Carlo Angerer / NBC News

Hans Gritzbach, has had a connection to the American military installation near his home in Heidelberg, Germany for over 60 years. "I owe a lot to the Americans. They paved the way for what I am today," he said.

HEIDELBERG, Germany – For more than 26 years, Hans Gritzbach has been taking care of a little garden outside the building of the U.S. Army's European headquarters. 

A special NBC News series: What The World Thinks of U.S. Click here for more information

The military installation has been part of Gritzbach's lifeblood for more than 60 years.

But when the leaves begin to fall in the autumn of 2013, the U.S. Army is scheduled to shut down its Campbell Barracks in Gritzbach's home city.

For the 86-year-old German, an era will come to an end with the U.S. troop pullout.

"I owe a lot to the Americans. They paved the way for what I am today," the widower said in a soft, choked voice.

---

From refugee to part of a community
With all of his belongings in no more than a cardboard box, Gritzbach arrived in Heidelberg in 1947, shortly after the end of World War II. He was a “displaced person” or refugee. His family was expelled from what used to be Czechoslovakia because they belonged to a minority group of ethnic Germans.

When he arrived in post-war Germany, the young man had no work training and no profession, but he was given a job with the U.S. forces in Heidelberg.

Over the course of his 39-year career as a civilian employee with the U.S. Army in Europe, he worked as a quartermaster, in the finance department and the engineering division.

As the U.S. military in Europe shrinks, it leaves behind many friends in Germany. "It makes me sad because friends are leaving," said Hans Gritzbach, 86, choking back tears. "And now at my age, looking back, I realize that the Americans were wonderful people." NBC's Andy Eckardt reports.

After he retired, Gritzbach stayed on with the military community and took up volunteer work with his wife, Hilde, who passed away five years ago.  

Weather and health permitting, the German visits his "American friends" three to four times a week to water the plants, do some weeding and simply engage in some small talk.

But now, his rose bushes, as well as the flowers and shrubs from the little garden he’s tended all these years, are being given new homes in local backyards before the military installation shuts down completely.

Troop reduction
Since the end of the 1980s, the U.S. Army in Europe has divested more than 570 military installations, including military barracks, housing areas and isolated radar positions.

By 2015, more major garrisons are expected to be returned in Germany – Heidelberg, Mannheim, Bamberg and Schweinfurt – which the Army says will save $300 million per year.

Carlo Angerer / NBC News

Daniel Welch, has been working for the U.S. military as a "local national employee" in Heidelberg, Germany since 1980 and expects to lose his job next year.

Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced defense cuts of $487 billion over the next decade, as the United States seeks to move to a smaller, leaner and more agile force, putting a new strategic focus on the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

The Defense Department in January said that it would remove two of the four U.S. combat brigades stationed in Europe as part of its military restructuring. 

Long gone are the demands of the Cold War, when the Soviet bloc and the United States faced off across the walls, fences and barbed wire of the Iron Curtain.

"Now we are trying to become more effective and more efficient in terms of cost savings, by consolidating and by combining garrisons," the commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, Lt.Gen. Mark Phillip Hertling, told NBC News.

Impact on German economy
Yet, for many local hires the drawdown will have severe consequences.

55-year-old Daniel Welch, who has been working for the military as a “local national employee” since 1980 and runs the Army’s environmental division in the greater Heidelberg area, expects to lose his job next year.

"I still have a mortgage to pay off and my daughter is planning to go to college in the U.S., I will need to find a new job somewhere," Welch said.

Back in 1954, his American father met his German mother in Heilbronn during his first deployment to Germany.

"Of course it is emotional," said Welch. "Part of you is closing. The school I attended, the housing area where I grew up, even the church where my parents got married, all closed, all gone."

NBC News speaks with citizens from around the globe, asking the question, 'What Does America Mean to You?'

City officials in Heidelberg expect annual financial losses of up to $25 million, as a result of the closures of U.S. bases in the region.

"We estimate that a total of about 1,000 civilian jobs will be lost, when the nearly 8,000 service members pull out," said Diana Scharl, a spokesperson for the city of Heidelberg.

At the auto dealership across the street from the military installation, the future looks grim too. Fred Ambrosio, 62, expects to close his Liberty Car sales in Heidelberg by September 2013. Like many local businesses, he tailored his car dealership to U.S. customer needs – and with regular troop rotation intervals over the past decades, his business was doing well.

But now, the immediate future does not look rosy.

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"The closures in and around Heidelberg have been a real hardship on my income. I have lost about 60 percent of my turnover, and every month it is getting worse," Ambrosio said.

Fred has come up with a backup plan and will move his business and six employees to Grafenwoehr, where the U.S. Army still maintains its largest training facility in Europe.

Emotional farewell
But while many locals have been able to prepare for the changes and some have already found new jobs, it is still a difficult farewell for most.

"The military installation in Heidelberg was like a second home to me and my wife," said Gritzbach, the retiree. He started to cry as he talked about the memories of the “good old days.” He cut three roses to put on his wife's grave and waved good-bye as he walked off.

"It is so sad. I have gone through many bitter phases in my life, but this will be one of the most emotional and most difficult farewells of all," Gritzbach said.

This story is part of a series by msnbc.com and NBC News "What the World Thinks of US". The series aims to check the pulse on current perceptions of America's global stature during the election year and ahead of our annual Independence Day.

Share your thoughts about this story and our series on Twitter using #AmericaMeans 

Stories in the series: 

How I see America, from a former Gitmo prisoner

Bye, bye, GI: Deep impact for many Germans as US troops downsize

Post-revolution Egypt to US: Stay out 

Iran's dentist to the stars offers views on US

For many Pakistanis, 'USA' means 'drones' 

One man's mission: Promote Chinese patriotism in the face of Western onslaught

In South Africa: 'My head says China is number one, my heart says America'

Not all Thais are Gaga about America

Family moves from the Bronx to Jerusalem, but US remains land of 'liberty and freedom'

Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us' 

Afghans are 'no different from any American

 

Bernd Settnik / EPA

Postwoman Anneliese Knop interacts with dog 'Liesbeth' during her round in Mahlow, Germany, on Monday. Employees of the post office regularly attend training sessions because, according to the postal service, about 1,800 mail carriers per year are involved in incidents with dogs.

BERLIN -- Aid workers, journalists and embassy employees often undergo so-called Hostile Environment Training. But what about the threats that your ordinary postman faces on any given day?

Mailmen at the German Postal Service (Deutsche Post) are taking classes in dog defense so that they can learn how to behave when entering a dog's territory -- and to avoid any accompanying injuries.

Around 1,800 incidents involving dogs occur every year with roughly a third resulting in bites or more serious injuries, spokesman for Deutsche Post Rolf Schulz told NBC News. Mailmen in rural areas particularly benefit from the program because dogs often roam freely in people's front yards in smaller German towns, he said.

Letter-deliverers are more endangered "because the dog sees them every day," whereas package deliverymen are less vulnerable to the threat, Schulz said.

The classes, which are voluntary, advise mailmen not to shout at the dogs and to avoid sudden movements.

"For the worst-case scenario, we sometimes equip our delivery personnel with pepper spray," Schulz said.

But using the spray incorrectly can accelerate the dog's aggressive behavior. "We caution to be very careful with the use of the devices because you have to spray directly into the dog's nose to achieve an effect."

Deutsche Post has seen a decrease in numbers of dangerous encounters with dogs over the past decade and says the training is key for a safer working environment.

It is all about strict German health and safety regulations, officials say.

The employer of Germany's 86,000 mailmen hopes to save costs by reducing the amount of sick days for stress and injuries caused by encounters with territorial dachshunds, snarling pugs or aggressive German shepherds.

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Berlin Police via AFP / Getty Images

A boy who calls himself "Ray" is seen after arriving in Berlin in September 2011.

MAINZ, Germany -- Berlin police on Wednesday released a photograph of the so-called "forest boy," an English-speaking youth who wandered into the German capital nine months ago saying he had lived in the woods for five years with his father.

Investigators have failed to identify him and police are now hoping the image will prompt leads from the public.

The boy has told authorities his father called him "Ray" and that he was born June 20, 1994. However, he claims not to know his last name or where he's from. 

"We have checked his DNA against all missing person reports, sent the data to Interpol so that they could check it internationally, but unfortunately without any success," police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said.

Investigators told NBC News that DNA evidence suggests Ray is most likely from a neighboring country, as opposed to the United States. Authorities also believe that English might not be his native language.

The boy was unable or refused to give his family name or any other biographical information when he showed up at the German capital's City Hall on September 5.

English-speaking teen: I lived five years in woods

He said his mother, Doreen, died in a car accident when he was 12 and after that he and his father, Ryan, took to the forest. He said they wandered using maps and a compass, staying in tents or caves overnight. 

'Many question marks'
He told authorities that after his father died in August, 2011, he buried him in the forest and then walked five days north before ending up in Berlin. Police told NBC News that they have not been able to find a corresponding dead body.

"There are many question marks," Neuendorf added.

Ray has also quickly adapted to city life and technology, using a laptop and his cell phone with no problems.  

"Everything gives the impression that he was not far away from civilization for years," Neuendorf told The Associated Press.

The boy is being taken care of by youth services and has been assigned a legal guardian.

Ray is described as being somewhere between 16-20 years old and about 5-foot 11-inches tall. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and three small scars on his forehead, three small scars on his chin and a small scar on his right arm. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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MAINZ, Germany – Thousands of well-educated workers are fleeing Greece as the eurozone crisis batters their homeland.

Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and a country which has been criticized by many Greeks over its harsh demands for austerity cuts in return for bailout cash, has experienced an influx of young skilled immigrants.

Der Spiegel magazine noted that while Greek newspapers "printed cartoons depicting the Germans as Nazis, concentration camp guards and eurozone imperialists who allow their debtors to bleed to death," the Greeks have kept arriving – bringing an "anything is better than Athens" attitude with them.

With more than 50 percent of young Greeks out of work, it's not surprising that official statistics show the number of Greeks who moved to Germany increased 90 percent during 2011. 

Unemployment rates have consistently been shrinking in Germany in recent years and the economy is thriving despite Europe's ongoing financial crisis. Relaxed cross-border employment regulations for member states of the European Union also make Germany an attractive choice for job seekers. And while Germany is in need of specialized workers, the Greek labor market has little to offer.

Leftist tipped to be next Greek leader warns of 'Cold War' over cuts

"It is virtually impossible to find a job in Greece at the moment," says Christos Christoglou, an inspection engineer who took a job at German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer at the start of the financial crisis in June 2010. "It is not that there are only very few jobs for young graduates to seek, no, there are none, zero, there is nothing."

A year after moving to Germany, Christoglou's wife Mary and their 5-year old daughter Georgina joined him last summer. The family now lives in a four-bedroom apartment in Leverkusen. They are likely to stay for good.

"My wife, an English teacher, and our daughter, do not speak German yet. But my Mary will soon also try to find a job," Christoglou told NBC News. "And while, yes, it is quite difficult to be without our close friends and family in Greece, I do not want to waste my six years of intensive studies to find myself without hope for the future."

Christoglou, 38, says incentives are needed to prevent Greece's well-educated workforce from abandoning the country.

"I know many Greek academics, but also ordinary workers, who have moved to wealthier European countries, like France, the Netherlands or Sweden," he added.

Greek debt woes put Europe on financial knife edge

According to Germany's national statistics office, some 24,000 people left Greece last year to live and work in Germany, almost double the number who did so in 2010. However, Der Spiegel quoted Hamburg-based immigration expert Vassilis Tsianos as pointing out that those figures did not include people who had not registered with German authorities. Tsianos told the magazine he estimates that 60,000 new Greek immigrants arrived in Germany in 2011.

There was also a significant spike in the number of immigrants relocating to Germany from other economically depressed southern European countries last year, with official statistics showing an increase of 52 percent from Spain, 28 percent from Portugal and 23 percent from Italy.

So much for 'the Spanish dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns

The recent arrivals include 27-year-old IT specialist Vasileia Paschali, who decided to bid farewell to Greece's political and economic turmoil and arrived in the quaint southern German city of Boeblingen nine months ago. She didn't speak a word of German.

"The most difficult thing was learning German, it was terrifying at the beginning," Paschali told NBC News. "Life is so quiet and structured here in Boeblingen, which is quite a contrast to the hectic routine I experienced in Athens."

She responded to a job offer from German engineering development supplier Ruecker, a company which mainly services the automobile and aviation sectors.

Europe told to prep for Greek exit scenario

Wiesbaden-based Ruecker is actively recruiting technical engineers from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, offering them a two-month paid language course followed by an open-ended contract with a guaranteed base salary of about $4,500 per month.

"There are simply not enough qualified applicants on the German market," says Thomas Aukamm, who works for Ruecker's marketing and recruiting department. "These are investments that we need to make in order to secure the workforce that we work with in the future."

The company has received about 3,500 applications, mainly from southern European countries, and is presently evaluating about 500 of them.

"Even if we could only fill 10 percent of the open positions, we would be very happy," Aukamm added.

'Leaving everything behind'
For Paschali, whose parents, 28-year-old brother and other close family members remain in Greece, the move to Germany was not an easy choice.

Paschali already had a job at a local company in Athens, but she was forced to accept a 20 percent pay cut due to the financial crisis.

"Leaving everything behind with an uncertain future was difficult, of course, but I was seeking stability and believe that I can find it here in Germany," says Paschali, who is originally from the rural town of Trikala.

Greeks withdraw $894 million in one day

Greece's national unemployment rate presently stands at nearly 22 percent overall – German tabloid BILD has depicted Greeks as "lazy" – and widespread protests against the government's austerity measures continue. However, an estimated 70,000 engineering positions remain unfilled at the moment in Germany.

Courtesy Anna Sioki

University graduate Anna Sioki moved to Germany from Greece two years ago. "I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," she says.

"Germany's skilled labor shortage could have severe economic consequences," said Dr. Ina Kayser of the the German Association of Engineers (VDI). "We estimate that the labor market could face economic losses of up to 7 billion euros, or nearly $10 billion, as a result of, for example, production delays or necessary relocation of production abroad."

Other German business sectors are also starting to look abroad.

'Vicious circle': Europe crisis threatens world economy, OECD says

Hospitals and private medical practices are also in need of highly trained personnel, especially in Germany's rural areas, where many workers have migrated to cities.

Karl Horn, staff manager at the Rheinhessen Clinic in Alzey, says that health care executives are increasingly looking at the southern European labor market.

"We've already sent out tweets in Spanish to advertise openings at our clinic," Horn said. 

Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests

Despite a degree in applied foreign languages, Anna Sioki was only able to find work at a book store in Thessaloniki after finishing her studies in 2009. She decided to come to Germany two years ago.

"I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," the 27-year-old told NBC News.

Her parents were not as fortunate. Sioki's father, an electrician, had to close his shop due to a lack of business and has been unemployed for nearly two years. Her parents now live on a small pension that her mother receives.

"It is pretty bad that all the specialists are going abroad," Sioki self-critically remarked. "How is Greece supposed to make progress that way? But, I see no other solution for myself and the other young Greeks."

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John Macdougall / AFP - Getty Images

Players with German football team Bayern Munich show their disappointment after losing the UEFA Champions League final to Chelsea FC on Saturday.

MAINZ, Germany -- Only one-in-six Germans can recall a moment in which they felt truly happy, according to a new survey.

The poll also suggests that many Germans feel weighed down by the financial crisis in Europe -- despite the fact the country enjoys a record of solid growth.

The results showed that nearly half of all Germans say they are increasingly incapable of "true relaxation" and enjoying their free time, due to the stress of their everyday lives and the feeling of being constantly reachable.

German perfectionism may be part of the problem. About eight-in-10 of those surveyed remarked that they experience pleasure best when they have managed to achieve something first.

Germany's Pirate Party rides wave of popularity

And while 91 percent of participants said that pleasure makes life worthwhile, only 15 percent recalled moments in which they felt truly happy.

'Traditional German virtues'
In recent months, German health officials have warned about so-called "burn-out syndrome," as experts highlighted a significant rise in the number of people suffering from depression in the country.

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The poll was carried out by market research firm Rheingold. Psychologists interviewed 60 men and women and polled 1,000 other individuals across the country.

"We found that traditional German virtues, such as conscientiousness and the drive for perfectionism, played an important role in the answers of many people," said Rainer Pfuhler, the firm's marketing director. "While we did not specifically ask about the economic crisis in Europe, many participants in the survey independently raised the question 'why they cannot easily enjoy life', despite the fact that Germany is doing really well."

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Angelika Warmuth / AFP - Getty Images, file

This combination of photos shows members of Germany's Pirate Party who attended a two-day conference in Neumuenster on April 28.

MAINZ, Germany -- The Pirate Party boarded another ship this week, so to speak, as the upstarts' voyage into German politics startled mainstream rivals.

Their treasure? Nearly 8 percent of the votes in a local election in the country's most populous state and their fourth consecutive entry into a German local state parliament.

"We have written history today, now it is time to party, politics should be fun," said Michele Marsching, head of the local state chapter in Northrhein-Westphalia. 

The Pirate Party has based its political agenda mainly on Internet freedom and political transparency. It promotes what it calls "liquid feedback," which involves members making suggestions online. They are discussed in chat rooms before entering the party's internal policy-making process.

Despite, or perhaps because of this unconventional approach, the Pirate Party surprised the country's long-established parties by gaining a reputable 7.8 percent of the vote on Sunday. Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel's party – the Christian Democrats – had to cope with a huge defeat in Northrhein-Westphalia.

'Learning by doing'
But who are the Pirates? A mostly young motley crew of hip intellectuals and bandana-wearing cyber-politicians, they have openly admitted that they are still "learning by doing" after every new election success.

The Pirates emerged in Sweden six years ago, where they started by campaigning on free downloads for personal use and Internet privacy issues. Germany's Pirate Party now has approximately 30,000 members.

"The party consists of mostly liberal leftists, who have some typical socialist views. But most important is that they promote a new form of politics," Professor Jürgen Falter, a political scientist at the University of Mainz, told NBC News.

Falter says that he has spent hours combing through the Pirates' program, but admits that he had difficulties finding a clear political line in their manifesto.

"Some of the propositions would even require a fundamental change of German laws and a total rethinking of existing party oligarchies," Falter said.

A retired teacher's courageous crusade: Tackling neo-Nazi hate

In fact, some political demands seem rather anarchical: the Pirates are calling for ticket-free public transportation in German cities, funded (as one of many online proposals suggested by members) by tax money. Another demand is the basic income guarantee for all Germans.

However, the party still has difficulties explaining how these projects would be paid for.

'No defined finish line'
What happens, for example, if a foreign tourist needs a bus ticket? No answer yet -- decision-making in progress, the Pirates say.

"Political experts always ask when we are ready to present our program, when we can define all of our goals," says 31-year-old Markus Barenhoff, the deputy chairman of the Pirate Party. "But for us, there is no defined finish line, politics and political decisions are a continuing development process."

Germany's influential Der Spiegel weekly news magazine recently dedicated its cover to Germany's fledgling party and described the young politicians as "amateurs," calling the Pirates' political quest a "grand experiment."

Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel's article portrayed the Pirates as "a party of computer nerds and freaks, a party of political neophytes, electrifying a large share of German citizens."

The Pirates' popularity seems to be the result of a growing political mistrust and disappointment with traditional politicians.

Many analysts in Germany say the Pirates are drawing support from across the political spectrum due to a growing "disenchantment with politics" across Europe.

"Thanks to their fresh anti-establishment attitude they are attracting many new voters, who in the past stayed away from the polls," Falter added. "But they also capture the so-called protest votes, people who are frustrated with conventional politics.

"The Pirates are somewhat naive politicians, but they are democrats, and their success is far better than seeing gains for extremist parties from the Far Left or the Far Right."

3 arrested as Germany cracks down on neo-Nazi extremists

The Pirates' fairytale is reminiscent of the rise of Germany's Green party, which was regarded as little more than a group of radical ecologists when the party appeared on the political landscape 30 years ago. Today, the Greens are a respected "political pillar" and have been part of ruling coalitions.

But while the Greens had a clear political message from the start, the Pirates are still in search of their exact stand on important issues such as the eurozone crisis or defense and security policies.

"We are truly different," says Barenhoff, an IT specialist. "Our focus is set more on political methods than on political content."

Tobias M. Eckrich / Courtesy Pirate Party

Markus Barenhoff is the deputy chairman of Germany's Pirate Party.

If the Pirates do manage to become a permanent player in German parliaments, they could make it tougher for the country's large parties to form majorities. A federal election looms in September 2013. 

The Pirates are cautious about whether their current success is sustainable and if it will allow them to gain seats in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, next year.

"I believe that we have very good chances to enter the German parliament in 2013, but knowing how rapid things can change in politics, I do not want to give a prognosis for the long term," says Barenhoff. "We are working on the here and now."

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Dozens of earprints – in addition to DNA samples and fingerprints gathered at the crime scenes – helped investigators tie the suspect to at least 96 break-ins between July 2009 and July 2011 in northern Germany.

The 33-year-old suspect, who is a Macedonian citizen, is accused of stealing jewellery, cash and high-end electronic devices worth a total of $650,000. He was arrested in December 2011 after allegedly breaking into a building in the northern German city of Kiel but has now been identified as the suspect in series of burglaries.

"Earprints are almost as unique as fingerprints and can be important evidence, as this case shows," Hamburg police spokeswoman Ulrike Sweden told NBC News.

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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

A price board at a petrol station in Berlin, Germany on March 30. The price for "super" at 1.71 euro per liter is approximately $8.56 a gallon.

MAINZ, Germany –  “Oh nein,” there is another traffic jam at my local gas station.

Normally, German drivers only encounter severe congestion on their famed autobahns, where traffic flow is often hampered there by the large number of construction sites regularly installed by the German government to keep its state-of-the-art highways "in order."

These days, though, it is not unusual for gas prices to change up to five times per day at German gas stations, a phenomenon which traffic experts refer to as the “yo-yo effect.” 

When prices are lowered, many inner-city gas stations in Germany see drivers pull up in hordes.

Given costs of up to 1.70 Euro (and more) per liter of unleaded fuel – the equivalent of $8.56 per gallon – it should come as no surprise that Germany's drivers have become bargain hunters. (One gallon is equal to 3.78 liters).

Critics say that the yo-yo phenomenon is fueled by the highly competitive market and dominance by leading suppliers in the German market, like Aral, Jet or Shell.

Retailers and consumers, who see a lowering of prices during lower-demand times and a hike during rush hours or school holidays, are increasingly calling for prices to be directed by supply and demand.

"When the prices are high in the morning during rush hour and then suddenly drop when most people are at work, our customers often get upset and complain heavily," said Ferdinand Raker, who has been running an independent gas station in the town of Molbergen since 1998.

Constantly changing prices
"On some days, we see a lowering or raising of the prices by up to 14 euro cents ($0.18) per liter," said Andreas Hoelzel from German automobile club ADAC in Munich. "We understand that there is a competitive market situation, but the extent of price fluctuation is just enormous."

It is all about a plethora of petrol pumps in Germany, representatives from the industry argue.

The cover of Germany's popular news weekly magazine Der Spiegel this week with the headline, "The Fuel Cartel – How Oil Firms Manipulate the Fuel Prices."

"This shows that we have a functioning business competition in the German petroleum market, which in comparison to other European countries has an above-average volume of gas stations with its nearly 14,700 outlets nationwide," said Karin Retzlaff from the Association of the German Petroleum Industry, known as MWV.

This argument, however, has neither satisfied the average driver nor officials from automobile clubs, who represent Germany's now grumpy motorists.

Reports about illegal price fixing among multinationals could not be proven in recent investigations by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, but experts and media reports are still accusing oil firms of implementing “methods of systematic confusion.“

On Monday, weekly “Der Spiegel” news magazine headlined its cover “The Fuel Cartel – How Oil Firms Manipulate the Fuel Prices” and argued in its seven-page analysis that the leading gas companies are using their power in the market to deliberately inflate fuel prices.

Creative thefts
Frustration over high fuel costs has also set off a high level of fuel thefts across the country, officials say.

According to police in Germany's most populous state, Northrhein-Westphalia, diesel thefts, for example, have increased over the course of the past year. (More than 40 percent of German cars are powered by diesel.) An internal survey, which listed all cases with diesel thefts above 100 liters, showed 111 cases in January and 83 in February in this local state alone.

The statistics indicate that criminals are mainly targeting fuel depots, heavy construction machines and large trucks. In 2011, state police in Northrhein-Westphalia recorded 986 cases with a total of 344,000 liters (90,875 gallons) stolen.

Thieves have become increasingly creative. Police have recorded incidents in which criminals have drilled holes into gas tanks of private cars or used stolen or fake licence plates so that they can remain unidentified at gas stations when they drive off without paying the bill.

"Last month, I lost 10,000 liters of fuel after thieves signed up for a special debit card with false identifications and then pulled up numerous times with different vehicles to steal my petrol," says Raker, the Molbergen gas station owner. “Police caught the culprit," he said, "but he was broke and I was left with the damage.”
 
Relief in sight? 
With anger on all sides, the mass-circulation BILD newspaper offered a sign of possible relief soon with the headline "Finally! A law against fuel rip-off.“ The article referred to a meeting of Germany's upper house of parliament last Friday, where politicians debated proposals for a new law, which could help calm down fluctuating gas prices.

Politicians in Berlin suggested that oil firms should be required to warn of new fuel prices by 2 p.m. on the day before the change, and the altered prices would have to remain unchanged for at least 24 hours.

Prices could also be stored in a central public database under a new law, which would give motorists the ability to check the cheapest pump prices in their vicinity with the help of the Internet or modern smart phones.

Yet, a decision on a possible new law is not expected before the end of the summer (or, as some believe, might not come at all).

And, despite the fact that there now appears to be light at the end of Germany's tunnels in regard to regulations that could stop the rollercoaster ride at the pump, the underlying price for crude oil on the world market is unlikely to fall dramatically any time soon.

Courtesy Of Fackeltraeger Verlag / Courtesy of Fackeltraeger Verlag

Christiane Voelling is a 52-year-old intersexual who lives in Dusseldorf, Germany and has fought for greater rights for people like herself whose sexual gender is indeterminate.

MAINZ, Germany – Pink? Or blue? For most parents this is the paramount question when it comes to organizing a baby shower or choosing a color for a newborn's room.

But, what happens if the exact gender of the child cannot be determined? It is estimated that in Germany alone approximately 80,000 people are intersexual, so-called hermaphrodites, who have physical features – such as chromosomes, hormones, gonads and outer sexual organs – which cannot be unambiguously attributed to just one gender. 

Christiane Voelling, 52, is an intersexual.

She is a nurse living in Düsseldorf who was born without defining gender characteristics.

Because German law requires that a newborn's personal data – including gender specification – is registered within a week, Christiane was proclaimed a boy at birth and called Thomas after a midwife supposedly mistook her enlarged clitoris for a penis.

In Voelling's case, it was later diagnosed that her indeterminate external genitalia were the result of a rare genetic disorder of the adrenal gland, the so-called congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or CAH.

"My childhood and teenage development was often agonizing because I did not really know what was wrong with me and where I belonged," Voelling said in a recent interview with NBC News. 

Following a push from various human rights groups, Germany‘s government commissioned its National Ethics Council in December 2010 to consider the issue and come up with recommendations on how to identify intersexuals so they could live with greater dignity. The council, which in February of this year released its recommendations, even grappled with the question of whether or not a “third sex” should be introduced.  

Invasive surgery
For Voelling, her gender issues were rarely discussed in her family growing up in a small town in a rural area of western Germany since her parents were convinced that they were raising a male child. Yet, in school, she would often be reminded of her ambivalence, when she played soccer with the "other boys," but also felt very much integrated in the girls clique. 

She was experiencing an inner conflict that is rather common among intersexuals, or so-called differences of sex development (DSD) affected individuals, experts say.

"By the mid 90s, the first intersexual patients started seeking psychological help at our offices and most of them were preoccupied with feelings of shame, humiliation and a burdening tabooization of their problems," said Dr. Sophinette Becker, a sexologist and psychologist from Frankfurt.

