January 25-26
- What to do with Syria’s foreign fighters?
- The price of Netflix’s popularity
- Eco-friendly boat paint
- … and much more.
⬇️ STARTER
Another 1933? Germans are comparing today’s far right surge to the Nazi takeover
The year 2025 has just begun, but it feels as if the icy wind of history is constantly blowing down our necks. In view of the rise of the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S., warnings are being issued across all political camps about a possible remake of the darkest turning point in German history.
The Jusos, the youth organization of today's Social Democratic Party (SDP), has recently put up posters for the upcoming national election with a 1930s-style font saying "Voting for the Far Right is So 1933." At the same time, Friedrich Merz, the center-right CDU/CSU alliance's candidate for chancellor, has declared that "One 1933 is enough for Germany."
What seems even more worrying is that the next federal election, the one coming after the one next month, will take place in the year 2033, exactly 100 years after Adolf Hitler came to power.
But will this be of any help, conjuring up the dark ghosts of the past to predict our future?
We’re five minutes away from 1933 is the translated title of a book by intellectual Philipp Ruch. In Ruch's opinion, Germany is currently no better protected from a takeover by the AfD than it was in 1933 from the Nazi Party. "This book takes a look into the future and invites us to suspect and prevent," he wrote.
As with Merz and the Jusos, a surprisingly orthodox belief in history and its "compulsion to repeat" is revealed here, as psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud would have called it. The purpose of the book is clear: to free people from their fatal blindness to this inevitable return of disaster.
A bizarre "revival of the idea of fate in a world that once seemed committed to the belief in progress," as Italian writer Nicola Chiaromonte put it in his 1971 book The Paradox of History.
But the truth is that the very specific situation of the winter of 1932-33 in Germany cannot be compared with the current political situation. The historical starting point, as Jens Bisky wrote in his excellent book, The Decision, about the years 1929 to 1934, was more than confusing; the whole country was still dominated by the emotional and financial distress of losing World War I and living in a wrecked country. [...]
— Read the full article by Florian Illies for Die Zeit, translated from German by Worldcrunch.
🎲 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
What do you remember from the news this week?
1. Donald Trump told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine — a war the U.S. president described as…?
2. Which city in the occupied West Bank has become the target of a major Israeli-led raid, just days after the Gaza ceasefire took effect?
3. In which country have hundreds of LGBTQ+ couples tied the knot following the official legalization of same-sex marriage?
4. “Hot For You, Baby,” a song that was presumed lost, has been rediscovered and played for the first time on BBC Radio 2. Who sang it?
Tina Turner / Frank Sinatra / Britney Spears / Maria Callas
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
#️⃣ TRENDING
Stop and smell the flowers... but maybe not this one. The titan arum plant, or “corpse flower” of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney is set to bloom soon, and thousands of people have already tuned in to a livestream to watch the event. The endangered plant blooms infrequently, for just 24 hours, and releases a putrid smell described as “wet socks, hot cat food or rotting possum flesh.” The Sydney plant, affectionately nicknamed Putricia, had last bloomed 15 years ago.
🎭 5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• In memoriam: British guitarist John Sykes, best known for his work with rock bands Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, died aged 65 following “a hard-fought battle with cancer”; U.S. multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson, the last remaining founder member of The Band, an influential group that once backed Bob Dylan, passed away at the age of 87; French director and outspoken provocateur Bertrand Blier, who left his mark on 1970s and 1980s cinema and launched actor Gérard Depardieu’s career in 1974 with Les Valseuses, died at 85; Norwegian artist Håkon Bleken, referred to as a “pillar” of Norway’s post-war art, passed away at the age of 96; Greek singer Kaiti Grey, a prominent figure in Greek popular music, died at 100.
• Netflix to raise prices after reporting its biggest-ever subscriber jump. The streaming platform announced it will increase subscription costs in the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Portugal after reporting 19 million new subscribers in the last quarter of 2024 — Netflix’s biggest jump ever. This puts the platform at 302 million subscribers globally, solidifying its hold on the top spot in the industry. The company attributed the better-than-expected numbers to the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match in November 2024 and the second series of South Korean drama Squid Game.
• Seoul Museum of Art to welcome two new venues this year. “This year might just be the busiest yet for our museum,” said Choi Eun-ju, SeMA’s general director, as the institution prepares for the grand opening of the Photography Seoul Museum of Art in May and the Seo-Seoul Museum of Art in the second half of 2025. The photography museum is set to become South Korea’s first public institution dedicated exclusively to the art and history of photography, with a collection of over 20,000 works and archival materials.
