EASTERN EUROPE ECONOMY: A Red Hot Germany Leads The Region Into Growth.

BLOOMBERG/  PETER LACA /       Led by robust German exports which feasted on a cheaper euro, Eastern Europe in Q2 strengthened from a year earlier because of demand for cars and electronic goods in western Europe. Germany, the region’s largest trading partner, grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace since reunification 20 years ago. At  2.2 %, Germany was responsible for almost two thirds of Western Europe's Q2 expansion even though it only makes up about one quarter of the economy. Of country's reporting so far, Slovakia had the steepest growth in the region at 4.6% while the Czech Republic posted a more modest 2.2% GDP spurt. Romania slowed to an anemic 0.5%; Bulgaria's GDP actually shrank 1.5% after a 3.6% decline in the first quarter while Estonia grew at an impressive 3.5% pace.

FOR OPPOSING OPINION On German Boom, SEE: Benjamin Dierks AT:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/13/germany-economy-old-fashioned-boom

Saluting Nazi Gnomes Cause Uproar In Germany.

GUARDIAN.UK/ With Images/
1,250 small gnomes that appeared in a Bavarian town square have caused an outcry because their arms are raised in a Nazi salute.
Artist Ottmar Hörl placed the gnomes in the town of Straubing, close to Munich, in an installation called "Dance With the Devil."

Socialism's Slow Death In Europe.

NYTIMES/
"Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance,” greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right’s failures.
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless."

3 Hitler Paintings Sell For $60,000.

REUTERS VIA KYIVPOST.COM.
Three watercolors attributed to Adolf Hitler were auctioned off for a total of 42,000 euros($60,000)in Nuremberg. The paintings were sold to three different phone bidders. The exact number of Hitler paintings is unknown but experts believe there are about 720, including sketches.

Pole's Still Harbor Resentments Against Germans.

Long Article.AP.
Erica Steinbach, 67, is a symbol of Polish fears that future generations of Germans will grow up with a distorted vision of the war and its aftermath and is often portrayed as a Nazi in SS uniform.

"Her offense is that she claims to speak for the millions of ethnic Germans who were expelled from their homes in Poland and elsewhere in eastern Europe after World War II. These accusers say she is revising history and drawing a moral parallel between the cruelties the Germans inflicted and the sufferings they later endured."

Poles And Germans To Honor WW2 Dead.

AP.

At a ceremony Friday, representatives of Poland and Germany will rebury bones of 2,000 Germans discovered last fall in a mass grave at Malbork Castle, a medieval castle in Northern Poland.

Berlin Arsonists Declare War On Luxury Cars.

From The Guardian.co.uk

In just seven months, more than 185 posh cars have been torched in Berlin.

Children of 1989; Legacies of Post-Communist Eastern Europe.

From the Guardian.co.uk

Profiles of six children born in Eastern Europe after the demise of communism.