Die Amisch : 10 Facts about the Amish

#ikWilHelpen .... ich will helfen...

No, it's not exactly German, but aren't the similarities interesting?

People in Belgium Are Using #IkWilHelpen to Offer Aid in the Wake of the Brussels Attacks

By Marie Solis March 22, 2016

In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday morning's attacks in Brussels' Zaventem airport and the city's Maalbeek Metro station that reportedly left at least 34 dead and 230 injured, many people in the surrounding area are still struggling to find safety.

In response, Twitter users have started the hashtag #IkWilHelpen, or "I want to help," to spread the word that not just their thoughts and prayers are with those in need, but that they'll lend a hand. 

Many people are offering not just a ride, but are opening up their homes to anyone who might need shelter.

As to the situation itself, check out Mark Patinkin's column in ProJo today: 

Mark Patinkin: Cruz, Trump playing into terrorists' hands

Sen. Ted Cruz

                     By Mark Patinkin  Journal Columnist

Posted Mar. 24, 2016 @ 9:00 pm

Somewhere, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi heard Ted Cruz’s call to “patrol and secure” Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. and no doubt thought to himself — “Perfect."

I'm guessing he thought the same when Donald Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants.

Because al-Baghdadi and ISIS know one of the challenges they face in their jihad against America isn't just our military — it's our ability to assimilate. And create loyal Americans of all faiths and creeds.

 That’s why it's harder here to recruit converts to radical Islam than in many European nations.

Of course, there will always be terrorists, as we saw in San Bernardino and at the Boston Marathon.

But analysts say the threat is greater in places like France and Belgium because those nations have failed to assimilate their Muslim populations. The jihadists in Brussels and Paris, it's said, came out of isolated neighborhoods where Muslims have long felt like unwelcome outsiders.

It's different here. Keith Ellison, the only Muslim member of Congress, has said the Muslim neighborhoods he represents in the Minneapolis area speak proudly of being Americans first.

It's not by accident — it springs from the vision of our founders who created a nation that, by way of inclusions, almost impossibly melds every faith and background into one.

It is why 10 percent of American doctors are Muslim, 30 reps in congress are Hispanic, a son of a Syrian immigrant founded Apple Computer and an African American is president.

We are almost all of us sons and daughters of immigrants, and yes, most of our forbears faced prejudice when they first arrived, but with an important distinction.

Especially now, American bigotry is unofficial, from the street. What overcomes it is a government framed around laws that require acceptance and equal treatment for all.

That’s why it’s dangerous when our leaders speak against those principles, and laws. That's what ISIS wants.

What Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump seem to miss is that the complex challenge of global terrorism requires the wisdom to know not just when to act — but when not to.

Acting in the wrong way encourages jihadi radicalism. That's what the Iraq war did in the Middle East and what would happen here if we punished Muslims as a group.

Years ago when I went abroad as a journalist to cover religious violence, I often heard a certain question, in Beirut during the war between Christians and Muslims and in Northern Ireland when Protestants and Catholics were at violent odds.

In both places, people asked how we do it in America — avoid such divisions?

The answer, I think, isn't just that this is the land of opportunity — it's also the land of acceptance, where newcomers have a shot at becoming just as American as those who've been here for generations.

Of course, there are many ways America has to actively fight terror: tracking Islamic radicals, breaking up cells, working to degrade ISIS by killing their leaders and supporting the local fighters taking them on.

But an equally important weapon is depriving the enemy of what they want most — an alienated Muslim population here, as they have in many European nations.

We shouldn't give them that.

We should give them what they don't want and we've long had — a land where all faiths and creeds have a reason to feel welcomed, and American.

STERN Fernsehen und die Fluechtlinge: Was denken sie ueber Schwule Ehen, Bier, Hot Pants?

HIER KANN MAN MEHR LESEN, UND AUCH DAS VIDEO ANSCHAUEN

TV-Umfrage

Was sagen Flüchtlinge zu deutschen Werten und Bräuchen?

