OCTOBER 2021
Rupture:
Angela Merkel’s Exit and What It Means for Germany’s Future Photo by Wang Di
Ghosts of Menton
ISSUE NO 2
Beyond the colorful facades of Menton’s old town lies a morbidly fascinating history. Transport yourself back to the 19th century, when the cobblestone streets of Menton were filled with the sound of coughing — perhaps not an unfamiliar scene. However, the hacking and spluttering in the 1860s was not caused by a wave of integrationitis ripping through SciencesPistes. Instead, the cheerful Riviera town we now call home was a fashionable winter resort frequented by aristocrats — many of whom suffered from tuberculosis. If you have ever sworn that Mentonese air is special, you might be onto something. Doctors from the 19th century certainly thought so, most notably James Henry Bennet. We can thank this Briton for putting Menton on the map by recommending it to his tuberculosis-afflicted patients. continued on page 2 Saoirse Aherne
Thou Shall Not Be Indifferent: Nadine Labaki’s Wake-Up Call to the West Berlin. At 6 p.m. Central European Time, the German state television announced the first exit polls following the Federal Election. Jörg Schönenborn, the election night presenter, looked at his cards containing the results, looked up into the cam-
era, took a breath, and said: “I can promise you numbers like we have never seen them before.” After 16 years under Angela Merkel, this would be the first time that the election outcome was actually impossible to predict. As I wrote for Le Zadig last
semester: “The Greens have consistently polled at 20 percent or more, in striking distance of the CDU, while it has comfortably overtaken the SPD (…), possibly ending decades-long domination by the CDU and SPD.” While my prediction was not quite
accurate, now that the results are in, we are certain that the Merkel Photo courtesy of era has ended — and Creative Commons there is no turning For most of us, the French-Italian frontier in Menton is a concept, a back. sort of imaginary line of cheaper groceries and good pizza. continued on page 9 Lionel Chambon
continued on page 33 Krzysztof Kaluzny