things were bad all around even for the germans, it seems, and the germans at that time didn't expect to be in russia still trying to take moscow and leningrad. they thought they would have won the war by winter. their troops had no winter clothes. it was necessary for propaganda minister goebbels and hitler to get on german radio and plead with the people to send winter clothes, anything you can spare, he said, send winter clothes to the troops. he made it in terms of christmas presents. he had never used christmas before. the germans were forbidden to send christmas cards, they were forbidden to have christmas trees because christmas was forbidden. it was just not part of the nazi religion. and suddenly christmas appeared because he had to send clothes to the troops. and he had a new year's day message for the troops on new year's day later on, he said with good's help we -- with god's help we will win the war in 1942. he had never used the word "god" before, so you knew things were getting bad for the germans, too, but it took a long time before the germans could be defeated. and t

back to our top story -- the resignation of the german president, christian wulff. then he announced he's leaving office today after months of scandal surrounding personal favors he received. >> until the scandal broke, and enjoyed strong popularity among the public. we asked people what they think about his decision to leave office. >> he made the right decision. i'm very happy. in fact, i'm going to drink a beer right now. >> maybe he should have done so sooner. to keep the charges being raised by prosecutors under the rug. >> as head of state, you have a moral duty to your countrymen. i think it is good he has taken this step. if he had not, it would have hurt germany's image. he was not a role model anymore. he could not stay in office. >> i feel sorry for him that it went so far, but it is probably better for germany. >> i do not think it is good for us to start changing presidents every few years. >> it was a moral issue, his behavior. if one of us did what he did, accepting a free gift, we would be fired. >> i did not like that there seemed to be a smear camp

not only german financial shares have been on to the recommended list, but also shares of german exporterse m.a.n. >> we stay in frankfurt for a closer look at the numbers. the blue-chp dax closed higher by nearly 1.5%. a new nine-month high. euro stoxx 50 climbing by 1.2%. u.s. markets are closed this monday for the presidents' day holiday. currency markets are open. the euro is trading higher, $1.30 two cents47. german political leaders are hailing a cross party agreement to appoint a 72-year-old pastor and human rights advocate as the country's next president. >> it is jaochim gauck, and he will be replacing christian wulff who resigned on friday. gauck will be the first former east german to occupied the many -- mainly ceremonial post. his nomination did generate some tensions in the government coalition. >> jaochim gauck, former east german civil rights activist and the next german president, has the support of nearly all parties. but chancellor merkel's conservatives are angry with their coalition partner, the ftp, who insisted on gauck, despite cdu opposition. >> the fdp believe it

germans. so you have a 25% gap between southern europe and german labor costs, that can only be closed by nominal deflation. this is a long, painful process that will precipitate a five to seven-year recession in the southern european countries and there you're talking about close to 40% of europe's gdp. the only other alternative is a long-term transfer from europe's productive north to the south. the reyuan fiction of germany poses the same problem of differing productivity. what the germans decided was they proposed a solidarity tax imposed on west germany to bring east germany up to west german standardses it and it was envisioned as a temporary transition mechanism. it's been in place for 20 years and there's no concept of withdrawing it even at this stage. what you'll see is a transfer from northern europe through taxes and payments and aid, directly and indirectly through higher inflation, in order to bring -- reduce southern europe's debt. one point that you raised in both mr. chairman

they prefer the more modern variety, including german games.cindy and her friends meet twice a week in a cafe just to play. >> the german games are so well made. the boards are nicely illustrated and the figures nicely crafted, like this little turgor -- turtle year, and there is so much choice. the manager recommended this game, total racing. it is easy and suitable for three to five players -- turtle racing. that is how we have fun without pressure. it helps us relax. >> you cannot just by german board games in beijing shops. the owners of the cafes and import there's from hong kong where it costs about 1/3 more. they can take their pick from a wide range of games. it is a winning concept, and similar cafes are springing up all over the capital. german board games are the most professional ones that i have ever seen. young chinese people love thinking things through, so strategic games are very popular. i am in the process of opening a second cafe. it is totally worth it. i will sell western snacks and coffee there, too. >> but there is one p

under the german view, each member is responsible form its own fiscal well being and growth. if markets see credible action the crisis will end. southern believe it's caused by germany's success. if germany hand done so well they'd be in good shape. that's an interesting way of accountability but that's their view. they think union solidarity requires massive transfers from the strong members to the weak and they need a euro bond to lower their financing costs and reduce adjustment paying. what's interesting is the role france played in there. france, instead of steining with the other aaa countries has decided to be the head of the south. they see this as a way of gaining political leadership of europe while leaving the cost of bailouts with germany. as one of the germans told me, the french are very bad at economics but very good at diplomacy. the great danger is that you know have a conflict within europe. germany wants immediate fiscal correction by the individual governments. the rest of europe and the obama administration, want the european central bank so simply print

most germans according to our poll last week and while greece. greece play of the arrow or germany i believe the. us where you know if there were no opinion poll back in just before the industrial revolution and we were asked whether they want the industrial revolution. most of them would have said no that installed the dust of the regime similarly even if all the germans and all the greeks want to get out of the euro and. let me inform you that most greeks would like to get out of the euro now we've had enough of being treated like the brightness of the euro zone. is immaterial this is a currency which is never have entered into neither us nor the germans for that matter but tragically it is a guarantee that once you enter you cannot escape. if we get out of it we're not going to return to where we would have been had we not constructed it and instead the way that this currency has blocked our economies together has created this because kate of insolvencies we did banks and states if greece pulls out let's it was thrown out of the whole edifice

two of my every german actors. but it is just too much.ically, it is just long and long shots, a beautifully shot landscape pictures. but i can rent a tourist video for that. i would be surprised that this film wins anything, except maybe some the for the actors. but no, no mercy for the fell. >> what i love about you is you really tell me what your thinking. we appreciate that. is there anything you saw today that he would say is more convincing? >> most definitely, yes. i saw a danish film that is in competition called "royal affair." this is a costume drama, which i usually take. but this is a different take on the genre. the actors do not act as if they are in a costume drama. they act like real people. it is dramatic, exciting, funny, and quite sexy. >> all right. we hate costume dramas as well, and we hate it when you get wet, go inside. thank you. >> i would swap with him. >> ok. but do not go away. we are right back. ♪ ♪ >> where do you prefer to use dw? let us know where you are taking us. perhaps your snapshot will win. please se

primarily who's footing the bill for these bailouts along with the nordic nations and shargel the german defense or finance minister is getting fed up after all it's his job to make sure that the german money is invested wisely and shovelled doesn't see greece with its capital city of athens on fire suicide rates skyrocketing and unemployment at twenty percent as a wise investment so before folks forking over the money szabo is making some outrageous demands of greece the main one being the greece should postpone their elections so a new government will come to power that may do it iceland has done in two citizen referendums say hello to the banks toure's including the german banks there's a think about that for a second here's one sovereign nation in europe germany trying to prevent another sovereign european nation greece from holding democratic elections. that's what this financial crisis has brought us to as expected shovels demands have been met with anger and animosity from greece the greek president called it an insult the greek finance minister suggested that a conspiracy was und

among them, german bonds. financial shares especially hard hit. that was already up in the air what would happen with greece in the next week, but then, the head of the ultraright party in greece spoke, saying that he was not ready to vote for a reform package, and that put further pressure on the daxnd also on the euro. people now think that a bailout package is very much in question, and there are consequences that that are just difficult to judge for the future. the dax, which looked as if it was headed for a positive for the eighth week in a row -- with these developments, in the end, looking for a minus for the week of about 1%. for the year, it is still comfortably gaining, though. >> just to rub it in, here are those sad-looking market numbers for you. not the best way to end a week. the german dax falling there, but still above the 6000 mark, well above. your stocks 50 down by almost -- more than 1.5%. over the wall street, the new york stock exchange, where trading is still under way, and the dow is down by 1%. the euro trading at $1.3173

the german chancellor is trying to raise support for the single currency. in a joint press conference, the chinese premier, wen jiabao, said the chinese were considering putting money into the rescue fund. china certainly has plenty of cash to spend. then let angela merkel was hoping for a firm commitment, it looks like she will be heading home disappointed, but china's leader did raise hopes by saying he will consider contributing money to the eurozone's rescue funds. "china will continue to support the euro and contribute to its stability. we have faith in europe's economy and in the euro. we believe the your will continue to be an important currency in the future -- we believe the euro will continue to be an important currency in the future." while merkel did not directly ask for support of china, she explained how reforms would help the spoke remind on beijing pose a tight clamp on internet freedom. >> we are of the opinion that beijing's reactions are very harsh. i will repeat time and again that a plurality of opinions can be very rewarding and even h