Die Debatte um die Integration der Flüchtlinge wird teils hitzig geführt und dabei oft die Frage gestellt: Haben die Zuwanderer überhaupt eine Vorstellung vom Leben in Deutschland? stern TV hat 40 Flüchtlingen in Berlin symbolische Bilder gezeigt - und ihre spontanen Reaktionen eingefangen.

Am Montagabend hat stern TV auf der eigenen Facebook-Seitedrei Fotos gepostet: Mädchen in Hotpants, ein schwules Paar, das sich küsst und Angela Merkel. Dazu hat die Redaktion drei einfache Fragen gestellt:

Was denkt ihr, wenn ihr dieses Foto seht?

Wie findet ihr dieses Foto?

Was fällt euch zu diesem Bild ein?

"Das ist ein freies Land und ein sehr schönes Leben, die wissen das Leben zu genießen. Wir sind hierhergekommen, weil es ein freies Land ist, das will ich auch genießen. Ich finde das sehr schön", formulierte einer der befragten Flüchtlinge den Konsens der meisten.

"Schweinefleisch und Alkoholkonsum können nicht verpflichtend sein"

Und zu Discos?

Ein Mann sagte aber auch: "Ich gehe nicht in eine Disco. Ich mag das nicht", sagte ein Mann. "Da ist Porno drin, unsaubere Sachen." Ein anderer: "Vor zwei Jahren war ich mal da. Wenn es Gottes Wille ist, werde ich noch mal hingehen. Ich fand es schön."

Alle Flüchtlinge fanden Mädchen in Hotpants in Ordnung

37 von 40 Flüchtlingen zeigten sich religiös tolerant

Ein Foto war von einem Juden mit Kippa vor dem Brandenburger Tor, also in Berlin. Wie wir es uns wünschen, zeigten sie sich tolerant. "Ich persönlich habe keine Probleme damit. Ich bin zwar Muslim, akzeptiere die aber auch. Auch wenn sie zu mir nach Hause kommen und mein Brot essen. Oder ich ihr Brot esse", so eine Reaktion. Und: "Ich bin hier, in einem Land, das uns so sehr respektiert, ich werde auch dieses Land und die Menschen hier sehr respektieren." 37 von 40 Flüchtlingen akzeptieren Juden in Deutschland.

Aber was denken sie über eine Hochzeit unter Homosexuellen?

"Bei uns im Nahen Osten ist das nicht erlaubt. Das ist keine normale Sache. Aber hier in Europa und in diesem Land ist das eine normale Sache. Das muss man akzeptieren. Wir können hier nicht so weiterdenken, wie wir dort gedacht haben", erklärt einer der Flüchtlinge. 

Doch tatsächlich dachten längst nicht alle so: "Diese Heirat ist verboten. In allen Büchern aller Religionen steht, dass das nicht erlaubt ist, deswegen ist es auch bei uns verboten." 

Insgesamt wollen nur 25 von 40 Befragten Homosexuelle in Deutschland akzeptieren. Zärtlichkeiten zwischen Mann und Frau in der Öffentlichkeit waren für alle der 40 Flüchtlinge in Ordnung – und schön.

A German Film about the Amish in Pennsylvania

Religionen in Deutschland: Islam?

Earlier this month, Dr. Sadiqu al-Mousllie, accompanied by his family and a few members of their mosque, stood in downtown Braunschweig, Germany, and held up signs that read: "I am a Moslem. What would you like to know?" in an effort to promote dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Courtesy of Sarah Mousllie

Sadiqu al-Mousllie sees humor as a good way to fight growing anti-Islam sentiment in Germany.

He lives in Braunschweig, in western Germany. Earlier this month, he decided to go downtown and hold up a sign that read, "I am a Moslem. What would you like to know?"

"This is a bridge of communication," the Syrian-born German says. "Some people dared to ask, some others not, so we went to them and give them some chocolate and a say of our prophet to know what Muslims are thinking about."

Mousllie, 44, says he hopes to do it every other week.

Several members of his mosque — including his Danish wife, Camilla, and their 17-old daughter, Sarah — joined him on the first outing.

The teen says many passersby were curious about her and her mother's Islamic headscarves.

"The weirdest question I got was if I'm showering with my hijab," Sarah says. "And I'm just — no, I don't shower with hijab, how should I do that? No one showers with their clothes on."

Born in Syria, Mousllie (shown here with his 17-year-old daughter, Sarah) came to Germany more than 20 years ago and is now a German citizen.Soraya Nelson/NPR

Her mother, who converted to Islam, says many Germans are equally confused about her being Muslim.

"They don't know ... where do I belong," says Camilla Mousllie, 42. "Some are confused and ask: Are the Danish people Muslim?"

But Sarah says she doesn't mind answering strange questions if it can help put to rest any misconceptions about Muslims and open up a dialogue with non-Muslims.

Their community in Germany is under increasing scrutiny after several recent threats and fatal attacks linked to Islamic extremists in Europe. The scrutiny sparked criticism from German Muslim leaders, who say it's is unwarranted and alienates Muslim citizens who've worked hard to integrate into German society.

Misinformation and discrimination, the dentist says, often hit Muslim children — including his own — the hardest.

Born in Damascus, Mousllie came to Germany nearly a quarter century ago to study; he eventually settled here and became a German citizen.

His five children, who were born in Germany, are Danish citizens like their mother, but they largely identify as German, Mousllie says. So when his son was in fourth grade and was told he didn't belong, the boy was upset.

"A friend of his in the class, he told [my son]: 'You are not a real German because your name is not German,' " Mousllie recalls. "That was a very bad situation for him. I felt it was like a world falling down for himself because he felt, well, am I part of this country or not?"

In recent years, Mousllie says he's been asking himself the same question.

At his specialty dental practice, Mousllie says he is treated like any other German. Outside the office, it's another matter.

"It's getting more difficult because a lot of Islamophobic themes are coming, people now mixing Islam and terror, so we have to explain a lot," he says.

Also alarming, Mousllie says, is the rising number of incidents against Muslims and mosques around Germany, including an attack three months ago in Braunschweig on a Syrian-born woman wearing hijab whose foot was run over by a car.

"You keep thinking what about my children, what about my family, how it's going to be in two years," he says.

Mousllie says watching democracy in Germany inspired him to fight for similar freedoms in his native Syria, and he serves as the German representative of the opposition Syrian National Council.

At home in Germany, as the Lower Saxony spokesman for Germany's Central Council of Muslims, Mousllie says he's tried to get authorities to help reduce tensions, including by not using what he and others in the Muslim community view as inappropriate words — for example, Islamism — when talking about extremists.

His efforts suffered a setback on Feb. 15 when Braunschweig authorities canceled a famous annual Carnival because of what Police Chief Michael Pientka called an Islamist-related terror threat.

"We know we have an Islamist scene here," Pientka told reporters, adding that from now on, the authorities would be watching it more closely.

Nürnberg Century Dockenhaus (1673)

Don't presume that a house in miniature like this was for kids in previous centuries.  Instead, it was a way to impress guests.  One could tuck into a doll house all the latest gadgets one thought a proper home should have.  This permitted guests to peek into corners of the home where they would otherwise not be permitted.

Don't presume that a house in  miniature like this was for kids.  In previous centuries, owning such an item was certainly one way to impress guests with your own life style. They generally were located in the front foyer of a house, and generally included all the latest gadgets one thought a proper home should have.  This permitted guests a peek into a lifestyle they could only guess at.

The oldest doll house in London's Victory & Albert's Museum is the Dockhaus from Nürnberg, opens up to reveal 2 kitchens, the working kitchen and also a formal kitchen, where the china and large pans were stored.   The date of the house appears on the chimney.

There were other more practical purposes to having such an item in one's home.  These miniature houses were also used to teach children the skills they would need to properly run a household.

It's also true that some of these old miniature houses -- along with their amazing contents -- would have cost their owners as much as a full-sized house.

As to the owner of this Dockenhaus, the unicorn on the left side of the door probably meant that the house was owned by a chemist or apothecary.  That was an early form of advertising.  On the right door of the house is a picture of Martin Luther, which was probably quite radical in the very Catholic area of central Bavaria in 1673.

In Berlin eine Mahnwache: Warum? Dresden: PeGiDA. Was? Wer?

