First, the good news: politician Matthias Ecke, of the center-left Social Democrats, is recovering from an operation after suffering a broken cheekbone and eye socket. The 41-year-old candidate for the European Parliament elections was knocked down and seriously injured while he was putting up campaign posters in Dresden, in the eastern state of Saxony, on Friday evening. Fellow campaigners have said Ecke intends to continue campaigning after his recovery.

Four suspects, aged 17 and 18, have been identified by the police.

The bad news, however, is that anyone involved in politics in Germany is living an increasingly dangerous life. The attack on the Social Democrat is just the tip of the iceberg: local politicians, in particular, are being attacked, threatened and insulted on a daily basis.

Max Reschke, who has been the leader of the Green Party in the eastern state of Thuringia for a year, is familiar with the threat.

"We have seen a pile of dung in front of the door of our party offices, eggs on the windows, smashed windows at several offices and also mailboxes blown open," Reschke told DW. He said he and his colleagues have also been threatened with physical assault.

"Violent language has definitely increased in recent years," added Reschke.

Local politicians stepping up security

Green Party supporters, in particular, have increasingly become targets of attacks. During the campaign for the local elections set to take place at the end of May and the European elections in early June, they have decided to never venture out alone. The campaigners have been trained to always speak calmly to people, to de-escalate and not to allow themselves to be provoked.

"There are people who used to just think things and now say them out loud. They also like to try to intimidate families. And there are others who make sure that such thoughts are turned into actions. Unfortunately, we have now seen that in Dresden," said Reschke.

An increase in election-related crime has been observed for a number of years. In Essen, a major city in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, two Green Party politicians were recently insulted and then physically attacked. The attack left one injured.

In Brandenburg, angry demonstrators attacked the car of Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a member of the Green Party and the vice president of Germany's parliament, preventing her from continuing her journey following a campaign appearance on May 1. And in Gotha, a city in central Thuringia, the house of an SPD politician was set on fire in February after he had organized a demonstration against right-wing extremism.

Reschke has called for local politicians to be given more police protection. "It shouldn't be the case that something has to happen first for people to take action," he said. "And society as a whole must ask itself what direction we want to take. I don't believe that more violence and more fear make sense."

Political violence increasing across Europe, US

In a recent representative survey of more than 6,400 mayors across Germany conducted by the opinion research institute Forsa, 40% of respondents said they or people close to them had been insulted, threatened or physically attacked. Some admitted they had thought about quitting politics as a result.

However, this isn't a purely German phenomenon. Attacks on politicians have increased throughout Europe and also in the United States, according to Sven Tetzlaff, head of the Democracy and Cohesion unit at the Körber Foundation.

Tetzlaff told DW that social media has played a part in changing the public discourse. "People are egging each other on to express their hatred of the state, of the system, of politics, of 'those at the top'. And we also know that the inhibition thresholds for physically attacking people drop significantly if language continues to develop in this direction," he said.

Democracy under attack

The willingness to find a compromise or a balance of interests is declining, said Tetzlaff. "And that means that people then say, if my interests are ignored, then I reject the system, then I insult the politician who does not act on my interests," he added.

"Stark im Amt" ("Strong in Office"), an online portal for local politicians, was launched in 2021 by the Körber Foundation together with the German Association of Cities, the German Association of Counties and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities. Around 3,000 local politicians visit the site every month to read about strategies to prevent and combat threats and online hate speech.

Tetzlaff is worried the recent attack on Ecke could spur local politicians to step back out of fear for their own safety — a threatening scenario.

"If people at the first level of democracy, in the 11,000 plus municipalities in Germany, no longer get involved," he said, then people will get the impression that democracy no longer functions. "And if we no longer have confidence locally that this democratic state will continue to function, we really do have a massive problem in Germany."

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.

Green party candidate Yvonne Mosler and others were verbally and physically assaulted in an incident recorded by a DW film crew on Tuesday.

Mosler and her team were hanging campaign posters in the eastern German city of Dresden.

The city council candidate, was verbally attacked then spat upon by a woman in the video, while her male accomplice could be seen shoving members of her team as the two yelled at them demanding the film be deleted.

Other individuals hurled unfounded insults reminiscent of the US conspiracy group QAnon, claiming the Green was a paedophile, as well as chanting far-right slogans and and yelling support for the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The attack occured on the same day that Social Democrat Franziska Giffey was hospitalized after being hit over the head by a man in a Berlin library.

Those attacks in turn came after several Green and SPD politicians were assaulted last week. The most serious of these incidents saw EU parliamentarian Matthias Ecke requiring surgery for injuries after being punched and kicked by four young men in Dresden.

Reminscent of the 'truly darkest time in German history'

In an interview with DW Chief Correspondent Michaela Küfner, Saxony State Premier Michael Kretschmer of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) warned of the raw political climate.

"This reminds one of that truly darkest time in German history… when people who are active in politics, who are dealing with political issues, are threatened by others."

"That’s why the constitutional state, the police, but also we as a society — together — must clearly act with all the power at our disposal," he added, citing the killing of Hesse State politician Walter Lübke by a neo-Nazi in 2019.    

Concerns have grown across Germany with fears that violent and dehumanizing rhetoric from parties like AfD have led to a normalization of violence that some see as justified. Giffey called such attacks "a transgression that must be resolutely opposed by society."

