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German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and the interior ministers of Germany's 16 federal states said on Tuesday that they want to toughen up laws to protect politicians and election helpers from politically motivated violence.

The call was the result of a special video conference convened to discuss the issue of political violence after Social Democrat (SPD) lawmaker Matthias Ecke, the party's leading candidate for the eastern state of Saxony in the upcoming European elections, was attacked while hanging out election posters in Dresden on Friday night.

Authorities in Saxony said at least one of the four alleged teenage attackers belonged to the far-right scene, while police said the same group had earlier assaulted and injured a Green Party election helper nearby.

What did the state ministers say?

At the conference on Tuesday, the interior ministers backed parliamentary initiatives from the states of Saxony and Bavaria to push for tougher punishments for bodily harm and assault.

The interior minister for the northeastern state of Brandenburg, Michael Stübgen, who chaired the conference, condemned the weekend's attacks "in the strongest terms" and said that current legislation "no longer sufficiently reflects" the threat to those actively involved in politics.

"The repeated attacks represent a social development whereby people are trying to achieve their political aims not only with words but with violence, hate and harassment," he said. "This endangers our democracy and our law-based freedom."

Federal interior minister Faeser spoke of an "exceptionally brutal act of violence" against Ecke and called for a "clear stop signal."

She said the number of attacks on politicians rose by 53% between 2022 and 2023.

'Clear signal' against political violence

"Violent criminals who attack democrats must feel the full force of the law with quick and meaningful punishments," Faeser had said ahead of the conference, calling for greater protection for election helpers and quicker and tougher sentencing.

She said a "more visible police presence" was necessary to protect democrats at campaign events but said: "The police cannot be everywhere at once, but they can adjust their protection concepts and increase their presence, as is already happening in many places."

Brandenburg's Stübgen added that the "police also cannot prevent the brutalization of the political discourse on their own."

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for solidarity with democratic politicians.

"Democracy requires a political culture free from hate and harassment and absolutely free from violence," he said at an event in the northeastern state of Brandenburg on Tuesday, saying that authorities must do all that is necessary to identify criminals and that courts must issue fair sentences.

"This means that we also have to position ourselves behind those who are fulfilling their democratic duty and show our disgust at those who infringe on the rules of democracy."

mf/ab (dpa, epd, Reuters)

Berlin's state minister for economy, energy and enterprise, Franziska Giffey of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD), was injured in an attack at a library in the Rudow district of the German capital on Tuesday.

Giffey, a former mayor of Berlin and an ex-federal minister, "briefly went to hospital for outpatient treatment for head and neck pain," police and the Berlin prosecutor's office said in a statement. 

What we know about the incident

The attacker suddenly attacked Giffey "from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck" in a library on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The politician herself later took to social media to say: "After the initial shock, I can say I'm fine." 

But in her Instagram post, Giffey did condemn a "'fair-game culture in which people who are politically active and engaged in our country are increasingly exposed to supposedly justified and acceptable attacks."

"They are a transgression of boundaries that we as a society must resolutely oppose," she wrote.

The Berlin public prosecutors office on Wednesday said a 74-year-old man had been temporarily arrested, and that an investigation into the motive of the alleged perpetrators was ongoing.

The man was said to have already been known to police over issues relating to state security and hate crime.

Later on Wednesday, Berlin prosecuters announced that the man had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

"The decision to preventatively commit the suspect to a psychological clinic has been legally issued and and carried out," they said in an online post. 

The accused was due to appear before an investigating judge on Wednesday.

Pattern of attacks on politicians

In another incident on Tuesday, a 47-year-old Greens politician in the eastern city of Dresden was threatened and spat upon as she hung up campaign posters.

A DW reporting team was at the scene and recorded the incident.

A man, 34, and woman, 24, both German nationals, are under investigation for their suspected involvement, police said.

They reportedly belonged to a group of people standing nearby as the politician began her work. That group is also under investigation after an illegal Nazi slogan was allegedly heard emanating from it.

The attacks come just days after assaults on the European lawmaker Matthias Ecke and a Green Party campaign worker.

Ecke, a member of the European Parliament for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD, was set upon by four attackers as he displayed EU election posters in Dresden on Friday night, according to the police.

Politicians condemn 'spiral of violence' 

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, warned of the threat posed to democracy by such incidents and called for the perpetrators to face full legal consequences for their actions.

In a speech to fellow Christian Democrats in Berlin, she said, "We must protect all those who stand up for our democratic society and our country from attacks — regardless of which party they belong to, whether privately, during election campaigns or in the exercise of their duties, day or night."

Berlin's state minister for sports, Iris Spranger, "strongly" condemned the attack "on Franziska Giffey and on other politicians and election workers, all of whom are committed to a democratic debate."

"The state and federal police forces are doing everything they can to protect politicians. The conference of interior ministers agreed yesterday at the special session that democracy must be protected more effectively against hate speech and false information."

"The protection of individuals from such attacks under criminal law also serves to protect democracy itself."

The co-chairperson of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, wrote on X that such attacks had become the norm for many people involved in the election campaign and that she "has the greatest respect and deep gratitude" for those who continued to work for democracy.  

jsi,tj/nm (AFP, dpa)

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

European Union (EU) countries on Tuesday gave the green light to the bloc's first law devoted to combatting violence against women.

The sweeping new legislation aims to protect women in the EU from gender-based violence, forced marriages, female genital mutilation and cyber violence such as online stalking and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

It also makes it easier for victims of domestic abuse to report crimes, which, according to a new framework, will be punishable by jail sentences of up to five years.

Punishments for crimes against children, spouses, ex-spouses, politicians, journalists and human rights activists can be even more severe.

But a failure to reach a common definition of rape was a source of contention between several member states.

European politicians hail 'groundbreaking' law

"Violence against women and domestic violence is a persisting crime," said Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Paul Van Tigchelt. "This law will guarantee EU-wide that perpetrators will be strongly sanctioned and that its victims will receive all the support they need."

The European Parliament approved the new rules in April and the official adoption by member states on Tuesday was the final step before it becomes law. EU states now have three years to transpose the rules into national law.

"This is a groundbreaking moment in boosting women's rights," said Marie-Colline Leroy, Belgium's Secretary of State for Gender Equality. 

"Real equality can only happen when women can live without fear of being harassed, violently attacked or physically harmed. This law is an important step to make this happen."

No common EU definition of rape

However, while agreement on the necessity of the legislation has been unanimous, the text of the directive failed to settle on a common definition of rape, which was a source of contention during negotiations.

While countries such as Italy and Greece were in favor of inserting such a definition, Germany and France argued that the EU did not have competence in the matter.

Ahead of a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, the Spanish equality minister Ana Redondo said she would have preferred the legislation to be "a little more ambitious."

But she said the law was still a "good starting point."

mf/ab (AFP, KNA)

 

Authorities in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday said they had charged three men with money laundering.

The three are alleged to have used an ice cream parlor in the small town of Siegen to legitimize criminal cash for the Italian Mafia.

What are the allegations?

The prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf accuses the men, between the ages of 25 and 39, of running the parlor under the instruction of a high-ranking member of the 'Ndrangheta group in Italy's southern Calabria region.

The mafia boss allegedly invested about €400,000 ($430,000) in the parlor.

"In return, the ice cream parlor is said to have been used to launder the illegal narcotics profits of the 'Ndrangheta and also as a logistics base in North Rhine-Westphalia," the prosecutors said. 

Some ice cream business's day-to-day income was allegedly transferred to other 'Ndrangheta members in Italy.

The German prosecutors say Italian authorities consider the main mafia contact to be "a leading figure in the international cocaine trade."

What sentences could the suspects face?

The three are also accused of having been members of a foreign criminal organization since December 2016.

Membership in a foreign criminal organization is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years in Germany. Gang and commercial money laundering is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to ten years.

The suspects were arrested in a raid in May last year as part of a wider operation and they have been in custody ever since.

How big was the investigation?

The overall investigation that led the authorities to the parlor was launched in July 2020 by Italian law enforcement authorities and included a cross-border collaboration.

The push against Italian Mafia has already seen over 100 people arrested in raids that also took place in Belgium, France, Italy Portugal and Spain.

In Germany, there were raids in the states of Bavaria, Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, with more than 30 suspects arrested under outstanding warrants.

Investigations into crypto phones played a major role in the probe. Police were able to crack the crypto services EncroChat and SkyEcc, giving them a glimpse into the inner workings of the criminal network.

The'Ndrangheta is seen as one of the largest and most powerful crime syndicates in Europe, having eclipsed the Sicilian mafia by transporting tens of billions of euros worth of cocaine from South America to Europe over the past decades.

rc/dj (AFP, dpa)

The German Federal Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday searched the offices of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Maximilian Krah and his former employee Jian G. in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Officials said the search was connected to proceedings against G., who is suspected of spying for China.

What we know about the searches

Krah and G. were having their offices searched "on the basis of orders issued by the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice and a European Investigation Order," the prosecutors said in a statement.

German national G. has worked for Krah since his election to the European Union legislature in 2019. Prosecutors accuse him of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of passing on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament.

"The measures are being taken in the proceedings against Jian G. because of the suspicion of secret service agent activity," the German prosecutors said. They added that Krah's office was being searched in his capacity as a witness and that he was not a suspect.

Documents in Krah's office are protected under his immunity as a member of the parliament. However, this protection can be lifted by the legislature at the request of authorities.

The parliament said it had worked with national authorities to allow the search. A spokesman for Belgian prosecutors said they had given the go-ahead after a request from German authorities.

German police arrested G. on suspicion of espionage on April 22. Krah fired G. soon after the allegations came to light.

German authorities last month arrested three other people suspected of spying for China and arranging to forward information
on technology with potential military uses to one of Beijing's intelligence agents.

rc/wmr (dpa, AFP)

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Sirens blared across Israel on Monday, cars stopped in the streets and people stood in silence for two minutes as the country remembered the 6 million Jewish victims killed by the German National Socialists during the Holocaust.

Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah, takes place every year in April or May according to the Hebrew calendar, whereas International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27.

This year's ceremonies come seven months into Israel's war in Gaza, where more than 100 Israeli hostages are still being held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas following its deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw some 1,200 Israelis killed.

Since then, almost 35,000 people have been killed during retaliatory Israeli military operations in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the enclave, sparking increasing international criticism.

Netanyahu talks politics during ceremony

Speaking at a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Sunday night, a solemn setting where politics are typically left outside, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the occasion to reject international pressure to halt the war in Gaza.

"During the terrible Holocaust, there were important leaders who stood on the sidelines," he said, referring to the failure of international governments to intervene earlier in the systematic murder of Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies between 1933 and 1945.

"The first lesson from the Holocaust is therefore: if we do not defend ourselves, no one else will defend us," he said. "And if we have to stand up for ourselves alone, then we will stand up for ourselves alone."

Addressing world leaders who have urged him not to push ahead with a ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over 1 million refugees have already fled but where Israel believes Hamas' last battalions are holding out, Netanyahu insisted in English: "No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself. 'Never again' is now."

According to official figures, 132,826 Holocaust survivors still live in Israel, the creation of which in 1948 came just three years after the end of World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany. An estimated 2,500 are reported to have been directly affected by the events of October 7.

'March of the Living' takes place at Auschwitz

One of those is Judith Tzamir, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor from Germany who moved to Israel in 1964 and whose kibbutz fended off Hamas militants on October 7.

The attack prompted Tzamir to visit the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland for the first time on Holocaust Remembrance Day, where she took part in the "March of the Living," an annual event that recreates the 3-kilometer (2-mile) walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, where approximately 1 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

The event, now in its 36th year, usually draws thousands of participants, including Holocaust survivors and Jewish students, leaders and politicians. This year, Israeli hostages released from captivity in Gaza and families whose relatives are still being held captive also joined the march.

"I don't know if the world will listen, but even for myself, it's important," Tzamir told The Associated Press news agency, having turned down past invitations to visit Auschwitz. "To remember that there's still antisemitism around, and there are still people who will kill just for religious reasons."

While the militia in Tzamir's kibbutz managed to fend off the Hamas fighters, others were not so fortunate. Daniel Louz, a 90-year-old whose kibbutz lost a tenth of its residents, also came to Auschwitz for the first time since his mother's family was murdered there in 1942.

"I am convinced that, on October 7, the good souls [of the Holocaust dead] protected me and did not let the Hamas criminals shoot at our home so that I might be able to tell the story," Louz told the Reuters news agency.

Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, head of the International March of the Living, said during Monday's event that the Holocaust was "the worst event in human history" and that the very word "Auschwitz" conveys "fear, death, destruction [and] annihilation."

"And then came October 7, and perhaps we have to come as a people to the realization that, in some ways, the Shoah [the Holocaust] isn't over for us," she continued. "It's not a competition, certainly not a comparison; it's a continuum."

Netanyahu condemns rise in antisemitism

Back in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, where one chair was left empty to represent those hostages still being held by Hamas, Netanyahu insisted that, while the "desire to annihilate" was there, October 7 and the Nazi Holocaust are not comparable.

"Hamas terrorists slaughtered, abused, raped and abducted," he said. "But I want to make it clear: October 7 was not a Holocaust."

However, he did accuse the recent wave of pro-Palestinian student protests in the US of antisemitism, comparing them to German universities in the 1930s, and spoke of an "explosion of a volcano of antisemitism spitting out a boiling lava of lies against us around the world."

On Sunday, an annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report published by Tel Aviv University found a sharp increase in antisemitic attacks globally in 2023. It said the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States doubled from 3,697 in 2022 to 7,523 in 2023.

Similarly, the number of antisemitic incidents reported in France nearly quadrupled from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, while it more than doubled in the United Kingdom and Canada.

"In the aftermath of the October 7 war crimes committed by Hamas, the world has seen the worst wave of antisemitic incidents since the end of the Second World War," the report stated.

