The first available app, Waypoint2Maps, converts waypoints from GPX files into direct links for Google Maps and Apple Maps. Instead of manually copying coordinates or switching back and forth between different apps, users get a clear list of clickable links.

The idea originally came from my father. He had repeatedly asked me to generate such links for him so that he could use waypoints more easily for navigation on his motorhome trips. This recurring small task eventually led to the creation of mapifygpx.de.

Technically, mapifygpx.de is based on a deliberately lean setup: I develop the actual apps in R/Shiny and host them via shinyapps.io. The accompanying website is built with Jekyll and the Minimal Mistakes theme and is provided via GitHub. What is particularly interesting to me is that I continuously develop the apps further based on user feedback and add practical details.

Our Campervan

Our campervan is a Dethleffs Globetrail Classic 600 DK based on the Fiat Ducato 9, featuring a pop-up roof, chassis and electrical packages, an awning, an ESX navigation radio, and a backup camera. It originally came from the former rental fleet of the now-bankrupt Mönchengladbach-based RV rental company Roadfans. At the time of purchase, it was just under a year old and had about 13,000 kilometers on the odometer.

Purchase Price & Upgrades

The purchase price was €51,211. According to the Dethleffs Price List for Camper Vans & Urban Campers 2024, the list price for the 2024 model year in this configuration is €70,742, which is made up of the following items:

• Base price: €56,999
• Pop-up roof: €5,999
• Insulated and heated wastewater tank: €1,299
• Chassis package: €2,199 (special price)
• Electrical package: €249 (special price)
• Backup camera: €399
• Navigation radio: €2,299
• Awning: €1,299

With upgrades such as the Thule VeloSwing trailer hitch, SYSRACK heavy-duty slide-out, a refillable propane tank, a 320-Ah LiFePO4 auxiliary battery, better speakers, sound insulation on the driver’s and passenger’s doors, anti-theft protection on the driver’s and rear doors, and all sorts of accessories, the total cost has risen to about €58,500. I installed all the upgrades myself.

Defects

After the purchase, in addition to minor defects (e.g., missing cover caps, a missing rubber seal around the access point to the pop-up roof, screw covers coming loose, a screw on the door that wasn’t fully tightened at the factory, and a defective microswitch on the faucet), more significant problems also became apparent. These included water leakage at the access point to the pop-up roof because the adhesive seal on the spoiler in front of the pop-up roof wasn’t fully watertight, as well as sometimes severe interference noise with the navigation radio. At first glance, that sounds like quite a lot, and yes, it did take quite a bit of time for emails, phone calls, coordination with the repair shop, and, in some cases, troubleshooting. However, given all the reviews I’d read and watched before buying, this didn’t come as a complete surprise to me. Fortunately, it didn’t stop us from taking our planned trips. By now, all known defects have been fixed and were covered by the dealer’s warranty or the manufacturer’s guarantee. One payment is still pending, but overall, I’m glad that this chapter is now largely closed.

Overnight Stays in 2025

In 2025, we’ve already taken several vacations in our new campervan. By now, we’ve found a good rhythm when it comes to packing, driving, arriving, and going about our daily lives in our mobile home. We’ve really enjoyed the vacations so far. In total, we spent 49 nights in the campervan, spread across the following trips:

• Easter break – Marina di Venezia: 7 nights
• Legoland in May: 2 nights
• Pentecost break – Southern France/Bötzingen: 15 nights
• Lübeck/Schweden: 21 nights
• Cinque Terre: 4 nights

Rental Plans

We also plan to launch our own website dedicated to our campervan soon. The plan is to rent it out during the times when we aren’t using it ourselves. This way, it will be put to better use instead of just sitting around most of the time. The domains roadresort.de and familyfinca.de have already been registered.

When well-structured files are still unusable

Imagine a measurement file containing a matrix of numbers. The file itself may be neatly arranged, but it stands alone. The row and column information is somewhere else, the experimental groups are not linked, experimental design and batch information are missing, the processing steps are unclear, and nobody immediately knows where the raw data is stored or whom to contact.

This is an important distinction: structural formatting is not the same as structural meaning. A matrix of numbers without metadata, meaning without clear information on what the rows represent, what the columns measure, and what the experimental conditions were, can easily become dark data: data that exists, but is difficult or impossible to find, understand, access, or reuse. A file can be neatly formatted and still be scientifically ambiguous. For data to become truly reusable, the relevant information needs to be structured together, and people need to know that this dataset exists. This is what structured data actually means in a modern, data-driven organization.

From files to knowledge: what structured data actually means

Structured data is important because it turns isolated files into reusable knowledge. If data is well described, findable, accessible, and connected to its context, we can ask better questions. We can compare experiments, integrate datasets, detect patterns, reproduce analyses, and generate new hypotheses. This is also the logic behind the FAIR principles, which argue that scientific data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, with a particular emphasis on making data usable not only by people, but also by machines.

The organizational reality: everyone is cooking their own soup

In companies, including pharma and enterprise R&D, this is especially relevant. Data is often generated in different departments, for different projects, with different tools, naming conventions, storage locations, and access rules. In addition, there are often limited incentives to make data reusable for people outside the team that originally generated it. Each team may be “cooking its own soup”. A team may build a spreadsheet that works perfectly for its weekly meeting. Locally, this can be efficient. But if the spreadsheet lacks standardized schemas, shared identifiers, or centralized metadata, it may be completely invisible and useless to a data scientist three doors down who is trying to train a predictive model. This is the classic trap of local optimization and global sub-optimization: something works well for one team, but limits value across the organization.

If nobody knows that a dataset exists, where it is stored, what it contains, or whom to contact, then the data cannot easily contribute to new analyses, new decisions, or new discoveries.

Why this matters for AI and machine learning

This also creates a direct bridge to AI and machine learning. AI systems do not become useful simply because the model is large. They become useful when the data they learn from, retrieve from, or reason over is high quality, well documented, and fit for purpose. In machine learning, data problems can cascade through the whole system, causing errors that are difficult to detect later (Sambasivan 2021). The “data work” may be less glamorous than model building, but it is often the critical step.

For example, if an AI assistant is used for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to help scientists find past experimental insights, it cannot reason over an isolated spreadsheet. It needs the metadata envelope around the data: sample metadata, definitions of variables, links to protocols, information about data quality, and ideally a documented history of how the data was processed. If we want to train, fine-tune, or retrieve from AI systems, duplicated, inconsistent, biased, mislabeled, or poorly documented data can directly affect performance and reliability. Work on language model training data has shown that deduplication can reduce memorized output and improve model behavior, which is a practical reminder that data preparation is not an administrative detail, but part of model quality itself (Lee 2022).

Conclusion

Structured data is not an implementation detail but a prerequisite for reuse. Without consistent structure and metadata, data remains tied to its original context and loses value over time. Declaring July as Structured Data Month is a small reminder that improving how we structure and describe data is not optional overhead, but a practical step toward making research and data work more interoperable and sustainable.

Gallery

Double Taxation on Dividends Due to Swiss Withholding Tax and German Final Tax

The Swiss withholding tax on investment income is generally 35% of the gross amount. It is levied specifically on dividends from Swiss securities, but not on the sale of those securities. Since this is a withholding tax, it is linked to the origin of the dividend. For Roche shares, this means that even if the securities are held in a German securities account, Swiss withholding tax is initially withheld on the dividend.

In Germany, dividends held as part of private assets are also subject to capital gains tax under the flat-rate withholding tax system. This tax generally amounts to 25% of gross capital gains. In addition, there is a 5.5% solidarity surcharge on the capital gains tax, amounting to an effective 1.375%, and, where applicable, church tax (8% in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and 9% in the other federal states). The effective total tax burden is therefore 26.375% (excluding church tax), 27.82% (with 8% church tax), or 27.99% (with 9% church tax). German taxes on capital gains apply once the saver’s allowance has been exhausted. This currently amounts to €1,000 per person or €2,000 for jointly assessed spouses or life partners. To ensure that the financial institution directly applies the allowance, a corresponding exemption order must generally be submitted.

In practice, therefore, this often results in a significant double tax burden: on the one hand, a 35% withholding tax is withheld in Switzerland, and on the other hand, capital gains tax is levied on the dividend in Germany.

The good news: Swiss withholding tax can be partially credited and partially refunded

There is a double taxation treaty between Germany and Switzerland. For private investors with tax residency in Germany, the practical effect is usually as follows: Of the 35% Swiss withholding tax, 20 percentage points can be reclaimed from the Eidgenössischen Steuerverwaltung (ESTV) upon request. The remaining 15 percentage points remain in Switzerland but can generally be credited against German capital gains tax. For securities held in a German securities account, this credit is usually applied automatically by the financial institution. For securities held in a foreign securities account, the dividend and the creditable foreign withholding tax must be reported retrospectively in Annex KAP.

The application for a refund must be submitted within three years of the end of the calendar year in which the dividend became due. A single application may cover up to three years. Anyone wishing to apply for a refund of dividends from 2023, 2024, and 2025 may do so in 2026 by submitting a single application covering all three years. The location of the securities’ custody account is irrelevant; that is, dividends from securities held in custody accounts in Germany and Switzerland can be declared in a single application. For securities held in custody at a non-Swiss institution, a tax voucher or comparable proof of income is generally required. Depending on the financial institution, this is provided automatically or upon request as a PDF file.

The refund procedure is regulated separately for each country. For Germany, the FTA has set up the VST-DE portal, and the application can be submitted online with relative ease. To register on the portal, I used AGOV as my login method. The one-time registration takes just a few minutes, and you can then log in using the AGOV access app as the official access key to e-government services provided by Swiss authorities. After logging in, simply select the refund of Swiss withholding tax. For dividends from Roche, I used the following data:

• Company name: Roche Holding AG
• Security ID: 1203204
• ISIN: CH0012032048
• Purchase date: earliest date of purchase of the securities for which dividends are being claimed

Once the dividends have been recorded and the supporting documents uploaded, an application or a stamp sheet is generated in the portal. This must be signed and the tax residency confirmed by the responsible German tax office. To do this, a copy of the relevant application page can be submitted in an informal letter via ELSTER as “Other Message” or indirectly via tax software such as WISO Steuer. Once confirmation has been received, the application can be finally submitted in the portal.

Having a Swiss brokerage account doesn’t mean the German tax authorities don’t want to know

This point is often overlooked: Anyone who is a tax resident in Germany must generally report investment income, such as dividend payments, in Germany even if the securities are held in a Swiss brokerage account or on an employee stock ownership platform. In practice, this means: If no German financial institution acts as an intermediary paying agent, dividends must be reported retroactively in the German tax return under Schedule KAP for the respective calendar year, in accordance with § 32d (3) EStG.

If the tax return has already been filed and you only realize later that foreign dividends were omitted, you should not simply ignore this. According to § 153 AO, a tax return must be corrected immediately if it is subsequently determined that it was incorrect or incomplete and that taxes were underpaid or could be underpaid as a result. In practice, such a late filing can be made informally, and the relevant supporting documents can be submitted as an attachment, for example via ELSTER as an “Other Message” to the responsible tax office or via tax software such as WISO Steuer.

Selling Securities Without Recorded Purchase Data

When transferring securities accounts between two financial institutions, however, the receiving bank may not import the purchase data. This information is essential for calculating the correct capital gain and the resulting tax liability when selling securities. This was the case for me when transferring a securities account managed via EquatePlus in Switzerland to ING in Germany. According to information from ING, the acquisition data can be entered manually, but this data is for visualization purposes only and is not taken into account in the tax calculation.

If the German financial institution does not have the acquisition data at the time of sale, it uses a substitute tax base (Section 43a(2) sentence 7 of the Income Tax Act (EStG)). In this case, 30% of the sales proceeds is treated as the tax base or notional profit. Capital gains tax, the solidarity surcharge, and, if applicable, church tax are calculated on this tax base. The taxation can be corrected later as part of the tax return. The correction following the application of a substitute tax base is made in the assessment procedure pursuant to Section 32d(4) of the Income Tax Act, and the relevant documents must be submitted for this purpose. Therefore, it is advisable to permanently retain all documents relating to the acquisition data. This includes, in particular, the purchase date, quantity, purchase price, securities account transfers, and documents regarding capital measures.

Can I just leave the substitute tax base as is?

If the actual profit exceeds 30% of the sales proceeds, the substitute tax base may initially appear to be a tax advantage. But that is precisely where the catch lies. Under current law, it is not permissible to simply conceal the actual, higher profit and leave only the lower substitute tax base in place. The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) clarifies: If the assessment basis determined by the bank is lower than the actual income, there is generally an obligation to report the difference. This requirement may be waived if the difference does not exceed €500 per assessment period and there are no other grounds under Section 32d(3) of the Income Tax Act (EStG). Conversely, if the substitute tax base was too high, it can be corrected upon request pursuant to Section 32d(4) of the Income Tax Act (EStG).

In general, there is no requirement for individual investors to keep a permanent record of the purchase details of their securities. However, without these records, one bears the burden of proof later on. This can work both to one’s advantage and to one’s disadvantage: an excessively high replacement tax base may not be correctable without supporting documents, while an actually higher profit cannot simply be concealed if it is evident from existing records.

Fazit

If you take the time to understand it, employee stock options from Switzerland aren’t rocket science from a tax perspective, but it’s important to keep the different aspects clearly separate: The monetary benefit received upon receiving the shares is typically recorded on your pay stub; dividends must be handled correctly in Germany despite Swiss withholding tax; and when you eventually sell the shares, having reliable purchase data is crucial. It is particularly important to permanently retain documentation for dividends, tax vouchers, pay stubs, purchase data, and securities account transfers. This ensures that the refund of Swiss withholding tax, its credit in Germany, and any potential adjustment to the substitute tax base can be clearly traced later on.

Downloading the raw data

The raw data is linked under “Settings” at tellmeGen. There, the genetic variants are available for direct download in VCF format. For the sequencing data, you have to request an email with the download links because these files are very large. Because this is paired-end sequencing, two links are provided. I was able to download everything quickly and easily at about 20 MB/s.

The VCF file is 143 MB in size. The two compressed FASTQ files are 39 GB and 44 GB in size and each contain 360 million reads with a length of 150 base pairs each.

In addition to these three files, I would have liked to see a sequencing quality report. I will therefore generate this myself later using the raw data.

The tellmeGen reports

tellmeGen provides a variety of reports in English in the user area. A report highlights my genetic profile (i.e., my variants) in relation to a phenotype, such as a disease or trait. The reports are divided into several sections: Genetic vulnerability to health conditions (genetic risk for multifactorial diseases), Hereditary conditions (monogenic diseases and carrier status), Pharmacology, Traits (general characteristics such as height, weight, or hair color), Wellness (characteristics related to health), and Ancestry (macro-ancestry, Neanderthal ancestry).

Nothing was displayed for me in the Pharmacology section. In the other sections (except Ancestry), the phenotypes and a personal classification (such as “low/high risk” or “low/high levels”) are listed. The detailed view provides more information about the variants involved and the phenotype. If several variants are included, genes are listed. In addition, there is often a brief biological or clinical classification of the topic. I like the references at the end of the report because they allow you to trace where a statement comes from.

The Ancestry section is visually appealing and well designed for educational purposes. The visualizations are clear, much of the content is explained in an understandable way, and overall it comes across as well-rounded. At the same time, I found the topic less compelling than I had expected. A large part of it is general classification, and in my opinion, the personal implications are minimal to non-existent.

