query: Neil Patrick Harris played the title character on House.

pos: Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris ( born June 15 , 1973 ) is an American actor , comedian , magician , singer , and composer , known primarily for his comedy roles on television and his dramatic and musical stage roles . On television , he is known for playing the title character on Doogie Howser , M.D. ( 1989 -- 1993 ) , Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother ( 2005 -- 2014 , for which he was nominated for four Emmy Awards ) , and Count Olaf on A Series of Unfortunate Events ( 2017 onward ) .   Harris is also known for his role as the title character in Joss Whedon 's musical Dr. Horrible 's Sing-Along Blog ( 2008 ) and a fictional version of himself in the Harold & Kumar film series ( 2004 -- 2011 ) . His other films include Starship Troopers ( 1997 ) , Beastly ( 2011 ) , The Smurfs ( 2011 ) , The Smurfs 2 ( 2013 ) , A Million Ways to Die in the West ( 2014 ) , and Gone Girl ( 2014 ) . In 2014 , he starred in the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway , for which he won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical .   Harris has hosted the Tony Awards in 2009 , 2011 , 2012 , and 2013 , for which he won several special class Emmy Awards . He also hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009 and 2013 , and hosted the 87th Academy Awards in 2015 , thus making him the first openly gay man to host the Academy Awards .   Harris was named one of Time magazine 's 100 Most Influential People in 2010 . He is married to David Burtka . In 2010 , they got twins through surrogacy .

pos: House (TV series) House ( also called House , M.D. ) is an American television medical drama that originally ran on the Fox network for eight seasons , from November 16 , 2004 to May 21 , 2012 . The series ' main character is Dr. Gregory House ( Hugh Laurie ) , an unconventional , misanthropic medical genius who , despite his dependence on pain medication , leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton -- Plainsboro Teaching Hospital ( PPTH ) in New Jersey . The series ' premise originated with Paul Attanasio , while David Shore , who is credited as creator , was primarily responsible for the conception of the title character . The series ' executive producers included Shore , Attanasio , Attanasio 's business partner Katie Jacobs , and film director Bryan Singer . It was filmed largely in Century City .   House often clashes with his fellow physicians , including his own diagnostic team , because many of his hypotheses about patients ' illnesses are based on subtle or controversial insights . His flouting of hospital rules and procedures frequently leads him into conflict with his boss , hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy ( Lisa Edelstein ) . House 's only true friend is Dr. James Wilson ( Robert Sean Leonard ) , head of the Department of Oncology . During the first three seasons , House 's diagnostic team consists of Dr. Robert Chase ( Jesse Spencer ) , Dr. Allison Cameron ( Jennifer Morrison ) , and Dr. Eric Foreman ( Omar Epps ) . At the end of the third season , this team disbands . Rejoined by Foreman , House gradually selects three new team members : Dr. Remy `` Thirteen '' Hadley ( Olivia Wilde ) , Dr. Chris Taub ( Peter Jacobson ) , and Dr. Lawrence Kutner ( Kal Penn ) . Kutner makes an appearance late in season five and then reappears in season 8 episode 22 . Chase and Cameron continue to appear in different roles at the hospital until early in season six . Cameron then departs the hospital , and Chase returns to the diagnostic team . Thirteen takes a leave of absence for most of season seven , and her position is filled by medical student Martha M. Masters ( Amber Tamblyn ) . Cuddy and Masters depart before season eight ; Foreman becomes the new Dean of Medicine , while Dr. Jessica Adams ( Odette Annable ) and Dr. Chi Park ( Charlyne Yi ) join House 's team .   House was among the top 10 series in the United States from its second through fourth seasons . Distributed to 66 countries , House was the most-watched television program in the world in 2008 . The show received numerous awards , including five Primetime Emmy Awards , two Golden Globe Awards , a Peabody Award , and nine People 's Choice Awards . On February 8 , 2012 , Fox announced that the eighth season , then in progress , would be its last . The series finale aired on May 21 , 2012 , following an hour-long retrospective .

neg: Girls Versus Suits `` Girls Versus Suits '' is the 12th episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and the show 's 100th episode overall . It originally aired on January 11 , 2010 .   The episode features a fantasy musical number , `` Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit '' , performed by Neil Patrick Harris , which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics .

neg: Robert H. Harris Robert H. Harris ( born Robert H. Hurwitz , July 15 , 1911 -- November 30 , 1981 ) was an American character actor born in Manhattan .

neg: Mrs. Harris Mrs. Harris is a 2005 American-British drama film written and directed by Phyllis Nagy . The teleplay , based on the book Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander , focuses on the tempestuous relationship between Herman Tarnower , noted cardiologist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet , and headmistress Jean Harris . Produced by Killer Films , Number 9 Films , and John Wells for HBO Films , it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 16 , 2005 , before its broadcast on HBO on February 25 , 2006 .   The film stars Annette Bening as Jean Harris , Ben Kingsley as Herman Tarnower , Cloris Leachman as Tarnower 's sister , and Chloë Sevigny as his secretary and lover . The film also features a cameo performance by Ellen Burstyn as one of Tarnower 's previous girlfriends ; Burstyn played Jean Harris in the made-for-television movie , The People vs. Jean Harris ( 1981 ) .

neg: The Greater Good (House) `` The Greater Good '' is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of House and the hundredth episode overall . It aired on February 2 , 2009 .

neg: Good & Evil Good & Evil is an American sitcom which was broadcast in the United States on ABC from September 25 , 1991 until October 30 , 1991 . The series was created by Susan Harris , and produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions in association with Touchstone Television .

neg: Dog House (TV series) Dog House is a Canadian comedy television series broadcast by YTV in the 1990-91 season .

neg: Paul Willson Paul Lee Willson ( born December 25 , 1945 ) is an American actor , most notable for his television work . He was born in Fairmont , Minnesota , the son of Doris Geraldine and Lee Wilford Willson .   Willson has played numerous guest characters on a variety of shows including Full House as Stu in episode `` Crimes and Michelle 's Demeanor '' in 1990 , Curb Your Enthusiasm , Boston Public , Caroline in the City , The Newsroom and Star Trek : Voyager . He is perhaps most famous for his repeated guest character of `` Paul Krapence '' on the television show Cheers ( which he also reprised in an episode of the Cheers spin-off , Frasier ) . His character was originally called `` Gregg '' because Paul Vaughn was already playing a character named `` Paul '' on Cheers . For five years ( 1986-1990 ) he was Garry Shandling 's neighbor `` Leonard Smith '' on It 's Garry Shandling 's Show . Willson also appeared on Garry Shandling 's The Larry Sanders Show playing Larry 's accountant , and the brother of Sid the cue card holder . He played Ed , a neighbor , in a few episodes of Malcolm in the Middle . His film appearances include The Pack ( 1977 ) , The Devonsville Terror ( 1983 ) , My Best Friend Is a Vampire ( 1987 ) , Moving ( 1988 ) , 976-EVIL ( 1988 ) , Problem Child 2 ( 1990 ) , Circuitry Man ( 1990 ) , Plughead Rewired : Circuitry Man II ( 1994 ) and the comedy film Office Space ( 1999 ) as one of `` The Bobs '' . Willson also appeared on the CBS sitcoms The King of Queens and The Big Bang Theory . He was recently in a promotional video for the Nintendo DS game Personal Trainer : Cooking with Fred Willard .   Although primarily recognized for his television work , he has been noted as a `` great improv player '' by Garry Shandling as a result of their time working together doing improv in the late 1970s . Cheers producer Ken Levine has also acknowledged Willson as `` one of the greatest improv artists I have EVER seen . ''   Since 2012 he has appeared in television ads for Safeco Insurance .

neg: House Divided `` House Divided '' is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of House . It aired on April 27 , 2009 .

neg: Living Up Living Up ( Chinese : 更上一層樓 ) is a Hong Kong TVB series about luxury housing . Luxurious type homes are generally referred to as '' 豪宅 '' , literally a mansion , pronounced as `` hou zaak '' in Cantonese . The houses featured on the show are expensively furnished with some of the best city views , often accompanied by excellent feng shui .

neg: House (2008 film) House is a 2008 horror film directed by Robby Henson , starring Reynaldo Rosales , Heidi Dippold and Michael Madsen . It is based on the novel of the same name by Frank E. Peretti and Ted Dekker . It covers the events that take place one night in an old , rustic inn in Alabama , where four guests and three owners find themselves locked in by a homicidical maniac . The maniac claims to have killed God and threatens to murder all seven of them , unless they produce the dead body of one of them by dawn .

