If you want to understand the world, you don't necessarily have to travel it. Take one look at Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). On April 22, the world celebrates the 300th anniversary of his birth. The German philosopher never left his East Prussian home of Königsberg — now Kaliningrad and part of Russia — yet this did not stop him from trying to understand the world. His ideas have revolutionized philosophy and made him a pioneer of the Enlightenment.

His most famous work, "Critique of Pure Reason," is regarded as a turning point in intellectual history.

Today, Kant is one of the most important thinkers of all time.

Many of his insights are still valid today, in the face of climate change, wars and crises.

For example, what could lead to lasting peace between states? In his 1795 essay, "On Perpetual Peace," Kant recommended a "league of nations" as a federal community of republican states. According to Kant, political action must always be guided by the law of morality. His work became the blueprint for the founding of the League of Nations after World War I (1914-1918), the forerunner of the United Nations, in whose charter it left his mark.

In addition to international law, Kant also developed a world citizenship law. In doing so, he rejects colonialism and imperialism and formulates ideas for the humane treatment of refugees. According to the philosopher, every person has a right of visitation in every country, but not necessarily a right of hospitality.

In favor of reason and arguments

Kant does not justify human dignity and human rights religiously with God, but philosophically with reason. Kant had great faith in people. He believed they were capable of taking responsibility — for themselves and for the world. Kant believed that life could be mastered with reason and arguments, and formulated a basic rule for this — "Act in such a way that the maxim of your will could at any time be regarded as the principle of general legislation." He called this the "categorical imperative." Today we would formulate it like this: You should only do what is the best for all.

In 1781, Kant published what is probably his most important work. In "Critique of Pure Reason" he poses the four fundamental questions of philosophy — What can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for? What is the human being?

His search for answers to these questions is known as epistemology. In contrast to many philosophers before him, he explains that the human mind cannot answer questions such as the existence of God, the soul or the beginning of the world.

"Kant is not a light of the world, but a radiant solar system all at once," German Romantic writer Jean Paul (1763-1825) said of his contemporary.

However, other intellectual greats found Kant's writings difficult to digest. The philosopher Moses Mendelssohn complained that it took "nerve juice" to read them. He himself was unable to do so.

Pioneer of the Enlightenment

The teachings and writings of Immanuel Kant laid the foundations for a new way of thinking. Kant's phrase "Sapere aude" (the Latin phrase meaning "Dare to know") became famous and saw Kant become a pioneer of the Enlightenment. This intellectual movement declared human reason (rationality) and its correct use to be the standard for all actions. In his writings, Kant called for people to free themselves from any instructions (such as God's commandments) and to take responsibility for their own actions.

Numerous judgments and prejudices still circulate about Kant today. The German philosopher and Kant researcher Otfried Höffe has put some of these to the test in his new book "Der Weltbürger aus Königsberg" (The world citizen from Königsberg), including the question of whether Kant was a "Eurocentric racist" or whether Kant discriminated against women.

The author shows that are nuances to the labels that are equally attributed to the German philosopher.

No couch potato

Kant was not a racist in the modern sense. On the contrary, he condemned colonialism and slavery. Although Kant never traveled beyond Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia was a vibrant trading city at the time, a "Venice of the North." In addition, Kant had virtually devoured travelogues from other countries.

And was Kant a misanthrope? Although Kant had a strictly regulated daily routine, he enjoyed extended lunches with friends and acquaintances, loved billiards and card games, went to the theater and was considered a charming entertainer in the city's salons.

Kant celebrations everywhere

Many events in Germany will commemorate Kant and his legacy in 2024, to mark 300 years since his birth. The Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, for example, has been hosting a Kant exhibition named "Unresolved Issues."

A major academic conference will be held in Berlin in June, followed by an International Kant Congress in Bonn in the fall, which was originally planned for Kaliningrad but cannot take place there due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Kant's grave adorns the back wall of Königsberg Cathedral. As one of the few historical buildings, the Gothic church survived the bombings of World War II and the subsequent wave of demolitions in the Soviet state.

Indeed, Kant's impact on German legal history has been profound, but the rise of nationalism prevented his work from being the dominant force in German political thought until after World War II.

Now, 300 years on from his birth, Kant is still considered a prominent thinker, one capable of inspiring political movements to this day.

This article was originally written in German.

Though he has yet to lead Germany in a competitive match, Julian Nagelsmann has won a contract extension with the German Football Association (DFB).

The former Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig coach, 36, has been in charge since September 2023 and led his team to victories over France and the Netherlands in his most recent matches. As hosts of Euro 2024, Germany have only played friendlies since Nagelsmann replaced Hansi Flick. As such, his first meaningful match will be the Euro 2024 opener against Scotland in Munich on June 14.

The Bavarian city is twice implicated, as Bayern Munich's reported interest in re-hiring Nagelsmann, after they sacked him in March 2023, was arguably the catalyst for his contract extension with the national team.