Speaking alongside Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the families of the hostages, saying: "We will not rest and not be silent until our sons and daughters have returned home."

mf/ab (Reuters, AP, dpa)

The list of the top ten names given to baby girls and boys in Germany in 2023 remained largely the same as in the past few years, the Society for German Language said on Tuesday.

Sophia overtook Emilia as the most popular girls' name but by a tiny margin, while Noah retained its yearslong top position, successfully warding off a challenge from Matheo in a number of variants.

Both Sophia and Noah were given as names to just over one in a 100 babies of the respective gender.

For girls and boys, the 3rd to the 9th place remained very stable: Emma, Mia, Hannah, Mila, Lina, Ella and Klara/Clara for female babies, Leon, Paul, Emil, Luca, Henry, Elias and Lukas for male ones.

However, there were two completely new names in the list of the top ten: Lia(h) for girls (up to 10th place from 14th place) and Liam for boys (up to 10th place from 15th place).

Ben and Finn were both forced out of the top ten for boys, though the latter name was up at 4th place in 2022.

Short names in fashion

The experts noted that there is a current trend to short or even very short names, with brighter vowels such as A, E and I much in vogue.

There was some contrast between the different regions of Germany in the way children were named.

In the north, the top ten names for girls included Ida and Frieda, while in the south, Marie, Anna and Leonie were high on the list. In Germany's former communist eastern states, Mathilda, Charlotte and Frieda were highly popular.  

For boys, the north saw names like Theo, Mohammed and Fiete in the top ten, the south favored Lukas, Felix and Jakob, the east Oskar, Finn, Theo and Karl and the west, Felix.

Almost 70,000 different names were registered at the 750 participating registry offices.

The Association for German Language (GfdS), based in the western city of Wiesbaden, has been publishing lists of the most popular babies' names since 1977. 

tj/wmr (KNA, epd)

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Friedrich Merz, chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) launched the first mainstream German Leitkultur debate at the start of the millennium. The term originates from the agricultural sector, where it's used to describe the dominant plant varieties in a biotope.

At the time, Merz used the term less with regard to integration, and more as a counter to the model of multiculturalism. Immigrants, he said, should conform to the "liberal German leading culture" which is reflected in the German constitution, the German language and society's key values such as equality.

But politicians from the left of the political spectrum quickly derided the concept as an attempt at "assimilation" and at echoing the right-wing extremist ideology of the anti-immigration populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. 

The term was incorporated into the party programs of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) in 2007.

It was debated again in 2016, after hundreds of thousands of refugees came to Germany, mainly to flee the civil war in Syria, and needed to be integrated.

The term has triggered electioneering, or fishing for populist votes.

European Leitkultur?

This term was first used in a political sense by Syrian Islam expert Bassam Tibi from the University of Göttingen. In 1998, he called for a European Leitkultur to cement values such as human rights, tolerance, and the separation of church and state.

In 2005, German Parliamentary President Norbert Lammert attempted to redefine Leitkultur not in a German national context, but rather as an explicitly European idea. Lammert called for a discussion about a "guiding European idea" that draws on "common cultural roots, common history, and common traditions."

But the Leitkultur debate in Germany has another dimension that has a lot to do with the Germans themselves, and their history. The crimes of the Nazi regime, committed in Germany's name, destroyed all of the country's patriotic traditions, and the deep shock that ensued meant that it was decades before anything approximating a new sense of national pride could be created.

Only in 2006, at the time of the FIFA World Cup — hosted by Germany — could one finally see German flags waving in the streets without it prompting negative associations, and that was more than 60 years after the end of World War II. It was the beginning of a new, healthier sense of patriotism, one that did not arise from excessive exaltation.

In 2024, opposition leader Friedrich Merz used the term again, saying Christmas trees are part of Germany's "guiding culture." This loaded term pervades German migration debates — whether it refers to required learning or action is often unclear. It is now enshrined in the CDU's new basic policy program.

This article was originally written in German. It was first published in 2018 and has been updated.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Racism is widespread in Germany. But what does this really mean for the people affected? The German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM) in Berlin published a study entitled "Limits of Equality. Racism and the risk of poverty" which shows a correlation between racism and the risk of poverty.

Social scientists Zerrin Salikutluk and Klara Podkowik based their research on data from the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor (NaDiRa). Salikutluk is one of the researchers for this project, a recurring representative survey of everyday racist experiences, financed by the federal parliament, the Bundestag, since 2020.

"If you look at the official statistics or the federal government's poverty and wealth reports, data is mostly broken down by migration background and whether you have German citizenship," Salikutluk explained. "What we haven't been able to say so far is how people who are affected by racism in Germany are really faring," she told DW.

Everyday discrimination in Germany

The researchers found discrimination in the education system, the labor market, the housing market and the health sector. Previous studies showed that individuals with a migration background often face discrimination when looking for a job. This increases the risk of having to live below the poverty line.

In Germany, people are considered to be at risk of poverty if they have less than 60% of the statistical average income. In 2023, this was €1,310 ($1,410) per month. When asked about their monthly income, 5% of Germans without a migration background who had a full-time job said their income falls below the poverty line. However, that figure rose to 20% for Black, Muslim and Asian respondents.

The figures were similar for respondents with a high level of education or vocational accomplishments: People encountering racist discrimination were two to seven times more likely to experience economic hardship.

At 33%, Muslim men were the most at risk of poverty. Researcher Salikutluk puts this down to the high number of Muslim men among the refugees who came to Germany since 2013: Around 20% of the Muslim respondents to the discrimination survey came from Syria and Afghanistan, countries severely affected by war and poverty. "And we already know that refugees are more at risk of poverty due to their limited access to the labor market, for example," Salikutluk explained.

But even people with foreign roots who have lived in Germany for a very long time or were born in the country or hold German citizenship are discriminated against. Salikutluk points to experiments in which identical application documents were sent out with different names. The result: "People who have a Turkish-sounding name, for example, have a smaller chance of being invited to a job interview," she said.

How the poverty rate could be reduced

Salikutluk believes that the findings of the survey underline the need to take targeted measures to combat poverty and promote equal opportunities for disadvantaged groups. The researchers argue that educational and professional qualifications acquired abroad should be recognized in Germany.

"This would accelerate the entry of refugees and other migrants into the German labor market and give skilled workers with foreign qualifications access to suitable professions," the researchers write in their study.

To speed up labor market integration, the team of researchers call for faster access to language and integration courses. They argue that the high poverty rate among refugees can only be reduced if it is ensured that they can earn their own living.

This article was originally written in German.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Ludwig van Beethoven had his hands full before the premiere of his Ninth Symphony on May 7, 1824. The work was eagerly awaited in Vienna. Copyists were working flat out to reproduce the handwritten score for the performance. Beethoven not only supervised their work, but also took care of finding musicians, singers, and a suitable venue.

"The public often sees Beethoven as this lone genius who creates magnificent works all by himself, when in fact he worked with a large team," says Beate Angelika Kraus, musicologist at the Beethoven Archive, the research department of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, western Germany. Ludwig van Beethoven was born *in that city in December 1770.