While these attacks are mostly aimed at Green Party and Social Democratic politicians, others have also been targeted, including local, state, federal and EU politicians.

js/dj (DW sources)

Europe has seen a sharp rise in the share of people who say that reducing immigration should be a top government priority, according to a study published Wednesday. Germany is topping the list.

At the same time, there was less desire to prioritize fighting climate change in the same countries, according to the survey commissioned by the Denmark-based Alliance of Democracies Foundation think tank.

Nearly half of German respondents put focus on migration

Since 2022, an increasing number of Europeans say their government should prioritize "reducing immigration," rising from just under 20% to a quarter.

Meanwhile, concern about climate change was on the slide across the continent.

"In 2024, for the first time, reducing immigration is a greater priority for most Europeans than fighting climate change," the report said.

"Nowhere is this reversal more striking than in Germany, which now leads the world with the highest share of people who want their government to focus on reducing immigration — topping all other priorities — and now nearly twice as high as fighting climate change," the report read.

 About a quarter of Germans cited immigration as their main priority in 2022, which rose to 44% in the 2024 survey. About a third were most concerned about climate change two years ago, falling below the 25% mark this time.

The survey was carried out in 53 countries, including democracies and autocracies, that represent over 75% of the world's population. It examined attitudes to democracy, government priorities and international relations.

War seen as the biggest threat

The authors found that the greatest perceived threat globally was war and violent conflict, followed by poverty and hunger, and then climate change.

About half of the people around the world, in both democratic and non-democratic countries, felt that their government was acting only in the interest of a small group of people. Again, Germany experienced a marked shift in that area as well.

"In the past four years, this perception has remained highest in Latin America, lowest in Asia and has steadily increased in Europe since 2020 — particularly in Germany, the report said. 

Disaffection with the state of democracy was seen as "very prevalent in the US, Europe, and in other countries with a long democratic tradition."

'Wake-up call' for democracies

Meanwhile, autocracies Vietnam and China were among the countries considered as the most democratic by their citizens.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, chair of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, said the figures were "a wake-up call for all democratic governments."

"Defending democracy means advancing freedom around the world, but it also means listening to voters' concerns at home," said former NATO chief and Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen.

"The trend shows we risk losing the Global South to the autocracies. We are witnessing an axis of autocracies forming from China to Russia to Iran."

This article was written using material from the DPA news agency.

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.

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)

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)

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.

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.

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)

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.

 

The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is considered one of Europe's most respected awards, given to people or institutions who have made outstanding contributions to the unification of Europe. Since its inception in 1950, recipients have included the founding fathers of a common Europe; kings and heads of government; presidents and popes; the opposition in Belarus; and the Ukrainian people.

On May 9, 2024, the prize will go to a rabbi for the first time.

Pinchas Goldschmidt has been president of the Conference of European Rabbis, which includes around 800 Orthodox Jewish scholars, for almost 13 years. At age 60, Goldschmidt is now probably the most prominent rabbi in Europe.

"With this accolade, the Charlemagne Prize Board of Directors wishes to broadcast the message that Jewish life is a natural part of Europe, and that there is no place for antisemitism in Europe," the prize organizers said in a statement.

'Explosion of antisemitism since October 7'

"Unfortunately, the reality is exactly the opposite," Goldschmidt told DW. "We have seen this explosion of antisemitism in Europe since October 7."

The Hamas-led terror attacks against Israel on that day resulted in the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Around 1,200 people were killed, thousands were injured and some 240 were taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages. Israel responded with a large-scale military offensive in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands over the past seven months, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Since that offensive began, hatred of Jews has grown around the world. Goldschmidt said Jewish parents are afraid to send their children to school. Jewish men, young people and children are afraid to walk in public with a yarmulke on their head. Jewish life in many places is taking place under police protection.

Antisemitism "became politically correct again," said Goldschmidt, adding that this must be reversed. Governments must make it clear that hatred of Jews must not be tolerated, "not in schools, not on the streets, not in cultural life." As long as open hatred of Jews is tolerated, he added, "we have a serious problem."

With "we," Goldschmidt wasn't speaking only about Jews. For him, it's all about Europe's future.

The European history of Goldschmidt's family includes the horrors of Auschwitz. Goldschmidt was born in Zurich in 1963; his grandparents relocated from Vienna to Switzerland in 1938 — just in time to save themselves — because his grandmother was ill.

However, the rabbi said his maternal great-grandparents, their siblings, his grandfather's sisters and brothers and more than 40 of his relatives were murdered in the German concentration camp.

Escaping Putin's war of aggression

Goldschmidt was chief rabbi of Moscow from 1993 to 2022. Just a few days after Russia's full-fledged war on Ukraine began in February 2022, he fled Russia because the Kremlin was forcing religious representatives to align with its program.

Since Goldschmidt left Moscow, he said more than a 100,000 Jews have also left Russia. "The political situation in Russia is becoming increasingly difficult. The country is returning to complete isolation — to the Soviet Union, without communism. And antisemitism has again become part of government policy," he said.

Goldschmidt and his wife, their seven children and numerous grandchildren moved from Russia to Jerusalem, to a country that changed dramatically on October 7, 2023. "We fell from one war into another war," he said.

