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CHRISTEL KUCHARZ
ABC News Producer
Christel Kucharz is a producer for ABC News. She joined in 1972 and has traveled extensively over the years covering international and domestic news. Following the terror attacks of September 11, 2007 she reported from Bahrain, Persian Gulf, Germany, Uzbekistan and Great Britain Christel Kucharz also traveled extensively with the White House Press covering Presidential trips to Uganda, South Africa, India, Vietnam, Brunei, Russia and across Europe.
Austrian Incest Dad Fit to Stand Trial
October 15, 2008 11:35 AM
By CHRISTEL KUCHARZ, ABC News Germany
Austrian prosecutors received a 130-page psychiatric evaluation today that shows Josef Fritzl, the man who is accused of imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth for 24 years, is clinically sane.
“He suffers from a profound personality disorder but he’s not insane, and he will not be able to blame his actions on a moment of madness,” said Dr. Gerhard Sedlacek, the prosecution spokesman, in St. Poelten, Austria. Sedlacek is handling the case.
During a telephone interview with ABC News, Sedlacek confirmed that the court-ordered psychiatric evaluation had been conducted and that the man, who has reportedly admitted to holding his daughter captive in a dungeon below the family home, is lucid enough to stand trial.
A previously taken DNA test proved the man was the father of Elisabeth’s seven children during that time. Six children survived the ordeal. A baby boy died in the dungeon only days after he was born and Fritzl confessed that he burned the dead baby in the furnace of his house in Amstetten, Austria.
According to Austrian newspaper Der Standard, Dr. Adelheid Kastner, a well-known psychiatrist at the Wagner-Jauregg mental asylum in Linz, Austria, conducted six sessions with Fritzl during which he reportedly was very cooperative.
The psychiatrist did not disclose any details of her findings to the newspaper, but she is quoted as saying that Fritzl is not insane and that his claims to have “suffered a 24-year-long state of intoxication” are “simply impossible.”
Sedlacek explained that Fritzl’s legal team has, of course, the right to challenge the psychiatric report but, “We don’t know about that yet. It remains to be seen how the defense reacts to that evaluation.”
Dr. Rudolf Mayer, the defense lawyer, when asked by ABC News, said he had no comment on the psychiatric evaluation of his client.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sedlacek confirms that the prosecution needs another three to four weeks to finalize the charges against Fritzl. “We hope to be able to hand the complete charges against him to the judge in the first week of November. The defense team will then have two weeks to object to the charges. Any objections will need to be ruled by Austria’s highest district court,” he said.
“I think it’s getting tight to have a trial before the end of the year but chances are that we will have a trial very early on next year,” said Sedlacek. “One thing is for sure, the man will be put in a psychiatric institution, which could be the one in the prison, in addition to any sentence he’ll receive and he will face the full force of law.”
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October 15, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (39) | TrackBack (0)
German Leaders Blame U.S. for Financial Crisis
September 25, 2008 7:58 AM
By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Germany
The global financial crisis has been dominating the newscasts and headlines in Germany all week with German politicians reassuring the public that damage to the European system was likely limited.
Today, echoing what Chancellor Angela Merkel has said earlier this week, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück used stark language to blame the United States for the financial crisis.
“The United States, and let me emphasize, the United States is solely to be blamed for the financial crisis. They are the cause for the crisis and it is not Europe and it is not the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Speaking at the parliament in Berlin today, Steinbrück said it was “the Anglo-Saxon drive for double-digit profits and massive bonuses for bankers and company executives that were responsible for the financial crisis.”
"Investment bankers and politicians in New York, Washington and London were not willing to give these up," he said.
“The U.S. is going to lose its superpower status in the world’s financial system. The current financial crisis will leave ‘deep marks’ and Wall Street will never be the same,” according to Steinbrück.
The finance minister also called for closer cooperation and tighter rules. “The U.S. must now work with its international partners and agree to stronger international rules to solve the crisis.”
Steinbrück proposed eight measures to address the crisis, including a ban on speculative short-selling and an increase in bank capital requirements to offset credit risks.
