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Airport Luebeck, an airport rich in tradition

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Today we would like to ask you to support a cause which is important for the future of our company. Support the extension of the Airport Luebeck and prevent it from being shut down due to ignorance or even mischief! The airport has a large potential for the Northern Germany economy, the science sector and tourism ̶ if only it was not permanently hindered.

Luebeck is a worldwide known, attractive city, where people like to make their home. It is first choice among tourists. A huge attraction for Luebeck is also its university, which has produced a novel growth sector: medical engineering. This new sector was able to compensate for the demise of other industrial branches and is the appropriate supplement to agriculture and tourism.

Closing down the Medical University Luebeck would have been foolish, one would have lost trust, driven off companies who are dependent on the university or prevented the foundation of new companies.

A commercial enterprise from the technology sector already has a great disadvantage due to the peripheral position of the city and the low population density of the territorial federal states in Northern Germany. The business partners are not nearby as is the case with our competitors in Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt or Cologne, but widely spread over different regions. Therefore, we are more dependent on motorways (hopefully without speed limit) than the south and we need a sensible connection to the international air traffic to be able to keep pace. For all these reasons we think it would be as foolish to shut down the airport as the idea of closing down the Medical University two years ago.

Large new industrial centres develop with great speed on our globe, particularly in China, India, Brazil and in the Gulf States. At every such hot spot in the world the provision of an airport is one of the most important infrastructural measures. Shanghai, Beijing or Dubai without an airport – unimaginable! For a company that is located far off the beaten track in the north of Germany without good air connections it is very difficult to organise its growth. It is important to quickly reach companies and universities in the south of Germany, attend congresses and visit customers. Otherwise we will be left behind by the south! We have been waiting for a direct flight from Luebeck to the large hubs Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam or Copenhagen for years. We have long since envied our competitors in other cities who are blessed with an efficient airport.

Schleswig-Holstein’s runway is not in Hamburg-Fuhlsbuettel! Also with the new government I miss economic thinking and common sense! I would like an expert from the business sector at the top, not an administrator. Someone who sees the opportunities that the Airport Luebeck would offer if only they let it and not how much money can be potentially saved if the airport was shut down. Someone who does not worry about an initial loss of two million euros per year, since one could later gain hundreds of millions with the airport. Someone who is keen to safeguard traditions and does not ignorantly waste our potential. Some years ago, someone tidied up his attic in Augsburg and discovered an old painting which he brought to a car boot sale. A clever collector saw the painting and bought it. He showed it to an expert, and, surprise! it was actually a real Caspar David Friedrich. The painting was restored by experts and then auctioned by Sotheby’s for 1.5 million dollars.

I would love to see a similar story of success for the Airport Luebeck. That the politicians finally recognise the non-material and the economic value of this traditional airport and properly extend it for the sake of the region.

Several years ago another transportation project had been violently debated: the Baltic Sea motorway A20. The mayor of Gross Groenau and other geniuses predicted that its construction would not be profitable. Today, however, if you look from the motorway bridge near Hornstorf and see the many cars passing by, you can but be glad about the successful new connection between the east and the west of Germany. It has not only alleviated the existing traffic but has caused the exchange between the two federal states in the north to become more intense. The cities have moved together. Two lessons can be learned from the success of the Baltic Sea motorway: First, never listen to pessimists, and second, with respect to the Luebeck airport, it is the supply that determines the demand!

Now we demand some sensible flight connections to be able to travel from Luebeck to all destinations in the world, again opposing the advice of Gross Groenau’s mayor ̶ again evidence of the airport’s good prognosis.

Travellers from Luebeck who wish to catch a plane in Fuhlsbuettel first have to go to Hamburg and then cross the city through its narrow streets. They have to allow for a lot of extra time, particularly when trying to catch an expensive connecting flight in Frankfurt or Munich. They have to get up at five o’clock in the morning and spend half a day travelling in order to catch their afternoon flight to New York at three o’clock. Our brothers and sisters from the neighbouring east have to endure an even greater ordeal. The inhabitants of Wismar or Grevesmuehlen are practically cut off from the great wide world! It is therefore imperative to organise air traffic to several large airports in cooperation with the city of Rostock.

The inclusion of our region in the international air traffic might not be so relevant for a private person or an administrator, who goes on holiday by plane once or twice a year. He can allow for a few extra hours for the detour to Hamburg. However, for a modern commercial enterprise, good flight connections are essential.

