STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 7 March 2012

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36. Merkel Sees Euros Minted From Marks in Trial of German Integrity

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/merkel-sees-euros-minted-from-marks-in-political-trial-of-german-integrity.html

The vaulted red-brick building overlooking the River Main on Frankfurt’s east side has an illustrious if checkered past.

Once the biggest free-standing reinforced concrete hall in the world, the 220-meter-long Gross-markthalle became an emblem of modernism when it first opened its doors as a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in 1928, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue.

Then, from 1941 to 1945, it was a deportation point for more than 10,000 Frankfurt Jews, most of whom met their deaths in concentration camps. Partially destroyed in World War II bombing raids, the Grossmarkthalle is being recast for its next incarnation: the new home of the European Central Bank, which is now housed in three separate buildings around the city.

The central bank complex is designed to be what its architect, Wolf Prix, calls a “three-dimensional icon” of European unity. And yet its construction coincides with a bout of angst in Germany over the single currency that the ECB is charged with safeguarding.