On February 27, 2012, Martin N., known as Maskenmann, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Masked, he had broken into school camps, camps and private homes at night to abuse boys. He killed at least three. The boys that Martin N. killed were eight, nine and 13 years old. The key clue to his arrest c
Since the 1960s, Oswalt Kolle has made a significant contribution to sexual education among Germans. In his books and films he promoted a new culture of tenderness. He died on September 24, 2010 at the age of 81. by Janine Kuehl 140 million viewers worldwide - that sounds like a blockbuster. It wa
2010 in Germany. The Eurovision Song Contest has lost its luster:Nicoles victory was 28 years ago. Then Lena from Hanover steps onto the stage - and creates the impossible. In 1982, singer Nicole enchanted the whole of Europe with her song A Little Peace. She brings the great European music prize,
On June 5, 1999, Margot Käßmann was elected Bishop of Hanover, and in 2009 she became Chairwoman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Even her resignation for drinking and driving did not dampen her popularity. by Jan Ehlert Because the ways of every man are open before the Lord, a
On May 5, 1842, a catastrophe struck Hamburg:the Great Fire destroyed around a quarter of the city and around 20,000 people were left homeless. Traces of it are still visible today. Around 1 a.m. on May 5, 1842, a night watchman noticed that a fire had broken out in a storage room at Deichstrasse 4
In the spring of 1947, the food supply for the people of Hamburg reached a low point. After a harsh winter in the post-war period, there are hardly any supplies left. 150,000 people protest against the shortage on May 9th. by Janine Kuehl During the winter months, the food rations in post-war Hamb
Founded in 1865 in the Elbe suburb of Nienstedten, the Hamburg tree nursery Lorenz von Ehren has already delighted court gardeners and garden lovers worldwide with its exotic giants. Today she tries to defy climate change with her trees. by Wolfgang Klauser In Hamburg, mature trees from the Lorenz
This part of post-war history was kept secret in the GDR:thousands of children and young people in the Soviet occupation zone were falsely accused of having belonged to the Nazi organization Werewolf. by Kathrin Matern A commemorative plaque for these young victims of political purges was unveiled
On December 12, 1986, an Aeroflot plane crashed near Berlin. 72 people are killed, including 20 students from Schwerin. They were on their way back from a class trip to Minsk. This Friday in December 1986 is a foggy day. Dense clouds are moving low over the south-east of Berlin. Around 5 p.m., the
As a stronghold of the armaments industry, Rostock was a preferred target for air raids during World War II. From April 23, 1942, however, the city center was hit:more than 200 people died. In the logic of the military strategists, the goal at the time was obvious:Rostock. During the Second World W
The Wöbbelin concentration camp near Ludwigslust only existed for ten weeks. By the time he was liberated on May 2, 1945, more than 1,000 prisoners had died in this satellite camp of Neuengamme. The newly designed site was officially opened on June 24th. by Axel Seitz Since 2005 there has been a m
On February 23, 1967, an accident in the German Bight caused a worldwide sensation. In the Xanthia hurricane, the rescue cruiser Adolph Bermpohl loses its entire crew during a rescue attempt off Heligoland. Seven meter high waves, wind, unpredictable sea, four degrees water temperature:The gusts of
During the night of March 28th, 1942, British bombs rained down on Lübeck for hours. Whole streets in the historic old town burn, civilians fall victim to a new war tactic:attacks on inner cities. Lübeck, the venerable Hanseatic city in March 1942:The Second World War has been raging for almost thr
A bomb in the Führer Headquarters is supposed to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944. But the assassination attempt by the group led by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg failed. The resistance fighters are executed and their children are taken to Bad Sachsa. Summer 1944:The Gestapo cleared a childre
For centuries people in the Harz Mountains have lived with and from mining. With the freedom of the mountains in St. Andreasberg in 1521, everyone could look for mineral resources. The end of the Help God pit in Bad Grund in 1992 as the last German ore mine to produce ore ended the era. by Irene Al
The Russia-Ukraine war once again shows the importance of oil as a source of energy. Northern Germany also has oil deposits, it was already being mined in the heath 160 years ago - earlier than in the USA. by Irene Altenmüller Significant amounts of crude oil and natural gas are still stored in Ge
75 years ago the Hanover Fair started as an Export Fair. A success story from which many individual trade fairs developed. But what does all this have to do with fish sandwiches? A visit by the US President to the Hanover Trade Fair, and thousands upon thousands of visitors to CeBIT and other exhib
In the 1920s, the Hindenburgdamm is Europes largest construction site. The railway connection between Sylt and the mainland should initially split the islanders deeply. The dam has shaped life there for around 100 years. by Stefanie Grossmann At the beginning of the 20th century, 13 years passed b
In 1909, all German car owners were recorded centrally for the first time in the German Automobile Address Book. 45,000 vehicles were registered - cars, trucks and motorcycles. Here you can see who was traveling where with which vehicle. by Claus Hesseling Today unthinkable:A book in which everyon
Since the early 80s, fm radio has had time to impose itself, to conquer all layers of the population, to evolve in quality, to target its listeners, to find its rhythm, to impose itself in the habits of consumers, and of course to cement its business model. Nowadays, it is not surprising to turn the
Although it is said that ancient Rome is a society of men and women, the names of women are basically inconspicuous in Rome during the republican era. Womens names did not appear in Rome until the imperial Rome, and the most famous ones are probably Neros mother, Agrippina, and this times protagon
The breath of July had cooled the glaciers of Spitsbergen, and torn from the bay of La Madeleine, like shreds of continent, the ice accumulated by nine months of winter. Like floating islands whose shores would have had mountains of crystal, these ices covered the sea in the distance, dazzling in t
The history of the Norman conquest of England is well known to blog regulars, with entries dedicated to the year it occurred (1066), to Harold Godwinsons supposed oath of allegiance to William of Normandy, to the eventful coronation of this and to Saxon attempts to oppose Norman domination, epitomiz
The magnanimity of Stelios Mavrommatis, a few hours before he went up to the gallows, is monumental. He had the power to forgive the one who betrayed him. The priest writes:Mavrommatis was a very sentimental guy, but active and energetic and full of patriotic enthusiasm. He was very magnanimous and