The administrator says that our runway is in Fuhlsbuettel. He tries to treat us second best. In any case, Luebeck should not be treated better than Kiel! Of course Luebeck is not the leading cosmopolitan city it was 500 years ago. But that is exactly the point. The more Luebeck gives itself up, the deeper it will sink into nothingness. If you connect two differently sized soap bubbles with a straw, the larger bubble will suck all the air from the smaller one. In Luebeck most of the more exclusive clothes shops have given up. I had to buy my suit for today’s speech in Hamburg. If it is worthwile, Hamburg just helps itself and takes away the wind wheel trade fair away from Husum.

If an ambitious scientist wants to be successful, he or she depends on international networking. A newly appointed professor for gynaecology might move from Luebeck to Frankfurt where he is able to keep in touch with the scientific society much easier. The fact that EUROIMMUN AG has its headquarters in Luebeck is due to historic reasons and not to its position which is out in the sticks: The founder developed the enterprise from the University and was dependent on existing cooperation projects. Moving the headquarters to one of Germany’s economical centres would have affected the continuity and the existence of the company. If a customer, applicant, investor, supplier or sales agent needs to fly to Hamburg and then travel on to Luebeck, this represents a huge disadvantage for ourselves. He or she can reach our competitors who are located in Hamburg much faster, getting there and back in one day is much easier. This is detrimental to our company: We reduce prices, organise transfers and pay the customer or applicant rental cars and hotels. The project Metropol-Region (metropolitan area) is pointless anyway, completely unnecessary, mucho ado about nothing. The federal states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania should rather join forces and found a common Northern state to be able to keep pace. Their interests are very similar, and they would save administrative expenses.

What are actually the benefits that the Luebeck airport might bring us one day? The existence of the airport is not justified by the mere fact that people from Hamburg pay lower prices for flying from Luebeck to their holiday destinations, although this might currently be in the foreground. It might become relevant to keep the airport as a surrogate runway for Hamburg. But this is still written in the stars. First of all, travelling must become more convenient for people from the east of Schleswig-Holstein and the west of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For this, we absolutely require direct connections from Luebeck to several large airports. This will enable us to promote tourism, in fact in both directions: popular holiday destinations will be reached more quickly and the north of Germany will be opened up to vacationers. From Luebeck, travellers can rapidly board the ferry in Travemuende. The economic potential of regional industry will be strengthened by the facilitation of technical and scientific cooperation. New companies that require airport access will establish themselves in the region. Health tourism to Luebeck will become possible. Specialists from the Medical University of Luebeck will be able to offer their expertise to patients from all over the world (if patients travel via Hamburg, they generally end up in the Eppendorf university clinics).

There are several reasons why the Luebeck airport has not been profitable during the past decade. First, the connection to the road traffic via the new motorway A20 has only recently been completed. Before that, the west of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had practically no proper road access to the airport. But above all, no airline dares to establish new flight connections in Luebeck if the future of the Luebeck airport is uncertain. There are some activists who block all expansion measures by abusing our courts. But the politicians are also constantly questioning the airport’s future. Moreover, the city of Luebeck does not seem to be the right operator for the airport because it denominated a person as head of the supervisory board whose wife is fighting against the same airport in our courts!

It is also very odd and stupid to make the survival of the airport conditional on financing by the city of Luebeck, which has been broke for a long time. Politicians from Kiel assigned an unresolvable task to Luebeck due to the fact that they begrudge their neighbouring town every advantage, regardless of the damage this inflicts to the whole of the federal state. Since the airport is only to a small extent for the benefit of the inhabitants of Luebeck and much more for that of the bordering federal states, it should be organised and paid for by those states and not by the city of Luebeck. Much the same as the regional roads and motorways in this region. As far as I know, the port is also sponsored by the federal state.

Dear politicians in Kiel and Luebeck: Give Luebeck airport a perspective of at least ten years. Fill the supervisory board of the airport association with supporters. Arrange for the court procedures to be concluded. Allow the runway to be extended. Grant two million of state funds per year to the airport’s business operations for a few years. And cooperate with Rostock airport.

If all this is done, airlines will come and organise a regular service. In just a few years the airport will reach break-even point. However, its largest benefit will not become apparent in the airport’s profit and loss statement, but in the economic potential of this region. There are several companies in Luebeck that might be willing to take on a new opportunity and establish a small airline that flies from Luebeck directly to several large German airports to ensure that worldwide destinations are reached quickly from Schleswig-Holstein (east) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (west). The Baltic states, Poland and north Italy will be included in the schedule to ensure that airplanes are used to their full capacity even outside main flight hours. Precondition for this, however, would be a reliable perspective and reasonable basic conditions. We are also ready to participate as a company, although we make more money out of laboratory diagnostics.