Validity

Lack of classification

What I found lacking when reviewing the reports was a clear classification of the significance of the variants used in each case. Specifically: How well do these variants actually explain the respective phenotype, and how great is the expected effect for me and my health?

In the case of classic hereditary diseases, the situation is often relatively clear-cut because individual pathogenic variants in a gene can have a major effect (although penetrance and expressivity can still vary). Most other topics in the reports, on the other hand, deal with complex, multifactorial phenotypes. These are typically influenced by a large number of genetic variants, each with small effects, and are often additionally influenced by non-genetic factors such as lifestyle and environment (Boyle 2017; Visscher 2017).

Particularly in the case of these multifactorial phenotypes, genetic studies have found many associated loci, but the explained variance often falls significantly short of the estimated heritability. This tension has been discussed for years under the term “missing heritability” and has several plausible causes, for example, a large number of variants with very small effects, rare variants, incomplete recording of structural variants or interactions (Wainschtein 2025; Brandt 2025).

Licensing barriers for polygenic risk scores?

I also noticed that although many multifactorial phenotype reports use a combination of several genetic variants in the form of a polygenic risk score (PRS), according to the report description, there are relatively few specific risk loci/variants from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). For example, the report on coronary heart disease mentions 179 loci. This seems less like a modern, genome-wide model and more like a PRS from a manageable number of GWAS top hits.

This is worth mentioning because we now understand quite well that many complex traits are highly polygenic. According to the omnigenic model, in addition to a few “core” genes, many genes expressed in relevant cell types can contribute indirectly via regulatory networks to complex traits such as multifactorial diseases. This helps explain why GWAS find numerous signals with mostly small effects distributed across the entire genome (Boyle 2017).

Accordingly, many current PRS in the literature now actually contain many thousands to millions of variants. For example, The Polygenic Score (PGS) Catalog contains scores for coronary heart disease that combine several million variants. A prominent example is the PRS by Khera et al., which uses 6,630,150 variants (vs. 179 loci, as far as can be seen from the report description by tellmeGen).

A plausible reason for the scores described in the tellmeGen reports as a combination of fewer top hits/loci could be licensing and usage terms. The PGS Catalog explicitly points out that individual scores may have specific licenses or restrictions (e.g., non-commercial). Lambert et al. also describe specific barriers to the availability of PGS data, including restrictions on sharing variants and weights for commercial reasons, as well as terms and conditions for access to GWAS summary statistics.

Not population-specific

Another point is the lack of population or ancestry specificity. Polygenic scores are not “universal” because allele frequencies and linkage disequilibrium differ between populations. This can alter both the accuracy of a PRS depending on genetic background and the distribution of scores in the respective reference population. This is precisely why you normally need either population-specific calibration or at least a clearly defined reference distribution from a suitable comparison population if you want to make statements such as “you are in the Xth percentile.” The fact that PRS accuracy can vary significantly along a genetic ancestry continuum is demonstrated, for example, by Ding et al..

However, I did not find any clear information about this in my tellmeGen reports, neither which reference population was used for the score calculation or calibration, nor where my score lies in a suitable population. There is also a structural problem: because the GWAS data sets underlying the PRS have historically been dominated by people of European descent, the scores are often less well calibrated in other populations and lose their predictive power. Martin et al. explicitly discuss this as a consequence of Eurocentric GWAS biases.

Technical Quality

The reports also lack technical quality information about the variants used. For example, there is no information about the sequencing depth at the respective position, no no per-variant quality control fields (e.g., read depth/DP, genotype quality/GQ, allele balance), and no warning flags for difficult-to-map regions. Such a quality indicator would be particularly helpful for difficult regions.

Conclusion

In my opinion, tellmeGen’s main focus is clearly on sequencing. The reports are a nice extra, but overall I find them limited in their informative value, mainly because key information for classification is missing. As a next step, I will run my FASTQ files through my own pipeline to assess the sequencing quality myself. I also want to try out other publicly available services and, if necessary, develop my own reports.

Disclaimer

In my blog series “Chat with GPT”, I ask ChatGPT on a variety of topics, from world politics to everyday issues, to get concise summaries and answers. The answers provided by ChatGPT are generated from large datasets, which may include biases, for example from Western perspectives. While the model strives for accuracy, it can sometimes produce incorrect or misleading information. I do not take responsibility for the validity of the content. Though I aim to ensure that the answers reflect common sense, I encourage you to cross-check facts and verify information through trusted sources. You are also welcome to reach out to me with suggestions for improvement.

ChatGPT’s answer

Wer sind die Böhsen Onkelz?

The Böhsen Onkelz are a German rock band that emerged in the early 1980s from the skinhead and Oi scene and later became one of the most commercially successful and controversial rock bands in the German-speaking world. They played their way out of the underground into large halls and stadiums, but remained the subject of heated debate due to their early lyrics and their environment. For many people, they remain a symbol of the difficult question of whether and how a band can credibly break away from a problematic past.

Evidence of an early phase of right-wing extremism

In the band’s early phase, there are numerous indications of a clear affinity with right-wing and, in some cases, right-wing extremist circles. The Böhsen Onkelz emerged in the early 1980s in the skinhead and Oi scene and released their early recordings on the Rock-O-Rama label, which later became known primarily for its clearly neo-Nazi bands such as Skrewdriver. This location in a subcultural environment in which right-wing rock groups played an important role alone suggests a clear right-wing connotation in the early days.