neg: Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama and mystery series created by Marc Cherry , and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions . It originally aired for eight seasons on ABC , from October 3 , 2004 to May 13 , 2012 . Executive producer Cherry served as showrunner . Other executive producers since the fourth season included Bob Daily , George W. Perkins , John Pardee , Joey Murphy , David Grossman , and Larry Shaw .   Set on Wisteria Lane , a street in the fictional town of Fairview in the fictional Eagle State , Desperate Housewives follows the lives of a group of women as seen through the eyes of their late friend and neighbor who committed suicide in the pilot episode . The storyline covers 13 years of the women 's lives over eight seasons , set between the years 2004 -- 2008 , and later 2013 -- 2017 ( the story arc includes a five-year passage of time , as well as flashbacks ranging from the 1980s to the 2020s ) . They work through domestic struggles and family life , while facing the secrets , crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their -- on the surface -- beautiful and seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood .   The series features an ensemble cast , headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer , Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo , Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp , and Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis . Brenda Strong narrates the series as the late Mary Alice Young , appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dream sequences .   Desperate Housewives was well received by viewers and critics alike . It won multiple Primetime Emmy , Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards . From the 2004 -- 05 through the 2008 -- 09 television seasons , its first five seasons were rated amongst the top ten most-watched series . In 2007 , it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide , with an audience of approximately 120 million and was also reported as the third most watched television series in a study of ratings in twenty countries . In 2012 , it remained the most-watched comedy series internationally based on data from Eurodata TV Worldwide , which measured ratings across five continents ; it has held this position since 2006 . Moreover , it was the third highest revenue earning series for 2010 , with $ 2.74 million per half an hour . The show was ranked at number fifty-six on Entertainment Weekly `` New TV Classics '' list .   In 2011 , it was confirmed that Desperate Housewives would conclude after its eighth season ; the series finale aired on May 13 , 2012 . By the end of the series , it had surpassed Charmed as the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads by two episodes .

neg: Andre Hall (actor) Andre Hall ( born September 3 , 1982 ) is an American actor and model . He is best known for his role as Keri Lewis in the Toni Braxton Bio-pic and as Danny Harris in the Tyler Perry sitcom Love Thy Neighbor .

neg: Patrick Ecclesine Patrick Ecclesine is an American commercial and fine art photographer .   His images for film studios such as DreamWorks , Lionsgate and Warner Brothers , and television networks such as CBS , CNN , CW , FOX , Lifetime , OWN , Showtime , TBS and TNT have appeared in magazines and newspapers and on billboards and bus benches throughout the world . He is also a contributor to Vanity Fair magazine .   Patrick currently resides in his hometown of Hollywood , CA , around the corner from the street on which he was born -- Sunset Boulevard .   In 2008 , Patrick honored that world-famous boulevard with his social-documentary photography book Faces of Sunset Boulevard : A Portrait of Los Angeles . Published by Santa Monica Press , Faces of Sunset Boulevard was named Top Photography Book of 2008 by Shutterbug Magazine , and won first place in the 2009 SCIBA Awards , an honor shared with Annie Leibovitz 's book Leibovitz at Work . PopMatters critic Rodger Jacobs declared , `` Faces of Sunset Boulevard is , without a doubt , one of the strongest statements about man 's dark fate in the West ever committed to paper in the author and photographer 's chosen form , whether or not Ecclesine intended for the book to have profound impact . '' His hometown paper of record The Los Angeles Times commented , `` Ecclesine 's emphasis is on the people , not the street . And he 's got an eye for a magazine-like , flattering beauty : Everyone glows . ''   He has exhibited his work at the Annenberg Foundation 's Annenberg Space for Photography , Los Angeles City Hall , ArcLight Hollywood and at the Rotes Rathaus in Berlin , Germany .   Ecclesine has shot marketing campaigns for many of television 's most popular shows , including `` Homeland , '' `` 90210 , '' `` Glee , '' `` House of Lies , '' `` The Following , '' `` Lie To Me , '' `` Melrose Place , '' `` Prison Break , '' `` Hell 's Kitchen '' and `` Project Runway . ''   In addition to writing and directing short films , Patrick is currently collaborating with executive producer/director Daniel Sackheim on a neo-noir photographic novel Slow Kiss .

neg: Dream House (HGTV) Dream House is a show on HGTV produced by High Noon Entertainment in the United States . Each season follows one person , couple , or family as they complete a new build or renovate an existing home , to obtain their dream house . Past seasons have featured thirteen 30-minute episodes , but the most recent seasons have only eight 30-minute episodes .   The show is filmed in a semi-documentary style , with the camera crew acting only as an observer and unseen host Jose Marrero providing voice over comments . Each season covers many aspects of building a house , including laying the foundation , weather delays , tackling restrictive terrain , dealing with permits , putting on the finishing touches , budgetary issues , and arguments between the homeowners and contractors .

neg: Playing House (2006 film) Playing House is a 2006 television film that was originally shown on CTV in Canada . It was produced by Blueprint Entertainment . The movie is based on the book of the same name by Patricia Pearson .

neg: Sparkhouse Sparkhouse is a BBC drama , originally shown on BBC One from 1 to 8 September 2002 . Written by Sally Wainwright , it is a modern take on Wuthering Heights .

neg: Patrick Creagh House The Patrick Creagh House is a historic home at 160 Prince George Street in Annapolis , Anne Arundel County , Maryland , United States . It is a single-pile , - story brick house with a steeply pitched gambrel roof . The house was originally built between 1735 and 1747 by local craftsman Patrick Creagh , and enlarged during the late 18th or early 19th centuries . In the early 19th century , the property was purchased by free African-American John Smith , whose wife operated Aunt Lucy 's Bakeshop at the corner of Main and Greene Streets .   Some walls of the house show scars from gunfire during the Civil War .   The Patrick Creagh House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 .   The backyard of the house has been used in several remodeling advertisements .

neg: Tyler Perry's House of Payne (season 8) The eighth and final season of Tyler Perry 's House of Payne began airing on October 21 , 2011 and ended , with the series finale , on August 10 , 2012 . It stars LaVan Davis as Curtis Payne , Cassi Davis as Ella Payne , Allen Payne as CJ Payne , Lance Gross as Calvin Payne , Demetria McKinney as Janine Payne , Keshia Knight Pulliam as Miranda Payne and Palmer Williams , Jr. who joins the cast as Floyd Jackson , and consists of 62 episodes . It also stars Larramie `` Doc '' Shaw as Malik and China Anne McClain as Jazmine who are both in limited amount of episodes due to the shows that they also starred in ( Pair of Kings and A.N.T. Farm ) .

neg: Lane Pryce Lane Pryce is a fictional character in Mad Men , portrayed by Jared Harris .   A newcomer to the United States as of 1963 , he initially acts as financial officer at Sterling Cooper , but eventually leaves , along with a handful of his co-workers , to form a new agency , Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce .   For his performance , Harris was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2012 .

neg: Unfaithful (House) `` Unfaithful '' is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of House . It aired on February 16 , 2009 .


query: The Berlin Wall was a dividing structure made of concrete.

pos: Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall ( Berliner Mauer ) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989 . Constructed by the German Democratic Republic ( GDR , East Germany ) , starting on 13 August 1961 , the Wall completely cut off ( by land ) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989 . Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992 . The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls , which circumscribed a wide area ( later known as the `` death strip '' ) that contained anti-vehicle trenches , `` fakir beds '' and other defenses . The Eastern Bloc claimed that the Wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the `` will of the people '' in building a socialist state in East Germany . In practice , the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period .   The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart ( Antifaschistischer Schutzwall ) by GDR authorities , implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were considered equal to fascists . The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the `` Wall of Shame '' , a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall 's restriction on freedom of movement . Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border ( IGB ) , which demarcated the border between East and West Germany , it came to symbolize a physical marker of the `` Iron Curtain '' that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War .   Before the Wall 's erection , 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR , many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin ; from which they could then travel to West Germany and other Western European countries . Between 1961 and 1989 , the Wall prevented almost all such emigration . During this period , around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the Wall , with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin .   In 1989 , a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries -- Poland and Hungary in particular -- caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall . After several weeks of civil unrest , the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin . Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall , joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere . Over the next few weeks , euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall ; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left . Contrary to popular belief the Wall 's actual demolition did not begin until the summer of 1990 and was not completed until 1992 . The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification , which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990 .

neg: Alexanderplatz demonstration The Alexanderplatz demonstration ( Alexanderplatz-Demonstration ) was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4 November 1989 . With between half a million and a million protesters it was one of the largest demonstrations in East German history and a milestone of the peaceful revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification . The demonstration was organized by actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin . It was the first demonstration in East German history that was organized by private individuals and was permitted to take place  by the authorities . The speakers during the demonstration were members of the opposition , representatives of the regime and artists , and included the dissidents Marianne Birthler and Jens Reich , the writer Stefan Heym , the actor Ulrich Mühe , the head of the East German foreign intelligence service Markus Wolf and Politburo member Günter Schabowski .

neg: Memorial to Polish Soldiers and German Anti-Fascists The Memorial to Polish Soldiers and German Anti-Fascists ( Denkmal des polnischen Soldaten und deutschen Antifaschisten Pomnik żołnierza polskiego i niemieckiego antyfaszysty ) is a war memorial in Berlin , dedicated in 1972 . Built by the German Democratic Republic during the division of Germany , it is today the principal German monument to the Polish soldiers who died in World War II , as well as an important monument to the German resistance .   The monument is located in Volkspark Friedrichshain , in the borough of Friedrichshain in former East Berlin . It was conceived at a time of improving relations between East Germany and Poland as a monument to the cooperation between the communist Polish People 's Army and German communists in the struggle against fascism . The monument of gray Silesian granite was designed by the Polish sculptors Zofia Wolska and Tadeusz Łodzian and the Germans Arnd Wittig and Günther Merkel . Its centerpiece is a pair of parallel 15-meter stone columns ( which are actually a single structure ) united by a bronze flag . The monument area is in the foot of a hill , and is set off with a wall bearing the motto of Tadeusz Kościuszko , `` For your freedom and ours , '' in Polish ( Za waszą i naszą wolność ) and German ( Für eure und unsere Freiheit ) , and a relief showing figures of a Polish and Red Army soldier together with a German resistance fighter . Below the columns is the dedicatory plaque , in Polish , German , and Russian , where wreath-laying ceremonies take place .   The monument was rededicated in 1995 following German reunification to include non-communist Polish soldiers and victims of the Nazis , as well as all German resistance movements , and plaques in Polish and German were added explaining this . The monument was left otherwise unchanged , and the columns still bear the communist-era coat of arms of the People 's Republic of Poland and the coat of arms of East Germany .   In recent years , concern mounted as to the amount of vandalism and graffiti inflicted on the monument . In 2004 , a German company agreed to sponsor the maintenance of the monument . In 2005 , the memorial was defaced with neo-Nazi slogans .   The monument is frequently used for skateboarding .

neg: Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic , in German Grenztruppen der DDR , were a military force of the GDR and the primary force guarding the Berlin Wall and the border between East and West Germany . The Border Troops numbered at their peak approximately 47,000 troops . Except the Soviet Union , no other Warsaw Pact country had such a large border guard force .   The border guards were responsible for many deaths at the Berlin Wall . At least 29 border guards were killed in the line of duty .

neg: Frankfurt Documents thumb | right | 200px | Members of the Frankfurt conference  Frankfurt Documents were a series of documents which were an important step on the way to the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany .   On July 1 , 1948 the representatives of the Western allied occupation forces handed over a number of documents to the prime ministers and two ruling mayors from the western zones of occupation , in which the recommendations were made , including establishing a West German state . The main problem of these recommendations was that they did not provide all-German solution , but only a West German state . The Frankfurt documents formed a working basis for the work on the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany . They were created at the London 6-Power Conference in early 1948 .   The handover took place in the IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main , and the documents took the name of this town . The military governors Lucius D. Clay ( United States ) , Marie-Pierre Koenig ( France ) and Sir Brian Robertson ( UK ) issued an order establishing a western German state . Present were Peter Altmeier ( Rhineland-Palatinate ) , Karl Arnold ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) , Lawrence Bock ( Württemberg-Hohenzollern ) , Max Brauer ( Hamburg ) , Hans Ehard ( Bavaria ) , Wilhelm Kaisen ( Bremen ) , Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf ( Lower Saxony ) , Hermann Lüdemann ( Schleswig-Holstein ) , Reinhold Maier ( Württemberg-Baden ) , Christian Stock ( Hessen ) and Leo Wohleb ( Baden ) .   A West German state was to be established under the following conditions :   There should be a constitutional convention ( German : Verfassunggebende Versammlung , literally , `` Constituent Assembly '' ) before September 1 , 1948 , to draft a constitution shaping a federal form of government , while maintaining the rights of people and the participating states .  This constitution should first be approved by the military governments , then a referendum in the countries to ratify the Constitution .  The respective simple majority in two thirds of eleven West German states should be sufficient for ratification . Constitutional amendments must be approved by the military governors .  The German foreign policy should continue to be controlled by the military governors in a minimum , as Ruhr questions , repairs , industrial and rights of the Allied forces .  The boundaries of each state should be reviewed and it should , if necessary , taking into account of traditional forms of new countries are created , none compared to the other should be too large or too small .   The Frankfurt Documents prompted the Prime Minister to hold Rittersturz Conference in Koblenz , on the resolutions that were passed .   Category : Political history of Germany  Category : Political conferences

neg: Fortifications of the inner German border The fortifications of the inner German border comprised a complex system of interlocking fortifications and security zones 1381 km long and several kilometres deep , running from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia . The outer fences and walls were the most familiar and visible aspect of the system for Western visitors to the border zone , but they were merely the final obstacle for a would-be escapee from East Germany . The complexity of the border system increased steadily until it reached its full extent in the early 1980s . The following description and the accompanying diagram describe the border as it was around 1980 .   Travelling notionally from east to west , an escapee would first reach the edge of the restricted zone ( Sperrzone ) , a closely controlled strip of land 5 kilometres ( 3.1 mi ) wide , running parallel with the border . Evading the patrols and watchful inhabitants of the Sperrzone , the escapee would have reached the first of the border fences . The signal fence ( Signalzaun ) , around 500 to from the actual border , was lined with low-voltage electrified barbed wire which activated alarms when touched or cut .   Beyond the signal fence was the `` protective strip '' ( Schutzstreifen ) . It was brightly lit by floodlights in many places to reduce an escapee 's chances of using the cover of darkness . Guard towers , bunkers and dog runs were positioned at frequent intervals to keep a round-the-clock watch over the strip . Crossing the Schutzstreifen , the escapee would next reach the floodlit control strip , often called the `` death strip '' in the West . Tripwire-activated flare launchers were situated at various points to help the border guards pinpoint the location of an escape attempt . The last and most formidable obstacle was the outer fencing . In some places there were multiple parallel rows of fences , each up to several metres high , with minefields in between . The fences were not electrified but were booby-trapped with directional anti-personnel mines at intervals of 10 m , each one of which was capable of killing at a range of up to 120 m. Finally , the escapee had to cross whatever natural obstacles were on the western side of the border fence as well as traversing a strip of cleared ground that was up to 500 meters ( 1640 ft ) wide . While crossing this outer strip , the escapee would appear in clear view and shooting range of the border guards before reaching the safety of West German territory .

neg: Stalin Line The Stalin Line was a line of fortifications along the western border of the Soviet Union . Work began on the system in the 1920s to protect the USSR against attacks from the West . The line was made up of concrete bunkers and gun emplacements , somewhat similar to , but less elaborate than the Maginot Line . It was not a continuous line of defense along the entire border , but rather a network of fortified districts , meant to channel potential invaders along certain corridors .   In the aftermath of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact , with the westward expansion of the USSR in 1939 and 1940 into Poland , the Baltic , and Bessarabia , the decision was made to abandon the line in favour of constructing the Molotov Line further west , along the new border of the USSR . A number of Soviet generals felt that it would be better to keep both lines and to have a defence in depth , but this conflicted with the pre-World War II Soviet military doctrine .   Thus , the guns were removed , but were mostly in storage as the new line began construction . The 1941 Axis invasion caught the Soviets with the new line unfinished and the Stalin Line largely abandoned and in disrepair . Neither was thus of much use in stopping the onslaught , though parts of the Stalin Line were manned in time and contributed to the defense of the USSR .   Following World War II , the line was not maintained , in part due to its wide dispersal across the USSR . Unlike Western Europe , where similar fortifications were demolished for development and safety reasons , much of the line survived beyond the breakup of the USSR in 1991 due to being ignored . Today , the remains of the Stalin Line fortifications are located in Belarus , Russia , and Ukraine ( plus possibly the eastern parts of Moldova ) .