Tournament failures mounting up

"This is a decision made with the heart. It is a great honour to coach the national team and work with the best players in the country," Nagelsmann said, in a statement released by the DFB.

“With a successful, passionate performance we have the chance to carry an entire country with us. The enthusiasm of the fans has touched me a lot. We now want to play a successful Euros at home and after that, myself and my team are very much looking forward to the challenge of the World Cup." 

The German national team has struggled in recent years, exiting the last two World Cups at the group stage and the previous Euros in the last 16. As a result, 2014 World Cup winning coach Joachim Löw and then Flick, who won the Champions League with Bayern, paid the price.

DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said extending Nagelsmann's deal offers security. "It is a strong signal for the DFB and the national team that Julian Nagelsmann will remain head coach beyond the home Euros because he was on the list of many big clubs across Europe.

"But the national team is for Julian Nagelsmann more than just a job, it's a real matter of the heart. Now we have security in planning and everyone can focus entirely on a successful performance at the Euros"

Bayern left to look elsewhere

But, in a warning that the DFB chose not to heed, Löw was given a new deal just months before the 2018 World Cup, in which Germany crashed out after shock losses to South Korea and Mexico.

Nagelsmann and his bosses will be hoping for a different outcome this time, with Germany also set to face Hungary and Switzerland in a home tournament that many believe will be critical for the future of football in the country.

Though Germany are happy to keep their man, the news is seen as a blow to Bayern. Thomas Tuchel will depart at the end of the season and, having already seen Xabi Alonso opt to stay at Leverkusen, the dethroned Bundesliga champions are rapidly revising their shortlist.

Edited by: Kalika Mehta

The Russian government has all but banned a German free-market think-tank with ties to the Free Democratic Party (FDP), labeling the Friedrich Naumann Foundation "undesirable."

On Thursday, the foundation's board announced that the organization had been blacklisted by the Russian Justice Ministry the day prior.

"For Russians in particular, especially the foundation's long-standing partners, working with an undesirable organization poses a high risk," a statement from the foundation's executive board said.

The statement condemned what members called a Russian threat to "the worldwide, resolute commitment to civil and human rights," and vowed, "We will not be deterred by this and will stick to our mission."

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation joins think tanks tied to Berlin's other ruling coalition partners — the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens — in being banned by the Kremlin in the wake of Moscow's invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

A law passed in 2015 mandates that organizations deemed "undesirable" must cease operations in Russia. It also allows Russian authorities to close any offices belonging to them, as well as freezing foundation bank accounts and assets.

Moreover, the designation puts Russian citizens at risk of criminal prosecution should they have contact with such organizations.

Several Russian NGOs have been shuttered, as have the offices of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Russia has also banned DW and other independent media from broadcasting in the country. 

js/sms (AFP, dpa)

German prosecutors on Thursday said police in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth had arrested two men on suspicion of spying for Russia.

The two are accused, among other things, of acting as agents for sabotage purposes and of preparing explosives, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office announced in Karlsruhe.

Germany also summoned Russia's ambassador in Berlin after the arrests were announced. 

"We will not allow Putin to bring his terror to Germany," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

What are the allegations?

Federal police arrested Dieter S. and Alexander J. and, along with Bavarian state police, searched the defendants' homes and workplaces.

The men were said to have scouted out potential attack targets, including US military bases in Germany.

S., who prosecutors say was in contact with a Russian secret service agent, is also charged with conspiring to cause an explosion and arson.

The accused is said to have been exchanging ideas with the agent since October 2023 about possible sabotage action.

The actions were intended, in particular, to undermine the military support provided by Germany and its allies to Ukraine.

S. allegedly told the Russian operative that he was prepared to carry out attacks on infrastructure used by the military as well as industrial sites in Germany.

According to Der Spiegel news magazine, the facilities included the Grafenwöhr army base in Bavaria, where Ukrainian soldiers are trained in how to use US Abrams tanks.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the arrests underscored that countering the threat of Russian espionage must remain a high priority: "We can never accept that such espionage activities take place in Germany."

Moscow said that German officials had not provided evidence to support allegations the two men were Russian spies.

"No evidence was presented to prove the detainees' plans or their possible connection to representatives of Russian structures," the Russian Embassy in Berlin said in a post on X.

How far had the plot gone?

S. had collected information about potential attack targets. He had scouted out some of the targeted objects, taking photos and videos of, for example, military transports and goods.

He is then said to have passed the collected information to his handler. Suspect J. is accused of helping him from March 2024 at the latest.

He is also accused of membership of a foreign terrorist organization based on a "strong suspicion" that he was a fighter for an armed unit of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine between December 2014 and September 2016.

The pro-Russian DPR claimed control over the Ukrainian administrative district of Donetsk in 2014, with the aim of secession from Ukraine, and started to engage in intensive clashes with the Ukrainian armed forces. The DPR is known to have repeatedly used violence against the civilian population.