Finally I would like to explain the situation of our company in a more detailed manner: EUROIMMUN produces medical laboratory equipment, we are at the time 1,300 employees, most of whom are employed in Schleswig-Holstein (Luebeck, Groß Groenau) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Dassow). We are a modern, international enterprise and constantly in contact with customers, business partners and scientists both in Germany and abroad. We are based on research and development, organise more than 25 scientific congresses, and cooperate with over 50 university institutes. Our partners have to come and see us often and we have to go and see them as well. We depend on air travel and have been waiting for a long time for direct connections between Luebeck and several European air traffic hubs.

EUROIMMUN has even employed a taxi driver to fetch 50 guests per month from Hamburg airport and to drive them back. Many visitors hire a car. Hundreds of flights are made by our own employees from Fuhlsbuettel every year. But travelling is so complicated that we have already missed some good chances of cooperation or business, probably more than we know of.

We have grown quickly and doubled our business volume every five years in the past. In the first half of the current year we had a growth in turnover by 25%, at the end of 2012 the turnover will have been of 130 million euros. In five years the capacity of our branches in Luebeck and Dassow will be all used and we will need new additional premises for 600 to 1,000 new employees. I will not open a new subsidiary without any active airport nearby and want to make clear: If the regional government shuts down the Airport Luebeck, we will rather further expand our branch near Dresden.

Source: Published as a nine-part insertion in Lübecker Nachrichten, July 2012.

The miracle of 17th June

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Christmas speech

I feel that the last year has passed more quickly than all of the other years before. It seems to me as if the carols at our last feast have just faded away and we are already coming together again to celebrate Christmas. Why do people have the impression that time passes so quickly? The reason is the fact that so many things have happened since last Christmas that we never really have managed to reflect upon all of them. Thomas Mann made this phenomenon a main subject in one of his novels, The Magic Mountain. In this book he describes a character having the impression that time is dragging on because there is nothing happening in his life. But later, when the character is looking back on his life, he thinks that it has come to an end far too quickly. However, the opposite applies for people who have had many experiences in their lives. In retrospect, they feel that their lives were longer (as long as the whole novel of The Magic Mountain, which takes at least half a year to be read entirely).

In 2005 so many milestones have been set at EUROIMMUN that we will not forget this period too fast. 2005 has been a very successful year throughout. It was also a year which allowed us to profit from the fruits of our work from previous years.

After five years of construction work we moved into our fine new building 5, we finished the extensions in Groß Grönau, created a new technical infrastructure on the Seekamp site i.e. made a fundamental improvement of the electric power supply and established a new heating system, warm and cold water and waste water system – all of which will be the basis for further expansion of our company.

In cooperation with EUROIMMUN electronic engineers and computer scientists the construction department has developed several complicated and sensational machines and devices, among them for example the automated systems for the BIOCHIP production, which are admired by professionals coming from all over the world, an ingenious fully automated optical evaluation system (EUROLINEScan) for Westernblots, which has increased our turnover by millions, and a completely novel illumination device invented by EUROIMMUN for our fluorescence microscope. In terms of the reagents, we have significantly developed our product range. Wherever we present our diagnostic products, we receive many complements and much appreciation for our state-of-the-art product range and for the productivity of our company. By turning our company into a stock corporation and to economic success, our net equity has increased significantly and, in terms of finances, we have therefore reached safe waters.

Many of my dreams have come true. One of them was particularly important to me: the reconstruction of the main building in Rennersdorf, the third building after the spinning hall and the annexe.

We have knocked down and rebuilt a large part of the main building, preserving its time-honoured walls. A week ago we had our topping-out ceremony. The building was built in 1839 – the cloth manufacturer Benjamin Wiedemann had fulfilled his dream to build a nice little manufactory for glaze and wool spinning by taking up a state loan of 1300 Reichsmark. In 1935 the property was then bought by my grandfather Paul Stöcker with the money of my grandmother, which amounted to 26,000 Mark, as far as I know. My grandfather had already spent his own money on his numerous inventions. His manufactory started with small-scale spinning of harvest binding twine.

From 1945 my father continued the manufactory, after returning from the war. He also had a dream. He wanted to start a large-scale production of coarse yarn. He invented a knot crimper which allowed to recycle the ends of binding twine. This twine was considered as waste material in agriculture because it was hardly usable for spinning due to its many knots. The machine invented by my father tore the knots with its two crimpers thus producing the best raw material available in former GDR times – sisal of pre-war quality – when raw material was hard to come by. Thus, Stöcker’s harvest binding twine was the most tear-proof twine you could get in the GDR. The farmers queued up at our manufactory after the war during harvest time and also spoilt us a bit whenever times were bad. We then bought a 72-head spinning machine with all connected teasels and drawing frames. Because of the risk involved in this purchase, my elder relatives declared my father to be crazy. But my father now delivered binding twine all over the country and was able provide best quality. He was even forced to reveal the secret of his knot crimper, which was then copied several times in Karl-Marx-Stadt. The coarse yarn manufactory existed until 1960.