The finance minister also predicted, "The world will never be as it was before the crisis; the financial system will become more multipolar. Wall Street will never be what it was."
Earlier this week, Merkel indirectly attacked President Bush by suggesting that America’s obstinacy had dragged Europe into the money crisis.
According to Merkel, the Bush administration’s mishandling of Wall Street and the U.S. refusal to adopt stricter rules have led to the current crisis.
“We dutifully adopted a nice European Union law into our national law, and we had to deal with numerous complaints from small and medium-sized companies for doing that. When the day came, the Americans said, ‘We won’t,’” Merkel said in a speech Monday.
Merkel complained that taxpayers in countries far beyond the United State would be forced to foot the bill.
“The current crisis shows us you can do some things on the national level, but the overwhelming majority must be agreed to on the international level. We must push for clearer regulations so that a crisis like the current one cannot be repeated.”
Photo Credit: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
September 25, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (31) | TrackBack (0)
How a German Bank Lost $425M by Mistake
September 18, 2008 1:04 PM
By CHRISTEL KUCHARZ, ABC News Producer, Germany
While the German stock market is still a bit nervous and investors here are anxious about keeping their heads above water, there are some German financial institutions that see the current Wall Street crisis as a chance to enter lucrative U.S. markets.
Others, however, like the state-owned development bank KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau), are coming under scrutiny.
Today’s edition of the tabloid Bild Zeitung calls KfW “the dumbest bank in Germany” for losing “300 million euros [about $425 million] in an erroneous swap.”
Why?
Germans were shocked by news that the KfW Bank made an ill-timed $425 million transfer to Lehman Brothers on the very day the latter filed for bankruptcy protection.
“It’s a scandal, it’s shocking”, Bild Zeitung told its readers. “How could that possibly happen?”
The KfW bank declined to comment in detail on the transfer, citing an ongoing internal audit, but it did release a statement saying the transfer was made in a swap deal of a kind that is generally based on long-term contractual obligations.
The transfer exposed the government-owned KfW to $425 million in losses, triggering criticism from the Finance Ministry.
Ministry spokesman Torsten Albig told reporters in Berlin the news “was more than surprising and annoying and the government expects a very quick explanation how that could happen. For us, it is inexplicable.”
KfW’s administrative board is meeting today and the "erroneous transfer" is high on the agenda.
September 18, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Paw Express for Berlin's Pampered Pooches
September 02, 2008 10:50 AM
By CHRISTEL KUCHARZ, ABC News Producer, Germany
Paw Express – an exclusive shuttle bus for pets was introduced in Berlin Monday.
A specially designed bus with 40 separate cabins offering soothing classical music and comfortable rugs will take pets to their day care center, which is located on the outskirts of Berlin.
In what is believed to be the first bus service for dogs and cats in Germany, the Pfötchen Hotel -- or paw hotel -- in Berlin now offers this rather exclusive service.
“All you have to do is to take your pet to the bus stop in the morning and pick it up at night,” explains Ute Seemann, manager at the paw hotel. “ We’ll do the rest to make sure your pet is well taken care of.”
“The cabins are spacious enough for even the biggest dogs. Each cabin has a window for fresh air, but there’s also air conditioning and heating, and there’s an audio system to play soothing classical music during the ride to the day care center."
“The first, and only, passenger on Monday was fox terrier Amy, who enjoyed the ride so much, she was wagging her tail like mad. But today we already had two new customers,” Seemann told ABC News.
She described the reaction of Berlin’s pet owners as quite encouraging all the more as the price tag of $20 a day is not scaring off new customers.
“We’ve had many calls since we launched our new service, and we’ve even had a few bookings already. In fact, one dog owner, who lives in downtown Berlin has booked our new service for one year.”
The Paw Express owners expect business to boom in the coming months.
“Berlin is a place where many people with pets have full-time jobs, so we expect that we’ll be fully booked over the next six to eight weeks. Right now, we have four bus stops, which are easy to get to, located all over the city, but we could expand that, too, depending on the requests we’re getting.”
September 2, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Why Are So Many Germans Crazy About Obama?
