Some historians have a hard time to sort long-term relationships between countries into adequate periods. The ups and downs between Berlin and Moscow are a peculiar example of this. The artist Peter Laszlo Péri expressed this unease in a poster where both cities stand for the dictatorships presumably in the name of the working class. This alliance between Berlin and Moscow, Hitler and Stalin led to occupations of several neighboring countries and war in the following years. With an uncritical stance after German unification the Berlin Moscow link has again facilitated the land grab of Russia with Ukrainian territory. Buying complacency of Berlin in return for cheap oil and gas from Moscow has ended for most European countries now. Great to see Europe united with few minor exceptions and that alliances with other European cities reveal strong and powerful in hope of a more peaceful Europe. 
POSSE
for a German speaking audience POSSE stands for a farsical popular drama of the 18th and 19th centuries. Nowadays POSSE has particularly in the English speaking world a completely different meaning. POSSE is short for Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere. In other words publish your own creative work, text, tech or melody on your own website first before spreading the content on other platforms. By this strategy you make sure your content stays your content even if a platform like eXitTwitter disappears or the hype has passed like with facebook. And if at any point in time you decide the whole internet is a farce, you will be able to edit the content from your own webpage as a book or audio version as an edited volume. Do not make yourself a modern slave of tobacco, drugs, alcohol or platforms for whom you create (mostly unpaid) content they use to sell advertisements with huge untaxed profits. With POSSE you can make an end to this farce. We still rely on search engines like QWANT, Ecosia, duckduckgo or Mozilla’s Firefox, to name a few less well known web searching tools. They ensure that other people find your webpage beyond the elephant in the room called Google.
Eco-trees
This time we thought to advance with our ecological version of Christmas. We use LED lighting and instead of advocating real horse riding we opted for the wooden replacement. We reduced the size of the tree by 27.5% to further cut down on the carbon footprint of our event. As we were all feeling pretty confident that we are on the right track now, we learned from the media reports in Germany that the trees usually grown specifically for Christmas are taking away precious land where otherwise food would be grown. Much worse is the fact that pesticides are very often applied to facilitate the production of trees. (Link to study and test results).
We know that there is a problem in Germany to be frank about environmental dangers of diesel and glyphosate, but we did not want to believe that we inhale glyphosate in our living rooms after the diesel disaster in cities. We thought trees were synonymous for nature. Far off the truth. Better check the ecological impact and risks incurred even for trees. Trust and good faith seems to be utterly misplaced when it comes to nature turned into a product.
Styles are a Changing
We all have our very own style. Even if you believe you have no style, then this will be your style. Of course, styles are changing continuously and fast fashion tries to make us believe we even ought to change as frequently as possible. Just find your style no matter of age and gender. Yes we can. Young designers test new materials and cuts to make new impressions. As science is progressing with new fibers that imitate the apparently light fur of polar bears, new designs will become feasible and enrich the list of potential fibers in clothing. In addition to seamless 3D knitting the new fiber allows to replace down with light fiber. Going out into the cold will be fun again. Want more of this, visit Fashion in Action! (Image from empty space designers webpage 2023-12-24 Berk and Julien).
Infrastructure
For some societies and cities it is a continuous question of how much resources we should invest in infrastructure. Access to funding is a major concern. The calculation of the viability of the project needs careful examination and evaluation. Societies have very different kinds of preferences and, interestingly, about time horizons for their deliberations.
There are examples that have been built to last a century and lasted 2000 years. Other worst scenario examples are built for just one World Expo and torn down afterwards. The Eiffel tower is such an example of the latter kind, but it lasted longer than 100 years by now. We should be thinking more about time horizons as it remains an often overlooked part of investment in infrastructure. The oldest city in Germany has many buildings from the Roman occupation that still characterize the city’s architecture. This remains an important economic factor for the city of Trier as an attractive location for tourists throughout the year. Only wars or negligence may cause severe deterioration if infrastructure has been built with an emphasis on its lasting value. The narrow-minded investment in downhill skiing like in the Swiss Alps is at best expected to last 20 years. For trees to grow there again it will take 50+ years. Sustainable investment will be viable and vital in many respects. High interest rates force us to recalibrate our societal and private s again. Taking into account a longer time frame for investment we indirectly build infrastructure that should last longer. Moving beyond short-termism is necessary, particularly in the field of investment in infrastructure.
Clearing Rubbish
Just next to the Circular Line “Ringbahn” and the Gasometer in Berlin there is yet another huge area in preparation for further construction. The “Berlin Südkreuz” train station connects by ICE directly to Leipzig, Nurnberg and Munich. New company headquarters have been built in the direct neighbourhood and several housing blocks. Clearing more areas that mainly stocked rubbish like broken cars over years had to move out and thousands of people will be able to find new homes soon. Demand for such projects is still high, although the financing with high interest rates has become a challenge for private persons. Interesting building concepts have been realized in the district of Berlin with some focus on social and inclusive housing in a broad sense. A process of gentrification is also observable, whereby the higher rent in the district pushes out people and families that no longer can afford the increases, most of them even above inflation rates in the past few years.