• Murdoch’s UK tabloids apologize to Prince Harry in privacy invasion lawsuit. The Duke of Sussex settled his lawsuit on Wedesday against media titan Rupert Murdoch’s UK tabloids after the News Group Newspapers offered a “full and unequivocal apology” for intruding in his life over decades and agreed to pay substantial damages. This marks the first time News Group has acknowledged wrongdoing at its tabloid The Sun, including “phone hacking, surveillance and misuse of private information by journalists and private investigators.”
• Berlin Film Festival unveils its 2025 lineup. A total of 19 films have been selected for the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, including Richard Linklater’s latest feature Blue Moon, Lucile Hadžihalilović’s French fantasy drama The Ice Tower and Kontinental ’25, a dark comedy by Romanian director Radu Jude, who won the Berlinale’s Golden Bear in 2021. The event will take place from Feb. 13 to 23 (just a couple of weeks before the 2025 Academy Awards) and will be helmed for the first time by the festival’s new director, Tricia Tuttle.
⛄ SMILE OF THE WEEK
A rare winter storm blanketed the American South with several inches of snow, including parts of Louisiana. In Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, a group of nuns and a priest at St. Catherine of Siena got in a fierce snowball fight, pelting each other with the historic snowfall.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇸🇾 Many parties in Syria have resorted to foreign fighters. Following the Assad regime's downfall, the country's new government has two options to tackle the issue of thousands of foreign fighters there: either abandoning them, or integrating them into Syrian society.
— DARAJ
🤝 Donald Trump's relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dates back to his first term as president. After his second inauguration, his first phone call was to the prince, who has pledged $600 billion in investments in the United States during Trump’s presidency.
— FRANCE INTER
🎖️ Both Russia and Ukraine are waiting to see what stance the new U.S. president and his administration will take on the war and aid to Kyiv. But regardless of Washington’s decisions, Ukraine’s main allies are those ensuring Moscow's military is corrupt and inefficient.
— HOLOD
🔍 “The gesture speaks for itself.” To the German author, watching Elon Musk stretching his right arm out at a Trump political rally could mean only one thing. The Neo-Nazis agree. But what is the billionaire's real game?
— DIE ZEIT
🎥 After the Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers and Haline Reijn’s Babygirl, sexual themes and scenes are making a comeback in the movies after years of veritable chastity.
— LES ECHOS
🛥️🖌️ BRIGHT IDEA
A team from City University of Hong Kong's CAT company, led by expert Michael Leung Kwok-ki, developed Nano-Photocatalytic Marine Antifouling/Anticorrosion Paint (Nano-MAP), an eco-friendly paint spray that can reduce a boat’s energy consumption by 30 to 40%. Unlike traditional paints that release toxic metals, Nano-MAP prevents rust and marine growth by releasing electrons. Priced at $15 for 450 milliliters, it is expected to save $615,000 in maintenance over two years. Launched in Hong Kong last month, 3,000 units have already been sold, and it's being tested for use in construction to keep building exteriors clean.
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⏩ LOOKING AHEAD
• The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for FBI nominee Kash Pate on Jan. 29, the same day as the vote on the nomination of Pam Bondi as attorney general. Trump has told reporters he intends to apply a new 25% tariff to Canada and Mexico from Feb. 1. The president's administration also announced it will launch immigration raids in Chicago starting next Tuesday, as part of "Operation Safeguard,” The New York Times has reported.
• Monday will mark 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland. A commemorative ceremony will be held at the historic gate of the camp and attended by several world leaders, including King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
• The FireAid benefit concert for Los Angeles wildfire relief will take place on Jan. 30 at the Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. The lineup includes Sting, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo and Stevie Wonder.
News quiz answers:
1. U.S. President Donald Trump described the war in Ukraine as “ridiculous,” as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end it immediately.
2. The city of Jenin, located in the occupied West Bank, became the target of a major Israeli raid, just days after the Gaza ceasefire took effect.
3. Thailand celebrated the legalization of same-sex marriage as hundreds of LGBTQ+ couples tied the knot in ceremonies across the country.
4. “Hot For You, Baby,” a Tina Turner song presumed lost, was rediscovered and played for the first time on BBC Radio 2.
✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch
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*Photo: Seoul Museum of Art/FB