neg: Parallel Polis The political-social concept Parallel Polis was created by Czech political thinker and dissident Vaclav Benda in connection with movement Charter 77 . In addition to other philosophers , Benda sought a theoretical grasp of the social events in the circles of dissents . The so-called alternative culture or underground was described in the text Parallel Polis in 1978 for the first time . As a political scientist , Benda noticed the emergence of a new social structure which was born in artistic and intellectual circles as a tool to escape the totalitarian communist regime . He detected the following basic pillars of this new `` field '' :   1 . Constant monitoring and verification of the extent of civic rights and freedoms which the State has a tendency to restrict . Parallel Polis consists of people who actively advocate for , and protect their rights .   2 . Parallel `` alternative '' culture / underground culture is independent and are various spheres of art which are operated and developed without permission and support from the public authorities .   3 . Parallel education and science , which represent the realization of the right of free education and the development of scientific research ( residential seminars , various educational societies , academies etc. . )   4 . Parallel informational system as an expression of the right of free dissemination of information ( samizdat publishing , unofficial magazines , collections etc. . )   5 . Parallel economy : `` political power considers this the area as a critical resource for arbitrary control of citizens and strictly regulates it at the same time '' . Economy of dissence was based on reciprocity and trust in the individual person . It was a natural germ of a reputational principle and the search for the exchange resources that are not dependent on control of centralized monetary tools .   6 . Creation of the parallel political structures and promoting their development . The alternative political structures have to be incubated in the environment of the Parallel Polis and develop into such a functional form that they will be able to replace the ruling authoritarian regime .   7 . Parallel foreign policy has to be an instrument of the parallel society for the stabilization and the grounding of the movement in the international context and the search for potential financial and mental resources .   These patterns of the parallel structure are not a closed set , on the contrary , they should occur more on all fronts of the resistance against the authoritarian State . The aim of the Parallel Polis , according to Vaclav Havel , Ivan Martin Jirous , Milan Šimečky and other dissents , who discussed the concept , -LSB- 2 -RSB- should be a so-called independent society . A society that is not oppressed by laws and the decisions of the representatives of the public authorities . A society that is based on its own values . Values which are not forced upon by the central authorities .  You could even say , that `` Parallel Polis '' today does not represent a `` dissident world '' but the world of persuasions and private interests of the society as a whole . On one hand , `` Parallel Polis '' gives to the totalitarian authorities what it wants , but at the same time does everything it wants and has nothing in common with the authorities .   After the revolution in 1989 , nobody paid too much attention to this concept , because it was ahead of its time , but nowadays the concept is relevant , because of the increased activities in the field of civil rights & the way the authoritarian state has been suppressed .   The seminal idea received great attention in the dissident community in Czechoslovakia and in western political circles . It was , however , never put into practice . With the arrival of the Velvet Revolution in 1990 , the idea seemed irrelevant .   It has since been revived by a group of scholars who originally met at the University of Washington but who now work at other academic institutions . Their thinking posits that Benda 's idea is now being practiced on the Internet which more easily facilitates parallel institutions . Since 2014 , a physical space inspired by the idea and named after it exists in Prague 's Holešovice district .

neg: Party wall A party wall ( occasionally parti-wall or parting wall , also known as common wall ) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings ( or units ) that is shared by the tenants of each residence or business . When built for this purpose , the builder will lay the wall along a property line dividing two terraced flats or row houses , so that one half of the wall 's thickness lies on each property . This type of wall is usually structural . Party walls can also be formed by two abutting walls built at different times . The term can be also used to describe a division between separate units within a multi-unit apartment complex . Very often the wall in this case is non-structural but designed to meet established criteria for sound and/or fire protection between residential units .   Party walls are typically made of non-combustible material . Where required by code , the party wall could be a firewall . The wall starts at the foundation and continues up to a parapet , creating two separate and structurally independent buildings on either side .

neg: Republikflucht `` Republikflucht '' ( `` desertion from the republic '' ) and `` Republikflüchtling ( e ) '' ( `` deserters from the republic '' ) were the terms used by authorities in the German Democratic Republic ( GDR -- East Germany ) to describe the process of and the person ( s ) leaving the GDR for a life in West Germany or any other Western ( non-Warsaw Pact ) country ( Eastern Bloc emigration and defection ) .   The term applies both to the mass desertion of millions who could leave the GDR rather easily before the Berlin Wall was erected on 13 August 1961 , as well as those few thousands who made a dangerous attempt to cross over the Iron Curtain ( e.g. the Berlin Wall , the Inner German border , or the western border of another country of the Eastern Bloc ) , or who managed to obtain temporary exit visas and subsequently did not return , from 1961 to 1989 .   Some estimates put the number of those who left the Soviet sector of Berlin , the Soviet occupation zone , and the GDR between 1945 and 1961 between 3 and 3.5 million . Close to one million of those who left were refugees and expellees from World War II and the post-war era initially stranded in the Soviet zone or East Berlin .   The numbers leaving the GDR following the construction of the Wall dropped sharply to several hundred a year as an attempt to flee the GDR via its fortified borders involved considerable personal risk of injury or death ( see : List of deaths at the Berlin Wall ) . Several hundred Republikflüchtlinge were shot ; about 75,000 were caught and imprisoned .   A propaganda booklet published by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ( SED ) in 1955 for the use of party agitators outlined the seriousness of ` flight from the republic ' :   Article 213 of the GDR Penal Code of 1979 also made it quite clear that crossing the border without first obtaining government authorization would not be taken lightly :   The former East German party leader Erich Honecker was charged in 1993 for ordering soldiers to kill people trying to escape . The trial was postponed due to his bad health , and he died in 1994 . Former Stasi chief Erich Mielke was also put on trial for the same charge . In November 1994 , however , the presiding judge closed the proceedings , ruling that the defendant was not mentally fit to stand trial .   Refugees from the Soviet sector of Berlin , the Soviet zone , or East Germany could apply to be accepted as Vertriebene ( expellees ) of the sub-group of Soviet Zone Refugees ( Sowjetzonenflüchtlinge ) under the Federal Expellee Law ( BVFG § 3 ) , and thus receive support from the West German government . They must have fled before 1 July 1990 in order to rescue themselves from an emergency created by the political conditions imposed by the regime there , especially a danger for one 's health , life , personal freedom , or freedom of conscience ( BVFG § 3 ) . The law did not apply for former supporters of the eastern political system of considerable influence , perpetrators against legality and humanity during the Nazi rule or afterwards within East Berlin or East Germany , and finally not for those who had fought against the democracy in West Germany or West Berlin ( BVFG § 3 ( 2 ) ) .

neg: List of Polish cities damaged in World War II As the German army retreated during the later stages of the Second World War , many of the urban areas of what is now Poland were severely damaged as a result of military action between the retreating forces of the German Wehrmacht and advancing ones of the Soviet Red Army . Other cities were deliberately destroyed by the German forces . One of the most famous of these planned destructions was the razing of Warsaw , the capital of Poland . While extensively damaged by the failed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Warsaw Uprising , the city later underwent a planned demolition by German forces under order from Adolf Hitler and high officials within the Nazi government . On 17 October 1944 , SS chief Heinrich Himmler famously stated , `` The city must completely disappear from the surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht . '' Before they were stopped by the advancing Red Army , 85 % of the city had been taken out . Warsaw was far from the worst off after the Nazi retreat ; 97 % of Jasło and 100 % of Polanów were reduced to rubble . Other towns such as Wałcz fared better , with only a quarter of the city being destroyed . Ancient historical buildings in Polish cities were not spared ; for example , Trzemeszno 's Romanesque basilica of 1130-45 was burnt down in 1945 .

neg: German–Soviet Axis talks In October and November 1940 , German -- Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union 's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power in World War II . The negotiations , which occurred during the era of the Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact and the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement , included a two-day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov , Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop , followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements . After two days of negotiations from 12 to 14 November 1940 , Germany presented the Soviets with a draft written Axis pact agreement defining the world spheres of influence of the four proposed Axis powers ( Japan , Germany , Soviet Union , Italy ) . Hitler , Ribbentrop and Molotov tried to set German and Soviet spheres of influence ; Hitler encouraged Molotov to look south to Iran and eventually India while preserving German access to Finland 's resources , and to remove Soviet influence in the Balkans . Molotov remained firm , seeking to remove German troops from Finland and gain a warm water port in the Balkans . Soviet foreign policy calculations were predicated by the idea that the war would be a long - term struggle and therefore German claims that Britain would be defeated swiftly were treated with scepticism . In addition Stalin sought to remain influential in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia . These factors resulted in Molotov taking a firm line . According to a Columbia University academical source , on 25 November 1940 , the Soviets presented a Stalin-drafted written counterproposal where they would accept the four power pact , but it included Soviet rights to Bulgaria and a world sphere of influence centered on the area around modern Iraq and Iran . Germany did not respond , leaving the negotiations unresolved . Regarding the counterproposal , Hitler remarked to his top military chiefs that Stalin `` demands more and more '' , `` he 's a cold-blooded blackmailer '' and that `` a German victory has become unbearable for Russia '' so that `` she must be brought to her knees as soon as possible . '' Germany ended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941 by invading the Soviet Union .

neg: Bernauer Straße Bernauer Straße is a street of Berlin situated between the localities of Gesundbrunnen and Mitte , today both belonging to the Mitte borough . It runs from the Mauerpark at the corner of Prenzlauer Berg to the Nordbahnhof . The street 's name refers to the town of Bernau bei Berlin , situated in Brandenburg .   When Berlin was a divided city , the Berlin Wall erected in 1961 ran along this street . Bernauer Straße became famous for escapes from windows of apartment blocks in the eastern part of the city , down to the street , which was in the West . Several people died here when the border was first enforced .