Authorities say Germany, which has become one of Kyiv's biggest suppliers of military aid, is a key target for Russian spying operations.

"Our security authorities have prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in response to the arrests.

"It is a particularly serious case of alleged spy activity for [President Vladimir] Putin's criminal regime."

"We will continue to provide Ukraine with massive support and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated," 

News of the arrests came as Germany's Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck made a surprise visit to Kyiv.

Germany's Interior Minister Marco Buschmann hailed an "investigative success in the fight against Putin's sabotage and espionage network."

"We know that the Russian power apparatus is also targeting our country," he tweeted. "We must respond to this threat defensively and decisively."

How serious is this for Germany?

Oleksandr Danylyuk, an expert in Russian hybrid warfare, told DW it was unlikely any of the information that was shared could be significantly dangerous in the Kremlin's hands.

"The information itself is not a big deal but, at the same time, what is already reported is that people were involved also in the preparation of some sabotage activities on the territory of Germany," he said.

The concern for German national security, Danylyuk said, that both of the suspects are German citizens. Although they were born in Russia, they moved to Germany many years ago.

"It means that actually Russians have a huge network of people who live in Germany and have even legal grounds to live there — have citizenship and who can be used for any kind of activities."

Danylyuk said it was particularly disturbing that at least one of the two suspects had participated in Russian aggression against Ukraine before in Donetsk.  

"This is  disturbing," said Danylyuk, adding that an overhaul was needed to "how proactively law enforcement agencies as well as the intelligence community should be looking for people like like them."

rc/wd (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.

The former head of the Ahrweiler district, Jürgen Pföhler, will not be charged with negligent homicide over deaths that occurred during flooding in the region in July 2021, prosecutors said on Thursday.

No charges will be brought either against another member of the crisis team in Ahrweiler who was also under investigation, they said.

There was not enough evidence that quicker action on the part of authorities would have prevented the deaths from occurring, prosecutors said.

What did prosecutors say?

At a press conference in the western city of Koblenz, the head of the criminal investigation office in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate said the probe had been challenging.

"The investigation entailed unprecedented challenges," said Mario Germano, because it was carried out "in a region marked and partly destroyed by the natural disaster."

"Some of the people we had to question were badly traumatized," he added.

"Although I myself was not affected by the flooding catastrophe or involved in the investigation, I was very saddened by the extent [of the disaster] and the human fates involved," he said.

The chief state prosecutor in Koblenz, Mario Mannweiler, said investigators had concluded that the extreme nature of the disaster could not have been predicted by authorities in the region.

"The 2021 flood far surpassed everything people had experienced before and was equally unimaginable to residents, those affected, emergency services and those in charge of the emergency services," he said.

He conceded that disaster management in the Ahrweiler district had been insufficiently organized and that the leadership system of the emergency services had displayed numerous deficits.

But he said these "very considerable deficits" did not constitute grounds for assigning legal culpability to any one individual. 

What was the investigation about?

Investigators were looking into why authorities in the district of Ahrweiler failed to declare a disaster situation until shortly before midnight on July 14, by which time numerous towns were already completely flooded.

A key focus of the investigation was on the 12 drowning deaths in a facility for disabled people in the town of Sinzig.

What happened during the floods?

The 2021 floods were the deadliest natural disaster in Germany in decades, claiming more than 180 victims.

The Ahrweiler district, in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, was the worst-hit, with 135 deaths. Forty-seven people were killed in the neighboring state of North Rhine-Westphalia, 27 of them in the town of Euskirchen.

Two people died in the southern state of Bavaria.

tj/wd (epd, dpa)

As Russia pursues its war of aggression against Ukraine in violation of international law, a charity opera gala has been organized in Germany to raise funds for the hard-hit country. "Rebuild Ukraine" takes place on April 19, 2024 at 7 p.m. local time at the Berlin Konzerthaus.

DW will broadcast the event live on the YouTube channel "DW Classical Music" and on the YouTube channel of DW's Ukrainian program.

The charity event will feature top-class opera stars.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner are patrons of the event.

Support for Ukrainian children living with war trauma

Over 1,500 guests are expected in the sold-out hall, including many public figures.

The German entrepreneur and politician Harald Christ and his Foundation for Democracy and Diversity are behind the initiative. "I can't fight on the front in Ukraine, but I can make a contribution," says Christ. "Every contribution, every euro counts."

Star cast and solidarity

Eleven opera singers have agreed to take part in the charity gala.

In addition to established stars like Rolando Villazon, the program also includes younger singers, such as Nicole Chirka from Kharkiv, who had to flee the war and is currently a member of the Dresden Semperoper ensemble. Fellow Ukrainian artists Olga Kulchynska and Andrii Kymach are also part of the international line-up of singers.