He describes war as "terrible — one of the most terrible things that humanity has invented." Of course, like every country, Israel has the right to defend itself, he said, pointing out that Israel is not fighting a all-out war on an army in Gaza, but rather, on a guerrilla force.

Goldschmidt brought up Iran's role in supporting Hamas and the Hezbollah militia — both are classified as terrorist organizations by the EU. "This is Europe's hour. Europe must defend itself against these attacks — these attacks against democracy and freedom that are coming from Russia on one side, and from Iran on the other," he said.

The rabbi is multilingual, and a master of dialogue. He is in contact with many leading politicians, and has often been a guest at the German Chancellery and even visited Pope Francis several times.

Since becoming president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Goldschmidt has established an ongoing dialogue between leading rabbinic scholars and Muslim imams from European and North African countries. The Conference of European Rabbis is now based in Munich, in southern Germany.

Islam 'can become a valuable part of Europe'

"Instead of fighting radical Islam, the Islamic religion itself is being fought. That is a big — a very big — mistake," said Goldschmidt. Radical Islam must be countered, but at the same time, it's also clear that "Islam, as such, can become a valuable part of Europe — if its believers and representatives actively live European values, such as freedom, democracy and tolerance."

Goldschmidt was pleased to hear that he was the 2024 Charlemagne Prize honoree. "For me, personally, and for the Jewish community in Europe, it is a nice sign. Because we would like to see more support for Jewish communities from civil society. That is so important."

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.

Friedrich Merz has been working meticulously to reorient the Christian Democrats (CDU) since 2022, when he was elected as chairman of the party and also the leader of the center-right parliamentary group of CDU and the allied Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament.

He wants to move the party away from the liberal centrist positions championed by former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merz and Merkel go back a long way, their relationship marked by disappointment, anger, and dislike. Because of Merkel, Merz turned his back on politics in 2009 and went into business.

Islamists do not belong in Germany

At the CDU political convention in Berlin this week, a new party platform was adopted intended to sharpen the conservative profile.

"With this platform, we are ready to take on the responsibility of governing Germany today or by autumn at the latest," 68-year-old Merz said in his speech.

On 75 pages, the CDU sets out "who we are, where we stand, and what we want." The document details the party's positions on all major political issues. There are clear statements on immigration and integration. "Muslims who share our values are part of Germany's religious diversity and our society," it reads while adding: "An Islam that does not share our values and rejects our liberal society does not belong in Germany."

Merz calls for more vigilance in dealing with Islamists and the far-right. "Today, we have to agree with those who say that the problem of right-wing extremism in Germany has been underestimated for years, and we should be very careful not to repeat the same mistake when it comes to the instigators of political Islam, who openly threaten us and who are not prepared to accept the rules of our country and peaceful coexistence in Germany."

With regard to immigration, the CDU calls for an "unconditional" commitment to the "German Leitkultur" (guiding culture), a term dating back to the 1990s that many argue is a call for assimilation. The CDU wants it to be understood today as a commitment to the constitution and to a shared set of values. These include a "shared sense of homeland and belonging," an "appreciation of our traditions and customs," and knowledge of German culture and language.

In an interview with DW's Senior Political Correspondent Michaela Küfner, Merz said "Those who are really integrated and willing to meet all the requirements we are having here in this country, legally, culturally, that these people are really welcome [but] those who are, for example, asking for Sharia state or for the caliphate state do not have a place in Germany."

Getting tough on immigration

When it comes to asylum, the party advocates a significant tightening of the rules. "Everyone who applies for asylum in Europe should be transferred to a safe non-EU country where they can be processed," it reads. Agreements with such a non-EU country should be reached so that those who are granted asylum can then be distributed across the EU. A proposal by church representatives to grant recognized asylum seekers the right to stay in Germany failed to gain a majority at the CDU convention in Berlin.

In its new platform, the CDU also calls for the gradual reinstatement of compulsory military service, which has been suspended since 2011. However, those who do not want to serve in the armed forces should also be able to complete their compulsory year of service in a social institution.

On the subject of social welfare, the CDU is calling for more incentives: Anyone who refuses work or training "must be in a noticeably worse financial situation than someone who is actively looking for work."

Merz is not (yet) a candidate for chancellor

The CDU spent two years working on its new party platform. "Losing the federal election was painful," Merz said at the party convention, referring to the party's defeat in 2021. "But going into the opposition also bought us the time we needed to regroup as a party."

However, Friedrich Merz is not yet where he wants to be. He has not yet been nominated as the CDU/CSU's candidate for chancellor in the 2025 general election. The plan is to wait until after pivotal state elections in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg this autumn. Only then will the CDU and CSU decide on their top candidate.

Merz is keen to run, but so, too, is CSU chairman and Bavarian Premier Markus Söder — and then there is Hendrik Wüst, the Premier of the country's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Both Söder and Wüst are more popular than Merz, according to opinion polls.

Merz has never held any government office. But the CDU chairman is traditionally the first in line to run for chancellor, as Söder acknowledged in his speech at this week's convention.

No cooperation with the far-right AfD 

Nationwide, the CDU is the strongest party and has been polling at just over 30%. However, in order to return to power, the conservatives will need to find one or more coalition partners. Friedrich Merz has ruled out any cooperation with parties on the extreme left and the extreme right of the political spectrum, which leaves few options in eastern German states.

There, the CDU is trailing far behind the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Thuringia and Brandenburg, while they are neck and neck in Saxony. Merz once loudly promised that under his leadership the approval ratings of the AfD would be cut in half. The opposite has happened. Today, Merz limits himself to saying that it is the job of the of the CDU to fight against the AfD. He vehemently rejects any cooperation.

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.

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

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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

Germany's schools have had a lot of bad news in recent months. 

In December, the PISA education ranking showed German pupils falling behind in mathematics and reading. The 2024 Youth Study showed a digitalization deficit in schools, with students saying they don't feel prepared to find a job and manage the challenges of real life.

And a survey conducted in April, known as the Schulbarometer (school barometer), had one in two teachers reporting that they had witnessed psychological or physical violence from pupils.

"We're seeing a snapshot of a sick system," said Dagmar Wolf, a former teacher and head of education research at the Robert Bosch Foundation, which contacted more than 1,600 teachers for the survey. "We're talking about bullying, we're talking about vandalism, but also about physical altercations, some of which of course go beyond the schoolyard," she told DW.

"We have even received reports of parents getting involved. It's more of an exception, but it's not as if it doesn't happen."

Violence in elementary school

The Berlin education minister recently had to send a letter to 800 schools warning them that a false report was going viral on TikTok, urging participation in a "National Rape Day."

Geopolitical crises and wars are also having an impact. According to Wolf, school administrators have seen violence among students linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

This isn't only a problem in secondary schools. Even elementary schools, with students aged 6 to 10, have seen an increase in reports of bullying and scuffles.

Wolf said Germany is a divided country when it comes to education. The 3,000 top-tier secondary schools do not face the same problems as the schools mainly attended by children and young people with migrant roots or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Integrating refugees has become a Herculean task for all schools in Germany. "In the past two years, we have integrated more than 200,000 children fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine into our education system. And at least as many from other countries where there is either great economic hardship or where there is war or civil war. Of course, that makes the situation even in elementary schools much more difficult than it was 10 years ago," said Wolf.

Smartphones, COVID-19 caused dramatic change

Torsten Müller (who did not wish to share his real name) is a social worker at a comprehensive school in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He said the situation has changed dramatically over the past few years, and blamed smartphones and social media use for the increase in stress, exhaustion, self-doubt and listlessness.

"This has changed communication," he said. "Young people talk more about each other than to each other, and misunderstandings arise. And then we are still dealing with the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which brought a significant increase in mental illness."

The months-long closure of schools is sometimes considered the biggest mistake made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. German pupils had to stay at home for more than 180 days, far longer than in many European countries.

Müller also said many young people today tend to resort to violence instead of just arguing. The school that Müller works at has introduced de-escalation training to curb the problem.

"We show students how arguments arise in the first place and what they can do as a group or as an individual to avoid getting into this situation," he said. "We show how bullying works, and find that every second or third pupil has experienced this firsthand. We then use exercises to develop a joint strategy to combat it."

More psychologists, social workers needed

Smaller classes, more teachers, a good support system with social workers and psychologists — that's what Müller proposes in order to get Germany's schools back on track.

But Stefan Düll, the president of the German Teachers' Association, has called for even more. "We need lots of people who can teach German," he said. "In addition to psychologists, administrative assistants and youth workers. But we can no longer recruit so easily. The need is getting greater and greater, but the workforce is shrinking. The whole system can no longer function like this."

That has caused growing frustration among teachers, who are increasingly finding themselves mediating conflicts instead of teaching. According to the "school barometer" survey, one in three teachers often feels emotionally exhausted, and 27% said they have thought about quitting. They all said their biggest challenge is students' behavior.

The head of a secondary school in Bavaria told DW that he advocates a zero-tolerance policy. "At a certain point we enter the realm of criminal law," he said. "We need to report to the police also as a bit of a deterrent. In the case of cyberbullying, too, many school principals hand the cases over to the police."

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. Sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

Germany's federal government stands divided — once again. And the reason is money. The cabinet needs to agree on its proposal for the 2025 budget, before submitting it to the parliament, the Bundestag, for debate after the summer recess.

However, things are being held up as the center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Green Party and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP) fundamentally disagree over where savings can and should be made.

In Germany, the federal government and the 16 federal states are obliged to balance their books. The federal government is practically prohibited from taking out loans that exceed 0.35% of economic output in total. This so-called debt brake, enshrined in the constitution, is upheld and protected by Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his FDP party. The SPD and the Greens, however, argue that in times of crisis, the state has to borrow more to be able to invest.

A majority of Germans want spending discipline

Pollster infratest-dimap conducted its monthly "Deutschlandtrend" survey of 1280 eligible voters this week and found that 54% of respondents want to keep the "debt brake" unchanged. 40% percent would like to see the provision reformed.

If the "debt brake" is upheld, the ministries will have to cut back their spending plans by around €30 billion ($32.2 billion) according to latest estimates.

The pollsters asked voters how they would like priorities to be set. The answers reveal that voters find it difficult to agree on where government spending should be cut. Public spending on refugees and welfare payments for the long-term unemployed — known as citizens' income (Bürgergeld) — are areas where almost half of all respondents favored a reduction. In terns of healthcare and care for the elderly as well as family policy, most respondents would like to see spending increase.