This affinity becomes particularly clear when you listen to an early demo tape, which includes the songs “Türken raus” (“Turks out”) and “Deutschland den Deutschen” (“Germany for the Germans”). These songs contain clearly xenophobic and racist lyrics, such as the line “Skinheads im Zusammenhalt gegen euch und eure Kanakenwelt” (“Skinheads united against you and your world of foreigners”). The band itself now lists these songs on its own timeline as “scandal songs” and cites them as the source of its bad reputation. These examples alone make it clear that these are not just provocative phrases, but an open denigration and exclusion of people with a migration background.

The debut album “Der nette Mann” from 1984 also plays a central role. This album was indexed by the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors in 1986, partly because of songs that were considered to glorify violence and National Socialism. According to the official statement, the album was not only problematic because of its harsh or violent content. The review board also saw references in it that could be classified as close to Nazi ideology and thus as right-wing extremist. The LP is still indexed today, even though the song “Der nette Mann” was separately re-evaluated in 2019.

In the public perception of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Böhsen Onkelz were therefore repeatedly mentioned in close connection with right-wing extremist violence. In the early 1990s, when racist riots such as those in Rostock-Lichtenhagen or the attacks in Mölln took place, the band’s name frequently appeared in media reports about right-wing extremist youths. Major retailers, radio stations, and event organizers responded with boycotts and in some cases removed the band from their programming entirely.

This reputation also had legal repercussions. In 2001, the band lost a lawsuit against the newspaper taz, which had described them as a “notorious right-wing extremist band.” The court ruled that this wording was a permissible value judgment and thus an assessment covered by freedom of expression, based primarily on the documented past of the Onkelz.

All these aspects together, from their roots in the skinhead/Oi scene to their demo tape with songs like “Türken raus” (“Turks out”) and “Deutschland den Deutschen” (“Germany for the Germans”), the explicitly racist line “Skinheads im Zusammenhalt gegen euch und eure Kanakenwelt” (“Skinheads united against you and your world of foreigners”), the indexing of “Der nette Mann” (The Nice Man) for glorifying violence and Nazism, to public and legal classification, are very clear indications that the early phase of the Böhsen Onkelz did indeed have clear right-wing and right-wing extremist connotations.

Distancing and change within the band

From the second half of the 1980s and especially in the 1990s, the band increasingly emphasized an internal and external change. In interviews, the musicians described a conscious break with parts of the skinhead and right-wing rock scene and distanced themselves from their former environment and from the label Rock-O-Rama, which had since become clearly associated with neo-Nazism. According to their own account, they no longer wanted to serve as a projection screen or mouthpiece for neo-Nazis and later viewed their early right-wing and racist lyrics as serious mistakes of youth.

This distancing also extends to the band’s approach to early songs such as “Türken raus” (“Turks out”) and “Deutschland den Deutschen” (“Germany for the Germans”). Today, the band itself refers to these songs as “scandal songs” and identifies them as the decisive trigger for their bad reputation. Looking back, the members speak of stupidity, naivety, and an environment in which they got caught up in a spiral of provocation and increasingly radical rhetoric. From their point of view, these songs no longer represent what the band wants to stand for, but rather what it expressly distances itself from.

Their later lyrics therefore take on a different tone. Songs such as “Ohne mich” (“Without Me”) and “Deutschland im Herbst” (“Germany in Autumn”) are seen by the band as a clear rejection of political extremism and, in particular, right-wing extremist violence. They increasingly present themselves as a band that does not want to be lumped together with neo-Nazis or other extremist groups. According to their own statements, people wearing Nazi symbols or giving the Hitler salute at concerts were repeatedly asked to leave the premises or were removed by security. In this way, the Böhsen Onkelz send the signal that right-wing extremist symbols and attitudes will not be tolerated at their events.

Opinions still differ on how credible this change is. For some, it is a logical development for a band that has grown out of a problematic youth phase and has evolved both in terms of content and personality. For others, the distancing seems primarily like a belated image correction intended to facilitate commercial success and soften the band’s public image. What is undisputed, however, is that the lyrics, self-image, and public appearance of the Böhse Onkelz have changed significantly since the early 1980s and are clearly intended to distance themselves from the openly racist and right-wing extremist connotations of their early days.

How are they classified today?

Today, there is no consensus on how the Böhsen Onkelz should be classified politically. Many observers emphasize that the band clearly presented itself as right-wing to right-wing extremist in its early days, but that its current lyrics no longer contain any overtly right-wing extremist content. From this perspective, it is a rock band with a heavily burdened past that has distanced itself from its early positions in terms of content, without forgetting that past.

At the same time, the band remains highly controversial. Critics point out that part of the fan base continues to come from right-wing or right-leaning circles. There are repeated reports of people wearing relevant symbols or expressing right-wing extremist views at concerts. The band states that such individuals are unwelcome and refers to security personnel who are supposed to intervene when Nazi symbols are openly displayed. Nevertheless, the question remains as to why the Onkelz continue to play an identity-forming role for certain groups and why right-wing extremist symbols appear at their concerts in the first place.