August 26, 2008 2:01 PM
By CHRISTEL KUCHARZ, ABC News Germany
German-American relations hit a major bump in the road – to put it diplomatically – after the Iraq war.
And there seems no quick fix to resolve that issue despite German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s many efforts to heal the rift by building a good personal relationship with President George Bush.
For the most part, many Germans are simply disappointed and disillusioned by the present U.S. administration and, more than anything, they’re hoping for change.
That’s where Barack Obama comes in.
A couple of weeks ago, a German newspaper ran a poll in which 74 percent of Germans said they would vote for Barack Obama, if they could cast a ballot in the U.S. elections, while only 11 percent said they would vote for his Republican rival, John McCain.
The presumptive democratic presidential candidate is seen by many observers as a passionate politician, who may lack experience in foreign policies, but who would be able to change things – especially when it comes to German-American relations.
Click here to see more on international coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
August 26, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
Gorilla Distraught Over Her Dead Baby
August 19, 2008 12:42 PM
By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Producer, Germany
11-year-old gorilla mother Gana has been distraught and grieving over the sudden death of her baby Claudio.
The 3-month-old gorilla baby died suddenly in his mothers arms last Saturday at the gorilla compound of the zoo in Muenster, Germany.
Visitors of the zoo witnessed a picture of pure grief as the mother gorilla stared at the corpse in shock and bewilderment over the sudden death, as if she could not believe what happened.
“She was holding her baby in her arms when it died,” zoo director Joerg Adler told reporters, “at first she was just holding her baby and then she started stroking the body to try and bring it back to life unable to accept that her baby is dead.”
“She gently placed him on her back and walked slowly around the compound, stopping every few paces to look if he had returned to life. It is heartbreaking,” he said.
“Some of the zoo visitors were so moved, they could not stop crying.”
Zoo veterinarian Dirk Wewers explained, “What we see here is a mother’s farewell to her dead child. This kind of behaviour is totally normal for all monkeys, not just gorillas. These animals have a very close attachment to their babies and they need time to cope with death. In the wild, it can sometimes take a week or two before the mother finally will let go.”
“This is perhaps one of the gifts a zoo can offer – to show that animals are very much like us when it comes to feel[ing] elation and pain. Gana’s loss is teaching our visitors so much.”
Officials say that Claudio’s body will be examined to establish what caused his death, but so far mother Gana is not letting anyone close to him.
She’s still carrying the lifeless body around, holding it tight to her and slowly walking around in her compound.
And though she appears a bit calmer today, zookeepers are still unable to get to the body of the gorilla baby, so fiercely is his mother guarding him.
August 19, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (38) | TrackBack (0)
Austrian Incest Victim and Her Kids Thank Police
August 14, 2008 12:32 PM
By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Austria
Austrian incest victim Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, and her six children paid a special visit to the police officers who took care of them after their escape in April from the dungeon at the Fritzl’s family home.
The Austrian newspaper Oesterreich reported that earlier this week, Elisabeth Fritzl took all of her six kids out as a family, for the first time, to pay a visit to the police station in Ulmerfeld-Hausmening to thank the police officers there for their help.
“She had baked a delicious cake, and the kids all wrote nice little thank-you letters,” Police Cmdr. Karl Gschoepf told reporters.
“We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your sympathy, for feeling with us and caring for us and for protecting us. You have given us strength, and you made us feel safe in our most difficult times!” the letters from the kids read.
Gschoepf was reportedly extremely impressed by Fritzl's personality. “She comes across as a very strong and stable woman, whose kids are her everything. She takes very good care of them.”
The police commander said he remembered escorting Fritzl and her kids during their first days of freedom.
“Whether it was a cat or a bird -- the kids, who were imprisoned with their mother, got to see those for the very first time in their lives. They had seen animals on TV before, but they had never been outside their dungeon, where they were forced to live. Everything that we are so used to day in day out was extremely new and exciting to them.”
Asked about the family’s visit, Gschoepf told reporters, “Elisabeth said she was so happy to be with normal people again. It was great. There was lots of laughing and joking. It is quite remarkable.”
