The final White Rose leaflet was smuggled out of Germany and intercepted by Allied forces, with the result that, in the autumn of 1943, millions of copies were dropped over Germany by Allied aircraft.

BBC: White Rose: The Germans who tried to topple Hitler

Germany's Social Democrats, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, face a general election in the autumn.

BBC: Deutsche Telekom boss quits

From 1992 to 1995, when Mr Milosevic brought war to Bosnia, America took in only about 19, 000 refugees from Bosnia, plus 12, 000 in 1996, after the American-sponsored Dayton accords. (By the autumn of 1996, by contrast, there were 320, 000 Bosnian refugees in Germany.) The treatment of Haitian refugees, intercepted at sea and then shunted off to Guantanamo, showed the new American anxiety, reinforced in that case by the fact that the refugees were both poor and black.

ECONOMIST: Immigration policy

In spite of this knowledge, the Eschborn office, in isolated instances, granted licenses for some of the part ordered from Germany by Iraq, even after Autumn 1989.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | Hoist on His Own Petard: German Foreign Ministry Reveals Genscher��s Perfidiousness

Germany cannot give Mr Obama what he wants: public opinion will not allow it and an election looms in the autumn of 2009.

ECONOMIST: What the Europeans hope for after the American election