This ambivalence is clearly identified in expert discussions. In 2017, youth researcher Klaus Farin said on Deutschlandfunk Kultur that the Böhse Onkelz are no longer a right-wing band, even if their past and parts of their fan base remain problematic. He thus describes an intermediate position in which the band itself is no longer understood as an active right-wing rock group, but the historical burden and the composition of part of the audience continue to be viewed critically.

In the public perception, opinions range from a fundamental rejection of the band as a symbol of right-wing rock and exclusion to the view that the Onkelz are an aging rock band that has come a long way in distancing itself from its past. Many who have studied the group’s history in depth have come to the conclusion that the Böhsen Onkelz can neither be celebrated unreservedly today nor hastily reduced to their early phase. Their current classification remains a field of tension between a documented right-wing extremist past, later distancing, and an impact in certain milieus that remains controversial to this day.

Conclusion

In summary, there is very clear evidence of an early phase of right-wing extremism in the Böhse Onkelz. Their roots in the skinhead and Oi scene, their early releases on the Rock-O-Rama label, which later became clearly neo-Nazi, the demo tape with songs such as “Türken raus” (“Turks out”) and “Deutschland den Deutschen” (“Germany for the Germans”) and explicit lines such as “Skinheads im Zusammenhalt gegen euch und eure Kanakenwelt” (“Skinheads united against you and your world of foreigners”), as well as the indexing of their debut album “Der nette Mann” for glorifying violence and Nazism, speak for themselves. Media reports, boycotts by retailers and broadcasters, and the court ruling that recognized the designation as a “notorious right-wing extremist band” as a permissible value judgment further reinforce this finding.

However, it is equally clear that the band has been trying to distance itself from this for many years and no longer conveys openly right-wing extremist content in its newer lyrics. The Böhsen Onkelz themselves now refer to the problematic songs as “scandal songs” and admit that they were mistakes of their youth. Songs such as “Ohne mich” (“Without Me”) and “Deutschland im Herbst” (“Germany in Autumn”) are interpreted as a rejection of extremism, and according to the band, openly right-wing extremist symbols are not tolerated at concerts. Experts such as youth researcher Klaus Farin no longer describe the Onkelz as a right-wing band, but at the same time point out that their past and parts of their fan base remain problematic.

Against this backdrop, many today view the Böhsen Onkelz as a controversial rock band with a well-documented history of right-wing extremism, rather than a classic neo-Nazi band of the present day. Anyone who takes a closer look at them will find it difficult to ignore both aspects. On the one hand, there is an early phase that had clear right-wing and, in some cases, right-wing extremist connotations. On the other hand, there is a long-standing distancing that some see as a credible development, while others view it more as a belated image correction. The tension between these two poles and the continuing mixed composition of the audience are likely to ensure that the debate about the Böhsen Onkelz is far from over.

Disclaimer

In my blog series “Chat with GPT”, I ask ChatGPT on a variety of topics, from world politics to everyday issues, to get concise summaries and answers. The answers provided by ChatGPT are generated from large datasets, which may include biases, for example from Western perspectives. While the model strives for accuracy, it can sometimes produce incorrect or misleading information. I do not take responsibility for the validity of the content. Though I aim to ensure that the answers reflect common sense, I encourage you to cross-check facts and verify information through trusted sources. You are also welcome to reach out to me with suggestions for improvement.

ChatGPT’s answer

Where does the expression come from?

The term became known in German-speaking debate primarily through the psychotherapist Thorsten Padberg. In an interview about ADHD, depression, and the increase in mental health diagnoses, he describes how diagnoses can also have a relieving function. They make it clear that not everything that burdens people is simply a question of discipline or inner attitude. In this context, Padberg says that diagnoses can help people escape the dictates of personal responsibility. What he means by this is the experience that many problems today are very quickly interpreted as personal tasks and personal faults.

What is meant by the dictates of personal responsibility

It is important to distinguish between personal responsibility and dictates. Personal responsibility means that people have room for maneuver, make decisions, and take responsibility for their actions. This idea is central to self-determination and emancipation.

The dictates of personal responsibility, on the other hand, are about social and cultural pressure. The message here is that almost everything a person experiences is primarily their own business. Success and failure, health and illness, stability and excessive demands are explained primarily in individual terms. Those who are successful are considered hard-working, intelligent, or disciplined. According to this logic, those who do not keep up have not tried hard enough or have made the wrong decisions.

In the world of work, this manifests itself in unemployment or precarious employment conditions. Those affected are told that they need to improve their job applications, be more flexible, and broaden their horizons. Structural factors such as the economic situation, regional differences, discrimination, or a lack of childcare fade into the background. Social conditions become an individual problem that each person must solve for themselves.

A similar mechanism can be found in the field of health. There are many offerings related to nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, exercise, and self-organization. In itself, it makes sense for people to take care of their health. The problem arises when illness, exhaustion, or burnout are viewed almost exclusively as the result of individual mistakes. Those who live in permanently stressful situations are then mainly given advice on resilience and routines, while questions about work intensity, staff shortages, or insecure contracts are less prominent.