The urban planning advances in large strides. With the almost finished Gasometer the vision from the visitors’ platform on the top will soon allow to observe the next construction site. Clearing rubbish is already a good step ahead. Getting rid of the pollution and contaminated ground will take some time as well.
In the East of Germany, the sun rises early and so do construction workers. We expect to continue to be early birds in this area. Maybe we can have a few additional trees, schools and a kindergarden as well for the newcomers. The whole local infrastructure will be put to yet another test. You have to like change and embrace the continuing challenge of becoming more densely populated in Berlin. It is a social lab right in our neighbourhood. The “Rote Insel” is clearing out its rubbish, the number of buggies with babies is rising fast now. 
Nachhaltigkeitskonzept
Ein Nachhaltigkeitskonzept gehört zum Bauen mittlerweile wie das Gelbe zum Ei. Die Einreichungen zum Realisierungswettbewerb eines Portals für das Deutsche Technik Museum Berlin hatten entsprechende Anforderungen zu erfüllen. Für ein Technik Museum können dazu die Anforderungen schon etwas höher sein und die oft geforderte „Technologieoffenheit“ oder die Diskussion darüber zumindest andeuten. Der Anerkennungspreis ging an ein Konsortium für die Einreichung 1110, die eine klare Übersicht ihres Nachhaltigkeitskonzepts vorstellten (siehe Auszug Image unten, Foto aus der Ausstellung 2023-12). Nachwachsende Baustoffe gehören zum Repertoire. Gleichzeitig sollte die Erhaltung oder gar Förderung der Biodiversität Teil der nachhaltigen Konzeption sein. Innerstädtisch ist die Rückumwandlung der Versiegelung der Böden eine wichtige gesundheitsfördernde Bauweise. Kühlung in den aufgeheizten Städten ist durch Grünflächen und Beschattung zu erreichen. Tolle Architekten sind das, die den Mut aufbringen den Stachel in die Wunde zu legen. Die Anwohnenden und Besuchenden würden es den Verantwortlichen jahrzehntelang danken.
Das sind längst keine abgefahrenen grünen Ideen oder Träumereien mehr. Paris hat es schon längst vor gemacht. Ganz nah beim Eiffelturm ist das „Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac“ das als Neubau mit Garten vom konservativen Präsidenten Jacques Chirac eine grüne Naturoase mitten im Herzen Paris hat bauen lassen. Es ist immer noch eine Art Geheimtipp für Pariser in den zu warmen Sommermonaten. Berlin könnte wie mit der vom Pyramiden-Architekten Pei geplanten Eingangshalle vom Deutschen Historischen Museum mal wieder mit einem Nachhaltigkeitskonzept mit Paris gleichziehen. Gemeinsam können wir auch nachhaltig. Mit der vom Menschen und seiner Technik verursachten Erderwärmung haben die nachfolgenden Generationen noch lange genug zu kämpfen. Mehr Nachhaltigkeitskonzepte braucht die Technik. Das ist die wirkliche Herausforderung des 21. Jahrhunderts. 
Only for Kids
We all have, hopefully, fond memories of children books. Sometimes authors are not so keen to tell that they are just writing books for children. This is often present in many biographies of authors of books for children. This is grossly unfair. Not only is the book market for children’s books one of the best- selling part of literature, but there are lots of interesting collaborations between authors and illustrators. Most books are expensive to produce, particularly if, additionally, translations are needed to reach more children and their parents. For small countries this might be a barrier. The Scandinavian countries have a tradition to translate and publish some selected children’s books in multiple Scandinavian languages and beyond. Therefore, it is no surprise to find a children’s book entitled “Kant” by Norwegian author Jon Fosse, illustrator Roj Friberg with the text translated into Swedish and published by the Danish Editor Carlsen, all in 1990.
The illustrations allow to understand the “bilderbok med text av Jon Fosse” using an enlightening imaginative visual language. From the cover already It is clear we deal with the universe and endless open space. There are black holes in it as well. Jon Fosse deals with “möjliga och omöjliga”, possibilities and impossibilities. Tackling such philosophical questions with children needs the best authors to address these issues. How to speak of the unspeakable, things we have hardly any words for remains a challenge. Relating to the world of dreams, appealing to children and their parents, does the trick. After all, you just need to close your eyes and you start to travel the universe and make lots of exciting encounters. The book has no page numbers, interesting. The image below is from page 25, just as an appetizer.