Beethoven as a team player and manager

"We also have to think of Beethoven as a manager who organized his professional life with a network of collaborators," says Kraus, who edited his Ninth Symphony as part of the scholarly-critical Beethoven Complete Edition.

There were also additional people on stage managing the choir and orchestra. A chief conductor conducted the entire concert. Beethoven was at his side and set the tempo. In addition to the concertmaster on the first violin, a pianist also took on responsibility. "That was customary at the time. When a choir came on stage, the pianist could provide assistance from the piano if necessary," says Kraus.

All in the detail

As a milestone in music history and a "symbol of culture and humanity," the original, hand-written manuscript of the Ninth Symphony has been part of UNESCO's Memory of the World Register since 2001. In this last symphony completed by the composer, Beethoven used a choir, something that had never been done before in a symphonic work. At almost 70 minutes, the Ninth is also exceptionally long.

Beethoven paved the way for many composers. The famous final chorus with the "Ode to Joy" stands for peace and international understanding. The instrumental version became the anthem of the Council of Europe in 1972 and has been the official anthem of the European Union since 1985. The melody to the text "Freude schöner Götterfunken" is known all over the world today. That is why the work is a contribution to "international cultural dialogue", according to UNESCO.

Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv conducted the Ninth one day after the Russian attack on Kyiv and Kharkiv in February 2022. For her, the text passages from the pen of German poet Friedrich Schiller are particularly moving. For example, when it says: "All men become brothers." 

"Everyone all over the world should develop this empathy, it infected the audience back then and they even threw their hats in the air," she says in an interview with DW.

There is not just one Ninth

The Ninth Symphony was planned for a long time. The first sketch is known to date from 1815. There were twelve performances of his Ninth during Beethoven's lifetime, and he created more than one version. "We can say that over a period of 12 years, Beethoven repeatedly sent a version authorized by him out into the world on different occasions," says Beate Angelika Kraus.

The Ninth performed at the premiere was an early version and different from the one he sent to his publisher or the score for the Prussian king, to whom Beethoven ultimately dedicated his symphony. "The Ninth is not, as is commonly thought, a fixed work," says Kraus, "it is more of a work in progress."

Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society

The symphony was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society. The premiere was therefore naturally set to take place in England. There was a letter from 30 friends of the arts asking Beethoven to perform his latest works in Vienna first. "We have known about this letter from February 1824 for some time, but now we see it from a different perspective — many of these signatories were in close contact with Beethoven," says Kraus. The question therefore arises as to whether Beethoven was involved in the ultimate decision to hold the premiere in the Austrian capital.

Same program as the premiere

Ludwig van Beethoven presented his latest works to the public in concerts, then called "Akademien." 

At the Akademie on May 7, 1824, in the Vienna Court Theater at the Kärntnertor, the composer performed other works in addition to the premiere of the Ninth Symphony Op. 125 in front of an audience of more than 2,000. These included three parts of the Missa solemnis op. 123 and the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses" op. 124.

"Nobody would have gone to a concert back then that only lasted an hour or contained the Ninth Symphony as the only work," says Kraus.

At the time of the premiere, Beethoven was suffering from severe hearing loss. He had suffered a loss of treble at an early age and could no longer hear high tones, such as flute notes. "He also suffered from tinnitus and something called 'recruitment,' where, despite hearing loss, loud sounds are perceived as painful," says Kraus. Nevertheless, he was still on stage and set the tempo. "He may well still have perceived low frequencies, for example the timpani and basses."

The Ninth Redux

The Beethoven-Haus Bonn has reconstructed the Akademie from 1824 as faithfully as possible for the 200th anniversary of the Ninth Symphony. The world premiere concert will take place on May 7, 2024 in the magnificent Stadthalle Wuppertal, as the world premiere venue, the Vienna Court Theater at Kärntnertor, no longer exists.

The Orchestra of the Vienna Academy performs on original instruments under the direction of Martin Haselböck.

As in the world premiere, the choir will not stand behind the orchestra, but in front of it and thus, as conductor Haselböck told the press, speak more directly to the audience. Both the Missa Solemnis and Beethoven's Ninth appeal to the idea of peace, which is more topical than ever for the organizers.

The concert will be broadcast live by Deutsche Welle on the YouTube channel DW Classical Music.

This article was originally written in German.

Berlin's Finance Ministry has renewed its offer to give away a lakeside villa built for Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, in a last attempt to avoid its demolition.

Berlin's state finance minister, Stefan Evers, said the villa was available for free for anyone willing to take up its hefty upkeep.

"I am offering anyone who would like to take over the site to take it over as a gift from the state of Berlin," Evers said, expressing hope to receive a new proposal from the state of Brandenburg, where the villa is actually located.

"If we fail again, as in the past decades, then Berlin has no other option but to carry out the demolition that we have already prepared for," Evers said.

What is the history of Villa Bogensee?

The villa was constructed for Goebbels on a 17-hectare (42-acre) plot of land just outside Berlin that the city gifted him in 1936.

The former Nazi PR chief used it as a retreat from his Berlin-based wife and six children. Apart from entertaining Nazi leaders, artists and actors, Goebbels was also believed to have used the villa as a love-nest for his many secret affairs.

After he and his wife took their and their children's lives in 1945 in a Berlin bunker, the villa was briefly used as a military hospital, before being transformed into the youth wing of the East German communist party.

It came to several miscellaneous uses for about a decade following the fall of the Berlin Wall, before being largely abandoned. Its maintenance and upkeep have become a liability for the state surrounding Berlin and the federal government.

Germany has long struggled when dealing with former Nazi sites, which are often complex to demolish, amid fears that leaving them intact could attract a new wave of far-right extremists.

rmt/nm (AFP, AP, dpa)

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Ulrike Holzgrabe believes China wouldn't need an atomic bomb to deal a fatal blow to Europe. Just stopping its supplies of antibiotics would also do the trick, the professor for pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry at Würzburg University in southern Germany told DW.

Europe's huge shortage of medical masks during the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the continent's vulnerability to ensuring a steady supply of basic medicinal products. In 2020, the European Parliament stated in a report that public health could be a "geopolitical weapon that can bring down an entire continent."

The European Union has since attempted to identify the types of medicines it can only source from outside the bloc, notably from China. Holzgrabe said this effort needs to be intensified with a database on which company produces what and who provides the precursor chemicals for drug production.

Cut-throat competition and trade secrets

Establishing a precise pharmaceutical database is where the problem already begins, says Jasmina Kirchhoff from the German Economic Institute (IW) in Cologne, Germany. Information on the manufacturers of chemicals and other downstream ingredients are "well-kept trade secrets," the pharma business expert told DW.

It's critical for manufacturers to keep market advantages secret from competitors, especially in the generics sector. Generics are pharmaceutical drugs that contain the same chemical substance as a drug that was formerly protected by chemical patents.

The success of generic drugmakers depends on low prices, which means that supply chains are often "very complex, and making it unclear how many companies in which countries are involved," Kirchhoff said.

Regarding antibiotics, the IW researcher noted that China recognized "as early as the 1980s" how important it is to have its own antibiotic production. "There was massive investment in those factories that could produce at the lowest costs — first for the domestic market, and then the surplus output was exported," Kirchhoff added.

In addition to China, which has also become the largest producer of chemical precursor products for the global pharmaceutical market, India has emerged as a major supplier of pharmaceutical products.

National Pharma Strategy: Germany's reshoring initiative

As part of efforts to boost the domestic pharmaceutical industry, the German government adopted a strategy paper in December 2023 identifying three key areas to be strengthened. The goals include, first of all, unbureaucratic approvals for clinical trials with medicinal products. Secondly, easier access to health data for research purposes. And finally, incentives for setting up more manufacturing sites in the country.

Germany is still a major player in the global pharma market and home to leading companies such as Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck Group. However, they are strong in the market for innovative, patented medications but weak in the generics market, said Holzgrabe, adding that generics production in Europe is hardly profitable due to low profit margins. 

But generics are crucial for public health care in general, as they cover about 80% of basic medication needs, including many antibiotics.

Bork Bretthauer criticizes the government's strategy to boost domestic investments with subsidies. The CEO of Pro Generika — a German nonprofit that regularly commissions scientific studies into health policy and the pharma sector — told DW that Germany needs "a different pricing system" for drugs.

"We don't need zombie factories in Europe that need to be permanently subsidized," he said, adding that Europeans must be willing to pay higher drug prices.

Big Pharma needs big incentives

In the summer of last year, the German parliament adopted legislation aimed at incentivizing the German pharma industry to reshore production or at least stop relocating abroad, with higher drug prices. The law was also a result of drug shortages and supply bottlenecks that had emerged during the global pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It is a major healthcare policy change because Germany had sought to keep public health costs as low as possible until last year.

Previously, drugmakers were forced to offer statutory health insurance companies their medications at capped prices. So prices were fixed for about 80% of medications, including generic drugs, meaning that only the most cost-effective drug firms could make a profit.

Under the new legislation, insurance companies' drug tenders for specific active ingredients and off-patent medications must also award contracts to a European company.

Ulrike Holzgrabe believes the legislation is a step in the right direction, but fears it will come to nothing because there is "simply no European production left," especially in the generics sector. Jasmina Kirchhoff says the law has at least helped prevent more production from moving abroad.

China's unassailable dominance

Wolfgang Große Entrup, managing director of the Association of the German Chemical Industry (VCI), thinks higher drug prices are inevitable if Europe wants more security. But production in Europe will never be as cheap as in Asia, he said in April. The German pharma industry, in particular, would suffer from "excessive bureaucracy, skilled labor shortages, high energy costs, and crumbling infrastructure."

Holzgrabe shares this view, adding that Chinese drugmakers, by contrast, benefit from lower labor and energy costs and cost-free land allowances from the government when they establish production facilities. Moreover, they don't have to comply with environmental regulations as strict as those in Europe.

All of this, she said, would make it difficult to bring pharmaceutical production back to Europe so that "independence from China won't be achieved."

This article was originally written in German.

German exports rose by 0.9% in March over the previous month, according to figures released on Tuesday by Germany's federal statistics office, Destatis.

The rate of increase, which resulted in a 1.2% rise in comparison with last year, was unexpected, with economists consulted by Reuters news agency predicting export growth of just 0.4%.

Despite the March growth, exports as a whole in the fourth quarter contracted.

From January to March 2024, German-made goods with a total value of €402.2 billion ($422 billion) were exported, which is 1.1% less than in the same period last year, the office said. 

What else did Destatis say?

The export rise to €134.1 billion ($1.44 billion) was driven largely by demand from the US and China.

Exports to the US grew by 3.6% and those to China by 3.7%. Those rises were counterbalanced by a fall of 3.8% in exports to Britain.

Germany's exports to its EU neighbors grew by 0.5%, totaling €73.3 billion.

Imports also rose for the third month in a row, increasing by 0.3% on February to €111.9 billion, though this was 3% down on the same period last year. The foreign trade surplus was around €22 billion.

Overall, Germany's economy has seen slight growth of 0.2% in the first quarter.

In March, several German economic institutes cut their 2024 growth forecast for Germany to 0.1%.

 tj/wmr (dpa, Reuters)

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Just over four months into the year, Germany has already exceeded sustainable consumption limits for the year, according to the US-based environment NGO Global Footprint Network.

According to its calculations, if everybody in the world behaved like the Germans, humanity would need three Earths to provide enough resources to sustainably accommodate their consumption. 

So-called overshoot days occur when a country's demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what the planet can regenerate in that year.

The worst offenders, such as Qatar and Luxembourg, already exceeded their limits in February. Other countries, such as Cambodia and Madagascar, will likely stay well below their limits and not overshoot.

Last year, Germany overshot its limit on May 4 — one day later than 2024, taking into account the leap year difference.

Overshoot Day as a chance to reform

"The German Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder to change the underlying conditions in all sectors now so that sustainable behavior becomes the new normal," Aylin Lehnert, education officer at German environmental NGO Germanwatch, said in a press release. "We need a new debt brake, a debt brake in relation to the overloading of the Earth."

According to Greenwatch, meat production and consumption  in Germany is one of the main drivers of its overuse of Earth's resources. About 60% of its agricultural land is used for animal feed production, and millions of tons are imported from overseas. 

Germany's total imports led to the destruction of 138,000 hectares (341,005 acres) of tropical forest worldwide from 2016 to 2018, according to the international development agency GIZ.

The Global South, which largely lives within sustainable limits, shoulders much of the burden of overconsumption through environmental destruction and climate change damage.

On Tuesday, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) criticized the country's reckless use of soil, water and raw materials.

BUND Chairman Olaf Bandt said in a statement, "Our Earth is overloaded. A country that consumes as many resources as we do is operating poorly and recklessly."

BUND is calling on the German government to introduce a resource protection law for soil and land, arable and pasture land, fishing grounds, ground and surface water, forests and wood.

More consumption does not mean more happiness

According to the Happy Planet Index (HPI) released on Thursday, all this overconsumption doesn't necessarily lead to better lives for its citizens.

The index, compiled by the Hot or Cool Institute, a Berlin-based public interest think tank, combines data on well-being, life expectancy and carbon footprint to assess how well countries are caring for their citizens without overtaxing the planet.

For example, Sweden and Germany have very similar levels of general well-being and life expectancy, but Sweden achieved that quality of life with 16% fewer emissions per capita than Germany and less than half the per capita footprint in the United States.

Costa Rica had comparable figures for life expectancy and well-being but almost half the environmental impact of Germany.

The countries with the best balance

Vanuatu, Sweden, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua all topped the list for balancing good lives with low impact. 

The index, which also breaks down income levels within countries, found that the top 10% of earners globally are responsible for nearly half of all emissions but have almost no gains in well-being and health over low-emitters.

A good example of this is air travel. People who fly a lot emit far more carbon than people who do not, but they do not show a significant increase in well-being compared to those who fly less. In the United States, a 2020 study revealed that wealthier homes have 25% larger energy footprints than low-income homes but equal levels of life satisfaction. 

Lewis Akenji, managing director of the Hot or Cool Institute, called for countries to rethink their priorities.

"We need to focus on wasteful consumption and inequality, which is making the planetary crisis worse," Akenji said in a statement.

Edited by: Tamsin Walker

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Germany is a fantastic holiday destination year-round. With more medieval castles than you can count, vibrant cities, a rich history, famously hearty fare and Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer festival, Germany offers something for everyone. Plus, this summer, it's playing host to the UEFA 2024 European Football Championship. So that's plenty of good reasons to spend a vacation in Germany.

But what documents do tourists need to visit the country? Will a valid identity card or passport do? And is any additional paperwork needed?

Well, that depends on your nationality.

Last year, most foreign tourists staying in German holiday accommodation hailed from the Netherlands.

Dutch tourists, like all EU nationals, can visit Germany without any particular visa.

EU tourists

That is because EU citizens have the right to freedom of movement within the bloc, meaning they can enter and stay in any member state they choose for up to three months, provided they hold a valid identity card or passport.

That makes it very easy for any citizen of the EU's 27 member states — which include France, Italy, Spain, Poland and others — to spend a holiday in Germany.

Swiss tourists 

What about Swiss nationals? After all, last year, Swiss citizens made up the second-largest group of tourists in Germany, according to holiday accommodation stays.

Although Switzerland isn't a member of the EU, its nationals enjoy freedom of movement in the bloc and vice versa. This means they, too, don't need a visa to visit Germany. 

US tourists

In 2023, US nationals constituted the third-largest group of tourists in Germany. Do they need a visa to enter the country? No, all that's required is a valid US passport.

This document is enough to freely enter and stay in any European Schengen area state — including Germany — for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.

The Schengen area currently comprises 29 European countries that do not conduct checks at their internal borders, thereby enabling easy cross-border travel. 

US tourists should check, however, that their passports are valid for at least three months after the intended date of departure from Germany.

UK tourists

Although Britain left the EU in 2020, British passport holders may still visit any European Schengen area state — including Germany — without needing a visa, provided they do not stay for more than 90 days in a 180-day period.

Chinese tourists

Last year, Germany was also very popular with Chinese visitors, who made up the largest group of Asian tourists in the country.

Chinese nationals, however, require a Schengen area visa.

To apply, Chinese nationals need a range of documents, including two recent passport-style photos, a Chinese passport that has been issued in the last 10 years, proof of medical travel insurance and proof of sufficient financial means for the entire stay, a travel itinerary and proof of accommodation.

A Schengen visa costs €80 ($85) for adults and usually takes 15 to 30 days to be processed.

For a full list of visa requirements, please consult the VFS Global website.

What about tourists from other non-EU countries? 

Many other nationalities, such as Indian and Indonesian citizens, must also obtain a Schengen visa if they want to visit Germany.

 Germany's foreign office website has a comprehensive overview of visa requirements and exemptions for many more countries.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

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Marte van der Graaf does not hold back when it comes to criticizing airlines' efforts to protect the environment.

"It's difficult to take the aviation industry's net-zero targets seriously," she said. Graf is an aviation policy officer in Germany for the NGO Transport & Environment, which focuses on promoting sustainable transportation. "The aviation sector must significantly reduce its consumption of fossil fuels in the next decades. But things are going in the opposite direction at the moment," she said.

More and more people flying

As climate change threatens the planet, the industry's CO2 emissions continue to rise. And according to future projections, more and more people will be flying in the coming years. That has environmental groups worried. "Green growth and CO2-neutral air traffic remain an illusion," said the Stay Grounded network, which campaigns for less air traffic.

Nevertheless, the aviation industry has set ambitious goals for itself.

"The goal is to be climate-neutral by 2050," said Wolf-Dietrich Kindt, head of climate and environmental protection at the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry. German airlines have invested billions of euros in renewing their fleets in recent decades, he added, making it possible to drastically reduce jet fuel use and emissions.

"That is a very significant achievement," said Kindt.

New planes are more efficient

The most achievable way to reduce emissions at the moment is simply to make planes more fuel efficient. And according to experts, fuel efficiency can be increased by 20% with each new generation of aircraft.

The EU has imposed regulations for airlines in the bloc, including blending quotas for more climate-friendly fuels, which come with a higher price tag. Additionally, the EU emissions trading system, an air traffic tax in Germany as well as a possible jet fuel tax have put European airlines at a disadvantage against competing non-EU airlines. As a result, there isn't as much investment in newer aircraft as there should be.

Markus Fischer, director of the aerospace division at the German Aerospace Center, also believes in the innovative power of the aviation sector. "The industry has made a big effort to increase its efficiency through better engines and aerodynamics," he said.

He pointed out that the average fuel consumption per seat and kilometer today is only a third of what it was 50 years ago, though admitted that this still wasn't enough. The solution is alternative, non-fossil fuels.

Alternative fuels only available in small quantities

But this is precisely where the industry is struggling. Some airlines are promising electric aircraft for short-haul flights. Airbus, meanwhile, has announced a hydrogen-powered aircraft that will be ready to fly in 2035.

Yet sustainable fuels produced from renewable energy or biomass, which could replace fossil jet fuel in the short term and are less harmful to the climate, will only be available in small quantities — and at very high prices — for the foreseeable future. "There are currently no revolutionary and immediately available solutions for emission-free aviation due to major technological challenges," according to the German Aerospace Center.

Michael Haid wants to change that. He's head of EDL Anlagenbau, a company that is planning one of the world's first factories for the industrial production of green jet fuel near Leipzig.

"It will be very difficult to reach the goal of climate-neutral flying by 2050," he said. "Especially when you see how long it all takes." He blames the EU for imposing complicated regulations, which have caused delays. They've been planning the production of their fuel, called HyKero, since 2021, but production will not start before the end of 2027.

Is climate-neutral air travel even possible?

There are additional barriers to achieving climate-neutral aviation. CO2 accounts for only a portion of the climate-damaging emissions from an aircraft.

Markus Fischer of the German Aerospace Center estimates that the "non-CO2 effects" are responsible for at least 50% of the environmental impact of flying. Contrails, for example, contribute to global warming.

"Even without alternative fuels, you can do a lot to help the environment," he said. Negative effects of flying can be reduced simply by modifying flight speed, altitude and routes, for example.

And yet the industry itself does not seem to believe it will reach the goal of climate-neutral aviation by 2050. The International Air Transport Association, for example, speaks of CO2 neutrality that is likely to only be achieved through carbon offsetting.

"Compensation measures are a bogus solution for the environment," said Marte van der Graaf of Transport & Environment. "Airlines should stop using them as an excuse to postpone real climate protection measures."

She put it bluntly: "The only truly green flight is the one that stays on the ground."

This article was originally written in German.

Borussia Dortmund before the second leg of their Champions League semifinal with Paris Saint-Germain head coach Edin Terzic said that if football games were decided on the favorites, his side wouldn't even have made it to this stage.

