East German

BERLIN -- A law that would have excluded small left-wing parties from an all-German parliament was declared unconstitutional yesterday by West Germany's highest court.The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that West Germany's election law discriminated against certain small East German political parties -- primarily the former Communists and leftist citizens' movements. To prevent these parties from being overwhelmed by bigger West German parties, the court said, East and West Germany must have separate election districts.

BERLIN -- In front of the memorial to the victims of fascism and militarism, East German honor guards have stopped goose-stepping to and fro. Now they just march.This change is the most visible sign that the East German National People's Army is transforming itself as it prepares for its place in a unified German army. The composition and budget of this future army, due to be formed in October, is still controversial, but it is planned to be without the NPA's sometimes questionable traditions.

GERMANS are at odds over claims that harsh potty training is to blame both for Nazism and modern thuggery.A friend of mine is convinced that the German national character in all its complexities can be traced back to Germans' rigorous potty training.Teutonic infants, he claims, are made to sit on their lowly thrones for hours on end, until pronounced spiffy clean, usually at a remarkably tender age.Out of this early purgatory of life emerges a nation of precision engineers obsessed with waste disposal, with an unquenchable yearning for order and authority.

Germany is in very serious trouble because of the Kohl government's decisions last year on economic unification of the two halves of the country.By converting East-marks to Deutschemarks, the government produced immediate delight for East German voters, who found their savings could buy them West German cars and luxury goods.But that act also, at a stroke, ruined what remained of East German industry. It was an error of political opportunism. Now another error appears being made for reasons of ideology.

Leipzig, Germany. -- If you have ever wondered how members of the Politburo of the defunct East German Communist regime lived while on the road, the old town of Leipzig beckons. Here are beautifully restored medieval buildings, ancient churches, the largest railroad station in all Europe, the new headquarters of the renowned Gewandhaus orchestra and the site of the annual Leipzig Fair. But one place not mentioned even in the latest guidebooks is the Gaestehaus am Park, or guesthouse in the park, at 14 Schwaegrichenstrasse.

ATHENS - The three swimmers stood poolside, hopping and embracing repeatedly. The other, Kaitlin Sandeno, stayed in the pool, beaming, and tried to twirl, which is also awfully difficult to do in a swimming pool. The four women - Sandeno, Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer and Carly Piper - won the 800-meter freestyle relay last night at the Olympic Aquatic Centre. While doing so, they removed a 17-year-old record, a mark once seen as inglorious and tainted. Until the American quartet swam 800 meters in 7 minutes, 53.42 seconds, the former East Germany held the record.

MUNICH, Germany -- Her former meal ticket, Katarina Witt, was tooling around town in a new pink Porsche. But the wheels have come off the East German sports machine that Witt's coach, Jutta Muller, used to drive Witt to the top.Witt's star quality defied boundaries, helping her prosper in a world with two Germanies or one. The two-time Olympic champion has done a movie, a television special and an ice-skating tour, and she recently signed a lucrative endorsement...

Germany has no monopoly on hate, violence, xenophobia in a Europe showing signs of its old madness, but when it erupts in the anti-foreigner riots that have shaken Rostock and other cities in the past ten days, all the world shudders. Ghosts of the Nazi past are always prowling, placing a terrible burden on millions of young Germans innocent of Hitler's crimes and inciting a tiny militant minority -- mostly skinheads -- to the use of fists and stones and, yes, arms raised stiff in salute.

In the opening moments of Doug Wright's 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, I Am My Own Wife, actor Jefferson Mays comes through a doorway in the guise of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, looks at the audience, then turns around and goes back through the door. Though this entrance smacks of timidity, in the next two hours at Washington's National Theatre, the unassuming-looking actor delivers a tour-de-force performance in Wright's one-man show. It's a virtuosic feat that justifiably scooped up a slew of awards on and off-Broadway, including the Tony.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Chastened by its experiences with currency union last year, Germany's influential central bank is leading an attack against the quick creation of a European "super currency."Leaders of Germany's Bundesbank, which is the most important financial institution in Europe, have been saying over the past few weeks that plans by the European Community to unite its 12 currencies by 1997 could lead to the sort of economic problems that Germany now is facing after having united East and West Germany's currencies last July.