In addition to popular Verdi and Puccini arias, Ukrainian music is also part of the program, including an aria by Mykola Lysenko, who is considered the founder of the Ukrainian opera tradition.

The singers will be accompanied by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under the direction of conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson.

Classical music as a peaceful weapon

Wilson was the initiator of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra project, an ensemble founded as a cultural response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"I have a cousin in Ukraine, he has been at the front since the first day of the invasion. He gave up his career as a journalist and artist in 2014 to serve in the army," Wilson tells DW. "I took inspiration from him and used my baton as a weapon."

The organizers are expecting donations to top €1 million ($1 million).

The proceeds will be given to projects such as a #WeAreAllUkrainians, which was co-initiated by former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The initiative sets up community centers in the destroyed cities in order to provide to traumatized children and young people a piece of normalcy amid the ongoing war.

This article was originally written in German.

Russian national Oleg Ponomaryov's asylum application was turned down by Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) at the end of February. BAMF said he was at no risk in Russia and should leave Germany within 30 days. If not, he could expect to be deported.

Ponomaryov's despair is palpable. He fears he will be arrested as soon as he arrives in Russia and be sent to fight against Ukraine.

"The situation in Russia is getting worse and worse, a total mobilization is on the cards and my fitness level and driving license allow me to drive military vehicles," says Ponomaryov, who came to Germany in September 2022 after Russia announced a partial mobilization.

At the time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that Russian nationals who did not want to take part in Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, which is a violation of international law, should be given protection in Germany. Ponomaryov applied for political asylum, and while he waited for the decision, he learned German and volunteered at an integration center for Russian speakers. His wife also came to Germany and applied for asylum.

Ponomaryov thinks that the negative decision is unfair. "We are expected to speak out and be more politically active, and then we are denied asylum. According to several articles of the law in Russia, we can be thrown into jail just for taking part in protests here," he says, pointing out that he has regularly attended anti-war rallies in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin. He is concerned that he could be charged with "discrediting" the Russian armed forces if forced to return to Russia.

'They think I'll be safe there'

Dmitriy, another young man whose name has been changed, fled Russia after an appointment at an enlistment office. He had been given several hours to pack his things before returning. He decided to go into hiding and then left the country. 

He had been active in the resistance against the war, spraying graffiti and distributing stickers, but was unwilling to reveal any more than that. Some of his like-minded comrades had been more active, he said, blowing up trains carrying munitions for the Russian army for example. 

He said that for the German authorities what he had done was not enough proof that he would be in danger if he returned to Russia. "They think I'll be safe there," he said sarcastically. "They're too cowardly to do anything against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's regime themselves, but they want Russians to fight against it."

Human rights activist Rudi Friedrich from Connection, a German NGO that campaigns for conscientious objectors and deserters around the world, said that he had seen several letters recently in which Russian nationals had been refused asylum on similar grounds.

He explained that from the perspective of the courts and the Federal Office for Migration there has to be a "considerable probability" of persecution for somebody to be recognized as a refugee.

"With regard to Russian conscripts, it is very often assumed that such a probability does not exist, even if a person submits their draft notice," said Friedrich. "Then, the argument runs that conscription is not likely because the person is too old. Or that there are 25 million reservists, so why do people think they will be enlisted?"

He said that though this was in line with the requirements of the highest court in Germany, these were interpreted to the disadvantage of asylum seekers, with the result that applications were often rejected. He added that if ordered to return to Russia, these men ran the very real risk of being conscripted. 

Friedrich also confirmed that Russian deserters had been granted asylum in Germany.

According to BAMF, 4,431 male Russian nationals of military age have applied for asylum in Germany since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A decision has been issued in more than half of the cases (2,476), but in most (1,905) the asylum seekers have simply been referred to the country responsible for granting asylum in their case.

Of the cases for which Germany is responsible, asylum has been granted for 159 people and rejected for 412. The number of positive decisions has been falling steadily.

In 2022, the ratio of rejections to positive decisions was six to four, whereas these days it is nine to one. Clara Bünger, a lawmaker for Germany's Left party, criticized the development: "I call on the federal government to instruct BAMF to be generous in granting protection to Russian conscientious objectors, as was announced. That would send a strong signal in favor of peace politics," she said.

'Torture, prison, war and death'

When asked what awaited him in Russia if he was forced to return, Dmitry said: "Torture, prison, war and death." Oleg Ponomaryov said he was plagued by "the thought of waking up one day, with the police knocking at the door saying: 'Let's leave for Russia!'"

Although there are currently no direct flights between Germany and Russia, there have already been deportations of Russians convicted of criminal offenses, via third countries such as Serbia. "What's to stop the German authorities from doing the same with conscientious objectors?" asked Ponomaryov.

The two men have both appealed against the BAMF decisions and proceedings could drag on for years. In the meantime, they have been allowed to stay in Germany, but their asylum seeker status makes it difficult to find work, study or even rent an apartment.

