Photo: DPA

Religious couple fined for home schooling their children

Published: 26 Nov 09 12:30 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091126-23535.html

A German couple who tried to teach their children Christian values at home has been fined by a Kassel court for refusing to send them to school.

The couple from the Hessian village of Archfeld bei Herleshausen has seven children between the ages of two and 17, who they told the court they had hoped to “give the Bible their unlimited trust” through lessons at home.

Rosemarie (43) and Jürgen D. (48) were sentenced on Wednesday to pay a daily €1 fine for 60 days for defying the country's compulsory school attendance. The ruling was a lenient judgement compared to a June 2008 court decision, which handed the pair three months in prison without parole. But the Frankfurt upper district court sent the case back to the Kassel district court due to legal errors.

Judge Jürgen Dreyer justified the new sentence with the fact that other confessed first-time offenders are usually fined with the expectation that they will change their behaviour.

“They will have to do something,” Dreyer said, adding that if the couple defies the court they will face jail time.

But after the trial concluded, the parents did not say whether they would obey the court’s orders.

The couple told the court they had home schooled their children because they believed they could do a better job than the public education system, adding that their secondary goal had been to impart Christian values.

On the first day of the trial last week, the father said that they home schooled because doubt in the existence of God was a normal facet of public school culture. The couple also criticised public schools for allegedly failing to educate children properly.

While the case's prosecutor admitted that their teaching methods were “certainly good,” he explained that the content of their home lessons did not change their violation of compulsory school attendance and called their actions “criminal.”

Judge Dreyer said the couple’s light fine was not symbolic, but reflected their low monthly income of €1,500.

“They should be punished, not the children,” he said.

Home schooling is generally not allowed in Germany, where all children are expected to attend public schools. Exceptions are made for illness or physical disability in some cases, however.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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Your comments about this article:

#1
12:53 November 26, 2009 by KäptnKnitterbart
Good. Put your kids in school screwballs.
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#2
13:01 November 26, 2009 by Chocky
Is it just me, or are these stories about fundamentalist Christians becoming more frequent? Did the age of enlightenment ever happen?
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#3
13:02 November 26, 2009 by westvan
If they eventually do have to go to jail, who's going to be there to teach their kids? I don't think the parents have thought this through.
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#4
13:15 November 26, 2009 by LinsAM
God will be able to teach the kids through divine intervention. That's what he wants.
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#5
13:20 November 26, 2009 by luvlein
Is it just me, or are these stories about fundamentalist Christians becoming more frequent?
"Go forth and multiply", that's what they do.
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#6
13:33 November 26, 2009 by Hoosiergirl
Not a freedom of religion group, are we? I'm wondering if you all have even read the full article. It seems that they were doing a good job teaching their kids and that the religious aspect was secondary to their curriculum. They may be religious nutters, and as I'm a public school SCIENCE teacher myself, I don't always support home schooling, but seriously... If they're doing a good job, let them be!
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#7
14:00 November 26, 2009 by Hutcho
At least it is illegal in Germany and they get punished for it.
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#8
14:22 November 26, 2009 by Rimini
I'm not a religious nutter, but if I could do it legally, I'd try to teach my future children through primary school, at least. Or I'd at least seriously consider it.

If taken seriously by the teaching parent, their one-on-one attention could certainly provide a better, more flexible basis for education than overflowing classrooms, bullying schoolmates and overwhelmed teachers might.

I'm a little saddened that homeschooling is so rigidly dismissed as an option in Germany. A system of regular checks and testing to see if homeschooled kids can keep up with public schooled ones.. wouldn't that suffice as a requirement to grant such privileges?
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#9
14:24 November 26, 2009 by Hazza
Not a freedom of religion group, are we? I'm wondering if you all have even read the full article. It seems that they were doing a good job teachi…
Yes - I'm sure they do a magnificent job of it. I'm especially sure that they teach science in a fair and unbiased fashion and that their children are fully conversant with, say - the scientific theory of evolution...
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#10
14:25 November 26, 2009 by ibth123
What is common in other countries is a big deal in Germany. It is time to change this. Here in the US you can teach your kids yourself and lots of them are better off than the ones that go to school. It takes a lot to teach all of your kids on time and money and love. Not everbody is patient enough nor knows it all. I hope they change the law or the couple leaves, come on over here. At least we have freedom here. :-)
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#11
14:26 November 26, 2009 by LeonG
It's not like they forbid you from home schooling your children. You just have to send them to regular school as well. If you have the time, nobody will stop you from helping your kids with their homework and adding a different spin on things when you feel like it. Not like school here is an all day thing or anything.
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#12
14:52 November 26, 2009 by Rimini
It's not like they forbid you from home schooling your children. You just have to send them to regular school as well. If you have the time, nobod…
Of course, that's true. But it's still quite a different thing from being able to set the timetable, pick how you want to present things, setting the pace, shielding them from bullying, etc. It also won't keep the kid from being either overwhelmed or bored in their regular class if they aren't an average learner in either direction. And significantly influencing their education would also cut into their play time.