After we had left the country for Upper Franconia in the Federal Republic of Germany, the manufactory was confiscated and included into a textile factory in Olbersdorf. Until 1990 the manufactory in Rennersdorf was nationally owned producing industrial textiles. With some diplomatic skill we were able to repurchase the property from the government for a price which had by then amounted to 175,000 DM. But our investments into the building in the meantime have now already amounted to a double of the purchase price.

The fact that EUROIMMUN now has a subsidiary in Rennersdorf and these buildings have been renovated to offer a workplace for a hundred employees has again a lot to do with dreams. As a child I picked raspberries on the path behind the main building. In summer there were enough to fill several jars. There I dreamed of a large raspberry plantation in Western Germany, where we planned to move to participate in the big economic miracle.

When we came there in 1960, having lost our former social status and without a word of welcome by anyone, the only thing left were the dreams of our former home. At that time I was convinced that I would never see it again in my whole life. But finally first the children, later also their parents, were allowed to visit their relatives in the GDR, in most cases when a member of the family had passed away. Whenever we went there I realised how much the buildings were decaying. One day, in 1966, I was told off after having looked around too curiously during a visit of relatives. After this, I went to my path behind the main building and could only dream of a remote future when that lovely little spot called Kreppel, where I had spent my childhood, would be restored as it was due.

After the wall had come down I sometimes woke up from my sleep, daydreaming about a freshly renovated manufactory surrounded by green trees, contrary to the real situation, for example around 1990 when it was only surrounded by coal heaps und the buildings were just an inch from being sacrificed to the wrecking ball.

We were very lucky that at exactly the right stage, EUROIMMUN had reached a development status which allowed us to get involved in a project encompassing the property. Firstly, we had to expand anyway and needed more space; secondly, we had the confidence of several national banks and thirdly, there was always some profit left to be invested somewhere to avoid taxation. We also used government investment grants, but these did not represent a decisive factor.

As we have always been engaged in renovation work since the founding of our company, we have therefore become more experienced with every project. We have undertaken and successfully completed one construction measure after the other. With all this work we are taking good care to guarantee that all EUROIMMUN employees enjoy their jobs and are not dreading to come to work every day where, after all, they spend a third of their lives. In the past I often suffered from nightmares where I saw the construction work completely differing from my plans and having bad quality. Now these nightmares appear more rarely. Apparently, reality is reflected in my subconscious mind telling me that we are able to meet high architectural requirements – at first by our own efforts, now predominantly with the assistance of professionals from the construction industry.

Our company history has shown that dreams can become reality. This is what distinguishes dreams from illusions, such as socialism or communism, for the attempted realisation of which we had to pay a high price in the past: socialism as it exists in reality was different from what Karl Marx had imagined. It only created ruins, and our Kreppel is the best example. The socialistic planned economy could nothing but suffocate dreams. Planned economy ignored the power of dreams. The date of 17th June 1953, when a big national uprising took place in the GDR, is a symbol for all this. It would have been better to keep this holiday in June than to swap it for the holiday of the German Unification.

In Rennersdorf a ruin has been brought back to life – the national hymn „Risen from the ruins“ which was played at first in the GDR and which was then cancelled, could now well be reintroduced since no one is allowed or willing to sing the other hymn  “Germany above all”. Thanks to a dream, and only because so many people put their diligence, effort and craftsmanship in it, we were able to raise this time-honoured building in Rennersdorf from the ruins.

I wish you all that many of your dreams also come true. If someone, may it be political ideologists, the church, malicious spouses, chauvinists or capitalistic exploiters, wilfully tries to destroy your dreams, get rid of them! Hold fast to your dreams and some day many of them will come true.

Practice what you preach?

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Even beyond the Agenda year 2010, the majority of the German population will have to tighten their waistbelts. Which economic measures that are to come and the limitations we are to expect may in future no longer be announced by the functionaries of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) after next September, but rather from the heralds of the other camp. Who will carry the evil tidings and the pleas for moderation from Berlin to duchy Lauenburg from then on?