The Fritzl case made headlines in April, when Josef Fritzl, 73, confessed he had built a dungeon in the basement of the family home in Amstetten, Austria, where he'd held daughter Elisabeth locked up for 24 years, during which he fathered her seven children.
Three of those children were forced to live with their mother in the windowless dungeon, and they had never been outside until their release. Three other children were allowed to live upstairs as "foundlings" with Josef Fritzl and his wife, Rosemarie. One child died only days after it was born in the dungeon. Fritzl confessed to burning the body in the furnace.
Josef Fritzl, who was arrested April 27, 2008, awaits trial, but a court date has not yet been set.
August 14, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Garage in the Sky
August 14, 2008 10:56 AM
By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Producer, Germany
German carmakers have been enjoying a great year so far as sales in the auto sector rose.
Daimler said its flagship, Mercedes Benz, saw an increase of 17.7 percent over last year, and luxury sports car maker Porsche has reported an impressive 44 percent increase in first-half earnings this year.
The Germans' love for their cars remains unaffected by high gas prices.
Germany is one of the last countries in the world that does not have a nationwide speed limit.
So while cruising on the German autobahn can still be fun, finding a place to stash your vehicle reasonably close to home can be a big problem.
A team of Berlin-based architects now has come up with an answer: the ultimate drive-in apartment.
Construction work is under way for a luxury apartment building where residents will be able to take their cars home with them – right up to the sixth floor – courtesy of a heavy-load freight elevator.
“It’s all about convenience and creature comfort, but security also plays a role,” says Johannes Kauka, the managing director of real estate company Topos, which is completing the apartment building in Berlin's fashionable but gritty Kreuzberg area.
Mr. Kauka explained, “You drive into the lift with your car, with your children, with your luggage and you drive right up to your apartment. You don’t even need to push a button; you just use a wireless transmitter to call the lift and two minutes later you’re in your partment. A glass wall between your living room and your garage is optional, so if you fancy it, you can watch your car from your living room sofa.”
Parking your car right next to your living room does not come cheap: prices range from $720,000 for a 224-square-meter apartment to $2.4 million for the sixth-floor penthouse.
Six of the eleven flats have already been sold, and the concept has also found a lot of interest worldwide.
“Our concept is designed to overcome not only space problems which exist everywhere, but also difficult underground situation such as rock or high water, where underground parking is impossible, and last not least, it does offer a high security level, as the driver only leaves the car once he’s inside his apartment.”
“We’ve had mainly positive reactions but as always, there are also critics,” Mr. Kauka said, “Some local residents here are worried that property prices will go up if rich people come to live here.”
August 14, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Meet German Football's Biggest Fan
June 27, 2008 11:12 AM
By Christel Kucharz, ABC News Producer
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant German soccer fans took to the streets Wednesday night to celebrate Germany's thrilling 3-2 Euro 2008 semi-final win over Turkey.
The dramatic match, watched on TV by several million viewers worldwide, was dominated by the Turkish team, which played with a fearlessness of spirit and a precision in their passes that Germany rarely matched.
Indeed, many German fans were truly worried about their team's performance, seeing it outplayed for long periods during the game.
Among the fans was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who attended the match in the St. Jakob Park stadium in Basle, Switzerland.
She told reporters after the match, "I really must say I often had to catch my breath. The Turkish team played a really good match. But, of course, I'm happy to see the German team winning. "
Merkel has admitted to being one of the German team's biggest fans.
She has missed only one match of the Euro 2008 tournament, because she got stuck at a European Union summit in Brussels last week, but her aides kept her on top of the game by sending her text messages.
She first revealed she was a real soccer buff during the World Cup in Germany two years ago.
Ever since, German television often shows cutaways of her jumping up and down, applauding whenever Germany has scored.
Her aides say she regularly sends players text messages, and she's been invited to their changing room for pep talks.
Merkel reportedly chided German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger for getting suspended from the Austria game last week.
For more see Christel's original story
June 27, 2008 in Christel Kucharz | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
