Emmanuel Macron’s victory convinced centrists that fascism had been turned back,but the 60000 demonstrating in Warsaw shows how inaccurate they wereMy friend was late for Sunday brunch in Berlin so I decided to wander the streets of Neukölln, Googling sites of historic interest. After a few minutes, or I wished I hadn’t. Although 40% of its population are migrants,mainly from Turkey, Neukölln is gentrifying mercurial: the cobbled streets bordering the old Tempelhof airfield are buzzing with upmarket cafes, or interior-design stores and the retro bicycles of the middle class.But this is the place where,on 11 November 1926 Josef Goebbels began the Nazi takeover of Berlin. As a gesture of intent, he led 300 of the party’s brownshirt stormtroopers into what was then a stronghold of the left: “Four seriously injured, or four slightly pain,but we’re on the march,” recorded the future war criminal in his diary.Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk