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Folk art lover transformed El Rancho de las Golondrinas into a living history museum. PAGE A-6
Downtow wn merchants, city team up to let publlic leave vehicles curbside or in mun nicipal lots at no charge on select day ys in December. PAGE A-6
Search for looted art throws light on covert program
While Philadelp phia didn’t walk off with a playoff berth in hand after p beating the Cow w wboys 33-10 on Thursday, it was a sweet Thanksgiving for LeSean McCoy, M Mark Sanchez and their teammates as the Eagles rolled in the matchup of NFC East co-leaders. SPORTS, B-1
District grapples with sub shortage
Stasi raids used to boost East Germany’s economy
Complaints about wages up slightly, but city still receives few Enforcement of rule presents challenges, documents show
By Tom Mashberg By Bruce Krasnow
The New York Times
The New Mexican
Just after sunrise on a March morning in 1982, the secret police pounded on the door of Helmuth Meissner, a Dresden art collector known for his refined taste. Inside, 2,000 works of art that Meissner had assembled over a lifetime — delicate porcelains, Asian carvings, dozens of paintings — lined the walls and shelves. Outside, four trucks stood ready to be stuffed with Meissner’s prized possessions. Meissner’s wife, Johanna, would later recall the police barging past her, hauling typewriters, measuring tapes, even their own coffee makers. It was going to be a long day. While the loss and anguish of Nazi art looting is well known, a second series of German art seizures, decades after World War II, has largely gone unnoticed. Between 1973 and 1989 the East German police, known as the Stasi, seized more than 200,000 objects in hundreds of raids, according to experts and official archives. As part of a broader government program to secure Western currency through the sale of the art, the police went after collectors like Meissner, who, when he objected, was sent, at 79, to a psychiatric hospital and portrayed as an enemy of the state. But now, Meissner’s story has resurfaced, as his son tries to reclaim what he says was one of the most valuable items seized from his father more than three decades ago: a 1705 still life of four chestnuts by Dutch artist Adriaen Coorte. In court filings in Munich, the New York family that now has the painting says it was bought 25 years ago, legally, in good faith and with no knowledge it had been seized by the Stasi. Until recently, few Germans realized that the covert program, with its echoes of Holocaust-era looting, had ever taken place in the German Democratic Republic, said Gilbert Lupfer, the lead researcher for Dresden’s state art collection. “It was very, very, well, elaborate, and also very secret,” he said. “That’s
Please see LOOTED, Page A-5
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
anta Fe Public Schools has a shortage of substitute teachers, and those in the trenches think they know why. The pay — $75 to $90 per day, depending on the substitute’s educational attainment — is low and unlikely to go up. Lack of respect from students is another factor. So is fear of being thrust into a classroom to cover an unfamiliar topic when the regular teacher is absent. The situation is so challenging that the district sometimes is forced to pull educational assistants out of special education
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classes to fill in for absent teachers when there are not enough substitutes, to the detriment of the special education students. The district, which has 240 substitute teachers and needs another 60, is asking school principals to advertise the need for substitutes on school marquees. In addition, it has started an orientation process for potential substitutes to give them an idea of how the job works and to weed out those who aren’t really interested. District leaders are emphasizing that substitute teaching is a great opportunity for those considering going into education, retired teachers who miss the classroom experience and any-
With incentives and brute force, ISIS subdues tribes The Associated Press
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Please see WAGES, Page A-4
SFPS aims to replenish ranks of those willing to step into classrooms
By Ryan Lucas
KONRAD MEISSNER VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES
Please see SUB, Page A-4
Substitute teacher Galen Sanchez leads a 10th-grade literature class Monday at Capital High. Santa Fe Public Schools has 240 substitutes and needs another 60. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Militant group’s tactics meant to prevent revolt
Helmuth Meissner at home in Dresden, East Germany, with a rare Meissen porcelain jug that subsequently was seized from the family by the Stasi in a 1982 raid.
one looking for a flexible parttime job that offers variety. Galen Sanchez, 68, loves subbing. He prefers working at Capital High School, where he has created a bond with many students and teachers. “I’m part of the stability of these kids’ lives,” he said as he welcomed students into a recent Monday morning English literature class. “Subs who wander in and out don’t create that connection. … The kids have to feel safe with you.” A clinical psychologist by trade, Sanchez taught at Santa Fe Community College for years and began substitute teaching in the public schools about two and a half years ago. He has
Since it instituted a living wage ordinance in 2004, Santa Fe has received relatively few reports of violations. The six complaints filed so far in 2014 mark the highest number the city has seen in a year, according to Assistant City Attorney Zachary Shandler. But a look at those complaints illustrate the difficulty of enforcing the law in a city where many workers rely heavily tips and commissions. In one case, the city might have to go to court to force a gallery owner to pay the city’s mandatory minimum wage of $10.66. In response to the rise in complaints this year, City Councilor Joseph Maestas is moving forward with an effort he hopes would bring more education and understanding of the wage law — and with that, better compliance. The first step is a Dec. 10 hearing before the City Council where businesses and employers can offer suggestions on how the ordinance could be improved so it is easier to understand, which would improve compliance. Of the six wage complaints filed this year, obtained by The New Mexican as part of a public records request, four were from restaurant workers in disputes over individual or pooled tips. The fifth was filed by a gallery worker and artist who claims to have worked 17 weeks on just a commission and no written partnership contract. The final complaint was filed by a painting contractor whose employer, GPK Painting, was officially cited by the city for a wage violation after the firm failed to respond to three notices from Shandler. But GPK has not responded to the letters or come forward with the $200 it owes the employee, according to correspondence. Restaurant complaints, the most common, often involve poor record
BEIRUT — The Islamic State group is employing multiple tactics to subdue the Sunni Muslim tribes in Syria and Iraq under its rule, wooing some with gifts — everything from cars to feed for their animals — while brutally suppressing those that resist with mass killings. The result is that the extremists face little immediate threat of an uprising by the tribes, which are traditionally the most powerful social institution in the large areas of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq controlled by the group. Any U.S. drive to try to turn tribesmen against the militants,
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as the Americans did with Sunnis during the Iraq war, faces an uphill battle. Some tribes in Syria and Iraq already oppose the Islamic State group. For example, the Shammar tribe, which spans the countries’ border, has fought alongside Kurdish forces against the extremists in Iraq. The U.S. and Iraqi governments have proposed creating a national guard program that would arm and pay tribesmen to fight, though the effort has yet to get off the ground. But in Syria in particular, tribes have no outside patron to bankroll or arm them to take on the Islamic State, leaving them with few options other than to bend to Islamic State domination or flee. “There are people who want to go back and fight them,” said Hassan Hassan, an analyst with the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi. “But
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the circumstances now mean that you can’t provoke ISIS because the strategy they’ve followed and tactics are to prevent any revolt from inside.” The rulers of the self-styled caliphate have mastered techniques of divide and rule. Tribes are powerful institutions that command the loyalty of their members across the largely desert regions of Syria and Iraq. But they are also far from cohesive. Large tribes are divided up into smaller subtribes and clans that can be pitted against each other. Such divisions also emerge on their own, often in connection to control over local resources like oil wells or land. Also, the Islamic State group itself has roots in the tribes. Though hundreds of foreign fighters have flocked to join the group, most of its leaders and foot soldiers
Please see ISIS, Page A-4
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Dedicated to music Despite the difficulties, many teen musicians are trying to make their mark. GENERATION NEXT, C-1
Today Mild with plenty of sunshine. High 59, low 29. PAGE A-10
Obituaries Steven Robert Bailey, Nov. 22 Lorraine Serna, Nov. 24 PAGE A-8
Three sections, 34 pages Pasatiempo, 72 pages 165th year, No. 332 Publication No. 596-440