showed that PETase, a component of LCC, can be used to degrade PET plastic when it is combined with another enzyme known as an esterase.

Esterase enzymes are used to break chemical bonds in a process called hydrolysis.

Scientists working on LCC have found that the enzyme does not differentiate between natural polymers and synthetic polymers — the latter being plastic. Instead, LCC recognizes PET plastic as a naturally occurring substance and eats it like it would a natural polymer.

Engineering the enzyme

Since the discovery of LCC, researchers like Sonnendecker have been looking for new PET-eating enzymes in nature. LCC is good, they say, but it has limitations. It is fast for what it is, but it still takes days to break down PET and the reactions have to occur at very high temperatures.

Other scientists and researchers have been trying to figure out how to engineer LCC to make it more efficient.

A French company called Carbios is doing that. They are engineering LCC to create a faster, more efficient enzyme.

Elsewhere, researchers at the University of Texas in Austin have created a PET-eating protein using a machine learning algorithm. They say their protein can degrade PET plastic in 24 hours.

David Zechel, a professor of chemistry at Queen's University said these approaches always start with something that is known — the researchers don't necessarily find anything new, but work to improve what has already been discovered.

The team are testing a "pre-treatment" that is applied to soft drink bottles, like this one in the jar, before it's degraded by the enzyme PHL7

This type of engineering is important as researchers try to create the optimal enzyme to degrade PET, said Zechel.

Sonnendecker's work shows that "we haven't even remotely scratched the surface" in terms of the potential of naturally occurring enzymes "with respect to PET," he said.
Bottles still don't biodegrade

Sonnendecker's newly discovered enzyme has its limitations, too. It can break down the containers you buy your grapes in at the grocery store, but it can't break down a soft drink bottle. Not yet.

The PET plastic used in drink bottles is stretched and chemically altered, making it tougher to biodegrade than the PET used in grape containers.

In tests, Sonnendecker's team has developed a pre-treatment that is applied to PET bottles, making it easier for the enzyme to degrade the plastic. But that research has yet to be published.

With industry help, said the researcher, technology using PHL7 to break down PET at a large scale could be ready in around four years.

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany

'The coverage continues': Palestinian journalists vow to carry forward Abu Akleh's legacy

Israelis and Palestinians started separate inquiries into the killing of a prominent US-Palestinian reporter. Those who knew Shireen Abu Akleh worry no one will be held to account for her death.

It's been almost two weeks since Faten Elwan woke up to the dreadful news that her colleague and close friend Shireen Abu Akleh had been fatally shot in the early morning of May 11. Abu Akleh, a senior correspondent with Al Jazeera Arabic, was covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on that fateful day. 

"Now we start to realize and it just doesn't make sense," says Elwan, a Palestinian journalist who lives in Ramallah and currently works for a youth website. "We just pick up the phone and call her, we are not over that habit yet." 

Elwan used to work for US-based Alhurra TV and for more than 15 years often reported side-by-side with Abu Akleh. "What was so special about her was that she will never go to any place just thinking of a mission that she quickly needs to finish," says Elwan, still speaking in the present tense. 

Abu Akleh, who was just a few years older, took Elwan under her wing when she started out in journalism. Elwan remembers her colleague always looked for the "human angle" in her story. "She respects the place, she makes people around her feel comfortable to talk and then she starts the work."

Dispute over circumstances continues

The Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, for which the Palestinian-American journalist worked for over 20 years, and the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, have blamed Israel for what they believe was the intentional killing of the well-known journalist. Al Jazeera said on Thursday that it assigned a legal team to refer it to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

While the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has not ruled out that she was accidentally killed by an Israeli sniper stationed around 200 meters away, the army argues that she may have been shot by indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire. Eyewitness accounts from Palestinian journalists and bystanders contradict the claim that there was an exchange of fire when the journalist was killed.

In the findings of an initial investigation, published two days after the incident, the IDF concluded that "it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh." The IDF  has denied accusations of deliberately targeting journalists.

Too close to home for many journalists 

The death of Abu Akleh, who was well-known and respected beyond the Palestinian Territories, has sent shockwaves throughout the journalistic community. 

Many among the younger generation of Palestinian journalists grew up watching her reporting and she is endearingly remembered for her famously calm and collected sign-off, no matter the story. 

"She was our face at Al Jazeera, and for us media students, we learned a lot from her, and we owe her a lot," says 20-year-old Diana Shweiki, a third-year student in media studies at Al Quds University, a Palestinian university in Jerusalem. 

But her death also raises difficult questions about reporting from a conflict zone. "There is no more safety for journalists," says Shweiki.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has confirmed the killing of 19 journalists in Israel and the Palestinian Territories since 2000, although other organizations such as Paris-based Reporters Without Borders puts that figure higher. 

"Wherever there's conflict, there's danger," says Walid Batrawi, a former colleague of Abu Akleh's at Al Jazeera English. Batrawi, a Palestinian journalist, has made it his mission to train Palestinian journalists who work in hostile environments.

"The basic rule for journalists is to be aware and to take all cautious measures and considerations. Mostly those who work for foreign media would have the chance to be trained in protecting themselves, even though, you are not protected 100 percent." 

Batrawi says he is still in denial that his former colleague, who was known for being extra careful and cautious and never endangering her team, was killed while doing her job. She was clearly identifiable with a press flak jacket and helmet. 

Following her killing, field reporting continues for Palestinian journalists who live with the realities of the conflict and under a military occupation every day. 

"The slogan that Palestinian journalists are using right now after Shireen's death is 'The coverage continues,'" Batrawi says. "That is a huge message." 

Calls for independent investigation

Focus remains on whether those responsible for the killing will be held to account. The United Nations, the United States and several European countries have called for an independent probe into the killing of the Palestinian-American journalist. 

Several media outlets such as US network CNN and news agency Associated Press (AP), or investigative collective Bellingcat have made their own investigations, speaking with eyewitnesses, cross-referencing sounds, analyzing video material and consulting forensic experts, suggesting that Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli military.

On Thursday, the Palestinian Authority's chief prosecutor, Akram Al Khatib, laid out the findings of its investigation in Ramallah, concluding that the journalists were directly fired at by Israeli snipers. According to the report, forensic evidence suggests that Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head from behind while attempting to escape from Israeli sniper fire. 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has previously said that it won't cooperate with a joint investigation given the mistrust between both parties. Al Khatib reiterated that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh will not be handed over to Israel as the Israeli military has requested. 

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz replied to the inquiry by the Palestinian Authority that "any claim that the IDF intentionally harms journalists or uninvolved civilians, is a blatant lie." He also accused the Palestinian Authority and CNN of attempting "to undermine the ability to achieve peace and stability in the region."

'You have enough burden of pain in your heart'

Some of Abu Akleh's friends and colleagues are weary, concerned that accountability may never come and the violence that accompanied the journalist's funeral in east Jerusalem further traumatized them. 

Elwan says she was shocked by the heavily armed Israeli border police charging into mourners and beating pallbearers preparing to take Shireen's coffin from Saint Joseph's Hospital to the church in the Old City. 

"A dead body in a coffin with her loved ones around her. In every country in the world, it's only your simplest human right To do this with respect, in peace, you have enough burden of pain in your heart," says Elwan who remained next to Shireen's coffin. 

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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