neg: Hans Refior Hans Refior was an officer in the German Army during World War II . Refior was on the staff of the last two German commanders of the `` Berlin Defense Area '' during the final assault by Soviet forces on the city of Berlin .   On 18 March 1945 , Colonel Refior became the Chief of Staff for Lieutenant General ( Generalleutnant ) Helmuth Reymann during the Battle for Berlin . Reymann was named the commander of the Berlin Defense Area on 6 March . From the beginning , it was clear to Refior that Reymann 's predecessor , General Bruno Ritter von Hauenschild , had left them nothing .   By early April , Refior and Reymann confirmed to themselves that Berlin had no chance of holding out with the forces at their disposal . They recommended to Joseph Goebbels , the Minister of Propaganda , that civilians be allowed to leave . Refior and Reyman indicated that this was especially important for the women and children . Goebbels ' feeble response made it clear to Refior and Reymann that he had never considered nor had he any idea of the logistics required for such a mass evacuation .   To determine how many soldiers and weapons could be counted on , Refior and Reymann attempted to make an accounting of what was available to them in the `` Berlin Defense Area '' . They soon discovered that the title `` Berlin Defense Area '' carried no significance . `` Berlin Defense Area '' was just another phrase , like `` Fortress '' ( Festung ) , coined by German dictator Adolf Hitler . Attempts by Refior to coordinate the defences with the field commanders of the surrounding areas of Berlin were not successful .   On 23 April , Hitler replaced Reymann with General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling as the commander of the Berlin Defense Area . Weidling kept Refior and made him his `` civil '' Chief-of-Staff .   Early on the morning of 26 April , Refior was awoken from a brief sleep in Weidling 's headquarters , the Bendlerblock . What woke him was a rapid sequence of ranging artillery shells ( what the Soviets called `` framing '' ) . Refior noted that these were `` old frontline hares '' . He knew from experience that these were the `` greeting '' before a salvo of katyusha rockets .   Weidling remained in command of Berlin 's defences to the end . On 2 May General Weidling , Theodor von Dufving , Weidling 's `` military '' Chief-of-Staff , and other members of Weidling 's staff which included Refior , ultimately surrendered the city to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov .

neg: Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße ( -LSB- ˈfʁiːdʁɪçˌʃtʁaːsə -RSB- ) ( lit . Frederick Street ) is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin , forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station . It runs from the northern part of the old Mitte district ( north of which it is called Chausseestraße ) to the Hallesches Tor in the district of Kreuzberg .   This downtown area is known for its posh real estate market and the campus of the Hertie School of Governance . Due to its north-southerly direction , it forms important junctions with the east-western axes , most notably with Leipziger Straße and Unter den Linden . The U6 U-Bahn line runs underneath . During the Cold War it was bisected by the Berlin Wall and was the location of Checkpoint Charlie .

neg: Subbase (pavement) In highway engineering , subbase is the layer of aggregate material laid on the subgrade , on which the base course layer is located . It may be omitted when there will be only foot traffic on the pavement , but it is necessary for surfaces used by vehicles .   Subbase is often the main load-bearing layer of the pavement . Its role is to spread the load evenly over the subgrade . The materials used may be either unbound granular , or cement-bound . The quality of subbase is very important for the useful life of the road and can outlive the life of the surface , which can be scrapped off and after checking that the subbase is still in good condition , a new layer can be applied   Unbound granular materials are usually crushed stone , crushed slag or concrete , or slate .   Cement-bound materials come in multiple types . Mass concrete is used where exceptional loads are expected , with thickness usually 100 to , and optional reinforcement with steel mesh or polymer fibers . Other cement bound materials ( CBM ) , with less strength but also lower cost , are used . They are rated by strength , from the weakest CBM 1 ( also formerly known as soil cement ) through CBM 2 to CBM 3 , 4 , and 5 , which are more similar to concrete and are called `` lean mix '' .   The thickness of subbase can range from 75 to for garden paths through 100 to for driveways and public footpaths , to 150 to for heavy used roads , and more for highways .   Low quality subbase material , including large pieces of rock and concrete , which was hardly acceptable heretofore , can now be re-used when crushed in-situ with conventional milling machines to obtain a homogenous grain size . It may then be treated normally with hydraulic binders , augmented by specific polymer formulations . The German road technology provider Adinotec proposes this process , which is adaptable to almost any subbase material and can net major cost savings without changes as to quality and load bearing capacity .

neg: Schrecklichkeit Schrecklichkeit ( German `` terror '' or `` frightfulness '' ) is a word used by English speakers to describe an assumed military policy of the German Army towards civilians in World War I.  It was the basis of German actions during their march through Belgium in 1914 . Similar policies were followed later in France , the Russian-held area of Poland , and in Russia .   Under the traditional `` laws of war '' in Europe , military activity was to be confined to the regular , uniformed armies of each side . Civilians were to take no part in fighting , neither attacking or being attacked . Thus , when the uniformed army troops in a nation or region were all defeated , resistance was supposed to end . In practice , informal resistance by `` partisans '' , `` guerrillas '' , or `` francs-tireurs '' often continued after the `` regular '' troops had given up or withdrawn . These fighters , never officially enrolled in an army , and not wearing uniforms to identify them as combatants , attacked occupying troops by ambushes , surprises , and sniping . Conducting such operations out of uniform was considered perfidy , and those involved could be executed .   Occupying armies sometimes responded to such attacks by reprisals against the local population : execution of local inhabitants , whether known to be guerrillas or not , or destruction ( usually by burning ) of homes and other structures .   German army doctrine in force at the time called for such reprisals to be performed immediately and severely in any case of civilian resistance . It was argued that such schrecklichkeit would end resistance quickly with relatively little bloodshed , whereas restraint would encourage resistance , leading to greater destruction and death .   When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 , the German high command expected to sweep through the country with negligible opposition . The German army was many times larger and stronger than the Belgian army , and the Germans therefore thought that any resistance by Belgium would be futile . German leaders had even suggested to the Belgian government that in the event of war , the Belgians should just line up along the roads and watch the Germans march through . Belgium 's refusal to accept these German presumptions and its resistance to the German advance came as a surprise , and disrupted the German timetable for advancing into France .   This frustration was communicated to the German troops in Belgium . Anything which delayed the German advance was to be crushed mercilessly . The Belgians were viewed as irrational and even treacherous for their opposition .   This led to exaggerated suspicions among German commanders of Belgian civilian resistance . It is possible that some Belgian civilians engaged in resistance , though none is documented . It is certain that on several occasions , German commanders declared ( probably in unconscious error ) that such acts had occurred when they had not .   The Germans responded to these perceived acts of resistance with harsh measures . In several villages and towns , hundreds of civilians were executed . Many buildings were put to the torch . Priests thought guilty of encouraging the resistance were killed . Violence by German soldiers against Belgians , such as rape , was ignored or not seriously punished . The Belgian city of Leuven was largely destroyed . One German officer later wrote about the town , `` We shall wipe it out ... Not one stone will stand upon another . We will teach them to respect Germany . For generations people will come here and see what we have done '' .   These actions , taken in a period of near-panic as the German forces desperately tried to carry out their flanking march before Allied forces could respond , proved to be a propaganda disaster for Germany . The reports of them caused a wave of indignation which aided the Allied cause .

neg: Barbed Wire Sunday Barbed Wire Sunday ( Stacheldrahtsonntag ) , is the name given to Sunday morning August 13 , 1961 , when the military and police of East Germany began the construction of what would become of the Berlin Wall with the intention of preventing citizens of the East Germany migrating to the West .

neg: Strategic depth Strategic depth is a term in military literature that broadly refers to the distances between the front lines or battle sectors and the combatants ' industrial core areas , capital cities , heartlands , and other key centers of population or military production . The key precepts any military commander must consider when dealing with strategic depth are how vulnerable these assets are to a quick , preemptive attack or to a methodical offensive and whether a country can withdraw into its own territory , absorb an initial thrust , and allow the subsequent offensive to culminate short of its goal and far from its source of power .   Commanders must be able to plan for both eventualities , and have measures and resources in place on both tactical and strategic levels to counter any and all stages of a minor or major enemy attack . These measures do not need to be limited to purely military assets , either -- the ability to reinforce civilian infrastructure or make it flexible enough to withstand or evade assault is very valuable in times of war . The issue was the trade-off between space and time as witnessed by Germany 's failure to defeat the Soviet Union in 1942 . In the face of a German invasion , the Soviet military retreating from occupied Poland in June 1941 to the outskirts of Moscow in December 1941 allowed the Soviet Union to move its industrial base to the east of the Ural Mountains . Thus the industries that had been moved could build the resources needed for the Soviet counter-attack .