1.   Wie empfindet man das zusmamen Leben in Deutschland?

• Man kann besser durchatmen.
• Die Anerkennung fehlt manchmal.
• Viel Angst steht auf allen Seiten.
• Es ist bereichend für mich, andere Bräuche kennen zu lernen.

2.  Hier ist REWBOSS on PeGiDa ... aus Oktober 2014
Dresdens Abendspaziergänge ... Evening strolls.



"Wir sind das Volk" -- Oder??
(Islamophobic...)

Alle sind willkommen.... Aber?  Warum auch die Neonazionalsozialisten?
Wie viele machen mit?  10,000  und viel mehr!


3.  From SLATE  Jan 9 2015:  written by Lucian Kim:
---Of course discomfort about Muslims is not limited to Germany. Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, who openly criticized Islam, was assassinated in 2002, and in Switzerland a 2009 referendum led to a constitutional ban on the construction of minarets. More recently, a string of arson attacks on mosques has jarred Sweden. In Germany, however, where the political order has been shaped by the memory of Nazi excesses, politicians can’t always express what their voters are thinking. Slowly but surely, taboos are being broken. ...

Nikolai-Church Minister from the Monday Demonstrations, 1989, died

Citynews

Christian Führer ist tot – ehemaliger Pfarrer der Leipziger Nikolaikirche stirbt mit 71 Jahren

dom / A.K. / nöß

  Foto: Volkmar Heinz Christian Führer, ehemaliger Pfarrer der Leipziger Nikolaikirche, ist am Montagvormittag gestorben. (Archivfoto)

Leipzig. 

Der langjährige Pfarrer der Leipziger Nikolaikirche, Christian Führer, ist tot. Der 71-Jährige verstarb am Montagvormittag in der Leipziger Uniklinik, wohin er kurz zuvor im kritischen Zustand eingeliefert worden war. Führer, der durch seine prägende Rolle bei den Leipziger Montagsdemonstrationen 1989 bundesweite Bekanntheit erlangte, litt an einer schweren Lungenerkrankung.

Wie die Uniklinik gegenüber LVZ-Online mitteilte, sei Führer am Morgen "unter Reanimation" in die Zentrale Notaufnahme eingeliefert worden. "Leider konnte hier trotz aller ergriffenen Maßnahmen nur noch der Tod festgestellt werden", so eine Sprecherin. Als Todeszeitpunkt wurde 9.30 Uhr angegeben, als offizielle Ursache Herzversagen.

FOTOSTRECKEN

Die Nikolaikirche war sein Leben

Führer litt an Lungenfibrose
Den ehemaligen Nikolaipfarrer, der 2008 in Ruhestand ging, quälte seit knapp zwei Jahren eine Lungenfibrose, eine schleichende Erkrankung des Lungengewebes. Sie beginnt meist mit einer Entzündungsreaktion, die sich in den Lungenbläschen abspielt. Dadurch kommt es zu einer Vermehrung von Bindegewebe zwischen den Bläschen und den sie umgebenden Blutgefäßen. Folge: Die Lunge versteift, es muss viel mehr Kraft fürs Atmen aufgewandt werden.

Noch in der Vorwoche war Führer für seine Verdienste im Wendeherbst 1989 zusammen mit anderen Wegbegleitern mit dem Deutschen Nationalpreis ausgezeichnet worden. An der Preisverleihung am Dienstag in Berlin konnte er aufgrund seiner Krankheit aber nicht mehr selbst teilnehmen. Die Auszeichnung nahm seine Tochter Katharina Köhler entgegen.

Tillich: "Verdienste bleiben unvergessen"

Leipzigs Oberbürgermeister Burkhard Jung (SPD) würdigte Führer als einen Menschen mit beispiellosem Mut, "der im festen Vertrauen auf seinen Glauben das Unmögliche nicht nur zu denken wagte". Die Stadt Leipzig verliere mit ihm einen kritischen Geist, dessen Leben und Wirken untrennbar mit dem Herbst 1989 und dem Niedergang der DDR verbunden gewesen sei. "Leipzig hat ihm für sein Wirken und ich persönlich habe ihm als Ratgeber sehr viel zu verdanken“, sagte Jung.