At a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) meeting at the beginning of June, five men who will be running for office for the next Bundestag introduced themselves. On this occasion they provided information about their political goals, whereas for the most part, more or less insignificant questions were asked and similarly the same was answered. One of the attendees however, seemed to have forgotten the social and political etiquette: He asked if one of the candidates, the great-grandson of the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, was really the right man to represent the interests of the voters or in fact would really rather re-establish a family tradition and become a politician – but obviously due to his flamboyant lifestyle, would not recognize or have in mind the needs of simple and normal citizens. Among other things he had a permanent quarter for more than two years in one of the most expensive hotels in the world in Berlin next to the Bundestag, there awaiting the move into parliament.

(Count Bismarck lost the last Bundestag election in his district, but nevertheless had a good listing, which opened prospects to move up to the Bundestag as soon as an elected CDU parliament member passed away or in another manner was unable to exercise his seat in parliament. That naturally hurt a bit to have just missed the target. Since the count wasn’t at once granted an official, publicly funded bureau in Berlin, he took quarters (at his own expense) agreeable to his standard in the newly renovated luxury hotel Adlon right next to the Bundestag waiting for the big moment. With the elimination of the German Green Party from the governing body in Schleswig-Holstein this has now come true: Peter-Harry (according to Bismarck, the State Secretary Schlie and the Minister of Finance Rainer Wiegard) has become a member of parliament and thus freed a seat in Berlin for Count Bismarck. According to the German newspaper FAZ of 26th June 2005, the Adlon is the second most expensive hotel in Germany with one night costing on average EUR 237, including the more simple rooms. During his stay there, Bismarck definitely brooded thoroughly over where to cut extra money from the luxurious pensions of our pensioners and how to limit the luxury of the masses of short-term unemployed but still regularly paid miners in the Ruhr basin or how to convince the mass of simple workers to give up some comforts and to familiarize them with the pay scales and working conditions of the Middle and Far East of our nice and globalized world – in order to help balance off the national deficit and to be able to stand up to international competition.)

The host of the meeting could not of course let the count be insulted by the scurrilous affront of the obviously jealousy-complex-afflicted informer: The newly elected Secretary of State Schlie, who even almost became Minister, was obliged to call the shamus to order and “kindly“ requested that he introduce himself and sit down again as quickly as possible. This was heavily applauded from almost the whole audience. Bismarck (and Schlie) first answered in the troublemaker’s direction that the count had only stayed for a short while at the Adlon. But somewhat later Bismarck made the comment that he didn’t have to pay the full EUR 500 per night as he was given a discount. As one can see, these arguments are indeed only made by necessity and arbitrarily, as discounts are normally only given for large quantities or performance and not because someone wants to become a politician. But sometimes these are also granted because one already is a politician. The president before last of the German Bundesbank, Ernst Welteke, and his family will certainly gratefully remember the Adlon. Assisted from Schlie, Bismarck elegantly transformed the concerns of the troublemaker to his advantage and collected hearty applause for his answers.

The author of this editorial can name further examples of the arbitrary behavior of the count from just a short acquaintance: Three or four years ago he had introduced himself in Groß Groenau at the local CDU as “Fürst Bismarck” (Prince Bismarck) (which he is not legally entitled to do, any more than his father, who cleverly shortened his first name Ferdinand to “F”, was.) and as the new candidate for the Bundestag. On the same evening the men’s choir were rehearsing in the hall next door – Bismarck asked if he could also introduce himself to the choir and find out what their uppermost concerns were: Further construction of the airport should not be continued and the German naturalization of the choir director from Bulgaria should be made possible after he had completed his studies at the conservatory in Luebeck. Without contemplating it very long and clearly distant from the position of his party, the candidate agreed to lobby for both concerns and promised to do so. He found approval and, at best, only the small-minded may have said that the would-be politician only wanted to curry the favor of the voting population to accelerate his upcoming career. Perhaps he only forgot his principles for a moment – but one cannot fully exclude that such principles become too inconvenient as soon as they interfere with political development. Members of the Groß Groenau CDU also were against the expansion of Luebeck Airport and the building of the motorway and refrained from supporting these projects openly – blind to the economic necessity of both projects – in order to make themselves popular.

The now muzzled dissident of the Schwarzenbek event could do nothing more than contemplate the situation: In a democracy (and not only there), when filling a vacancy, only appearance or presence in the media are important factors and not strength of character, sedulousness, intelligence and humanitarian visions. Once in the limelight, with a familiar name, all the celebrity needs to do is to say what people want to hear. By admitting the bearer of the princely name to their circle, the CDU sinks as low as the yellow press, which benefits from the tendency of the dull-witted of our nation to admire allegedly higher social classes (a reason why the anachronistic absurdity of nobility cannot be disposed of) or with the mineral water company „Fürst Bismarck“ which, for every bottle label presenting the famous name of his great-grandfather, transfers a certain amount to the account of the count (which is perhaps used to pay the hotel in Berlin). However, with the only few good members who could be presented by the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein during the years after Mr. Stoltenberg and with the personnel available today, one clutches at every straw.

