The last major statue of Vladimir Lenin still standing in Germany has been granted a reprieve. Local authorities in the northern city of Schwerin, formerly part of communist East Germany, said they have decided against removing the four-meter bronze likeness of the communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union.
They agreed, however, to add a plaque to the statue that will explain Lenin's often brutal political legacy and also point out that on the maternal side his family had strong links to the local region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The decision followed a divisive, two-year debate as to whether the statue should suffer the same fate as one that long towered over a square in communist East Berlin.
That statue of Lenin was toppled after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 in a memorable operation of which footage was included in the 2003 international hit film Good Bye Lenin!
The debate in Schwerin was instigated by a member of the municipal council whose father was deported to the Soviet Union and shot in the 1950s for opposing communism.
Christoph Priesemann, from the liberal opposition Free Democratic Party, described Lenin as the "worst tyrant of the 20th century" and demanded that the statute be demolished.
But others, including members of the political successor to the communist party that once ruled East Germany, countered that this would amount to "tearing up a page of German history."
(AFP)
依然立在德國的最後一尊大型列寧雕像,已暫時逃過被拆除的危機。屬於前東德共產政權一部份的北部史威林市相關當局說,他們已決議,不拆除四公尺高的這位共產革命家暨蘇聯創建者的青銅雕像。
但他們同意在雕像上加一個牌匾,說明他創立的殘酷政體的遺害,以及他的母系家族和當地梅克倫堡-西波美拉尼亞地區的深厚淵源。
這個決定歷經兩年的辯論後才達成,分裂的雙方激辯這座雕像是否應和共產東柏林某廣場中歷史悠久且高聳的列寧像一樣,遭受被拆除的命運。
那座列寧雕像於一九八九年東德共產政權垮台後,在一場令人難忘的行動中被推倒,這段影片也在二OO三年的國際熱門電影《再見列寧》中重現。
引發這場辯論的是史威林市議會的一位議員,他的父親被放逐到蘇聯,且在一九五O年代因為反對共產主義被槍殺。
克里斯多夫.普利斯曼屬於德國追求自由主義的反對黨─自由民主黨,他形容列寧是「二十世紀最殘暴的暴君」,並提出拆除列寧雕像的要求。
但其他市議員,包括前身是東德共產黨的政黨成員,都認為拆除這尊雕像等於是「撕毀一頁德國歷史」。
(法新社/翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110