This article was originally written in Russian.

Violence in the Middle East brings with it a tragic predictability. For communities the world over that identify with Israel or the Palestinians, the trauma cuts deep. 

The current iteration of ire is that much more intense given the unprecedented death and destruction that triggered it. Hamas' terror attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, was the worst of its kind in the country's 75-year history.

Israel's retaliatory campaign is estimated to have killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza. While that could include many fighters for Hamas, which the EU, US, Germany and others consider a terrorist organization, more certain is that many of them are children. 

Abdassamad El Yazidi, the secretary-general of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, told DW that both Jews and Muslims take the conflict very emotionally. "But it is possible to build trust, argue objectively about the issue, and still treat each other respectfully," he said.

That is the challenge wherever Jews and Muslims live together in the world. For Germany, it poses a particularly vexing balancing act. The country is home to a Muslim population of about 5.5 million — more than half are German nationals, according to the German Islam Conference — and the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe. Its Jewish community is considerably smaller, perhaps less than 200,000 people, yet German history gives them outsized attention. 

As a means of repentance for the Holocaust in which Nazi Germany killed 6 million European Jews, politicians now lump Israel's security and protection of Jewish life together into the country's "reason of state." That means that in the effort to combat hatred and violence against all groups in society, Jews are first among equals. The German government recently approved an additional payment of €25 million ($27 million) to Holocaust survivors living in Israel to help them cope with the effects of the Hamas attacks. 

"As a society and citizens, we are responsible for the antisemitic annihilation of millions of people," El Yazidi, who is involved in a number of Muslim-Jewish outreach efforts in Germany and around Europe, said. "We must do everything to ensure that this does not happen again. But the answer cannot be to stigmatize another religious group by pushing them aside, by denying them their belonging." 

Political 'dishonesty' 

Following the Hamas attacks, both government and opposition parties in Germany submitted proposals doubling down on the fight against antisemitism with a special focus on "imported antisemitism" — a clear shot at minority groups to which many foreign-born people belong. 

In a widely praised video statement in November, Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck called on Muslim groups in Germany to "distance themselves from antisemitism so as not to undermine their own right to tolerance." 

This sort of politics is "dishonest," El Yazidi said. He called it "brazen" for the country responsible for the Holocaust to speak of "imported" antisemitism. 

His organization's Jewish counterpart, the Central Council for Jews in Germany, did not respond to a DW request to comment. Fostering dialogue with other communities is part of the council's mandate to promote Jewish life in Germany. Its "Schalom Aleikum" initiative ("peace be upon you," the Hebrew equivalent of the Arabic greeting), launched in 2022, aims to act like a research-based think tank on "Christian, Jewish and Muslim realities of life in Germany and make it available to the public." 

At the end of last year, the initiative published "recommendations for guardrails for Jewish-Muslim dialogue" that it saw "called into massive question" due to the October 7 attacks. 

Among the key points was the recognition that violence between Israel and Palestinians "cannot be the elephant in the room." It must be openly discussed to avoid people feeling discredited or denounced. 

"I am pleased that 'Schalom Aleikum' is keeping a cool head in this time of crisis and war," said Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews. 

A downward spiral of general suspicion 

A full accounting of the state of relations between Jews and Muslims is difficult to assess. Despite what their names suggest, both central councils are just two of many Muslim and Jewish organizations in Germany. They hardly speak for all Muslims and Jews, many of whom remain unaffiliated with any group. 

Jews and Muslims are united by a common threat they face. Government and non-profit reporting consistently show that far-right extremists pose the biggest risk to both — and society overall. In its 2022 report, the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) documented just 1% of antisemitic incidents having an Islamist connection, according to a statement provided to DW.  

That number climbed to 6% in the month after the October 7 attacks, a period that also saw a rise in anti-Muslim incidents. For the majority of antisemitism cases, researchers and investigators have been unable to assign any ideological motive or background. 

"These figures do not yet provide any information about the extent for 2023 as a whole," said RIAS spokesperson Marco Siegmund. 

RIAS also follows the IHRA definition of antisemitism, as does the German government and others, which counts many forms of Israel criticism as antisemitic. 

"Every form of antisemitism is dangerous, regardless of the ideology it stems from," Felix Klein, Germany's Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism, told DW in a statement. "It is an expression of a deeply anti-democratic attitude and rejects the achievements of our modern, liberal society."

The closest equivalent to Klein's role for Muslims is the "antiracism commissioner," which the government established in early 2022. This is nestled under the office for migration, refugees and integration. Many of Germany's Muslims are born in Germany and hold German citizenship. 

Safeguarding everyone 

The different kinds of state attention to its minority groups has implications not only for Jewish-Muslim relations but social cohesion more broadly. 

"I always tried to expand the field into the research of prejudice overall," Wolfgang Benz, the retired head of the Antisemitism Research Center at Berlin's Technical University, told DW. "With the political intention of getting the majority to recognize that you can't pit one minority against another." 