The smallest party in the government, the FDP, is strictly opposed to increasing social benefits. Their support has plummeted since the 2021 federal election, meaning they may not even pass the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation next year.

The center-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) continue to have the strongest voter support and are polling at 31%. The Social Democrats and the Greens are on level pegging at 15%. The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) garners 18% support. The party has seen support erode across the country in recent months. This is attributed to two factors: the emergence of the Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) as a populist alternative, but also the scandals surrounding the AfD's top candidates for the European Parliament elections and their ties to Russia and China.

The AfD's top candidate for the European Parliament elections on June 9 is Maximilian Krah. He has been accused of accepting money from Russia and China, which affected his voting behavior. A close associate of his was recently arrested and charging with working for the Chinese Secret Service and Krah is also under investigation. In the Deutschlandtrend survey, seven out of ten respondents say the AfD should reconsider its stance on Russia and China.

A majority of AfD supporters, however, see no reason for their party to reposition itself. Instead, three out of four AfD supporters think the overall response to the lawmakers' actions has been exaggerated.

Hardly any interest in the European Parliament vote

According to the survey, the AfD is polling at 15% for the European Parliament election. The conservative CDU/CSU could expect moderate gains, all the other parties are likely to see losses. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) could expect to win 7% voter support in their first-ever election. Its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, left the post-communist Left Party in 2024 to found her grouping that blends left-leaning economic policies with conservative migration and pro-Russian foreign policy initiatives.

Although half of all voters surveyed say they are very interested in the European Parliament election, the other half say they have little or no interest at all. Interest in this EP election is even lower than in 2019, when voter turnout in Germany was a meager 61.4%. This falls far short of the 76.6% voter turnout for the country's 2021 general election.

EU policies seem to be failing to meet German voter expectations. Two-thirds of respondents said they are "rather dissatisfied" with EU policies. Supporters of the AfD and BSW are particularly critical, while SPD and Green Party supporters are the most satisfied with EU policy decisions.

Forty-one percent of respondents said that immigration, asylum, and integration policies pose the biggest challenge to the EU. Fifty-one percent see deals with countries outside the bloc as a way to reduce the number of refugee arrivals to Europe. The EU is currently negotiating such agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. The countries have been promised substantial EU funding in return for preventing refugees from traveling on to the EU.

Overall, respondents to the May Deutschlandtrend survey see international conflicts (34%), environmental and climate protection (21%) and the economy (20%) as the other issues on the list of the EU's most pressing problems.

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.

Germany's constitution, known as the Basic Law, guarantees freedom of the press and freedom of speech. The German media landscape comprises both public service broadcasters and private outlets. The former are financed by the license fee that all households have to pay, while the others depend on sales and advertising revenue.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is a special case: Germany's international broadcaster receives taxpayers' money from the budget of the Minister of State for Culture and the Media (BKM). Like other public broadcasters in Germany, DW is obliged to provide extensive and balanced reporting. This is monitored by committees whose members are representatives who span the breadth of German society, from politics to culture to industry to academics and sports, to name a few. 

AfD wants to abolish license fee

In its manifesto, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party states that Germany's public broadcasting service should find alternative funds. "Its compulsory funding must be abolished immediately and converted to pay television," argues the party. Elements of the AfD have been classified as right-wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

AfD party members have often argued that they are at a disadvantage in the media and that reporting by both public and private outlets is unfair towards them. They say, for example, that they are not invited enough to participate in TV talk shows.

However, people do not have a "right" to be invited to such shows. Editorial teams make decisions on whom to invite and this, too, is part of press freedom in Germany.

Moreover, in 2024, it is hardly the case that Germany's media outlets are neglecting the AfD. The party often crops up in reporting because polls predict that it will do well in the upcoming EU elections in June, as well as in the three German state elections taking place in September. More recently, it has also come under the spotlight because of fears that it is becoming more radical and suspicions that it is implicated in various espionage scandals, involving China, for example, as well as its relations with Russia.

AfD's Björn Höcke overshadows Bodo Ramelow

One of its most notorious figures, Björn Höcke, the leader of the party in the eastern state of Thuringia, has probably made a name for himself even outside of Germany by now.

The leader of the state's opposition, he is more famous than the actual state premier of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, from the socialist Left Party, whom he hopes to dethrone following the state election in September.

The media is particularly interested in why Höcke has become so influential within his party despite being arguably its most extremist politician. This has eclipsed the fact that Ramelow is the first and only person from the Left Party to be elected to the post of state premier.

On top of this, Höcke has appeared in court on charges of using a banned slogan once used by the Nazi paramilitary Sturmabteilung (SA) wing.

Thus, he has become a frequent topic in the German national media landscape, while Ramelow doesn't often make headlines outside Thuringia. On the other hand, it cannot be said that Höcke and the AfD appear so often in the media as entities with a voice: There is generally less talk with them than about them.

Controversial TV debate

One exception was a recent controversial television debate, when Höcke fought a live duel with Mario Voigt, a little-known politician from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who is also challenging Ramelow for the post of state premier of Thuringia. Broadcast by the private television channel Welt TV, the clash was supposed to last 45 minutes but went on for more than an hour.