For more insights of how to deal with “nothingness” I refer to Friedrich C. Heller (2020) “Towards nothingness. Ideen der Reduktion in zeitgenössischen Bilderbüchern” (in Benner et al. editors 2020). Susan Sontag (2005) „die Ästhetik der Stille” (in Eugen Blume 2005, editor) will also help us along on the subject of stillness and minimalism. Maybe it is these essentials we should talk more about especially with our kids.
To continue the exploration of space and stillness just go to the webpage of the hubble telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope. The journey of your dreams will be hard to stop. 
Finding Peace
In international conflicts it the task of diplomacy to find or negotiate peace agreements. Monitoring of the evolution and progress is part of the deal. For societies internally it is equally important to find peace again. Totalitarian regimes are characterized by terror and intimidation of its own citizens. This holds true today as much as in the past. Finding peace, however, necessitates to prosecute criminals and this irrespective of their previous or current status in society. The American authorities after the 2nd world war have held more than ten thousand prisoners due to their commanding functions in the NS-time. After 3 years of imprisonment and attempts of so-called re-education the evaluation of the results were of very modest success. Most prisoners would find excuses rather than admit to their participation in the killing machine of the Nazi throughout Europe and over more than a decade.
The study by Christa Horn (1992) “Die Internierungs- und Arbeitslager in Bayern 1945-1952” comes to the same sobering conclusion (p. 127 extract below). This bears the danger that the totalitarian ideology continues to have supporters and even the transmission to other generations might be attempted. This highlights the importance of reconciliation in the lengthy process of finding peace. It far from easy to resolve who is guilty and of what. The Americans started the process before handing over responsibility to the regional judicial system. More than 75 years after 1945 we still have to name and insist on the criminal behavior of the totalitarian regime with millions of party officials and even more followers. Finding peace is a protracted process if not a struggle that involves 3 and maybe 4 generations by now. 
Winning Peace
Most analysts of international conflicts deal with winning or losing a war. At best they deal with short-term versus long-term versions of winning and losing. However, the question of how to win or achieve a lasting peace is rarely researched. Research on the 2nd World War reveal as soon as the turning point of the war was achieved the preparation of what will come after defeat. Organising humanitarian relief is part of warfare. The U.S. has set a good example of how to organise humanitarian aid as well as ensuring a lasting peace in Europe after the 2nd World War. Lots of books have been written on the Marshall Plan to get the economies in Europe (Western Europe) back to producing. Much less attention has been devoted to the important element of “de-nazification” of whole societies.
To win peace after the monstruous crimes of the Nazi-regime and the millions of followers and ruthless fighters was a challenge without precedents. The U.S. gave a good example of how to handle the process of winning peace in the regions under its military authority. In the following I shall refer to work published by Christa Horn (1992) “Die Internierungs- und Arbeitslager in Bayern 1945-1952”. The Allies had agreed upon to pursue war criminals. In April 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces published the “Handbook for Military Government in Germany”. It was deemed important to detain “certain government and party officials and members of police and para-military formations” (p.17).
Common to demilitarisation efforts after a war, it is the primordial function to reduce the risks of a renewed uptake of guerilla-like attacks due to the amount of arms still widely available or hidden on the enemy’s territory. The document specified further that the continued presence of Nazis in government and other exposed positions “might be a threat to the security of the Allied Forces or an impediment to the attainment of the objectives of Military Government in Germany” (Arrest Categories Handbook, P.2). Denazification was a means to an end. The size of the task was, however, underestimated at several instances. For example, the organisation of the arrest and detention of more than 100.000 persons was a difficult task. After the end of fighting the transition to peace is not instantaneous. Hierarchical military and party structures had to be dismantled. The so-called “automatic arrest” issued on 13.4.1945 included all grades from the NSDAP down to the “Kreisleiter” or even “Ortgruppenleiter” as well as SS members and their “Helferinnen” (Horn, 1992 p.21). These arrests without judicial procedures came under critic as not-American in the U.S., but it took until 10.10.1948 to abandon this procedure. The literature on the issue refers more to the lack of adequate judicial procedures to handle such so many legal procedures with qualified persons as well as the difficulty to organise detention camps for more than a hundred thousand persons that should deserve to be prosecuted. Handing over to the national or regional judicial instances was, therefore, an important step. The risk to abandon the process of “denazification” was evident, but it was equally important to counter the expansion of the Russian-domination in Eastern Europe with the help of a strengthened Western Europe. Winning peace is a delicate balance of prosecution through the winners of the war and the subsequent prosecution of criminal actions through the indigenous population and its new institutional and judicial setup.
Social Sciences have a lot of solid insights to offer to win peace. With careful consideration they are helpful to learn from even for current international affairs and raging wars. Demilitarisation is only a small part of winning peace. Changing mind sets to internalise humanitarian values remains the biggest challenge and involves more than one generation. 