This criticism is particularly evident in the case of mental illness. Padberg describes how diagnoses such as ADHD or depression were often perceived as stigmatizing in the past, but are now sometimes sought after because they provide relief. They show that there are disorders and illnesses that cannot simply be remedied with willpower, productivity tricks, or a few lifestyle changes. The dictate of personal responsibility here refers to the pressure to treat even mental suffering as if it were completely controllable by the individual. People then feel not only sick or overwhelmed, but also guilty because they believe they should be able to cope with it on their own.

What this says about our society today

The concept refers to fundamental trends in modern, strongly market-oriented societies. Since the 1980s, an image of people as independent actors in a competitive environment has become widespread in many Western countries. Success is highly individualized. Those who succeed are seen as role models. Those who fail have not taken advantage of opportunities or have made the wrong decisions. Political, economic, and institutional conditions tend to be ignored in this perspective.

This trend is also clearly evident in the culture of self-optimization. Numerous digital tools and media formats support and fuel the idea that one’s own life can be comprehensively controlled and improved. Pedometers, sleep tracking, and productivity apps provide key figures that can be used for guidance. Social media is often dominated by images of controlled, successful, and balanced lives. On the one hand, this creates motivation, but on the other, it also creates a lot of pressure. Chance, bad luck, inequality, and structural obstacles are rarely taken into account. Those who cannot keep up easily experience their situation as a personal failure.

Socially, this strong focus on personal responsibility is by no means coincidental. When problems are declared to be individual responsibilities, the pressure to respond politically or institutionally decreases. Questions of distributive justice, working conditions, health care systems, or education policy take a back seat when the main message is that each person must work primarily on themselves. Concepts such as solidarity, social security, or shared responsibility lose their significance. In such a climate, seeking support or pointing out structural problems can quickly take on the connotation of personal weakness.

This creates tension. On the one hand, modern societies emphasize autonomy and self-determination. On the other hand, there is a growing risk that people with complex or chronic problems will feel doubly burdened: by their situation and by the unspoken expectation that they should basically solve it on their own.

Conclusion

The dictates of personal responsibility do not mean rejecting individual responsibility, but rather the exaggeration of an inherently important value. Personal responsibility remains a key prerequisite for people to be able to actively shape their own lives. It only becomes problematic when it is made so absolute that collective, political, and structural dimensions are lost sight of.

A balanced approach takes both seriously. People are responsible for their actions and decisions, but at the same time they live in circumstances that they cannot freely choose and cannot change on their own. Thorsten Padberg’s reference to the dictates of personal responsibility raises awareness of where a sensible appeal for self-determination becomes overwhelming pressure. A constructive approach to the issue begins where social and individual responsibility are not played off against each other, but are considered together.

Gallery

Cinque Terre tips

Accomodation

At the beginning of November, almost all campsites in Levanto are already closed. Only Camping Acqua Dolce is open almost all year round, which is why we chose it. The campsite is conveniently located and you can reach the beach and the lively streets of Levanto in 5 minutes. The three of us paid €52 per night for our campervan and electricity, which we found a bit expensive, but it is said to be rather expensive around Cinque Terre in general. Even in November, it is advisable to reserve a spot in advance. We didn’t do that and were happy to be assigned a spot further back in the terraced complex. In general, the campsite is more suitable for smaller vehicles (campers, campervans, and small motorhomes). Only at the front entrance is there enough space for larger motorhomes. The sanitary facilities are fine and are cleaned regularly. We were bothered by the lack of soap in the toilet and the very high toilet keys (not suitable for short people).

As an alternative, there is another RV parking area (Area Sosta Camper) in Levanto, very close to the train station. However, according to the mostly poor reviews, it is quite expensive at €36 for 24 hours and is located directly on a main road. Another parking area is the Area Sosta Camper - Il Poggio located outside the town. It is situated slightly above the access road to Monterosso, the northernmost village of the Cinque Terre.

If you want to park freely, quietly, and close to the sea and don’t need external power, you might also consider the parking lot in the neighboring town of Bonassola. Bonassola is also connected to the coastal railway line between Genoa and La Spezia, meaning that Cinque Terre can also be easily visited by train from there. During our visit to Bonassola (Bonassola can be reached from Levanto by bike or on foot via an old railway line), the beautiful village was deserted and the parking lot was almost completely empty. Judging by the few motorhomes, free perpendicular parking seems to be tolerated, at least in the off-season. Right next to the parking lot and generally in all the villages we visited, there is free access to fresh water via taps. Further along the railway line towards Genoa, there are other coastal towns with campsites and parking spaces that are suitable as a starting point for a visit to Cinque Terre.

Hiking trails

The Sentiero Azzurro is the most famous hiking trail in the Cinque Terre. It connects the five villages. Of course, there are many other hiking routes in the region. From Levanto, you can either hike to Monterosso, the northernmost of the five villages, or take the train, which is what we did. A list and detailed descriptions of the hiking sections of the Sentiero Azzurro can be found at cinqueterre.eu.com. A physical hiking map can be purchased on site, for example at the tourist information office at the train station. We used the map app Komoot and that was perfectly adequate. Almost all sections of the Sentiero Azzurro are subject to a fee during the high season and are only free to use from November to mid-March. Lucky for us. Although we did meet other hikers on our hikes, overall there was very little going on, even in the villages, which was very pleasant.