The debate, which Welt TV staged like a spectacle in the boxing ring, was talked about constantly in the media in the days leading up to it.

For the prominent weekly magazine Spiegel, it was a mistake to have the debate in the first place. "Of course, after these 71 minutes, Höcke will appear to many as a little more normal and socially acceptable than before," it argued. 

However, Germany's most widely read newspaper, the tabloid Bild, published a piece by Oliver Lembcke, a political scientist at the University of Bochum, arguing just the opposite — that it made sense to engage with the far-right party: "The permanent running away, disinviting and marginalizing of the AfD, and always the same phrases regarding the risks, has allowed Höcke to develop into some kind of magician or dark lord."

Warning: The AfD may be hazardous to your health

For the German Federation of Journalists (DJV), all of Germany's media outlets should adjust their reporting about the AfD if the party as a whole is classified as being "right-wing extremist" by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Currently, three state branches of the AfD, including in Thuringia, already bear this designation. DJV chairperson Mika Beuster says that there should be a "clear warning, like on packs of cigarettes, in all articles."

The media expert Bernd Gäbler conducted two studies for the union-linked Otto Brenner Foundation in 2017 and 2018 and concluded that it was a difficult balancing act dealing with the AfD. He advised against falling into the trap of excluding the party completely but said that this did not mean that "AfD politicians have to take part in every forum or be approached for interviews in the same way as all other politicians."

"There is no need for journalism that is specifically tailored to the AfD," he also wrote. "What is more the case is that the AfD poses a new challenge to revisit old journalistic virtues and the classic tools of the trade."

This article was translated from German.

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

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.

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

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.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets of Dresden and Berlin on Sunday to protest right-wing extremism and political violence following Friday's attack on the Social Democrat (SPD) lawmaker Matthias Ecke, a member of the European Parliament.

Ecke was assaulted in Dresden while hanging up posters ahead of June's European parliamentary elections. He was beaten so severely that he required emergency surgery and remains hospitalized.

"It is very clear that this willingness to use violence did not occur in a vacuum," said SPD co-chair Saskia Esken before the Sunday demonstrations.

Police said roughly 1,000 people gathered in front of Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate to voice support for democracy and stand against right-wing extremism.

In Dresden, police and organizers estimated the number of participants to be around 3,000.

Addressing the crowd in Dresden, Esken said far-right parties sowing discontent and contempt for democracy were to blame for a recent spate of incidents involving verbal and physical attacks on politicians.

"In this respect, these people who have threatened to hunt us down, to clean up this country, to muck it out, also share responsibility for the social climate in which such acts are possible," said Esken; who was joined by Federal Culture Minister Claudia Roth and Saxony Justice Minister Katja Meier, both of the Green Party.

The protests were initiated by the groups Zusammen gegen Rechts (Together Against the Right) in Berlin, and Wir sind die Brandmauer Dresden (We Are the Firewall Dresden) in Dresden.

What happened in the Friday attack on Matthias Ecke?

Police in Dresden said Matthias Ecke was first verbally attacked and then physically beaten on Friday evening by a group of four young males whom eyewitnesses said appeared to have ranged in age from about 17 to 20.

One suspect, a 17-year-old, turned himself in on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses also told police that the perpetrators had been dressed in dark clothing and appeared to be part of the far-right scene.

Just minutes before attacking Ecke, the group is also believed to have beaten a Green Party staffer hanging campaign posters in the same neighborhood.

Far-right and extremist groups and political parties, chiefly among them Alternative for Germany (AfD), have a strong base in many eastern German states, including Saxony. However, authorities have not established whether the suspects were involved with the party.

German and EU leaders condemn attacks

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called for a meeting with her state-level colleagues to discuss the rise of political violence across Germany in the run-up to the EU elections.

"The constitutional state must and will react to this with a tough approach and further protective measures for the democratic forces in our country," she said on Saturday.

Though the assault on Ecke is perhaps the most high-profile case of political violence of late, it is certainly not the only one, as several other political campaigners have also been attacked in recent weeks.

On Thursday, for instance, German parliamentarian Kai Gehring and local politician Rolf Fliss, both Greens, were attacked in the western city of Essen following a campaign event.

The Greens have in fact stopped sending out party affiliates to hang up posters on their own in the cities of Chemnitz and Zwickau in Saxony after a series of attacks last weekend.

Fabian Funke, who like Ecke is a member of the Social Democrats, spoke with DW about recent attacks on politicians in Germany and the threat they pose to democracy. 

"We see that these hostile attacks on people during election campaigns are rising," he said. "I think this is really a dangerous time, also for the state of our democracy."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also denounced what he called the "threat" posed by far-right political violence.

"Democracy is threatened by this kind of act," Scholz told a congress of European socialist parties in Berlin, saying such attacks result from, "the atmosphere created by the discourse of pitting people against each other."

"We must never accept such violence... we must oppose it together," Scholz said.

Outside Germany, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also commented on the attacks, saying, "We're witnessing unacceptable episodes of harassment against political representatives, and growing far-right extremism that reminds us of dark times of the past."

js,ab/sms,lo (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.

Germany accused Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, on Friday of being behind a 2023 cyberattack that targeted the Social Democrats (SPD).