At the meeting in Schwarzenbek however, the troublemaker was cut short and was therefore unable to express all his concerns. But what he could bring up wasn’t that absurd: On several occasions, when talking to a more amiable audience, they mainly agreed with his words. In spite of the conservative attitude in a people’s party like the CDU, there surely still is some tolerance left, at least a small range of opinions. Thus, in a free discussion, a certain percentage of attendees, let’s say 50%, would surely have shared the concerns of the rebel. However, the audience had been told through the suppressive intervention of Mr. Schlie to toe the line (his protégé will remember this in due time and show his gratitude).

Just recently the CDU took the governance in Kiel (euphoric with their victory they quickly forgot the crucial support of the SPD from Berlin). And if their majority situation soon improves a bit more they may decide that the rules of democracy can be disregarded. Then someone who speaks his mind and who stands against the crowd may be risking his life again. For the dissenter, however, no advocate was to be found amongst the new self-proclaimed “archpriests”. As always when there is need for support. They kept silent out of cowardice and fear of the crowd or of worry of losing their position within the party.

During the selection of a political representative it should be possible to speak frankly, without being pressured, unfairly influenced or patronized by the clique. The voters should be able to get a clear picture of the candidates which goes beyond mere appearance. The traditional selection criteria applied elsewhere are not applicable here: No one sees the school grades of the candidates. Job references and other certificates of competence are not presented. The same goes for police records. As if the Bundestag election was merely an irrelevant manning process: It is no wonder that this way of selecting results in unacceptable politics and general stagnation. If EUROIMMUN selected its management in the same careless and incompetent way or with the same nepotism (you scratch my back and I‘ll scratch yours), we could not look back on such a successful company development. At EUROIMMUN every candidate is required to present all of his or her certificates and references and is interviewed by experts and not by amateurs.

This could be a good remedy for democracy to solve this perpetual dilemma of incompetence and to conquer the mediocrity: the representative vacancies will be advertised like leading positions at universities or in industrial firms. An independent committee of experts assesses the quality of all candidates according to fair and impartial criteria, selects several of them and presents them to the voting public before the election.

In Schwarzenbek however, it rather seemed as if the leadership had already decided on their favourite. A couple of alternative candidates who were bound to lose were presented to keep up the forms of democracy. And then someone stood up and unsettled this well planned scenario! One of the five candidates who, like the editor, saw through this evil trickery resigned, withdrawing from his function as alibi.

It is very likely that the troublemaker will turn his back on this circle. He needs to hurry to avoid sharing the blame in case the CDU comes to an arrangement with the real aristocracy and reinstalls the Hohenzoller dynasty: We want the late German emperor Willhelm back! But please not a forceps delivery again: In this case we might as well leave the governance with the SPD and the Green Party.

Lübeck, 2005

The US American: Creations new crowning glory?

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Last September we visited the promised land at the same time taking advantage of the probably last chance as passengers to cross the Atlantic with supersonic speed. Unfortunately the great expectations were only followed by harsh and deep disappointment. Even as the Concorde crept along like a normal airliner half way through the flight because of engine trouble and had to drop us off at the next best airport on the east coast as it was also short of fuel, we didn´t complain. Not even as we were confronted with the rude military tone of the customs officer at the border and the unfriendly greeting at the hotel as we arrived six hours too late, long after midnight and having to haul our luggage up the long prestigious stairway ourselves. Everywhere we went, we were always given the feeling that Germans at that time were not especially welcome in America and that the land of unlimited oppor­tunities had apparently become unbelievably arrogant.

It seems as if a huge punishment campaign against Old Germany had been started since Gerhard Schröder had backed out of the Iraq crisis to win his election. Our apologies were of no use: we had voted against him and had also not participated in World War II. The exis­tence of Germany is hardly mentioned in the newspapers. The only article we could read about Germany in the New York Times within these ten days – and in great detail – was a report about a planned attack in Munich by Neonazis, which was defeated by special forces. In Madame Tussaud´s wax museum there was no German eternalized except for a race car driver. Not even Konrad Adenauer, Willi Brandt, or Helmut Kohl, to whom no American politician would be fit to hold a candle to.