the germans, the germans, they are federal minded and the french, oh, the french. everything is in the center. they're centralists. that is exactly what europe should take us away from. in greece, they are people who did not always agree with governments. they have suffered under the governments. it was not always wonderful in germany. not everybody is happy either. it is true, we did our home work. but it gendz what you're looking at. if you look at the budgets, at our capital needs and many other things, our home work is not completely done. and when i look at the federally policy in france, they've had it for 25 years. they are far more advanced than we are. in germany we're still discussing how we're going it feed the kids at lunch when we're all at work. we have done a few things, it's true. it was not easy. the germans were not all that pleased with all the changes that we went through. we have to change a lot of things in germany. we changed a lot of things in eastern germany and presently for me coming from east germany, i have the experience that change wi

taxpayers have had enough and this is the problem the germany and the german political elites. and it kind. of the german elected and all these drama announcements is completely besides the point it seems like a case really a financial sadism in other words there are a number of ways to extricate greece from this problem one would be for example to prosecute the bank the banker so frauds that lay god grace into the air out to begin with but none of the obvious solutions are being pursued instead they're going down the path very slowly. beating greece to death in a very sadistic way is it the i.m.f. now christine legarde is it just a case of sadists. having fun with grace is worse than that might think it's a case of subtle masochism you always need to do with greece is to allow it to default to face the truth of the it's a bankruptcy. and then to find out what to do about the banks and who got it allows them if they want to do that but of course you know doing this because it could be delays ation legally speaking means that. the current owners of these banks will see their hol

the team is part of the german foreign office. we have a behind-the-scenes look now at how they operate. >> whether it is a ship wreck like the costa concordia off the italian coast or hostage situation, the government's crisis response center team gathers in the basement of the foreign ministry to coordinate efforts to help. but the experts and diplomats do during an emergency is kept strictly confidential. especially when it comes to kidnapping negotiations. >> protecting life and limb is our highest priority. for each case, a purpose-built crisis team is formed, which acts intensively, drawing on all the resources available in the german government and in the country in general to resolve the situation. >> the crisis response team is shown here at work in 2008 after three german mountain climbers were kidnapped in turkey. the team immediately make contact with the german embassy there. local ambassadors' play a decisive role in cases like these. >> they have firsthand information about what is going on in each area. they have t

taxpayer doesn't want to drain this or that it was so the only will blockading the german. members of parliament and the electorate will be present is basing them look watch those gigs suffer again if they suffer sufficiently then perhaps we should give them some money so the whole point of reducing the minimum wage from seven hundred to six hundred views and i mean there is no my group can only rational whatsoever it will this is the only point of blues used to demonstrate to the german members of parliament particular of the ruling coalition that look the greeks are bleeding so no let's give them more loans when of course those loans little bits of the gigs are meant for the banks ok so merkel to play to her constituents but it is going to continue to believe the greek people that they are physical visibly. suffering because this well. appears certain log all constituents that he's doing all he can to get through and committer act of horror find as a horror to these greek people now last week paul thompson head of the i.m.f. mission to greece conceded that social toleranc

never before have so many products left german ports.he country's export-driven economy is booming despite the economic crisis. last year, more than half of german exports went to the european union. goods worth 421 billion euros were exported to eurozone nations. exports to other countries rose strongly, up 13% from the year before. imports also showed record highs. germany imported more than 9 billion euros last year. however, toward the end of 2011, germany's exports lost steam as the european debt crisis began to lose by. the result was a dip in both imports and exports. many financial experts say that could mark the beginning of the end of germany's two-year export boom. >> our man at the frankfurt stock exchange is here with a rack above the day's trading action. >> it was a reassuring message coming from the exports. the export engine of germany still on the go, even if it was a little bit weaker in the month of december. it was a disappointment, but when you speak to the traders, it was not a real surprise there because they do s

there are also plans to close 30 german locations. the network equipment company is looking to cut costs by 1 billion euros over the next year as part of a restructuring effort. they have posted billions in losses since being founded in 2007. finally, deutsche welle is ushering in some changes. >> we're expanding our english, spanish, an arabic services. here is a preview of what is to come. >> the spanish department has a special challenge. as of next monday, deutsche welle will have a 24-hour a day spanish telecast in latin america. there's a lot of new talent in the spanish program, a new foreign bureau in buenos aires will provide on-site reporting. spanish channel will offer news on the hour. also, a new magazine show that will be produced both in berlin and latin america. more spanish content is just one feature of the new program. the goal -- customized content for all of you is wherever they may be watching deutsche welle. >> this is a rejuvenation of our presence. it makes our programming more regionally specific. i sincerely