Sachsens Ministerpräsident Stanislaw Tillich (CDU) bezeichnete Führer als herausragenden Wegbereiter der friedlichen Revolution. „Als Pfarrer der Nikolaikirche in Leipzig hat er mit Friedensgebeten und Öffnung der Kirche für Oppositionskreise entscheidend zur Stärkung des Engagements für Freiheit und Demokratie beigetragen“, erklärte Tillich. „Es erfüllt mich mit Trauer, dass Christian Führer das Gedenken an die erfolgreiche friedliche Revolution vor 25 Jahren nicht mehr persönlich erleben kann. Seine Verdienste bleiben unvergessen“, so der Ministerpräsident.

Zuletzt nur noch wenige öffentliche Auftritte  (Seldom had he appeared in public recently)

Nur noch selten war Führer zuletzt öffentlich aufgetreten. Schon Anfang April, als ihm der Wilhelmine-von-Bayreuth-Preis überreicht werden sollte, trat er die Reise zur Auszeichnungsveranstaltung nicht an. In Bayreuth nahmen statt seiner die Söhne Sebastian und Georg Führer den Preis entgegen.   (His sons collected a prize in his honor in Bayreuth, early April.)

   

Foto: dpa "Offen für alle": Pfarrer Christian Führer vor seiner Nikolaikirche.

 

(Letzten) August, traf den Geistlichen ein schwerer Schicksalsschlag: Seine Frau Monika starb an den Folgen einer Krebserkrankung. Seither hatte sich sein Zustand weiter verschlechtert.

Führer musste mehrmals am Tag an ein Sauerstoffgerät. 

 

Im Frühjahr lag er für kurze Zeit in der Klinik, ohne dass es ihm danach wesentlich besser gegangen wäre, wie Wegbegleiter berichteten. 

 

Wenn es seine Kraft erlaubte, besuchte er zuletzt sonntags noch den Gottesdienst (attended church services whenever his strength permitted it). Nicht selten verließ er die Kirche noch vor dem Schlusslied, weil die körperliche Belastung zu groß war.  (Often the physical demands were too great for him to stay through the last hymn.)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Subversive Religious Freedom Advocate

Posted on February 3rd, 2014 Culture, Thought Reform | 0 Comments

Feb. 4th marks what would be the 108^th birthday of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. An outspoken pastor, theologian, underground seminary professor, and spy against the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer’s young life was sadly cut short at the hands of Nazi interrogators.
Throughout his dynamic ministry, Bonhoeffer challenged both the Church and State to recognize and assume their providentially assigned roles. He implored the Church to be a faithful witness in a rapidly deteriorating society. And he spoke out against the grave abuses of governmental power.
While many of his contemporaries were either silent or conflicted in the face of quickly disintegrating freedoms, Bonhoeffer was a strong and steady voice of moral precision.
His story serves as a reminder of the necessity to be an active participant in the public square, particularly as it relates to preserving a just society.
Consider Bonhoeffer’s words to a generation faltering under the grinding pressures of a corrupt regime:
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in the prime of his life – only 39, and recently engaged. Yet even though he was young, Bonhoeffer had a profound influence on his generation and those that came after him.
As we honor the memory of Bonhoeffer, it’s crucial to remember that we also have the privilege and responsibility to engage in the public square. Though we are young, our voices matter and can have lasting and meaningful impact, not just in our time, but for future generations as well.

Bonhoeffer was hung on April 9 for his connection to ABWEHR, a subversive group trying to put an end to Hitler.  Two weeks later, the labor camp where this happened was liberated by US soldiers of the 90th and 97th Infantry divisions.  --Wikipedia

30 Years' War

DIE STADT MAGDEBURG WAR VÖLLIG ZERSTÖRT
      THE CITY OF                MAGDEBURG        WAS COMPLETELY             DESTROYED

Here's a translation of an account from a mayor during that time. 
Does anyone have other sources, detailing the horrors of this horrendous time in Germany's past?

 

Was würdest du tun?

 What would YOU do?