He said that is precisely what has happened with "these two minorities quite hostile towards each other." 

Often, Benz's research suggests, anti-Jewish sentiment is a symptom of larger expressions of violence and discrimination. Focusing primarily on the antisemitic aspect might meet a political standard in Germany but could miss a larger point. 

"We have only learned the lesson of the Holocaust when we are not only friendly to Jews, but when we have recognized that no minority, no matter which one, should be discriminated against and persecuted," Benz said. "That is precisely what is lacking in German consciousness." 

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

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 police on Thursday, April 18, arrested two German-Russian nationals who are alleged to have targeted military sites and railroad lines in Germany.

The Federal Public Prosecutor General accuses them of spying on behalf of Russian secret services. One of the two men arrested in Bavaria allegedly also planned to sabotage German infrastructure with explosives.  

"The actions were intended in particular to undermine the military support provided from Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression," writes the Federal Public Prosecutor General in a press release. They are said to have spied not only upon German facilities but also those of the US military in Germany.   

The main suspect is also accused of membership of a foreign terrorist organization. He is said to have joined an armed unit of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine in the past. 

If convicted, the men face prison sentences of up to ten years.  

This is not the first case of suspected espionage by Russia.

Carsten L.

Carsten L.* went on trial in December 2023. 

He was responsible for "personnel security" as head of division at Germany's international secret service (BND), but stands accused of being a security risk himself.

The former Bundeswehr officer now stands accused of having worked as a double agent for the FSB, Russia's secret service. L. is said to have passed on secret documents to the businessman Arthur E., who then handed them over to the FSB. L. is said to have been paid €450,000 ($484,000) and E. at least €400,000 for this. Prosecutors now suggest the betrayal of secrets could have enabled the Russian FSB to draw conclusions on Germany's espionage methods.

Carsten L. and his accomplice Arthur E. are now on trial in Berlin. They face a life sentence if they are convicted of particularly serious treason. 

The Russian war against Ukraine "also means a turning point for internal security," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in June 2023, warning of a new wave of disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and espionage by foreign intelligence services.

At the beginning of August, there was another case in point.

Thomas H.

Thomas H. was arrested on August 9 in the western city of Koblenz when the federal prosecutor's office accused the Bundeswehr officer of having betrayed information about military details to Russian intelligence.

The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported that Thomas H. had already come to the attention of his colleagues because of his sympathy for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). Some parts of the party are considered far-right extremists and very critical of the NATO alliance's attempts to help Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Mr. and Mrs. Anschlag

But it is not only since the Russian invasion of Ukraine that spies in Germany have been reporting to Moscow. Beginning sometime in the 1980s, two Russian agents led a middle-class life under the names of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, he posing as an engineer, she as a housewife.

They spied on NATO and the European Union, first for the Soviet Union and then for the Russian secret service. They received their orders via encrypted radio messages on shortwave at a time when espionage was not yet a predominantly digital business. It was not until 2011 that their cover was blown — probably thanks to a tip-off from US intelligence services. In 2013, they were sentenced to several years in prison and eventually deported to Russia.

Gabriele Gast

The communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) referred to their agents as "scouts of peace." An estimated 12,000 of them are believed to have been deployed by the East German secret service, the Staatssicherheitsdienst or Stasi, to West Germany during the Cold War.

Among them was Gabriele Gast, a West German recruited by a Stasi officer in 1968 while on a research trip to East Germany for her dissertation entitled: "The Political Role of Women in the GDR." From then on, Gast reported to the intelligence service in East Germany — while also making a career for herself at the Western intelligence service BND under a false name. She was only exposed after the collapse of the GDR in 1989, shortly before the reunification of Germany. She is still considered to have been one of the GDR's top spies in the West.

Alfred Spuhler

Alfred Spuhler may have been a similarly good source for the Stasi. As a high-ranking BND official, he unmasked hundreds of Western agents working in the GDR. He was arrested in November 1989.

Heinz Felfe

Heinz Felfe, the longtime head of the BND's "Counterintelligence Soviet Union" unit, was also a double agent. He was a member of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's police unit, Schutzstaffel (SS), then reported to the KGB in Moscow until 1961. Over the years, Felfe is believed to have worked for seven different intelligence services, including the British MI6.

Günter Guillaume

Probably the most sensational espionage case from the Cold War period in Germany is that of Günter Guillaume.

Posing as refugees from East Germany, he and his wife Christel came to West Germany in 1956. Their mission was to provide the Stasi with internal information about the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Guillaume worked his way up, eventually becoming personal advisor to Chancellor Willy Brandt when the SPD came to power.

When Guillaume's cover was blown, Brandt was forced to resign as chancellor on May 6, 1974. Guillaume was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his wife to eight years. Both were released in 1981 in exchange for West German agents.

Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz

A vast number of Stasi spies were exposed after the fall of the Wall. Not much is known about Western agents in the GDR, with the notable exception of Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz, who smuggled GDR documents to the West at the beginning of the Cold War in the early 1950s.

Barczatis worked as chief secretary to GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl. She obtained rather banal government papers that she passed to her lover Karl Laurenz, who handed them over to West German authorities. When this was discovered, both Barczatis and Laurenz were sentenced to death in East Germany and executed by guillotine in 1955.

This article was originally written in German, it was first published in August 2023 and later updated.

*Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

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.

In July 2022, thousands of people who had invested money in juicyfields.io, an internet platform advertising profitable investments in medical cannabis, suddenly couldn't access their accounts anymore.

The damage was significant. According to recent estimates published by Europol, around 186,000 investors had deposited a total of €645 million ($688 million) with JuicyFields.

After July 2022, the case looked like a classic exit scam. From one day to the next, JuicyFields deleted its social media accounts, and its management and representatives disappeared.

More than 400 police officers

Now, one year and nine months later, police have taken action in a major international sting operation.

"On an action day carried out on April 11, 2024, over 400 law enforcement officers in 11 countries executed 9 arrest warrants and conducted 38 house searches," said Europol.

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation coordinated the operation.

Law enforcement from Spain, Germany, and France led the investigation into the scam. According to Europol, 28 more countries were involved in some form, including the United States and the Dominican Republic.

From Germany alone, 264 officers took part in the raids. "It was definitely one of our bigger operations," Karen Häußer, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Berlin, told DW.

"There were lots of people from different areas of law enforcement — criminal investigators, customs officials, special forces — and the whole thing was coordinated internationally. It was a major undertaking."

Arrests in Sweden with more to come

A few days after the operation, police continued to make arrests. On Monday, April 15, a Swedish woman and her boyfriend were arrested at Stockholm's Arlanda airport on orders from Europol and Spanish police. A prosecutor told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that both are to be extradited to Spain.

A spokesperson for Spain's Policía Nacional told DW that a further 8 arrest warrants against suspects in the JuicyFields case are ready to be executed.

He also said Spanish authorities are confident that a Russian national who was arrested in the Dominican Republic last Thursday will soon be extradited to Spain.

Europol says the Russian is "suspected to be one of the main organizers of the fraudulent scheme."

In early 2023, a whistleblower had told DW that the JuicyFields scam had been orchestrated by a man from St. Petersburg who was now "traveling in the Caribbean," where he had "bought houses and land."

The prosecutor's office in Berlin confirmed that "the Russian lead," as it was described in the Cannabis Cowboys podcast, was still hot. "We continue to assume that the operation was controlled from within Russia," spokesperson Karen Häußer told DW.

Who is who?

Neither Europol nor national police have released the names of the arrested suspects. But in some cases, they did mention details, such as age, nationality, or function in the JuicyFields network.

Based on that information and tips from sources who wish to remain anonymous, DW was able to figure out who is who. Most of the arrested suspects feature prominently in the Cannabis Cowboys podcast.

The eight-part podcast series was released in early 2023. Research for the podcast had begun more than a year earlier when JuicyFields was still up and running.

The company sponsored major cannabis-related events such as industry fairs and conferences, including the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC). In addition, it was active on social media, where it advertised its business model, often with the help of influencers.

JuicyFields started in early 2020 as a small company based in Berlin and later opened offices in Amsterdam and near Zurich, Switzerland.

They promised investors huge profits by investing in medicinal cannabis, which is legal in Germany and many other countries in Europe.

JuicyFields' pyramid scheme

Investors could buy "virtual plants" for as little as €50. JuicyFields promised that for each virtual plant, a real cannabis plant was grown in one of their partner plantations. The company also said they would take care of harvesting, packaging, and selling the cannabis and share the profits with their investors.

While investors initially received annualized payouts of more than 100%, DW's investigation for the podcast revealed that JuicyFields never had the necessary licenses and never grew and sold medicinal cannabis.

According to DW's findings, JuicyFields' business model was a Ponzi or pyramid scheme, where payouts are made with money invested by new clients, while there is no actual product.

Not much hope for the victims

During last week's international operation, police also seized or froze assets in bank accounts, cash or cryptocurrency, as well as artworks, cars, and real estate. According to Europol, the total value was under €10 million.

Since the scam was exposed in July 2022, JuicyFields' units in Berlin and Amsterdam have filed for bankruptcy. In the process, only a few million euros could be seized, insiders said — not nearly enough to pay back all victims.

The full podcast series Cannabis Cowboys can be found here at DW and major podcast platforms.

Edited by: Ashutosh Pandey

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Caspar David Friedrich's birth. Under the title "Caspar David Friedrich: Infinite Landscapes" a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the milestone anniversary of the artist's birth can be seen at the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin from Friday.