The villages

We found all five villages (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore) worth seeing. We particularly remember the view of the villages with their many colorful houses and the pedestrian tunnels that connect the train platform with the busy streets in Manarola and Riomaggiore, for example. We found the many tourist traps less appealing. Especially when eating, we often had the impression that the quality did not match the rather high prices.

By train

We used the train on both days of our hike and were completely satisfied. We always bought single tickets from the ticket machines at the respective train stations just before departure, and payment was easy using our smartphones in combination with a credit card. Prices vary depending on the season and ranged from €2.50 to €3.50 per person for trips between Levanto and La Spezia, regardless of the distance. This seemed significantly cheaper to us than purchasing the Cinque Terre Card, which includes unlimited travel. However, the card also includes the fees for the hiking trails during the high season. Further information about the trains (including train timetables) and the card can be found here. It was great that the toilets at the stations (for example in Levanto) were almost always free and clean.

Best season

We were lucky with the weather and had sunshine every day with air temperatures of 20-22 degrees, which was ideal for hiking. In the evenings, however, as soon as the sun went down, it quickly cooled down significantly. We were therefore very glad that we had brought our warm jackets with us. We had the electric heating on in the campervan every evening. It should be noted that the hiking trails from place to place usually climb first (100-300 meters) before reaching the next bay or town via a high-altitude trail. Whether this is enjoyable in summer when temperatures are high is something everyone must decide for themselves. However, the region also offers other activities. For example, on the day we arrived, there were many surfers on the water and quite a few (e-)mountain bikers at the campsite.

Day 1: Arrival & beach

• Departure at around 3 a.m. in Upper Bavaria, smooth journey on the Brenner motorway
• Shopping at Ekom Supermarkt just before Levanto; good supermarket overall, but the sausage/meat counter wasn’t that great; there are plenty of places to buy food in Levanto itself
• Arrival in Levanto around noon and check-in at the Camping Acqua Dolce campsite; after lunch and a nap, walk to the beach
• Explored the bay and watched the many surfers

Day 2: Cinque Terre

• Walk to the train station in Levanto and take the train to Monterosso (one stop towards La Spezia)
• 9 km hike: Monterosso - Vernazza - Corniglia
• Break in Vernazza by the water with food we brought with us; ice cream didn’t taste good
• Between Vernazza and Corniglia, stop at the Farm Shop - Azienda Agricola Sentiero Azzurro Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre; Fresh juices and a magnificent view of the sea; there is also the Bar Il Gabbiano nearby, but it was closed when we were there
• Coffee and sweet pastries at Bar Pan e Vin in Corniglia
• Then descent to the train station and return to Levanto
• Walk back to the campsite via Via Dante Alighieri, always towards the sun

Day 3: Market and old railway line

• Visit the weekly market at the Passeggiata a Mare
• Followed by a walk along the old railway line to Bonassola and then on to Framura; highly recommended
• Return to Levanto by train; the route to the train station in Framura is quite adventurous and not so easy to find: first down the stairs to the small harbor, then through two tunnels
• Delicious focaccia (Ligurian flatbread made from yeast dough) in various varieties at the bakery Panificio Raso
• Swimming at the beach in the afternoon

Day 4: Cinque Terre & La Spezia

• Train ride to Manarola and 3.5 km hike to Riomaggiore; we opted for the high trail, but there is also a flat hiking trail right by the water that leads to Riomaggiore.
• Coffee and snacks at the Lo Scalo Lounge Bar; it was okay
• Continued journey by train to La Spezia, strolled through the main shopping street and ate delicious ice cream at Gelateria Gusto La Spezia
• Back in Levanto and enjoyed the sunset on the promenade; a meeting place for locals in the morning and evening
• In the evening, stopped at Osteria Tumelin near the campsite, as the restaurant Totano Blu was closed; very nice atmosphere, but the pizza base wasn’t fresh

Day 5: Return journey & Lazise (Lake Garda)

• Stopover in Lazise on Lake Garda, we always enjoy it here
• We parked here
• Stopped at Gipi’s Bar, played cards, and enjoyed the sun
• The plan was actually to stay overnight in Arco and the surrounding area again, but we ended up driving through

Geologically speaking, the 36-meter-deep Eibsee has a remarkable history: around 3,500–3,700 years ago, a massive rockslide occurred on the Zugspitze, whose masses crossed the lake that already existed at that time. It significantly shaped the lake’s current form with its islands and shallows. Much of what you see as you walk along the north shore as a sea of boulders can be traced back to this event. Looking up from the lake to the northern flank, the breakaway niche between the Zugspitze and Riffelwandspitze peaks can still be seen as a striking, partly darker-looking indentation. From the volume of the deposits, geologists also conclude that the summit area must have been higher in the past, probably over 3,000 meters.

About halfway along the route, there is a whole collection of small stone towers that invite you to join in the building, which is not that easy, but a lot of fun. It’s also worth bringing your swimming trunks: there are plenty of easily accessible entry points into the water. I took a quick dip towards the end and, once I’d overcome my initial hesitation, it was just great.

The stop at the boat rental towards the end of the hike was also highly recommended. We rented a pedal boat for 17 € for an hour, sailed around the islands, and enjoyed the sun. We would do that again anytime. Afterwards, we stopped at the lake restaurant. From the terrace, we could see two impressive lake trout, apparently hoping for leftovers. The prices were pleasantly moderate for such a touristy location.

Komoot