Andreas Wilkens – författare

Throughout the ages, people have experienced the life-giving and healing forces in water. Water is integral to life, and surrounds us in nature and in our own bodies. But not all water is the same. Water can carry good energies, and bad energies. How can we understand water enough to know the difference?Theodor Schwenk, the renowned author of Sensitive Chaos, founded an institute for water research in the Black Forest in Germany. He developed the Drop Picture Method, which displays the characteristics of water clearly for the non-specialist. Today, the Institute continues his work and here presents momentous findings about the quality of our drinking water, groundwater, spring water and river water.Stunningly illustrated in colour, this book offers a unique insight into the world of water.

She was young, a determined fighter against Nazism in Germany; she was an independent socialist, a tireless writer against hatred and war; and she was an extremely courageous woman. All this would be enough to secure Hilda Monte a prominent place in the history of resistance to barbarism in 20th century Europe. Furthermore, she designed a project for a federal Europe that remains unparalleled. Among the many proposals for the future European peace, this one stands out. She edited her project in October 1943 with the renowned London publisher Victor Gollancz.Her plea: for European countries to finally put an end to the "old game of sovereignty". Lasting peace and economic development required a genuine "European revolution": solidarity throughout Europe, common federal structures, based on a shared history and the common values of humanism. She was aware that this path would be a difficult one. Hilda Monte was born in Vienna in 1914, grew up in Berlin and wrote her first newspaper articles against the rise of Hitler when she was 17. In 1933 she witnessed the "seizure of power" in Berlin. Exile in Paris and London followed. But Hilda Monte wanted to do more than just write against Nazism, and so she undertook dangerous trips to Germany. On 17 April 1945, while returning from a mission "on the ground" for the Austrian resistance, which she considered an act of European solidarity, she was shot and killed on the border near Feldkirch. Her treatise "The Unity of Europe", newly published here, is the lasting legacy of an eminent European resistance fighter.

L’Europe des 28 peut-elle trouver une volonté commune, un sentiment d’appartenance à un projet commun de Reval à Lisbonne, de Dublin à Nicosie ? Le présent ouvrage évoque les rapports entre la construction européenne et les citoyens d’Europe. Sans doute, l’Europe, pour exister, a besoin de l’implication de ses citoyens. Des projets ont été conçus, parfois depuis plusieurs décennies, pour créer une Europe des sociétés civiles, émergeant des sphères sociales, économiques, culturelles. Ces projets restent souvent trop peu connus d’un public large, avec leurs expériences, leurs acquis et aussi leurs limites. L’idée de cet ouvrage consiste à rapprocher la « grande histoire » de la construction européenne des réalisations et expériences concrètes, afin de mieux cerner les rapports entre une Europe lointaine, « mal aimée » et une Europe « vécue ». De plus il réunit des universitaires et des acteurs du monde professionnel de plusieurs pays européens. Enfin ses contributions ne se contentent pas de décrire les « déficits » mais proposent également des solutions. L’ouvrage promet donc d’animer un nouveau débat en Europe.

Die ostpolitische Öffnung der Bundesrepublik durch die sozial-liberale Koalition seit 1969 wurde zu einer ernsten Bewährungsprobe für das deutsch-französische Verhältnis. Hinter der offiziellen Fassade uneingeschränkten Einverständnisses wollten in Frankreich die Zweifel an der Berechenbarkeit und Lauterkeit der deutschen Partner nicht verstummen. Andreas Wilkens zeichnet für die einzelnen Etappen der deutschen Ostpolitik die widersprüchlichen Reaktionen der französischen Regierung und Öffentlichkeit nach. Seine Studie gewinnt besonderen Reiz auch dadurch, dass der Autor systematisch des in der historischen Forschung oft vernachlässigten Instrumentariums mündlicher Informationsgewinnung durch die Befragung von über fünfzig wichtigen Beteiligten und Zeugen bedient.