Doing homework with young children is what parents should obviously do, but it's not quite a real alternative to full homeschooling.
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#13
14:58 November 26, 2009 by lilplatinum
And Homeschooling is not an alternative to the socialization you get by being with your peers all day.

I say this as a victim of 2 years of home school.

/at least parents weren't religious

//just in a shitty gang banger school district and was too poor at the time for private
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#14
15:03 November 26, 2009 by Hutcho
Nor should it. Kids need to get out from under their parents and see the world on their own for part of the day, especially if the parents are religious nutters that brainwash them most of the day.
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#15
15:11 November 26, 2009 by Rimini
Homeschooling doesn't mean the kids will be home all day with the parents. They can see other kids in the afternoon, partake in sports, etc. Same as children who are in school.

The socialization you can get in school is great for a lot of kids. But it's not great for all kids, it is not great in every school environment and I don't think it is necessary to develop normal social interactive skills.
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#16
15:14 November 26, 2009 by westvan
The thing is that I don't think there's a huge home-schooling network in Germany like the ones they have in the U.S, and Canada where there are indeed group activities organized outside of homeschooling and kids sometimes even go to a regular school for gym class. In Germany it seems to be isolated cases and the fact that it's illegal makes people sort of go underground, I would think.
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#17
15:15 November 26, 2009 by lilplatinum
Kids see each other all day during school, not the same as letting them out to soccer practice for a couple hours a day. Plus they get valuable time away from their parents, something they are going to have to learn when they are 18 and go out on their own (or in Germany 45 or however old it is when parents cut the umbibical cord ).

I certainly found it detrimental and most other homeschool kids I knew were always a bit.. off.

Parents should supplement their child's school education but taking them out of a vital developmental environment should not be done unless absolutely necessary.
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#18
15:29 November 26, 2009 by Rimini
I think it's fallacious to assume that being homeschooled means the kid will remain in the dependent state of a 6-year-old, and that they won't have friends in their own neighborhood, that other kids will be foreign creatures they see for 2 hours twice-weekly at soccer practice and don't understand, that not being in school with tons of other kids all day will mean their development is stunted. They will learn to do things on their own, have friends, hobbies, watch tv, communicate online and have a life outside of home, as well. They just won't share the exact same school environment that other kids share.

Quite frankly, I don't think school is a vital developmental environment.

I personally have a friend who was homeschooled (in Texas) and she's a remarkably independent young woman. Knew very well what she wanted, early on, had the freedom and flexibility to pursue it, etc. So being stunted by homeschool is obviously not an inavoidable consequence.
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#19
15:38 November 26, 2009 by Expaticus
I'm a private-schooled kid, in a long line of the same. Never had any feelings of deprivation not being part of public school rah-rah, nor any feeling that I was missing anything except peer tutelage on underage drinking and/or pop culture.

That said, many home-schooled kids seem to do okay. I've met a number of them over the years. Not quite Abe Lincoln doing his math homework using a piece of charcoal on the back of a shovel, but close. I knew a guy in college whose Ivy League-educated parents had more money than God but still drove VW Rabbits, homeschooled them and let their kids sleep in the barn; every single kid got into an elite private university, all with full scholarships.

If one has the aptitude to be exceptional, and one is going to end up working in an exceptional environment anyway, why force kids to play football or kick-the-can with the neighborhood kids instead of playing lacrosse with the people one inevitably ends up working with in the end anyway? "Normality" is way overrated.
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#20
15:39 November 26, 2009 by BonnBonn
The socialization a child can get while being homeschooled is an alternative to that from public school. While there are HS "nutters" who manage to seclude their children from the outside world, and even those that limit the child's exposure to only religious atmospheres, there are homeschoolers who manage quite nicely to involve their children in plenty of activities not only with peer groups but also groups more diverse than those the child would encounter in public school.

I have known many homeschooled children who have, primarily because of being homeschooled, had more oppotunities to "get out from under their parents and see the world on their own for part of the day" (or much longer) than their friends in public school.

