18 February 2011
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg: Baron without a title
By Stephen Evans BBC News, Berlin
Names and titles matter in Germany. For the moment, Defence Minister Dr zu Guttenberg will be plain Mr or Minister - or maybe Baron - and that will be painful.
He told a swarm of reporters enquiring about the plagiarism allegations swirling around him: "I will temporarily - I repeat temporarily - give up my doctoral title."
He will do so, he said, while the university that gave him the doctorate completes its investigation into whether it really was all his own work.
It follows the publication of pages from his thesis alongside pages from other articles by other authors. His writings mirror word for word the writings of the earlier articles.
The allegations have great ***** because Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is a ***** of a politician: rich, good-looking with a beautiful wife, the very model of a German aristocrat.
His full name reveals his aristocratic background: Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jakob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. The "von und zu" reveals his lineage, while Freiherr means "baron".
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He is something like the 'Golden Boy' of the conservative parties (He is a member of the CSU, the bavarian leg of the CDU). Both he and his wife get pushed massively by the Bertelsmann Media Group and the Springer publishing house, who print the infamous 'BILD' daily press.
Had a number of little fuck-ups, but always had a general, a captain or someone else to get the blame, get the boot and Guttenberg kept looking good.
So, what will he do now?
It is pretty obvious he was being built up as our new chancellor (Or would he try for Kaiser? His wife is a von Bismarck, mark my word).
Or is he too big to fail?
And all of this in the year of 2011, where 9 regular federal state votes plus two irregular are about to bring some massive earthquakes to Germany, if all goes well (or bad, regarding your personal stance)
