Dear reader,
There are experiences that are so big and impactful that they become attached to the date on which they happened. In the best case scenario, they are beautiful events: the birth of a child, the first kiss, coming out. Year after year they mark this day with memories, perhaps a little fainter than before, but still there.
However, our calendars are peppered not only with pleasant experiences, but also with dark ones: an accident, a terrible diagnosis, the death of someone close to us. And sometimes a date is associated with pain not just individually, but collectively. Just like today. For three years now, October 7th has no longer been a simple golden autumn day. Because on this day in 2023, 1,200 people were murdered by terrorists in Israel. It was a Saturday.
Ari from Hamburg is also horrified by the massacre. He is the protagonist in Maxim Biller's new book Black Saturdays. ZEIT editor Volker Weidermann writes about it (Z+) that it is “a deeply sad and aggressive, sometimes unfair, actually always surprising and often funny novel.”
This means that Black Saturdays qualified for the special literary edition of ZEIT, which has been on newsstands since this week. Among other things, it recommends 100 books (Z+) that – as my colleagues write – “are particularly important this autumn, are exceptionally good, stirring, prize-worthy, touching or suitable for sharp discussion.”
October 7th is part of one of the most complex and serious conflicts of our time. I was touched by the commentary (Z+) by political editor Christian Vooren, who wrote about the trauma that children and young people have suffered and continue to suffer since the massacre in Israel and Gaza.
For me, such texts are also accompanied by a certain feeling of hopelessness. Nevertheless, I would like to hold on to a little everyday idealism: How can anything get better if we don't start with ourselves? We never know what the other person is going through. Treating people with benevolence certainly involves a risk, but more often also an opportunity for better cooperation. No matter who is in front of us and what day it is.
See you tomorrow,
Yours, Viola Diem
What is important today
Former BND President August Hanning (pictured) has been arrested on suspicion of espionage - as has his former office manager. The investigation was initiated by the block case. Accordingly, Hanning is suspected of, among other things, attempted treason and secret service agent activity.
The management of the high schools is appealing to the mayor to reverse planned savings. The Pisa study shows that the level of performance is also falling in high schools, writes the VLHGS association in an open letter. There is no basis for this type of school to save more than others (we reported, Z+). The Student Chamber also spoke up. In principle, she calls for “no savings in the education sector”.
The historian and retired teacher Gottfried Lorenz was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit yesterday. Lorenz's research contributed, among other things, to the fact that more than 300 stumbling blocks in Hamburg commemorate people who were persecuted for their homosexuality during National Socialism. He was also one of the driving forces behind the emerging thinking space for sexual and gender diversity. On Sunday, “For Capri and Roxi”, one of the two planned works of art, will be inaugurated on Enckeplatz.
The proportion of electric buses on Hamburg's streets is currently 36.9 percent. This is shown by a study by German Environmental Aid, which examined the municipal bus fleets in the 40 largest German cities. This puts Hamburg in sixth place. The Hochbahn wants to increase the share to up to 60 percent by 2031.
In 2025, around 31,000 people between the ages of 65 and 75 were employed in Hamburg. According to the Northern Statistics Office, this corresponds to around 19 percent of people of this age; In 2015 it was only around nine percent.
Message of the day
Every citizen of Hamburg should visit at least one Nazi memorial during their school career. Education Senator Ksenija Bekeris and Culture Senator Carsten Brosda (both SPD) announced this yesterday. All high schools and district schools must anchor the visit in their curricula and provide preparation and follow-up in lessons. Which year you plan this for is up to you.
“The memories at home at the kitchen table no longer exist,” said Senator Bekeris, explaining this. By this she meant the time lag from the crimes of National Socialism, but also the fact that many children and young people who went to school in Hamburg today were not descendants of the perpetrators back then. At the same time, the falsification of history in social media requires critical awareness. Can young people be compelled to remember? Senator Brosda said he was skeptical at first: "But the alternative of not trying is no better either."
Around 80 percent of all secondary schools in Hamburg have already visited historical places such as the Neuengamme concentration camp or the newly designed Israelite Girls' School (Z+). This usually takes place in years 9 to 12. There is already a similar obligation to visit in Bavaria and Saarland.
By Oskar Piegsa
From Hamburg
Cooking well and cheaply – how do you do that?
Frederik Pavlik worked in top restaurants around the world for a long time. He then applied to the canteen at the University of Fine Arts (HFBK) - and is now developing dishes for 4.50 euros. In an interview with ZEIT author Verena Carola Mayer, he explains why working here gives him so much more. Read an excerpt here.
DIE ZEIT: Mr. Pavlik, have you always been a canteen fan?
Frederik Pavlik: There is definitely a family history. My grandma ran the cafeteria at my high school. She inspired me to cook because I spent a lot of time in her kitchen. Otherwise, I didn't eat much in canteens. If so, the classic prejudices have always been confirmed: hardly any spices in the sauce. Muddy vegetables cooked too long. Everything is pretty simple and one-dimensional.
ZEIT: Nevertheless, you swapped top-class restaurants for commercial kitchens. How did this come about?
Pavlik: One night when I was scrolling through Instagram, I happened to see a post from the HFBK: a photo of the canteen and the question “Do you want to run this canteen?” I immediately wrote an email saying I was interested.
ZEIT: You have to explain that. You have previously been to top restaurants around the world. What attracted you to the canteen?
Pavlik: I wanted to do something meaningful: What we put on the plate here also has something of fine art to me: it can inspire people, create well-being and thus help them get through the day better.
ZEIT: A menu in a top kitchen can't do that?
Pavlik: They were beautiful products, all very high quality. But it was kind of stuffy. Everything so accurate. For example, you take a potato and just cut out small bolts, which are then sliced into tiny potato chips and placed on the fish fillet like scales. Who needs that? In 2014 I traveled through Laos. I lived with families in remote villages who showed me how they live and cook with nature. That's when I asked myself for the first time: What do I actually strive for in my job? After that high-end cuisine? No. I wanted to go back to the origins of taste. Cooking to put something good on the plate, not to impress people.
Read more about how Pavlik applies fine dining principles to canteen food in the unabridged version. → To the interview (Z+)
Already read?
The ghost ship
A tanker from the Russian shadow fleet is stranded off Rügen with 100,000 tons of oil on board. Germany wants the valuable cargo. But it's about much more than money. Christoph Heinemann and Jakob Milzner wrote up the case. → To the article (Z+)
This is something you can look forward to
In the discussion series “We have to talk,” Sascha Chaimowicz, editor-in-chief of ZEITmagazin, meets Doris Dörrie, one of the most famous German film directors, to talk to her about our life together. The conversation then continues in the foyers. There is also the guests' favorite soup for the audience and team.
We are giving away two tickets five times for next Sunday, October 11th, at 11 a.m. in the Thalia Theater. You can take part in the raffle using this form. Deadline for participation is Friday. We will notify the winners. Good luck!
My city
Hamburger snacks
Recently at the bakery in Eimsbüttel. Two men in their 30s are talking in front of me in the queue. One of them says overjoyed: »Last Monday I got a parking space right in front of our front door. Since then I've only done car sharing. Otherwise the beautiful parking lot will be gone.«
Heard from Hartmut Lankau