The couple in the article stated one of their reasons for homeschooling "...because doubt in the existence of God was a normal facet of [German] public school culture." They should move to Tennessee, where bible verses are read over the loudspeakers daily in the public school district where I lived.

A bit about teaching science at home..... I found myself buying about 75% of the materials we used from the local Christian bookstore. They had a terrific selection; Saxon Math, Anita Harnadek's Critical Thinking series (that one must have slipped by them) Wordly Wise, and on and on. But science....um, we had to look elsewhere.
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#21
15:43 November 26, 2009 by lilplatinum
I'm a private prep-schooled kid, in a long line of the same. Never had any feelings of deprivation not being part of public high school rah-rah, n…
Prep school is with other children, isn't it?

Look, you can end up just fine out of Home School, I did (although I suspect only because I am somewhat autodidactic), even if it took me a couple years to get socially integrated back in high school. But I (and many Child psychologists) view regular exposure to ones peers outside of the control of the parents as far more valuable than the general overprotective reasons for Home Schooling, not to mention the fact that these kids suffer from only being fed one view of the world from their parents.

I'm generally fairly libertarian but I'm all for Germany's opposition to this practice.
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#22
15:49 November 26, 2009 by BonnBonn
I say this as a victim of 2 years of home school.
I consider myself a victim of public school, but I am fairly sure that had I been homeschooled, I would consider myself a victim of that too.
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#23
15:51 November 26, 2009 by lilplatinum
I consider myself a victim of public school, but I am fairly sure that had I been homeschooled, I would consider myself a victim of that too.
I'm a victim of public, Catholic, and homeschool

I will say that if I never went to Catholic school I wouldn't have experienced the vital life lesson that throwing a snowball at a nun results in suspension.
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#24
15:52 November 26, 2009 by BonnBonn
I can't top that.
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#25
16:57 November 26, 2009 by sparkling
Is it just me, or are these stories about fundamentalist Christians becoming more frequent? Did the age of enlightenment ever happen?
No, it's not only you. I didn't mind just hearing about these in the news, but now I have to deal with one in person, and it is uncomfortable,…[/quote]
A system of regular checks and testing to see if homeschooled kids can keep up with public schooled ones.. wouldn't that suffice as a requirement …
These guys may be doing a good job, but how do you know that the next guy will also do as good a job. Regular checks and testing means a new establishment with it's politics, laws, regulations, employees and institutions. Which means money, which means budget from taxes. If the HSs want to pay for it out of their own pockets, fine with me.
Quite frankly, I don't think school is a vital developmental environment.
Me neither, but I believe the focus should still be on improving the school system, supported with after school activities.
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#26
16:58 November 26, 2009 by sparkling
I will say that if I never went to Catholic school I wouldn't have experienced the vital life lesson that throwing a snowball at a nun results in …
I'm speechless.
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#27
17:05 November 26, 2009 by LeonG
If one has the aptitude to be exceptional, and one is going to end up working in an exceptional environment anyway, why force kids to play football or…
It does every kid good to slum it with the public at times. After all, you will need to hire these people to work in your mansion at some point so it helps to understand where they come from.
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#28
17:08 November 26, 2009 by lilplatinum
I'm speechless.
I actually threw it at another kid and he ducked and it hit the nun... but she was a bitch so it served her right.
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#29
17:13 November 26, 2009 by pepsionice
Bottom line? The rules aren't going to change....so if one is unhappy....one needs to leave Germany. Thats the simplest way of fixing the situation. After observing the lousy years my son spent in German school....and the marginal teachers that he had.....I could have done a better job myself....and thats a sad statement for all the money flushed into the German education sector.
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#30
17:41 November 26, 2009 by Rimini
These guys may be doing a good job, but how do you know that the next guy will also do as good a job. Regular checks and testing means a new establish…
I don't think the expenses would be so vast. They're already moving in a direction of more standardised testing, like the Zentralabitur, and homeschoolers could take part in those without creating many extra complications. It also shouldn't be too hard to create a standard test for each grade of school based on the official curriculum which kids could take at their local school, have it graded by a public school teacher, to check their progress. Besides, homeschooling parents WOULD pay taxes as well, for the public schools they're not using. Seems like enough of a reason to use some of that money for their own benefit.
Me neither, but I believe the focus should still be on improving the school system, supported with after school activities.
I don't think one has to exclude the other. OBVIOUSLY the public school system in Germany could stand some major improvements. But that doesn't stop me from thinking parents should be given more freedom.
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#31
21:34 November 26, 2009 by Baynik
Some of these comments are just proof of why this family wants to educate their own children. This educational system has effectively brainwashed you to believe the nonsense, liberal agenda they have been forcing into your brains! My children do not belong to the state, they are mine to educate, mine to raise in the moral convictions that I have and make sure they survive in this world so hostile to anything good! If you have no faith in God and any moral values and couldn't care less as to how your kids end up, go on and criticize those who care! Teachers can't handle rebellious kids anymore, parents are at wits end, school shootings seem to baffle those who think they know why it happens and now this government wants to take kids away from parents who care enough to protect their kids from all this! This family is willing to fight for their kids while most are happy to throw them to the wolves! Shame on you!
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#32
23:05 November 26, 2009 by sparkling
Well... How often should the tests be conducted? And how long should they last?