NATO member Germany has been among the Western nations providing military support to Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion and there have also been recent accusations of increased espionage.

In June 2023, the SPD announced that cybercriminals had targeted email accounts belonging to its executives earlier that year.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that a newly conducted government investigation found that that cyberattack was carried out by a group called APT28.

The Czech Republic said its institutions too have been targeted by APT28, also known as Fancy Bear and controlled by Russia's GRU military intelligence service. The Czech Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it believed the group had exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's Outlook program.

What are the latest accusations?

"Russian state hackers attacked Germany in cyberspace," German Foreign Minister Baerbock said.

"Today we can say unambiguously ... we can attribute this cyberattack to a group called APT28, which is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia," she told a news conference during a visit to Australia.

APT28 has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks around the world.

"In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyber attack on Germany," Baerbock said. "This is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences."

She did not specify what those consequences could be.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Germany would act alongside the European Union and NATO in its response.

"The Russian cyberattacks are a threat to our democracy, which we are resolutely countering," Faeser said in a statement. "Under no circumstances will we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the Russian regime."

The Interior Ministry added that there was some evidence the Russian cyberattack also compromised the servers of some German companies.

How have others responded?

The European Union, of which both Berlin and Prague are members, condemned a "malicious cybercampaign" against the two countries. The bloc warned that it would use a "full spectrum" of tools to respond.

NATO said in a statement that it stands in solidarity with Germany and the Czech Republic following the attacks. 

The US also released a statement, calling on Moscow "to stop this malicious activity and abide by its international commitments and obligations."

The Russian Embassy in Germany denied Moscow had a role in the 2023 attack, saying its envoy "categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident ... as unsubstantiated and groundless." 

Germany summons Russian envoy

The German Foreign Ministry later said it had summoned the Russian envoy about the alleged cyberattacks.

"We have summoned the acting charge d'affaires of the Russian Embassy," a ministry spokesman told reporters. He added that the government would "use the entire spectrum of measures to deter and respond to Russia's aggressive behavior in cyberspace."

Baerbock first addressed the cyberattacks while speaking after meeting Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Adelaide.

Wong said Australia was also "deeply troubled" by the cyber activity raised by Baerbock.

"Australia stands in solidarity with Germany in calling out states that act contrary to the norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace," Wong said.

lo,rc/sms (AFP, Reuters)

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.

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)

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.

Germany's federal government stands divided — once again. And the reason is money. The cabinet needs to agree on its proposal for the 2025 budget, before submitting it to the parliament, the Bundestag, for debate after the summer recess.

However, things are being held up as the center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Green Party and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP) fundamentally disagree over where savings can and should be made.

In Germany, the federal government and the 16 federal states are obliged to balance their books. The federal government is practically prohibited from taking out loans that exceed 0.35% of economic output in total. This so-called debt brake, enshrined in the constitution, is upheld and protected by Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his FDP party. The SPD and the Greens, however, argue that in times of crisis, the state has to borrow more to be able to invest.

A majority of Germans want spending discipline

Pollster infratest-dimap conducted its monthly "Deutschlandtrend" survey of 1280 eligible voters this week and found that 54% of respondents want to keep the "debt brake" unchanged. 40% percent would like to see the provision reformed.

If the "debt brake" is upheld, the ministries will have to cut back their spending plans by around €30 billion ($32.2 billion) according to latest estimates.

The pollsters asked voters how they would like priorities to be set. The answers reveal that voters find it difficult to agree on where government spending should be cut. Public spending on refugees and welfare payments for the long-term unemployed — known as citizens' income (Bürgergeld) — are areas where almost half of all respondents favored a reduction. In terns of healthcare and care for the elderly as well as family policy, most respondents would like to see spending increase.

The smallest party in the government, the FDP, is strictly opposed to increasing social benefits. Their support has plummeted since the 2021 federal election, meaning they may not even pass the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation next year.

The center-right bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) continue to have the strongest voter support and are polling at 31%. The Social Democrats and the Greens are on level pegging at 15%. The far-right populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) garners 18% support. The party has seen support erode across the country in recent months. This is attributed to two factors: the emergence of the Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) as a populist alternative, but also the scandals surrounding the AfD's top candidates for the European Parliament elections and their ties to Russia and China.

The AfD's top candidate for the European Parliament elections on June 9 is Maximilian Krah. He has been accused of accepting money from Russia and China, which affected his voting behavior. A close associate of his was recently arrested and charging with working for the Chinese Secret Service and Krah is also under investigation. In the Deutschlandtrend survey, seven out of ten respondents say the AfD should reconsider its stance on Russia and China.

A majority of AfD supporters, however, see no reason for their party to reposition itself. Instead, three out of four AfD supporters think the overall response to the lawmakers' actions has been exaggerated.

Hardly any interest in the European Parliament vote

According to the survey, the AfD is polling at 15% for the European Parliament election. The conservative CDU/CSU could expect moderate gains, all the other parties are likely to see losses. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) could expect to win 7% voter support in their first-ever election. Its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, left the post-communist Left Party in 2024 to found her grouping that blends left-leaning economic policies with conservative migration and pro-Russian foreign policy initiatives.

