In these days before Christmas, it's very cold and windy in Fergus Falls, a town of around 14,000 inhabitants in the state of Minnesota. There's also a bit of snow on the ground. Claas Relotius published a very long feature article about the small town and its inhabitants in DER SPIEGEL in March 2017. When I read it at the time, I thought to myself: It seems really, really long.The story carried the headline, "In a Small Town," and was intended as an attempt to describe and better grasp Trump voters. As we now know, the writer largely invented the events and characters portrayed in the...…In these days before Christmas, it's very cold and windy in Fergus Falls, a town of around 14,000 inhabitants in the state of Minnesota. There's also a bit of snow on the ground. Claas Relotius published a very long feature article about the small town and its inhabitants in DER SPIEGEL in March 2017. When I read it at the time, I thought to myself: It seems really, really long.The story carried the headline, "In a Small Town," and was intended as an attempt to describe and better grasp Trump voters. As we now know, the writer largely invented the events and characters portrayed in the...WW…

Illustration: Iris Kuhlmann / DER SPIEGEL; Fotos: dpa; Getty Images (10); mauritius images.The path into the parallel world follows rural roads snaking through the hills of Baden-Wurttemberg to a house located on the edge of a village with a bright white façade, well-swept driveway and carefully trimmed lawn. The conspiracy has long since eaten its way into the southern German idyll. A friendly man opens the door - muscular, burly, he does a lot of lifting.It was not easy to set up a meeting. He has a deep aversion to journalists and other members of a supposed elite, whom he believes are...…Illustration: Iris Kuhlmann / DER SPIEGEL; Fotos: dpa; Getty Images (10); mauritius images.The path into the parallel world follows rural roads snaking through the hills of Baden-Wurttemberg to a house located on the edge of a village with a bright white façade, well-swept driveway and carefully trimmed lawn. The conspiracy has long since eaten its way into the southern German idyll. A friendly man opens the door - muscular, burly, he does a lot of lifting.It was not easy to set up a meeting. He has a deep aversion to journalists and other members of a supposed elite, whom he believes are...WW…