Somebody other than the family should be seeing these kids on a regular basis. In case there is abuse going on, it should be detected it in a timely manner, not after it's too late.

Btw, if you leave religious nuts alone for too long, this is what could happen:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8381119.stm
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#33
23:19 November 26, 2009 by Gorgo
Besides, homeschooling parents WOULD pay taxes as well, for the public schools they're not using. Seems like enough of a reason to use some of tha…
actually in this case they're living on welfare and child support, that's why they only have to pay the minimum fine (?1) and obviously the government (=everybody paying taxes) is paying 100% in this case for all court/lawyer expenses as well no matter how it turns out.
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#34
05:14 November 27, 2009 by tech71
I'm a bit confused. The article states they were fined for defying the countries compulsory school attendance. So is home schooling in any form legal here?
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#35
07:37 November 27, 2009 by Rimini
actually in this case they're living on welfare and child support, that's why they only have to pay the minimum fine (?1) and obviously the …
Yes, but I wasn't talking about this case specifically, but homeschooling in general.
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#36
08:23 November 27, 2009 by wood artist
ibth123:

I believe you are overlooking one significant difference between Germany and the US. While your observation about home schooling vs. public schooling is accurate, it is also true that if you wish to send your children to a "Christian School" in the US, you must pay their tuition. As I understand it, and I may be wrong here, in Germany you could send your child to a "public school" or a "Christian school" and the cost would be the same either way as both are a part of the German educational system.

If I'm wrong about that, then I'm sorry, but if that is correct, it is a significant difference between the two systems.
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#37
09:16 November 27, 2009 by dreamer
So is home schooling in any form legal here?
Home schooling is illegal in Germany
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#38
10:18 November 27, 2009 by KäptnKnitterbart
Home schooling is illegal in Germany
Home schooling is not illegal. Not sending your children to school is illegal. What you do in the time after the compulsory school visits is your business.
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#39
10:37 November 27, 2009 by clickety6
I will say that if I never went to Catholic school I wouldn't have experienced the vital life lesson that throwing a snowball at a nun results in …
throwing a snowball at a nun results in suspension...by your ankles over an open fire while Father O'Donahue pokes you in the buttocks with a toasting fork...
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#40
10:54 November 27, 2009 by LinsAM
There is something very arrogant about all of this; despite numerous educational experts, government bodies, historical studies and precedence which govern and define the public schools and the millions of other students frequenting public schools every day, I have decided that it is just not good enough an environment for my children. They are special after all and I think I can do a better job myself even though I may not have any qualifications or experience in teaching children. This way, they will hold me as a role model beyond being a parent and I can control everything they are being taught without any silly liberal notions getting into their heads, allowing them to question me or the existence of God....

Not being cynical or anything...
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#41
11:11 November 27, 2009 by BonnBonn
One of the many reasons for the choice I made to homeschool was so that I could ensure "silly liberal notions getting into their heads, allowing them to question me or the existence of a god..."
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#42
11:21 November 27, 2009 by SmittyBoy
I think I can do a better job myself...

Yep, that's the problem alright.

Look, it's pretty simple, most (the vast majority of ) people are idiots who know sweet-F-A.

If you want to teach your child stupid notions about Creationism, Pi == 3, or people with different colored irises are the devil, that's your problem.

Society as a whole will pay the price for your idiocy, and to help mitigate the effects of your idiocy, we insist that your child also attend public school, at least that way we can identify your dysfunctional child early.
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#43
11:22 November 27, 2009 by LinsAM
Why can't they get that at non-secular public school?
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#44
11:25 November 27, 2009 by Rimini
LinsAM, do you have such a low opinion of parents that you think every single one of them who is not happy with the public education system and would prefer to homeschool must do so because they are 1) a narcissist and/or 2) a religious, conservative nutter?
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#45
11:25 November 27, 2009 by Krieg
non-secular
What? You mean secular?
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#46
11:31 November 27, 2009 by LinsAM
Yeah I meant secular
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#47
11:41 November 27, 2009 by Rimini
Well... How often should the tests be conducted? And how long should they last?