neg: Walls of Dubrovnik The Walls of Dubrovnik ( Dubrovačke gradske zidine ) are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the citizens of the afterward proclaimed maritime city-state of Dubrovnik ( Ragusa ) , situated in southern Croatia , since the city 's founding prior to the 7th century as a Byzantium castrum on a rocky island named Laus ( Ragusia or Lave ) . '' ... city 's founding before the 7th century as a Byzantine castrum on a rocky island named Laus ... '' The 7th century recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus as city 's founding was probably the last act of peoples movement to Ragusia settlement , hurried by Slavs migration into these areas . With numerous additions and modifications throughout their history , they have been considered to be amongst the great fortification systems of the Middle Ages , as they were never breached by a hostile army during this time period . In 1979 , the old city of Dubrovnik , which includes a substantial portion of the old walls of Dubrovnik , joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites .   The oldest systems of fortifications around the town were likely wooden palisades . Today 's intact city walls , constructed mainly during the 12th -- 17th centuries , mostly a double line , have long been a source of pride for Dubrovnik . The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 1940 m in length , encircling most of the old city , and reach a maximum height of about 25 m . The bulk of the existing walls and fortifications were constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries , but were continually extended and strengthened up until the 17th century .   This complex structure , amongst the largest and most complete in Europe , protected the freedom and safety of a `` civilised '' and `` sophisticated '' republic that flourished in peace and prosperity for some five centuries . '' ... , protected the freedom and safety of a `` civilised '' and `` sophisticated '' republic that flourished in peace and prosperity for five centuries . '' This sentence refers to the time of the Republic of Ragusa from 1358 to 1808 . However , walls protected the city of Dubrovnik , before and after that particular time period . The walls were reinforced by three circular and 14 quadrangular towers , five bastions ( bulwarks ) , two angular fortifications and the large St. John 's Fortress . Land walls were additionally reinforced by one larger bastion and nine smaller semicircular ones , like the casemate Fort Bokar , the oldest preserved fort of that kind in Europe . The moat that ran around the outside section of the city walls , which were armed by more than 120 cannons , provided superb city defense capabilities .

neg: Pabst Plan The Pabst Plan ( Neue deutsche Stadt Warschau , `` New German city of Warsaw '' ) was a Nazi German urban plan to reconstruct the city of Warsaw as a Nazi model city . Named after its creator Friedrich Pabst , the Nazis ' `` Chief Architect for Warsaw '' , who did not work on the plan , the plan assumed that Warsaw , the historical capital of Poland and a city of 1.5 million inhabitants , would be completely destroyed and rebuilt as a small German town of not more than 130,000 inhabitants .   In modern historical works the term is used to denote any of the German World War II plans concerning the destruction and reconstruction of Warsaw . In particular the `` Pabst Plan '' refers to a plan prepared by Hubert Gross and Otto Nurnberger in 1940 and another plan , prepared by Pabst himself in 1942 . Both plans envisioned the destruction of most of Warsaw with its historical monuments and residential areas . In its place a new model city was to be created as a seat for the German ruling class of the occupied Polish territories . It was to house a large Parteivolkshalle ( `` People 's Party Hall '' ) in place of the Royal Castle in Warsaw and serve as a major transportation hub .   After the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , the Germans decided to destroy the city in its entirety .


query: Warren Buffett developed an interest in investing.

pos: Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( -LSB- ˈbʌfᵻt -RSB- born August 30 , 1930 ) is an American business magnate , investor , and philanthropist . He is considered by some to be one of the most successful investors in the world , and as of March 2017 is the second wealthiest person in the United States , and the fourth wealthiest in the world , with a total net worth of $ 73.3 billion .   Born in Omaha , Buffett developed an interest in business and investing in his youth , eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from University of Nebraska -- Lincoln . After graduating at 19 , Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University , learning and eventually creating his investment philosophy around a concept pioneered by Benjamin Graham -- value investing . He attended New York Institute of Finance to specialize his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships , including one with Graham . After meeting Charlie Munger , Buffett created the Buffett Partnership . His firm would eventually acquire a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assume its name to create a diversified holding company .   Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970 , and his business exploits have had him referred to as the `` Wizard '' , `` Oracle '' or `` Sage '' of Omaha by global media outlets . He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth .   Buffett is a notable philanthropist , having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes , primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation . In 2009 , with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg , Warren founded The Giving Pledge , whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes .   He is also active in contributing to political causes , having endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election ; he has publicly opposed the policies , actions , and statements of the current U.S. president , Donald Trump .

neg: Risk parity Risk parity ( or risk premia parity ) is an approach to investment portfolio management which focuses on allocation of risk , usually defined as volatility , rather than allocation of capital . The risk parity approach asserts that when asset allocations are adjusted ( leveraged or deleveraged ) to the same risk level , the risk parity portfolio can achieve a higher Sharpe ratio and can be more resistant to market downturns than the traditional portfolio .   Roughly speaking , the approach of building a risk parity portfolio is similar to creating a minimum-variance portfolio subject to the constraint that each asset ( or asset class , such as bonds , stocks , real estate , etc. ) contributes equally to the portfolio overall volatility .   Risk parity can also be a generalized term that denotes a variety of investment systems and techniques that utilize its principles . The principles of risk parity are applied differently according to the investment style and goals of various financial managers and yield different results .   Some of its theoretical components were developed in the 1950s and 1960s but the first risk parity fund , called the All Weather fund , was pioneered in 1996 . In recent years many investment companies have begun offering risk parity funds to their clients . The term , risk parity , came into use in 2005 and was then adopted by the asset management industry . Risk parity can be seen as either a passive or active management strategy .   Interest in the risk parity approach has increased since the late 2000s financial crisis as the risk parity approach fared better than traditionally constructed portfolios , as well as many hedge funds . Some portfolio managers have expressed skepticism about the practical application of the concept and its effectiveness in all types of market conditions but others point to its performance during the financial crisis of 2007-2008 as an indication of its potential success .

neg: Human Capital Contract A Human Capital Contract ( or `` HCC '' ) is a finance product that allows for the provision of funds to an individual through an `` equity-like '' arrangement , where the provider of the funds receives a portion of the individual 's future income for some specified period of time . Human Capital Contracts have been advocated by a number of Nobel Prize-winning economists , including Milton Friedman , Robert Merton , and Gary Becker . Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations described the knowledge and skills of workers as a form of Human Capital .   Human Capital Contracts are characterized by an initial investment amount by the capital provider , followed by a series of periodic dividend payments made from the receiver of the capital to the provider . These payments are variable in amount , proportional with the capital receiver 's income , and may never total the initial investment amount made the capital provider . In contrast , a loan is a form of debt , characterized by interest payments based on a fixed principal amount , where the repayment of the principal is a necessary condition of the loan .   In the 1970s , Yale University attempted to replace traditional student loans with human capital contracts under its `` Tuition Postponement Option '' , a program designed by economists Milton Friedman and James Tobin . However , the program was eventually abandoned as a failure . Other attempts to use human capital contracts ( or student loans with equity-like payoffs ) to fund students , have also generally failed because of severe adverse selection problems -- students who opt into such programs are generally those who expect to pursue low-income careers , and are least likely to be able to repay their loans . In addition , Human Capital Contracts , like income taxes , can contribute to moral hazard , by discouraging borrowers from maximizing their income and encouraging them instead to focus on non-wage based forms of compensation , such as more enjoyable work , better benefits , or lighter schedules .   Recently , a number of companies have begun to attempt to commercially underwrite Human Capital Contracts for the first time , including some that are not focused on funding a student population .   Anand Reddi and Andreas Thyssen , of the University of Colorado School of Medicine , proposed the use of human capital contracts to fund U.S. medical education in their article in The Huffington Post entitled : `` Healthcare Reform : Solving the Medical Student Debt Crisis Through Human Capital Contracts '' . The Reddi-Thyssen plan is being vetted by the American Medical Association . The University of California system is also currently evaluating Human Capital Contracts as a possible solution for providing more affordable , sustainable tuition assistance . There is also a plan to use human capital contracts in global health .   In comparing the merits of Human Capital Contracts with loans , proponents have noted that providers of HCCs are better aligned with the financial interests of the receiver of the funds , and the stream of payments required should be relatively more affordable to individuals who experience adverse economic events such as unemployment or other decreases in disposable income . Relative to conventional consumer loan structures , however , the regulatory framework related to Human Capital Contracts is underdeveloped and has thus far prevented widespread proliferation of the product despite considerable academic research .

neg: Income trust An income trust is an investment that may hold equities , debt instruments , royalty interests or real properties . The trust can receive interest , royalty or lease payments from an operating entity carrying on a business , as well as dividends and a return of capital .   The main attraction of income trusts ( in addition to certain tax preferences for some investors ) is their stated goal of paying out consistent cash flows for investors , which is especially attractive when cash yields on bonds are low . They are especially useful for financial requirements of institutional investors such as pension funds. , and for investors such as retired individuals seeking yield . Many investors are attracted by the fact that income trusts are not allowed to make forays into unrelated businesses : if a trust is in the oil and gas business it can not buy casinos or motion picture studios .   The names income trust and income fund are sometimes used interchangeably , even though most trusts have a narrower scope than funds . Income trusts are most commonly seen in Canada . The closest analogue in the United States to the business and royalty trusts would be the master limited partnership .

neg: Capital budgeting Capital budgeting , or investment appraisal , is the planning process used to determine whether an organization 's long term investments such as new machinery , replacement of machinery , new plants , new products , and research development projects are worth the funding of cash through the firm 's capitalization structure ( debt , equity or retained earnings ) . It is the process of allocating resources for major capital , or investment , expenditures . One of the primary goals of capital budgeting investments is to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders .   Many formal methods are used in capital budgeting , including the techniques such as  Accounting rate of return  Average accounting return  Payback period  Net present value  Profitability index  Internal rate of return  Modified internal rate of return  Equivalent annual cost  Real options valuation   These methods use the incremental cash flows from each potential investment , or project . Techniques based on accounting earnings and accounting rules are sometimes used - though economists consider this to be improper - such as the accounting rate of return , and `` return on investment . '' Simplified and hybrid methods are used as well , such as payback period and discounted payback period .