shares in german carmaker diamond shot up today. it is announced been -- german carmaker daimler. >> record sales were announced it. >> some of the best results in the company's history. last year, it sold over 2 million vehicles, 11 percent more than in 2010. profits hit record levels. >> we definitely see mercedes growing more than this 4%, and with very heavy investments into the future for our portfolio expansion co2 reductions, we intend to maintain the record level profitability we accomplished this year -- profits we accomplished this year. >> more than half of revenues came from mercedes-benz cars, but it also expanded sales of trucks, vans, and buses. in addition, the company's financial-services division did business of more than 12 billion euros. dialer -- daimler says it can continue the positive trend. it plans to continue to sell cars in europe and asia, but overall growth is not expected to be quite so high. >> the results made a big splash on the frankfurt stock exchange, but not big enough to take the minds of trade

we have germans on the right, germans on the left. we have germans who like to visit museums, like this one, others who don't. it's the same in every country. and the big achievement in europe was that we had stopped saying that. when somebody showed their passport, ah, we knew exactly who he was. ah, it's a french person. and i'm completely against that. ah, the germans. the germans, they are federal-minded, and the french, ah, the french, everything is in the center, they have centralists. that is exactly what europe should take us away from. we had to overcome all this. and in greece, there are people who did not always agree with the governments. they have suffered under their governments. it was not always wonderful either. and in germany, not everybody is happy either. it is true. we did our homework. but it depends what you're looking at. if you look, for instance, at the budgets, at our capital needs and many other things, our homework is not completely done. and when i look at the family policy in france, they have had it for

the german finance minister raising concerns that this doesn't go far enough. is there a sen among gre officials that they have done all they can and that this is... this should be enough for the international community? >> well, the politicians are already spining this as an enormously difficult political birth and they have already begun to massage and to spin the message to their respective constituencies as a necessary evil. particularly the two right-wing contingents of the coalition, the people who were not responsible for putting greece on the path of european union i.m.f.-sponsored bailouts in the first place. that was done by the socialists who were elected to power in october of 2009 so the conservatives and the right wingers have a platform to at least argue that midway in medias res along this policy route they were forced to agree a necessary evil because to opt out of the bailout system would simply have been an even worse dn an almost catastrophic option for greece. >> brown: so you do have the otesters in the streets. >>. there's a strike called

the chinese rich by the you -- buy german cars. this shows how china affects german profits.hina is the customer that has kept the german economy ticking along while other european economies stumble. >> uc volumes increasing prior to the chinese new year -- you can see volumes increasing prior to the chinese new year. and with the factory is not running with the holiday, you can see volumes down all over the world. >> metal prices are going through the roof. germany, like every industrial country, that the needs what is called rare earth, those rare, essential elements that go into electronics. >> there is a high need for metal and china is the daughter of 20% of what is produced all over the world. -- is the owner of 20% of what is produced all over the world. >> it is an uneasy relationship. some german businesses think that all they are doing is tooling up chinese factories, all the better for chinese industry to come back and compete at very low cost in german markets. >> in china, there are signs of german companies everywhere. china wants more. >> the chancellor has arr

as the recession deepens, anti- german sentiment is rising. gas chambers and german soldiers are part of the popular cartoonist's work. greeks are hitting out at the camp -- country they feel is pushing the austerity plan. >> we have to resist them. we do not have bad feelings towards the german people, only towards the government and european banks. >> those feelings are stoking tensions. the german fighters burned outside parliament in a recent protest. the german flag was burned outside parliament in a recent protest. the relationship has never been easy. greece suffered greatly under german occupation in world war ii. the resistance fighters famously pulled down the german flag in 1941. seven decades on, he still draws a crowd. they need to discuss how germany never paid graceful reparations and how the injustice continues. >> the way germany is treating the greeks is intolerable. we're slaves. young students ask which flag should be torn down now. i say it is the flag of slavery. we supplied the flag of sovereignty and freedom. >> greece

even though it also threatens german prosperity. in this case, it is up to the chancellor to protect the nation's security by persuading europe that reforms are necessary. >> there are limits -- security policy is closely connected to financial policy, and we cannot be leaders in everything. >> that may be true now, but while germany is already a leader when it comes to pushing for economic reforms, its armed forces will also have to take on new responsibilities of the country is to continue to play a leading role on the world stage. >> we will have much more from the munich security conference over the weekend, so stay with us for that if you can. that is all for us for now, though. see you next time. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--