Somebody other than the family should be seeing these kids …
Schools are required to report abuse they notice but it is not the primary reason for their existence to perform surveilance on parents and look for signs of abuse. What about pre-school-aged children? Who's performing those regular checks there? You cannot build a society on a principle of distrust of parents. COULD homeschooling be abused? It could. But to assume it's the only purpose reveals an outlook on people so bleak that even the current public school system couldn't possibly do it justice.

Academically, kids could get tested every 6 months or so. That shouldn't create too harsh a hassle and wouldn't put those children at a big disadvantage to public school children whose performance is formally graded in Zeugnisse every Halbjahr, as well.
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#48
11:45 November 27, 2009 by LinsAM
LinsAM, do you have such a low opinion of parents that you think every single one of them who is not happy with the public education system and would prefer to home-school must do so because they are 1) a narcissist and/or 2) a religious, conservative nutter?

No, not every single one of them, I am sure there are cases where their child is not happy in school and is detrimental to their health. But in the report which was linked above, the two main reasons were 'can get a better education at home' and 'religious reasons'. To me, this does indicate a level of narcissism and religious nuttery is involved. I am sure they are not the only reasons but that is my perception.
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#49
11:50 November 27, 2009 by Krieg
And you are forgetting that kids in school can socialize.
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#50
12:41 November 27, 2009 by Rimini
But in the report which was linked above, the two main reasons were 'can get a better education at home' and 'religious reasons'. To …
I'll grant you the religious bits in this case (although we don't know how their science curriculum actually looked like) but the narcissism? Because they think they can give their children a better education? Why? In the article itself it says that they did a good job.
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#51
12:53 November 27, 2009 by westvan
They may indeed be doing a fine job, but the main issue here is that they are breaking the law in Germany and may have to face serious consequences.
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#52
13:02 November 27, 2009 by LinsAM
I'll grant you the religious bits in this case (although we don't know how their science curriculum actually looked like) but the narcissism?
Maybe not narcissism, but arrogance definitely. The point being they thinkthey can give them a better education.
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#53
13:10 November 27, 2009 by Steven192
? You cannot build a society on a principle of distrust of parents.
Well the UK Labour party seem to be intent on exactly that.

You now need to get a "licence" to prove you are trustworthy under the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8249020.stm
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#54
15:22 November 27, 2009 by HEM
Well the UK Labour party seem to be intent on exactly that.

You now need to get a "licence" to prove you are trustworthy under t…
I'm afraid the UK Nanny State has been working along these lines for some time. You cannot be involved in any sort of sport/activities club without having to have a certain number of club "officials" having to attend child-protection (correct term slips my memory) courses.

This also applies to UK gliding clubs - I shudder to think if the consequences for clubs will be if it comes over here. We (within the German Gliding organisation) are seeing cross-fire from the UK attempting to have us (in Germany) raise the minimum age for learning to fly gliders from 14 to 16 - and we have so many success stories with 14-yr olds here.
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#55
17:10 November 27, 2009 by Rimini
Maybe not narcissism, but arrogance definitely. The point being they thinkthey can give them a better education.
But is it arrogance if they aren't exactly wrong?

Why must they necessarily conform with the public school model or be classed arrogant…[/quote]Yes. That part was definitely utter and complete stupidity.
Well the UK Labour party seem to be intent on exactly that.

You now need to get a "licence" to prove you are trustworthy under t…
Wow. I'm speechless. I see the good intentions behind it but it's still.. scary.
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#56
18:21 November 27, 2009 by Cincinnatus
Congratulations Germany! Punish those dangerous Christians! After all, if the children don¦#39;t attend public schools, however will they learn how to operate those baby dumpsters, where your irresponsible biological ¦quot;parents¦quot; DISCARD the disgusting refuse of their unprotected lust?
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#57
18:21 November 27, 2009 by tech71
I'm sorry but I fail to see the point of most of this discusion. Its all hypothetical anyway. Attending an approved school is mandatory ,there is little a group of non Germans are going to do about it. The Germans are the ones who would have to work within their own system to change that if its an issue. I doubt it is to the majority. Do these folks even have the education to provide adequate schooling to their kids so they have a chance later on or are they just a couple of wingnuts?
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#58
18:42 November 27, 2009 by onemark
I'm personally torn on the subject of homeschooling (it can be good, it can be bad) but I don't like the statist position of the German government in insisting on blanket school attendance - it's too authoritarian and undemocratic.
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#59
06:12 November 28, 2009 by Cincinnatus
The danger of MANDAORY public schools should be more alarming to Germans. Only governments, which feel the need to propagandize the children would REQUIRE children to attend public schools. "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
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#60
08:33 November 28, 2009 by daisydear
A large part of the problem in this case and with homeschooling in Germany in general is that after reunification of East and West Germany, most of the laws regarding education were amended to reflect those of East Germany - a communist state, where independent education or independent thinking or independent anything was strictly taboo.