The women responsible for cultural matters at the hotel in New York had purposely sent us straight to a musical, which theme was the persecution of the Jews in Germany – port­rayed with a character acting as a fruit merchant (“Herr Schulz Frucht”). One must ask himself, why are these old topics brought up repeatedly, art can do well without this worn-out topic. This musical performance is part of a  permanent concerted schedule. The alleged discussion about financial compensation for forced labourers was for example directed out of New York – half a century after the Hitler dictatorship. As no one wanted to hear about it, they started up with the Nazi gold. And just before the dust settles a new movie about the Holocaust is conjured up or the paint on the memorial steles are not kosher.

One must closely look at what is behind it all – who would gain anything from the com­pensation; the repayment would never be in proportion to the suffered injustice. It seems as though the press in New York is dominated by mockers, who constantly and at length bring up wrong doings long past and seek late revenge. If our government would have a little more intellect, it would not react and would not fall into the same trap with every attempt to defend itself.

My generation and our children, we have nothing to do with the employment of forced labourers and we did not steal any gold. We do not need to be reproached about these things from anyone as we are free of any fault. This is the reason why we do not want to pay taxes for the compensation. Should any existing business of the past still have debts open – that is not our concern. As Konrad Adenauer was in office binding contracts under international law were made and all out­standing balances were settled.

In Washington you can take special bus excursions to see all the important places of interest: the White House (which is currently being restored and repainted by the German company Leimfarben – because they still pro­duce the best silicate paint – the contract from the Pentagon was cancelled just recentl­y!), Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, where Kennedy and his wife were buried, Kennedy Center, Georgetown, Washington Memorial, the Capitol, several museums, among them the National Gallery of Art and the Space Museum with many of the original space capsules. A replica of the German wonder weapon V2 is also here (just), an original prototype for all space vehicles can be seen at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Among all these jewels a museum was pointed out as an essential Ger­man contribution that was made to world history in the city guide and by the bus driver: The Holocaust Museum. The picture in the guide shows the well-known phrase in the entrance of the concentration camp Auschwitz: “Arbeit macht frei”.

The impression that the Americans have of Germans seems to be limited to the Third Reich (other than that most are only familiar with well-known German car and beer brands and the Oktoberfest). The past 59 years have apparently gone by unnoticed by these distant beings. During a recent tour of Lübeck a scientist from Canada asked me as the first and only question while we were standing at the top of the Petri church tower, if all of the buildings below us had been destroyed during the war. He was surprised that they had already been completely restored in such a short period since the war. Therefore, we took him directly to the Hamburg Opera to give him an idea of our meanwhile peaceful culture. The performance was so outstanding, an experience that he had not yet had in Vancouver.

Ways should be found to steer one-sided and apparently by interest groups controlled and selected perception of the Americans to the diversity of the Germans and to the potential of the European culture. Wouldn´t it be possible to build an alternative museum, which would present great accomplished German people, such as composers, poets, philosophers (who wouldn´t interest most Americans) as well as German pioneers and inventors? Pri­marily it should demonstrate that Germany has developed into a reliable modern country, which inhabitants (except for a small number) have nothing to do with the aberration of the Third Reich.

I would also like to build a second museum: One which presents the complete foolishness of the Americans during the last hundred years, which without, a Third Reich, the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam War, the Chinese Revolution, and the taking of Palestine land would probably not have happened. The political actions of the USA were characterized by willed one-sidedness. Due to its geographi­cal size and defined position, it was possible to interfere in the course of the world everywhere ad libitum influencing the outcome of many conflicts without putting themselves into any considerable danger. Whereas each time the USA more or less proceeded like amateurs, nevertheless feeling pretty sure that not much would happen to them at home. After com­pletion of their ingenious one-sided actions they retreated and left the conflicting parties on their own. Without the intention, the role of the ”great Satan” has been fulfilled perfectly that was attributed to them from an equally unfriendly party.

Why did the USA intervene in World War I and play Gods of fate? Our courageous Grand­fathers thank them for the grand defeat and our parents thank them for the curse of national socialism. Why did the USA agree to have the land taken away from the Palesti­nians that had occupied it before for thousands of years! If today someone would want to shove us out of Dresden, Berlin and Lübeck, then I would also plant bombs and blast sky­scrapers into the air! They thought that they could do the same with the Arabians as with the Indians in North America.

At the end of the World War II Stalin and the Soviets, who moved into Poland the same time as Hitler did, should have also been eliminated. Instead Roosevelt and Truman gave the soviet murdering devil half of Europe and brought the world to the brink of disaster. Again, all others and not the Americans, were exposed to the foreseeable dangers of a huge atomic war. Is it just by chance that such a war has not taken place (until now)? The unpredictable Russians still have large arsenals of atomic weapons.