Now, the Bundesliga's current fifth-placed team are in their second Champions League final in London in 11 years.

Indeed, it was Dortmund, not the favorites, who looked more in control. It was Dortmund, whose squad is valued at less than half of their opponents, who landed the knockout blow. And it is Dortmund, a club whose majority owners are their fans and not a country, who are in the final.

"To make the final, where it all started in 2013, hats off," Marco Reus told Amazon afterward. "It's crazy that we're in the final. No one thought it was possible."

"There is always a team that makes the quarterfinal that people don't expect to be there and we wanted to be that team this year," Edin Terzic said afterward.

"I will drink more than one glass [of red wine] tonight," said Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Luck on their side

Like all great sides, they needed their fair slice of luck. A deflection from defender Nico Schlotterbeck's went just wide instead of going in. Mats Hummels' sliding tackle clipped PSG's Ousmane Dembele centimeters outside the box rather than in.

French midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery hit the post from a tight angle when he looked destined to put the home side in front. His Portuguese teammates Nuno Mendes and Vitiniha sent long-range efforts onto the post and bar, respectively.

An effort from Kylian Mbappe, a World Cup champion who is no stranger to scoring big goals, hit the bar with four minutes to go. PSG ended the tie having hit the woodwork six times and scoring no goals.

In both games, luck was on Dortmund's side, and composure was not on PSG's. When Reus was asked about the woodwork being on their side, he simply replied, "Who cares? No one will ask about that in the morning. They'll only see our name in the final."

To speak only of luck, though, would be to ignore how Dortmund have played in what has become a legendary run to the final. The German club finished top of a group with PSG, AC Milan and Newcastle. They dealt with PSV in the last 16, dramatically overcame Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals and overturned the overwhelming favorites without conceding.

Fitting, then, that this team of entertainers makes the Champions League final in the year they have looked the most inconsistent in the Bundesliga. Last season, they lost the German league title in heartbreaking fashion on the final day. This time around, they've twice drawn with Heidenheim and are nowhere near the top three.

A victory years in the making

But this victory was a testament to a team finding itself at the perfect time — Dortmund played the same starting eleven for the third straight game — and a coach who is showing he belongs at the top level. The club's last run to the Champions League final in 2013, one they lost to Bayern Munich in London, was due in part to the emergence of Kevin Grosskreutz, the fan-turned-player. Now, with Terzic, it's the fan-turned-coach. The connections in this club remain at its core.

"That's why we do it," said Terzic, watching the clips of his team celebrating with fans and friends afterward. "We wanted it last year in our own stadium, but the pictures looked different. Tonight, we were able to give some of that back to our fans today."

Perhaps there was an element of that carrying this team through this season. This was a victory for all those moments when the club's mentality was questioned, for the trauma of the bomb attack on the team bus in 2017, for Reus, the club's iconic figure who recently announced his departure after 12 years of service that passed with more major injuries than major titles, for the fans who traveled to Paris and had to pay more for the cheapest ticket than many PSG fans in Dortmund did, for a league that has shown the rest of Europe it is possible to enjoy football without opening the door to rampant capitalism.

The scenes of players, fans and families celebrating together afterward offered an opportunity to remember what this club and all connected to it have been through in recent years and why that makes this moment so special for them.

Hummels the hero

For a side whose pieces have finally fit together, it was only logical that Hummels, a club icon also critical in their 2013 Champions League run, won man of the match. The 35-year-old defender has played every minute in Europe this season, and while there have been dips this season, there have also been plenty of vintage performances from the veteran defender.

Tuesday night's showing in Paris was another example of that: a stretched foot to deny Mbappe, 78% of his tackles won, and in game 506, perhaps the most important goal of his career.

In 2017, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said of PSG's €222 million purchase of Neymar: "Once a country owns a club, everything is possible."

Everything, it seems, other than the Champions League title. Since the Qatari takeover, PSG have been to one final. Borussia Dortmund are now heading to their second in the same timeframe, and they might even face Bayern Munich all over again.

Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp

"Role models are important so that other women realize what is possible," Sabrina Wittmann said in an interview published on the website of the German Football Association (DFB) early last month. A few weeks later, she has become just such a role model.

Appointed as interim head coach at Ingolstadt last week, the 32-year-old earned her first point in charge of the third-division outfit on Sunday, as Ingolstadt pulled out a last-minute 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Waldhof Mannheim.

"Exciting, just like the previous few days," Wittmann told MagentaSport shortly after the final whistle.

"We've already implemented a lot of what we trained over the past three days. That makes me look forward to more."

Wittmann is not the first woman to take charge of a men's side in Germany – former national team player Inka Grings had a spell as head coach of SV Straelen a few years ago, as did Imke Wübbenhorst at Sportfreunde Lotte. However, both these clubs were in the fourth tier – a step below the 3. Liga (third division), the lowest fully professional league in Germany. 

There is currently one female assistant coach in the Bundesliga, Marie-Louise Eta of Union Berlin.

'Quality trumps gender'

"If Sabrina were male, there would have been no fuss," said Ingolstadt's sporting director Ivica Grlic of Wittman's promotion from coaching the club's under-19 side.

"But we go by quality and not by gender," added the former Bundesliga midfielder who made 16 appearances for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the mid-2000s. Grlic described Wittmann's main attributes as being "direct, authentic, very talented."

Born and raised in Ingolstadt, Wittman played as an amateur for her hometown club from 2011 to 2013, before moving on to other teams in the southern state of Bavaria. She turned to coaching while still a player in 2017, and has since worked with several youth teams at Ingolstadt.

Her big break came after Ingolstadt parted ways with previous boss Michael Köllner – as, according to Grlic, the club sees developing young coaches as an important part of its profile.

Four league games and a cup final

Wittmann has been put in charge until the end of the season, giving her five matches, including Sunday's draw, to make her case for being kept on for next season. 

"It would be a mistake to rule anything out. We're open to everything," Grlic said of the possibility of her earning the job longer term.

She can make her argument with a minimum of pressure in the league, as Ingolstadt sit in 11th place and are therefore not in a battle for promotion nor against relegation.

However, there will be plenty on the line when she takes to the coaching zone for Ingolstadt's last game of the season – the final of the Bavarian Cup on May 25. Winning the title would see Ingolstadt qualify for the first round of next season's German Cup.

This article was adapted from German.

His coach called him a "living legend", the fans on Dortmund's famous Yellow Wall terrace gave him everything they had and 18-year-old debutant Kjell-Arik Wätjen provided the pass from which Marco Reus scored his 169th Dortmund goal. The Saturday game saw BVB trounce Augsburg 5-1. As goodbyes go, this was about as good as they get.

But, despite the farewell feeling, the fact that Reus was one of 10 changes from Dortmund's last match, a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, showed that priorities of coach Edin Terzic lie beyond the Bundesliga. Reus has yet to bow out — the semifinal second leg of the Champions League will be played on Tuesday.