My guess is that the "something" that was reported was merely that they were not following the status quo. From my own experience, the German government is overly involved in the daily lives of its citizens, requiring information one wouldn't dream of giving the government in the US. Marching to the beat of a different drummer is not encouraged or allowed.

Like in the US, requiring mandatory school attendance is not necessarily in the best interests of the children, but instead best serves the purposes of the state in maintaining its own existence and a predictable and manageable populace.
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#61
15:44 November 28, 2009 by noncornish
"...actually in this case they're living on welfare and child support,..."

I see. But they do a good job. I reckon they even can teach the 17years-old how to pray and clean his shoes at the same time?
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#62
16:45 November 28, 2009 by YankeeT
If they can pass the academic tests other school children their age pass, what's the problem? The German law ought not be centered on attendance, but on scheduled academic achievement.

As for socialization, homeschooled children have an advantage over those stuck in government buildings for set blocks of time - only if the parent teaching them actually takes the child out into the world and challenges them to communicate with other generations on a variety of subjects under different circumstances on a regular basis.
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#63
17:11 November 28, 2009 by J Mark
The vitriolic anti-Christian bias in some of these comments is remarkable. This story has generated 62 comments so far, most of which seem to assume that because these parents are Christian they are automatically disqualified from being effective teachers. The story about 90 Islamic jihadists living in the German underground, on the other hand, generates only 3 comments....

So-called intellectuals who have never bothered to learn what Christianity actually teaches (from a true biblical perspective) will not realize that their visceral bigotry is not only predicted, but well-described in Romans chapter 1.

I can't say what these children are learning (and neither can any commenter who does not know their parents) but if it is a biblical worldview, I would say their understanding of the world easily surpasses the understanding of some of the earlier commenters...
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#64
17:22 November 28, 2009 by vangi33
I feel that educating our children is a big responsibility and it is not to be taken lightly. The role of a parent is different to that of a teacher (who has the training etc), and these roles compliment one another as they work in partnership, providing a support for the child and his/her education. Our efforts could be better spent improving the educational system and supporting the efforts of these improvements, and making the education of all children a social and community responsibility with common beliefs and values. We should also respect the law.
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The tough economic climate is failing to dent Germans’ enthusiasm for Karneval, with partygoers set to spend €300 million on costumes and makeup during this year’s season, the Toy Retailers’ Association said Monday. READ »

Photo: DPA

Study finds major discrimination against Turkish job applicants

Jobseekers with Turkish names are clearly discriminated against when looking for work in Germany, a study released this week has found. READ (2 COMMENTS) »

Photo: DPA

Young literary star Hegemann counters plagiarism claim

Best-selling teenage novelist Helene Hegemann rejected accusations of plagiarism in her debut novel “Axolotl Roadkill” on Tuesday, after it emerged she had taken slabs of text from an anonymous author and blogger. READ (1 COMMENT) »

Photo: DPA

Hamburg politician puts the 'I' in street de-icing

The president of Hamburg's city parliament is reportedly in hot water for ordering authorities to clear the footpaths of ice outside his own home while leaving the rest of the city to slip and slide their way home. READ (1 COMMENT) »

Photo: DPA

Construction worker confesses in Cologne archive collapse case

Eleven months after the deadly collapse of Cologne’s city archive, a construction worker has given investigators their first confession in the case, media reports said on Tuesday. READ »

Photo: DPA

Berlinale highlights shift to 3-D films

Buyers at the Berlin film festival will be seeing triple this year, as 3-D productions such as "Avatar" transform the global cinema industry. READ »

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Indie cinemas are a dying breed the world over... except in Berlin, home to nearly 60 small arthouse and neighbourhood venues. As Alice Harrison reports, some are even getting the red carpet treatment at this year's Berlinale.

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