Although half of all voters surveyed say they are very interested in the European Parliament election, the other half say they have little or no interest at all. Interest in this EP election is even lower than in 2019, when voter turnout in Germany was a meager 61.4%. This falls far short of the 76.6% voter turnout for the country's 2021 general election.

EU policies seem to be failing to meet German voter expectations. Two-thirds of respondents said they are "rather dissatisfied" with EU policies. Supporters of the AfD and BSW are particularly critical, while SPD and Green Party supporters are the most satisfied with EU policy decisions.

Forty-one percent of respondents said that immigration, asylum, and integration policies pose the biggest challenge to the EU. Fifty-one percent see deals with countries outside the bloc as a way to reduce the number of refugee arrivals to Europe. The EU is currently negotiating such agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. The countries have been promised substantial EU funding in return for preventing refugees from traveling on to the EU.

Overall, respondents to the May Deutschlandtrend survey see international conflicts (34%), environmental and climate protection (21%) and the economy (20%) as the other issues on the list of the EU's most pressing problems.

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.

Germany's constitution, known as the Basic Law, guarantees freedom of the press and freedom of speech. The German media landscape comprises both public service broadcasters and private outlets. The former are financed by the license fee that all households have to pay, while the others depend on sales and advertising revenue.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is a special case: Germany's international broadcaster receives taxpayers' money from the budget of the Minister of State for Culture and the Media (BKM). Like other public broadcasters in Germany, DW is obliged to provide extensive and balanced reporting. This is monitored by committees whose members are representatives who span the breadth of German society, from politics to culture to industry to academics and sports, to name a few. 

AfD wants to abolish license fee

In its manifesto, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party states that Germany's public broadcasting service should find alternative funds. "Its compulsory funding must be abolished immediately and converted to pay television," argues the party. Elements of the AfD have been classified as right-wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

AfD party members have often argued that they are at a disadvantage in the media and that reporting by both public and private outlets is unfair towards them. They say, for example, that they are not invited enough to participate in TV talk shows.

However, people do not have a "right" to be invited to such shows. Editorial teams make decisions on whom to invite and this, too, is part of press freedom in Germany.

Moreover, in 2024, it is hardly the case that Germany's media outlets are neglecting the AfD. The party often crops up in reporting because polls predict that it will do well in the upcoming EU elections in June, as well as in the three German state elections taking place in September. More recently, it has also come under the spotlight because of fears that it is becoming more radical and suspicions that it is implicated in various espionage scandals, involving China, for example, as well as its relations with Russia.

AfD's Björn Höcke overshadows Bodo Ramelow

One of its most notorious figures, Björn Höcke, the leader of the party in the eastern state of Thuringia, has probably made a name for himself even outside of Germany by now.

The leader of the state's opposition, he is more famous than the actual state premier of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, from the socialist Left Party, whom he hopes to dethrone following the state election in September.

The media is particularly interested in why Höcke has become so influential within his party despite being arguably its most extremist politician. This has eclipsed the fact that Ramelow is the first and only person from the Left Party to be elected to the post of state premier.

On top of this, Höcke has appeared in court on charges of using a banned slogan once used by the Nazi paramilitary Sturmabteilung (SA) wing.

Thus, he has become a frequent topic in the German national media landscape, while Ramelow doesn't often make headlines outside Thuringia. On the other hand, it cannot be said that Höcke and the AfD appear so often in the media as entities with a voice: There is generally less talk with them than about them.

Controversial TV debate

One exception was a recent controversial television debate, when Höcke fought a live duel with Mario Voigt, a little-known politician from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who is also challenging Ramelow for the post of state premier of Thuringia. Broadcast by the private television channel Welt TV, the clash was supposed to last 45 minutes but went on for more than an hour.

The debate, which Welt TV staged like a spectacle in the boxing ring, was talked about constantly in the media in the days leading up to it.

For the prominent weekly magazine Spiegel, it was a mistake to have the debate in the first place. "Of course, after these 71 minutes, Höcke will appear to many as a little more normal and socially acceptable than before," it argued. 

However, Germany's most widely read newspaper, the tabloid Bild, published a piece by Oliver Lembcke, a political scientist at the University of Bochum, arguing just the opposite — that it made sense to engage with the far-right party: "The permanent running away, disinviting and marginalizing of the AfD, and always the same phrases regarding the risks, has allowed Höcke to develop into some kind of magician or dark lord."

Warning: The AfD may be hazardous to your health

For the German Federation of Journalists (DJV), all of Germany's media outlets should adjust their reporting about the AfD if the party as a whole is classified as being "right-wing extremist" by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Currently, three state branches of the AfD, including in Thuringia, already bear this designation. DJV chairperson Mika Beuster says that there should be a "clear warning, like on packs of cigarettes, in all articles."

The media expert Bernd Gäbler conducted two studies for the union-linked Otto Brenner Foundation in 2017 and 2018 and concluded that it was a difficult balancing act dealing with the AfD. He advised against falling into the trap of excluding the party completely but said that this did not mean that "AfD politicians have to take part in every forum or be approached for interviews in the same way as all other politicians."

"There is no need for journalism that is specifically tailored to the AfD," he also wrote. "What is more the case is that the AfD poses a new challenge to revisit old journalistic virtues and the classic tools of the trade."

This article was translated from German.