150 years ago the Americans killed a million Indians and stole their land. They are equal to Hitler and Himmler in every way. Even long after World War II the Americans treated their black fellow citizens as second class human beings. To kill one of them was just until recently, still only a trivial offence.

If you observe the US President and his fellow countrymen you find some other parallels to the Third Reich. They call themselves an elite nation and look down upon other countries (the former foreign minister Schulz said: “America and the rest of the world”). A leaflet from the Empire-State-Building uses the phrase “The Capitol of the Capital of the World.” I do not recollect of any election where New York was voted as the capital. American soldiers are supposed to be the best in the world: The basis for this phrase originates from Adolf Hitler, whom no one wants to use as a role model. They pledge with proud gestures, not by stretching out their right hand, but by putting it on their heart with the music playing ”God bless America”. This type of exaggerated nationalism has long been brushed off here in West Europe. In Germany there are only a few sick people that hit that note today. At the same time there is no other industrial country that has so many individuals and businesses that are economically jeopardised. In America a power blackout lasts for weeks, houses collapse at the slightest impact and many cities are dirty and run down. One can be happy to be able to live in Germany.

One should be careful not to overly accommo­date the United States and become scientifi­cally and economically too dependent on them. No one counts on this nation´s virtues such as the sense of justice, good nature, and bene­volence, no more than you may have relied upon the peaceful nature of the Soviets. The USA will, wherever possible, abuse their power for their own benefit and at the expense of others – making them dance to their tune. According to my recent observations, the submissive behaviour of many Germans seems to be very naive. It reminds me of a boy making every effort and humiliating himself just to please his big brother, while the big one makes fun of the little one, exploits and then ignores him. The attempt of ingratiation evidently shows the betrayal of the mother tongue: aren´t we upset about the upper class at the time of Old Fritz refusing to speak German, communicating only in French in their exclusive circles? In reality this behaviour served merely the purpose to signalize supposed superiority. Today, many scientists and in­dustrial managers also use every opportunity to boast about their good command of English, for many decades the youth as well, however, whom one can easier forgive for their silliness.

I am outraged when a human being puts himself above another at will. For me superiority is not legitimate by class, sex, or nationality. Each and every person in the world should be allowed the same rights. No country should be able to determine another country´s destiny. In this respect, I feel the ambitions of some second-rate politicians for a two-speed Europe or a central Europe (also taking care of the “little ones”) as intolerably arrogant (former chancellor Kohl about Schäuble). The kicks are passed down the chain from top to bottom as if they were written in law. Must there always be people and races everywhere that raise themselves above others and dictate?

The countries in Europe should come to an agreement and regain their natural strengths, put back outdated national interests, in order to prevent our continent from being completely dominated by the arrogant United States. We should however, not count on England, which may emerge as a Trojan horse. I am proud to be a European (and not an American)? This is not true nor important: I am proud to accom­plish together with my colleagues outstanding achievements in the field of medicine to the service of humans all over the world!

For EUROIMMUN the past year was again characterized by an extremely positive de­velopment. Some examples are the significant scientific advances made in the diagnostic of Systemic Lupus erythematodes and chronic-inflammatory bowel diseases. Within the scope of a diploma thesis, it was possible for a student to establish standardized diagnostics for ulcerative colitis on the basis of immuno­fluorescence, ELISA and blot techniques, which resulted into a pending patent application. EUROIMMUN has developed and launched the first diagnostic system for the serological detection of SARS together with the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and several other research institutes, which is currently used by the respective centers dealing with this disease, and which can help prevent new outbreaks. We have put in applications for two utility models for the blot technology, created a new fully automated system (EUROLineScan) for Westernblot and line blot evaluation and developed new software for the organization of the serological laboratory, which enables us and our customers to feed the results obtained by microscopical evaluation directly into the computer – the pencil will thus become obsolete (EUROLabOffice; as an internationally operating company, we also use many English terms without betraying our mother tongue). Our construction, electronics and IT divisions are continuously gaining on importance, where the most complicated production devices have been created and new technologies for the user-related analytics will also soon be finished – new innovative ideas for a continual upward momentum.

EUROIMMUN´s sales revenues have reached 19 million Euros in 2003, compared to 16 million Euros in 2002. The annual profit after tax deduction amounted to 928,601 Euros (2002: 481,347 Euros). The economical situation is stable and favourable, which is mainly due to the participation of friends and colleagues.

Lübeck, 2003