neg: The Vanguard Group The Vanguard Group is an American investment management company based in Malvern , Pennsylvania with over $ 4 trillion in assets under management . It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds ( ETFs ) in the world after BlackRock 's iShares . In addition to mutual funds and ETFs , Vanguard offers brokerage services , variable and fixed annuities , educational account services , financial planning , asset management , and trust services .   Founder and former chairman John C. Bogle is credited with the creation of the first index fund available to individual investors and has been a proponent of and a major enabler of low-cost investing by individuals . Vanguard is structured as a mutual company ; it is owned by funds managed by the company , and is therefore owned by its customers . Vanguard offers two classes of most of its funds : investor shares and admiral shares . Admiral shares have slightly lower expense ratios but require a higher minimum investment .

neg: Race and intelligence The connection between race and intelligence has been a subject of debate in both popular science and academic research since the inception of IQ testing in the early 20th century . The debate concerns the interpretation of research findings that test takers identifying as White tend on average to score higher than test takers of African ancestry on IQ tests , and subsequent findings that test takers of East Asian background tend to score higher than whites .   The first test showing differences in IQ test results between different population groups in the US was the tests of United States Army recruits in World War I . In the 1920s groups of eugenics lobbyists argued that this demonstrated that African-Americans and certain immigrant groups were of inferior intellect to Anglo-Saxon whites due to innate biological differences , using this as an argument for policies of racial segregation . Soon , other studies appeared , contesting these conclusions and arguing instead that the Army tests had not adequately controlled for the environmental factors such as socio-economic and educational inequality between African-Americans and Whites . The debate reemerged again in 1969 , when Arthur Jensen championed the view that for genetic reasons Africans were less intelligent than whites and that compensatory education for African-American children was therefore doomed to be ineffective . In 1994 , the book The Bell Curve argued that social inequality in the United States could largely be explained as a result of IQ differences between races and individuals rather than being their cause , and rekindled the public and scholarly debate with renewed force . During the debates following the book 's publication the American Anthropological Association and the American Psychological Association ( APA ) published official statements regarding the issue , both highly skeptical of some of the book 's claims , although the APA report called for more empirical research on the issue .   In subsequent decades much research has been published about the relationships between hereditary influences on IQ , group differences in intelligence , race , environmental influences on IQ . Particularly contentious in the ongoing debate has been the definition of both the concept `` race '' and the concept `` intelligence '' , and especially whether they can in fact be objectively defined and operationalized .

neg: Wells Fargo account fraud scandal The Wells Fargo account fraud scandal is an ongoing controversy brought about by the creation of millions of fraudulent savings and checking accounts on behalf of Wells Fargo clients without their consent . Various regulatory bodies , including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the company a combined $ 185 million dollars as a result of the illegal activity , and the company faced criminal and civil suits as well .   Wells Fargo clients began to notice the fraud after being charged unanticipated fees and receiving unexpected credit or debit cards or lines of credit . Initial reports blamed individual Wells Fargo branch workers and managers for the problem , and sales incentives associated with selling multiple `` solutions '' or financial products . This blame was later shifted to a top-down pressure from higher-level management to open as many accounts as possible through cross-selling .   The bank took relatively few risks in the years leading up to the 2008 Financial Crisis , which led to an image of stability on Wall Street and in the financial world , which was tarnished by the widespread fraud perpetrated by the company and subsequent coverage . The controversy resulted in the resignation of CEO John Stumpf , and an investigation into the bank led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren .

neg: Wealth and Poverty Wealth and Poverty is a best-selling 1981 non-fiction book by investor and author George Gilder .   After completing Visible Man in the late 1970s Gilder began writing `` The Pursuit of Poverty . '' In early 1981 Basic Books published the result as Wealth and Poverty . The book was an analysis of the roots of economic growth . Reviewing it within a month of the inauguration of the Reagan Administration the New York Times reviewer called it `` A Guide to Capitalism '' . It offered , he wrote , `` a creed for capitalism worthy of intelligent people . '' The book was a New York Times bestseller and eventually sold over a million copies .   In Wealth and Poverty Gilder extended the sociological and anthropological analysis of his early books in which he had advocated for the socialization of men into service to women through work and marriage . He wove these sociological themes into the economic policy prescriptions of supply-side economics . The breakup of the nuclear family and the policies of demand-side economics led to poverty . Family and supply-side policies led to wealth .   In reviewing the problems of the immediate past -- the inflation , recession , and urban problems of the 1970s -- and proposing his supply-side solutions , Gilder argued not just the practical but the moral superiority of supply-side capitalism over the alternatives . `` Capitalism begins with giving , '' he asserted , while New Deal liberalism created moral hazard . It was work , family , and faith that created wealth out of poverty . `` It is this supply-side moral vision that underlies all the economic arguments of Wealth and Poverty , '' he wrote .   In 1994 Gilder asserted that America has no poverty problem , that the real problem is the `` moral decay '' of the `` so-called poor '' , and that their real need is `` Christian teaching from the churches . '' He calls the poor in America `` the so-called poor '' who have been `` ruined by the overflow of American prosperity '' , and asserts they have more purchasing power than the middle class in Japan in the 1990s .   Wealth and Poverty advanced a practical and moral case for supply-side economics and capitalism during the early months of the Reagan administration and made him Ronald Reagan 's most quoted living author .

neg: Richard Driehaus Richard Herman Driehaus ( -LSB- ˈdriː.haʊs -RSB- ) ( born 1942 in Chicago , Illinois , United States ) is an American fund manager , businessman and philanthropist . He is the founder , chief investment officer , and chairman of Driehaus Capital Management LLC , based in Chicago . In the year 2000 , he was named Barron 's `` All-Century '' team of the 25 individuals who have been the most influential within the mutual fund industry over the past 100 years . His firm had $ 10.9 billion in assets under management as of the end of March 2015 . He is often credited as the father of momentum investing , although he was not the first to implement the strategy . Driehaus explains `` the momentum investor has confidence that a stock that is high can head even higher . We rarely invest in stock because it 's cheap and hope for a turnaround . '' This strategy reportedly delivered compound annual returns of 30 % for Driehaus Capital Management in the 12 years after it was set up in the 1980s .

neg: Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme ( -LSB- ˈpɒn.zi -RSB- also a Ponzi game ) is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator , an individual or organization , pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors , rather than from profit earned through legitimate investments or business activities . Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments , in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent .   Ponzi schemes occasionally begin as legitimate businesses , until the business fails to achieve the returns expected . The business becomes a Ponzi scheme if it then continues to operate under fraudulent terms . Whatever the initial situation , the perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to sustain the scheme .   The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi , who became notorious for using the technique in the 1920s . The idea , present in novels ( for example , Charles Dickens ' 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit and 1857 novel Little Dorrit each described such a scheme ) , was actually performed in real life by Ponzi with his operation which took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States . Ponzi 's original scheme was based on the arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps ; however , he soon diverted investors ' money to make payments to earlier investors and himself .

neg: Private equity in the 1990s Private equity in the 1990s relates to one of the major periods in the history of private equity and venture capital . Within the broader private equity industry , two distinct sub-industries , leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel although interrelated tracks .   The development of the private equity and venture capital asset classes has occurred through a series of boom and bust cycles since the middle of the 20th century . Private equity emerged in the 1990s out of the ashes of the savings and loan crisis , the insider trading scandals , the real estate market collapse and the recession of the early 1990s which had culminated in the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert and had caused the shutdown of the high-yield debt market . This period saw the emergence of more institutionalized private equity firms , ultimately culminating in the massive Dot-com bubble in 1999 and 2000 .

neg: Capital Group Companies Capital Group is an American financial services company , it ranks among the world 's oldest and largest investment management organizations , with $ 1.39 trillion in assets under management . Founded in Los Angeles , California in 1931 , it is privately held and has offices around the globe in the Americas , Asia , Australia and Europe .   Capital offers a range of products , including more than 40 mutual funds through its subsidiary , American Funds , as well as separately managed accounts ( or collective investment trusts ) , private equity , investment services for high net worth investors in the U.S. , and a range of other offerings for institutional clients and individual investors globally .