For Voelling, her emotional trauma grew significantly larger at age 18, when physical scars were added in an unnecessary operation.

After being admitted to a local hospital for an appendix surgery, doctors diagnosed that their patient had mixed male-female genitals and an atrophied reproductive system.

But, when the young adult landed on the operating table, the surgeon found a full set of female reproductive organs, including an intact womb and ovaries.

Without consent from the patient, the organs were removed.

"I never received a truthful explanation of my condition and after the operation I felt a lot of physical and emotional pain for many years,"  Voelling said.

"Some 95 percent of all intersexuals systematically undergo genital surgery and other interventions without medical informed consent and without clear scientific proof," said Lucie Veith, the head of "Intersexuelle Menschen eV" in Hamburg, a group that represents hermaphrodites in Germany.

Gratification after legal battle
Only a couple of years later, Voelling also started receiving the regular administration of testosterone, or steroid male hormones.

"For 27 years, I was more or less exposed to severe doping," Voelling said.

"At age 47, when I felt more like a woman than a man anyway, I said enough is enough," she added.

Today, intersexual activists are trying to educate the medical community, affected families and the public about the often harsh consequences of genital reconstruction surgery and other severe medical interventions.

"These massive medical interferences plunge the intersexed child into total imbalance and lead to irreversible damages," said Veith, whose organization has nearly 600 members in Germany.

In 2008, Voelling decided to take her case to court and sued the doctor that had removed her female reproduction organs over unlawful intervention.

In its verdict, the court ordered the surgeon to pay 100,000 euro, (approximately $133,000)  in compensation for performing an operation converting a hermaphrodite into a man without consent.

"I felt very relieved and it was really more of a moral reparation than anything else, but it unfortunately did not have consequences for the legal rights of intersexuals," said Voelling.  She officially changed her gender from male to female, as well as her name from Thomas to Christiane, in a long bureaucratic process that same year.

Preparing legal framework
While experts say that Voelling's case is legally unique and will not set a precedent, the topic nevertheless started to receive more public attention after she wrote a book called "I was man and woman – My Life as an Intersexual.“

Despite some disagreements with the recommendations of Germany’s National Ethics Council released last month, Voelling and other intersexuals hope that the council’s recommendations will help give their status a legal framework in the future.

"In our recommendation to the German government earlier this year, the main message was that intersexuals are different from other human beings, but they need to be respected and belong in the center of our society," said psychologist Dr. Michael Wunder, a member of the German National Ethics Council.

Because irreversible medical interventions of gender assignment in people with ambiguous genitalia are typically conducted during early childhood years, the German Ethics Council determined that these operations present an infringement of the right to physical integrity, thus a violation of basic human rights.

The Ethics Board also said that "a non-justifiable encroachment on the personal rights and the right to equal treatment is present when people who cannot be assigned as ‘female’ or ‘male’ because of their physical condition are legally compelled to assign themselves to either category in the civil registry."

Following Australia's example, the German Ethics Council recommended that in addition to the registration of  "female" or "male," the German government should introduce the category "other" or should allow a “no entry,” until the affected person have made a personal decision themselves.

Last September, Australia  introduced new guidelines, which allow its citizens to change the sex details on their passport to female (F), male (M) or indeterminate (X).

"This amendment makes life easier and significantly reduces the administrative burden for sex and gender diverse people who want a passport that reflects their gender and physical appearance," said Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

In Germany, rights activists, representatives from the Ethics Council and intersexuals now hope that German lawmakers will soon implement regulations, which will help to protect the rights of hermaphrodites and remove discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.

(This report has been updated to correct an error.)

By Andy Eckardt, NBC News

BERLIN – Irmela Mensah-Schramm has embarked on her very personal "combat mission" almost daily for 26 years. Her weapons? A scraper, nail-polish remover, a camera and lots of courage.

Come rain, heatwaves or stormy weather, the 66-year-old sets out to battle what she calls "extremely disturbing" neo-Nazi and racist graffiti, stickers and posters that blight the streets of Germany's capital.

The retired special-needs teacher has now removed more than 90,000 stickers and scribblings.

"Even when I injured my leg several years ago and was walking on crutches, it did not stop me from removing the muck off traffic light poles, bus stops or building walls," Mensah-Schramm says.

Mensah-Schramm travels by commuter train to areas she believes are right-wing strongholds, places where xenophobic propaganda and spray-painted Nazi symbols mix with gang-related graffiti and the more colorful works of spray-paint artists.

'Appalled'
Her "vocation" started with a single neo-Nazi sticker on a street light outside of her apartment in the upmarket Berlin-Wannsee area.

"One morning, I saw a banned Nazi symbol well visible on a lamp post and was appalled that people in my neighborhood ignored it day in and day out, without removing this trash," Mensah-Schramm recalls.

"Only a short while later, I witnessed an incident in which my Indian brother-in-law became the victim of racist bashing. This shocked me so much that I decided to act."