Reus is one of only two Dortmund players (the other being Mats Hummels, who left for Bayern Munich and returned) who started BVB's last Champions League final, against Bayern at Wembley in 2013. He won the penalty converted by Ilkay Gündogan that bought Dortmund level in London before Arjen Robben's last minute winner for Bayern.

Symbol of longevity 

That is testament to the longevity of a player who played for his hometown club as a boy and returned in 2012 from Borussia Mönchengladbach. His misfortune with injuries and trophy near misses, allied to his deadly finishing, sharp movement and creative brain have made him synonymous with his club.

"It's very emotional. Marco is a living legend,” said Terzic. "Where else can you find that in modern soccer? A story where someone chooses a club for twelve years and spends almost his entire career there is extraordinary at this level."

Reus, for his part, said the response of the crowd to his first match after announcing he would leave on Friday was "indescribable. To be called forward, to have the fans shout your name, I have no words for it," he told Sky immediately after the match.

But the star athlete will not be able to bask in the crowd's adoration for too long.

"I'm glad there's now clarity and we can now focus fully on the final games, which are so important. We have a big goal ahead of us that we want to achieve together. We want to get to Wembley. We want to bring the Champions League trophy back to Dortmund," he said.

Change of fortune at final turn?

Should Dortmund beat the odds and lift the trophy on June 1, it will be only the third trophy win for the 34-year-old Reus, coming after German Cup wins in 2017 and 2021. Dortmund have come close but missed out on the Bundesliga title a few times in his career, perhaps most painfully last year, when they blew it on the final day.

Misfortune has also followed Reus on the international stage. Despite making his Germany debut in 2011, he's only managed to rack up 48 caps, missing the 2014 World Cup win through injury. He then missed out on Euro 2016, again due to injury, declared himself not fit enough for the postponed Euros in 2021 and was again ruled out of the last World Cup, in Qatar 2022.

The injuries and near misses do not detract from the player Reus has been for Dortmund, with sporting director Sebastian Kehl describing him as "one of the greatest players we have in BVB history."

There will be few that doubt that. But even they might be forced to reassess if Reus can have an even more golden goodbye in London.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

"We definitely don't want to win the 'Wolfsburg Cup,' as some people might call it. We want to win the [German] Cup, and then maybe we can name it something different this year."

Footballer Georgia Stanway isn't fazed. The England midfielder scored the opener as Bayern Munich beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Saturday to retain the Bundesliga and put the club on the verge of the first domestic double in its history. A German Cup final on May 9 against Wolfsburg, the standard setters in German women's football and winners of the last nine straight cups, isn't something that has the 25-year-old concerned.

"We know that whenever we play Wolfsburg, we don't know what we're going to get," Stanway told DW. "Those games are going to be fierce and a real high quality.

"The pressure's high, but as a team, we're in a really good place. I'm excited, and it is really difficult not to get ahead of yourself."

World Cup hangover long gone

Stanway has had little time to step away from the game since England lost the World Cup final to Spain last August. The midfielder's desire to push through caught up with her, though.

"Post World Cup, I was OK because I just wanted to keep going forward and hoping that time would be the healer," she said. "It only hit me around December. My body and my mind were not right. I was tired the whole time, I'd never slept so much in my life. The performances I was giving weren't up to the standard I wanted them to be."

Ultimately, Stanway realized she needed a break.

"I knew that the reason why I wasn't in my A-game was because I was tired of my life. I needed to go home and needed to see my family," she said.

Stanway attributed her return to form and her improvement overall to the approach of Bayern head coach Alexander Straus.

"I've never had a manager that's so approachable," said Stanway. "He cares about everything, maybe too much.

"He cares about everything that's going on in your life, and he cares about everything that's going on in your football because he knows that anything can affect another.

"I've had it with Sarina Wiegman [England manager], but you've got that female connection. I've never had that with a male manager."

Artist on and off the pitch

To suggest that Stanway's reset at home is her only source of comfort would be to miss the connection she continues to make with Munich. Recently, she has begun turning another unique passion into a reality: being a tattoo artist.

"It's my way of escaping from everything," she explained. "Just being able to have some peace and quiet. The reward afterward is special."

After visiting a tattoo parlor when she first moved to Munich, Stanway formed a connection with the artists and found it became a therapeutic exercise.

"It's very nerve-wracking, but you have to be calm in the process. By the end, you're high on adrenaline because you've just made someone genuinely happy."

Return to form

Stanway has clearly been doing that on the field this season, too, with her jersey one of the top-selling when the club released a special women's only kit earlier this year.

It's no coincidence that the Bavarian team's most convincing performances have coincided with Stanway's return to form. Five goals in her last five outings in all competitions have underlined her attacking qualities, but her influence has grown well beyond goal scoring output.

Everything about this England midfielder is at the core of why Bayern are two wins removed from winning the first double in club history, a feat that would secure Stanway a well-earned respite in the offseason.

"Actually for me this summer, it's an opportunity for me to get a break," admitted Stanway. "This will be my first summer off since 2016, from youth tournaments to Euros/World Cups."

"So as much as I am disappointed I'm not going to the Olympics because I would have loved to have represented Team GB, I also know that my body and my mind are dying for a rest. It seems like an ideal time."

Edited by: James Thorogood

Sabrina Wittmann, the first female coach in one of Germany's three men's professional football leagues, said she was comfortable and relaxed ahead of her debut match at the helm on Sunday.

Wittmann was appointed as FC Ingolstadt's interim coach until the end of the season after the third-tier side dismissed Michael Köllner when the club missed out on promotion. 

She appeared before journalists on Friday for her first news conference in the role.

What did the new coach say?

Ahead of her debut against relegation-threatened Waldhof Mannheim, Ingolstadt native Wittmann said she knew "all the players, from the very small to the very big ones."

The 32-year-old has been with the club for 19 years, initially as a player and most recently as coach of the under-19s.

"I feel totally at home in men's football," said Wittmann. "I've never had any big plans for the future in the past, everything just went really well," she told journalists.

Wittmann admitted that she hadn't dwelled too deeply upon where her promotion might lead.

"I haven't thought about whether this is the only or last chance in my life or whether there will be 40 others," she said. Everything happened too fast, but it felt "really good," she added.

In a previous interview, while she was still under-19s coach, Wittmann said it was important for women to blaze a trail.

"Role models are important so that other women realize what is possible," she said. 

How likely is Wittmann to stay?

While former Werder Bremen midfielder Marie-Louise Eta last year became the Bundesliga's first female assistant coach at Union Berlin, there had never until now been a female head coach in one of the professional men's leagues in Germany.

While Wittmann is initially an interim solution for the last three league games, the club has said that could change. 

Ingolstadt sporting director Ivo Grlic said he would not rule out signing Wittmann on a permanent deal.

"It would be a mistake to rule things out. We're open to everything," Grlic told reporters about the prospect.

"She has the opportunity to get a taste of what professional football is like for three and a half weeks so that she can continue to develop. We're not afraid. The team will follow her, we're absolutely convinced of that."

rc/nm (dpa, SID)

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