neg: Hard money loan A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan financing through which a borrower receives funds secured by real property . Hard money loans are typically issued by private investors or companies . Interest rates are typically higher than conventional commercial or residential property loans , starting at 7.7 % , because of the higher risk and shorter duration of the loan . Most hard money loans are used for projects lasting from a few months to a few years . Hard money is similar to a bridge loan , which usually has similar criteria for lending as well as cost to the borrowers . The primary difference is that a bridge loan often refers to a commercial property or investment property that may be in transition and does not yet qualify for traditional financing , whereas hard money often refers to not only an asset-based loan with a high interest rate , but possibly a distressed financial situation , such as arrears on the existing mortgage , or where bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings are occurring .   Hard Money is a term that is used almost exclusively in the United States and Canada where these types of loans are most common . In commercial real estate , hard money developed as an alternative `` last resort '' for property owners seeking capital against the value of their holdings . The industry began in the late 1950s when the credit industry in the U.S. underwent drastic changes .   From inception , the hard money field has always been formally unregulated by state or federal laws , although some restrictions on interest rates ( usury laws ) by state governments restrict the rates of hard money such that operations in several states , including Tennessee and Arkansas are virtually untenable for lending firms .

neg: Investment trust An investment trust is a form of collective investment found mostly in the United Kingdom . Investment trusts are closed-end funds and are constituted as public limited companies . In many respects , the investment trust was the progenitor of the investment company in the U.S.   The name is somewhat misleading , given that ( according to law ) an investment `` trust '' is not in fact a `` trust '' in the legal sense at all , but a separate legal person or a company . This matters for the fiduciary duties owed by the trustees and the equitable ownership of the fund 's assets .

neg: Buy-side analyst Buy-side analysts ( `` buy-siders '' ) work for buy side money management firms such as mutual funds , pension funds , trusts , and hedge funds . They are incentivised to identify investment opportunities that will improve the net worth of the portfolio they work for .   A buy-side analyst typically works in a mutual fund , pension fund , or other non-brokerage firm , and provides research and recommendations exclusively for the benefit of the company 's own money managers ( as opposed to individual investors ) . Unlike sell-side recommendations and reports -- which are meant for the analyst 's brokerage firm 's clients , and the broad outlines of which the press often widely disseminates -- buy-side recommendations are not available to anyone outside the firm . If the buy-side analyst stumbles upon a formula , vision , or approach that proves effective , it is kept secret .

neg: Bias ratio The bias ratio is an indicator used in finance to analyze the returns of investment portfolios , and in performing due diligence .   The bias ratio is a concrete metric that detects valuation bias or deliberate price manipulation of portfolio assets by a manager of a hedge fund , mutual fund or similar investment vehicle , without requiring disclosure ( transparency ) of the actual holdings . This metric measures abnormalities in the distribution of returns that indicate the presence of bias in subjective pricing . The formulation of the Bias Ratio stems from an insight into the behavior of asset managers as they address the expectations of investors with the valuation of assets that determine their performance .   The bias ratio measures how far the returns from an investment portfolio -- e.g. one managed by a hedge fund -- are from an unbiased distribution . Thus the bias ratio of a pure equity index will usually be close to 1 . However , if a fund smooths its returns using subjective pricing of illiquid assets the bias ratio will be higher . As such , it can help identify the presence of illiquid securities where they are not expected .   The bias ratio was first defined by Adil Abdulali , a risk manager at the investment firm Protégé Partners . The Concepts behind the Bias Ratio were formulated between 2001 and 2003 and privately used to screen money managers . The first public discussions on the subject took place in 2004 at New York University 's Courant Institute and in 2006 at Columbia University . In 2006 , the Bias Ratio was published in a letter to Investors and made available to the public by Riskdata , a risk management solution provider , that included it in its standard suite of analytics .   The Bias Ratio has since been used by a number of Risk Management professionals to spot suspicious funds that subsequently turned out to be frauds . The most spectacular example of this was reported in the Financial Times on 22 January 2009 titled `` Bias ratio seen to unmask Madoff '' !

neg: Sustainable investment rule The sustainable investment rule , as referred to in the United Kingdom , is one of several fiscal policy principles set out by the incoming Labour government in 1997 . These were first set out by then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in his 1997 budget speech . Subsequently they were formalised in the Finance Act 1998 and in the Code for Fiscal Stability , approved by the House of Commons in December 1998 .   The sustainable investment rule states that public sector net debt as a proportion of gross domestic product ( GDP ) will be held over the economic cycle at a stable and prudent level . The Chancellor has stated that , other things being equal , net government debt will be maintained below 40 % of GDP over the current economic cycle .   This `` rule '' is however merely a stated aim with no sanctions against the incumbent government if broken , unlike some balanced budget provisions used in other countries .   The sustainable investment rule is the counterpart to the Golden Rule , introduced at the same time .

neg: Real estate appraisal Real estate appraisal , property valuation or land valuation is the process of developing an opinion of value for real property ( usually market value ) . Real estate transactions often require appraisals because they occur infrequently and every property is unique ( especially their condition , a key factor in valuation ) , unlike corporate stocks , which are traded daily and are identical ( thus a centralized Walrasian auction like a stock exchange is unrealistic ) . The location also plays a key role in valuation . However , since property can not change location , it is often the upgrades or improvements to the home that can change its value . Appraisal reports form the basis for mortgage loans , settling estates and divorces , taxation , and so on . Sometimes an appraisal report is used to establish a sale price for a property .   Besides of the mandatory educational grade , which can vary from Finance to Construction Technology , most , but not all , countries require appraisers to have the license for the practice . Usually , the real estate appraiser has the opportunity to reach 3 levels of certification : Appraisal Trainee , Licensed Appraiser and Certified Appraiser . The second and third levels of license require no less than 2000 experience hours in 12 months and 2500 experience hours in no less than 24 months respectively . Appraisers are often known as `` property valuers '' or `` land valuers '' ; in British English they are `` valuation surveyors '' . If the appraiser 's opinion is based on market value , then it must also be based on the highest and best use of the real property . In the United States , mortgage valuations of improved residential properties are generally reported on a standardized form like the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report . Appraisals of more commercial properties ( e.g. , income-producing , raw land ) are often reported in narrative format and completed by a Certified General Appraiser .

neg: Modern Monetary Theory Modern Monetary Theory ( MMT or Modern Money Theory , also known as Neo-Chartalism ) is a macroeconomic theory which describes and analyses modern economies in which the national currency is fiat money , established and created by the government . The key insight of MMT is that `` monetarily sovereign government is the monopoly supplier of its currency and can issue currency of any denomination in physical or non-physical forms . As such the government has an unlimited capacity to pay for the things it wishes to purchase and to fulfill promised future payments , and has an unlimited ability to provide funds to the other sectors . Thus , insolvency and bankruptcy of this government is not possible . It can always pay '' .   In sovereign financial systems , banks can create money but these `` horizontal '' transactions do not increase net financial assets as assets are offset by liabilities . `` The balance sheet of the government does not include any domestic monetary instrument on its asset side ; it owns no money . All monetary instruments issued by the government are on its liability side and are created and destroyed with spending and taxing/bond offerings , respectively . '' In addition to deficit spending , valuation effects e.g. growth in stock price can increase net financial assets . In MMT , `` vertical '' money ( see below ) enters circulation through government spending . Taxation and its legal tender power to discharge debt establish the fiat money as currency , giving it value by creating demand for it in the form of a private tax obligation that must be met . In addition , fines , fees and licenses create demand for the currency . This can be a currency issued by the government , or a foreign currency such as the euro . An ongoing tax obligation , in concert with private confidence and acceptance of the currency , maintains its value . Because the government can issue its own currency at will , MMT maintains that the level of taxation relative to government spending ( the government 's deficit spending or budget surplus ) is in reality a policy tool that regulates inflation and unemployment , and not a means of funding the government 's activities by itself .

neg: Dividend future In finance , a dividend future is an exchange-traded derivative contract that allows investors to take positions on future dividend payments . Dividend futures can be on a single company , a basket of companies , or on an Equity index . They settle on the amount of dividend paid by the company , the basket of companies , or the index during the period of the contract .   For example , if company A pays a quarterly dividend of $ 0.25 in 2012 . If an investor buys a 2012 dividend future , the settlement price of the future will be equal to 4 x $ 0.25 = $ 1 per contract . The profit or loss the investor makes depends on the difference between the price they bought or sold the future and the settlement price . For instance , if the investor bought the 2012 dividend future at $ 0,90 , he would make a profit of $ 0.10 per contract .  Most dividend futures trades occur before the dividend is known , hence allowing investors to go `` long '' or `` short '' the future dividend payment . The `` buyer '' of the contract , is said to be `` long '' , and the `` seller '' of the contract , is said to be `` short '' . The terminology reflects the expectations of the parties : the buyer thinks the dividend is going to increase , while the seller thinks it will decrease . The contract itself costs nothing to enter ; the buy/sell terminology is a linguistic convenience reflecting the position each party is taking ( long or short ) .   Dividend futures are usually traded in increments/lots/batches of 100 or 1000 and have a 1-year time span . When purchased , no transmission of share rights or dividends occurs . Being futures contracts , they are traded on margin , thus offering leverage , and are not subject to the taxes equity holders must pay when they receive dividend distribution on their stocks . They are traded in various financial markets , mainly in Europe , and Asia , and several Blue chip companies and Equity Indices are available with maturities going as long as 5 years for Equities and 10 years for Equity indices .