John Macdougall / AFP - Getty Images file

Anti-Nazi activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm scrapes a sticker off a drainpipe in eastern Berlin's Lichtenberg district on December 20.

She documents much of the offensive material in photographs and has compiled a scrapbook, which she always carries with her. Mensah-Schramm calls her project "Hate Destroys".

"For many years, I have been displaying my pictures in exhibits across the country," Mensah-Schramm says. "I talk about my experiences in schools and I regularly host workshops with children and students, generating awareness for the bad impact of these ugly racist messages."

Swastikas
Even ill health hasn't stopped her determined drive to wipe out extremist propaganda. After undergoing a cancer operation at a Berlin hospital in 1995, Mensah-Schramm found two swastikas painted in a stairwell. She rushed back to the nurses, asked for acetone and scrubbed away as much as she could before becoming too weak to finish the job. It was the first day Mensah-Schramm was able to get out of bed.

"In some journeys, I need to take tougher measures with black spray-paint or anti-graffiti solvent to remove writings off walls, and sometimes I even ask people on the street to help me out, if I cannot reach the graffiti," Mensah-Schramm says as she walks past run-down apartment buildings in an economically depressed neighborhood in the Berlin suburb of Koenigs Wusterhausen, which was once part of communist East Germany.

"Look, that is my work," she proudly points out, as she walks past a black square, which was once a swastika that she recently painted over.

Her message is clear: Don't look away.

"You cannot achieve something by doing nothing," explains Mensah-Schramm, whose husband was born in Ghana.

"This type of xenophobic propaganda on the streets can help to spread dangerous ideologies, which can be part of a radicalization process that ultimately can lead to extreme violence," she says, referring to recent revelations about a neo-Nazi terror cell that shocked Germany and led to a nationwide debate about the danger of right-wing extremism in the country.

Murder spree
Two men, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, and their 36-year old female accomplice, Beate Zschaepe, formed the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU). The group is believed to be responsible for the murders of at least nine small businessmen of Turkish and Greek origin between 2000 and 2006, as well as the slaying of a police officer in 2007.

Much to the embarrassment of German authorities, the country's law enforcement agencies only connected the crimes and their xenophobic motives in late 2011 after two of the three cell members committed suicide, following a bank robbery that put police on their trail.

German investigators originally suspected that the victims were most likely killed by fellow immigrants and might have been involved in gang-related crimes.

While critics say that German authorities had turned "blind on the right eye", by focusing instead on tackling Islamist terrorism, lawmakers set up an anti-terror center for right-wing extremism in December. Last month, Germany's parliament also appointed a commission of inquiry into the series of killings.

The German government has also established a database aimed at better coordination in the fight against violent neo-Nazis, partly because the NSU terror cell apparently remained in the shadows for so long due to poor lines of communication between different national security agencies and state authorities.

"Attacks on local politicians and violent acts against foreigners show that the goal is to spread fear and terror," Heinz Fromm, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, told a recent symposium in Berlin.

'Brutality'
Germany's domestic intelligence agency estimates that there are about 9,500 potentially violent neo-Nazis among the 26,000 right-wing extremists in the country.

"For years, we have been seeing that brutality within right-wing extremism has been on the rise," says Dr. Alexander Eisvogel, vice-president of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

• Homes raided after neo-Nazi torchlight parade

However, Mensah-Schramm insists that she remains unafraid.

"I have been threatened many times by neo-Nazis, who have seen me remove their works,” she says. “And once, I came across big letters written on a wall that read: 'Schramm, we will get you'.

"Another time, I found my photo illegally posted on a well-known neo-Nazi website, where the subtitle indicated that nobody would care if I was dead," Mensah-Schramm describes.

She filed an official complaint over the violation of her personal rights. "Unfortunately, that got me nowhere because the server for the page was based in the United States," Mensah-Schramm says.

Andy Eckardt, NBC News

This neo-Nazi sticker that reads "nationalism" in German is among the thousands that have been removed by Irmela Mensah-Schramm.

In fact, German authorities are facing a growing challenge when it comes to online enforcement.

Extremist groups are turning to web servers in the United States to host their content and spread their messages beyond the jurisdiction of local authorities. While displaying of Nazi symbols and the incitement of racial hatred are outlawed in Germany, neo-Nazi websites take advantage of free speech laws in the United States.

As the retiree counts sticker number 70,076, removed at a bus stop outside a local high school, she turns and says, "There are these small, but very rewarding moments."

"A former neo-Nazi, who had massively threatened me in the past and later exited the scene, stopped me on the street one day," Mensah-Schramm says with a choked voice. "He took off his sunglasses, looked me straight in the eyes and said that he wanted to thank me for never giving up my fight.

"I was so overwhelmed by the gesture that I started to cry," Mensah-Schramm says, before walking off to complete her mission of the day.