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| 'Mutti' Merkel |
Sunday, September 22, Berlin. Germany decides. More-Of-The-Same is predicted. A lacklustre campaign, fought by a mummy figure or 'Mutti' as she is characterised, and a dreary and gaffe-prone opponent, the socialist SPD candidate, Peer Steinbruck. A wave of lethargy has swept the voters into their armchairs.
But wait a minute. A visit to the Reichstag's Norman Foster designed dome and it's compelling exhibition of photographs from the last 100 years gives the game away. The torture of the 1930's depression, the rise of Hitler and his gangster state, the burning down of the building, defeat and destruction of Berlin during World War II, and the rape of countless Berlin women at the hands of the victorious Russian soldiers takes an unimaginable toll on a country's capital. The coalition and compromise of post-war politics in Germany rebuilt a shattered country and guided it through re-unification. They've had more 'exciting' times than the rest of us put together. They've earned a bit of boredom.
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| The Norman Foster dome at the Reichstag. Pictures by James Fraser/jamesmfraser.co.uk |
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