One of his most famous works shines in blue: a huge sky that stretches across almost the entire picture surface, darkens towards the horizon and finally merges into the night-black blue of the sea. At the very bottom of the picture, as if lost, stands a tiny human being. And this is Caspar David Friedrich's "Monk by the Sea."

Contemporaries were fascinated. It seemed "as if one's eyelids had been cut away," as Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) summarized.

Right next to it hangs the "Abbey in the Eichwald," a gloomy view of a church ruin with a funeral procession, framed by bare trees that rise into the winter sky. In 1810, Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) achieved his artistic breakthrough in Berlin with these two paintings. The two works, bought by Prussian King Wilhelm III right after they were painted, are highlights of the new blockbuster exhibition.

With 61 paintings, including 15 from the Alte Nationalgalerie's own collection, as well as 54 drawings, mostly from the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, the exhibition provides a comprehensive impression of Friedrich's work.

Germany is celebrating Caspar David Friedrich's 250th anniversary throughout 2024 with a variety of events and exhibitions.

The Hamburger Kunsthalle opened its exhibition dedicated to the Romantic painter in December 2023, and the anniversary year officially started on January 20 at St. Nicholas' Cathedral in Greifswald, where Friedrich was baptized.

Nationally valuable cultural asset

The legacy of the painter was already making headlines ahead of the official celebrations, when one of his sketchbooks sold for €1.8 million (nearly $2 million) at auction in Berlin at the end of November. 

Shortly before the sale, Berlin's Senate Department for Culture initiated proceedings to have Friedrich's work entered in the Berlin state register of nationally valuable cultural assets. This stopped buyers outside of Germany taking the sketchbook out of the country — at least until after the conclusion of those proceedings. Even then, it would only be possible to export the sketchbook if it fails to meet criteria deeming it a valuable cultural asset.

A look at the item's provenance, however, shows that it is indeed a truly unique treasure.

The "Karlsruhe Sketchbook," as it is known, had been in the possession of the Kersting family for over 200 years. Georg Friedrich Kersting, a notable German Romantic painter in his own right, was a close friend of Caspar David Friedrich — who was born in Greifswald, now in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, on September 5, 1774.

In his recently published book on Caspar David Friedrich, "Zauber der Stille" (Magic of Silence), German author Florian Illies writes that the artist's contemporaries reported Kersting helping his friend with the depictions of figures in his paintings. Why?

Illies writes that Friedrich was considered a less-than-talented portraitist, for which he was even ridiculed during his time at the art academy in Copenhagen.

Is that the reason the figures in Friedrich's paintings are usually seen from behind?

Strokes of fate

Caspar David Friedrich was the sixth child of Greifswald soap boiler and chandler Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich and his wife, Sophie Dorothea. She died in 1781, and one of his sisters died a year later.

Especially traumatic was the 1787 death of his younger brother Johann Christopher. There are conflicting stories of what happened, with some accounts saying the younger boy drowned while trying to save Caspar David, who had broken through ice while skating. Of the painter's nine siblings, only five survived to adulthood.

In 1790, Friedrich began his studies under Greifswald University architecture and drawing teacher Johann Gottfried Quistorp, who gave him particular encouragement. Friedrich continued his artistic studies at the art academy in Copenhagen. From 1798, Friedrich lived and worked in Dresden, where he died on May 7, 1840.

Admired by many — but not Goethe

"Mystic with a paintbrush" is how Swedish poet Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom described Caspar David Friedrich. The Romantic painter gained the admiration of his colleagues during his lifetime.

There was one notable exception, however: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe did not know what to make of Friedrich's paintings. He derided them as "New German, religiously patriotic." The poet is even said to have smashed one of the artist's paintings on the edge of a table because he didn't like it.

In 1794, Friedrich attended the art academy in Copenhagen, where he first encountered the nature mysticism that would so strongly influence his artwork. His first oil painting was provocative: the work "Cross in the Mountains" from 1807/1808 deals with the relationship of nature and God.

From then on, Friedrich's work was no longer the Enlightenment's window on the world, but a window to the soul, in the spirit of Romanticism. "Cross in the Mountains" caused a stir because in it, the painter gave equal space to both the church and nature.

A patriot and eccentric

Friedrich was a reclusive eccentric who only left his house in Dresden for long walks after dusk. On January 21, 1818, he married 25-year-old Caroline Bommer — at 6 o'clock in the morning.

He was unsettled by the military campaigns of  Napoleon and the presence of French troops because they threatened him and his homeland. By 1806, Napoleon had occupied the majority of German territory.

That sparked nationalist sentiments in Friedrich. The artist dreamed of the ideal of a united Germany and had equal reverence for both the Christian and the Germanic. His paintings often feature figures wearing traditional German costumes, a subtle expression of patriotism.

Invented landscapes

Though Friedrich's brush and pencil faithfully captured each tree, cliff, mountain or unfurled sail, in his works he freely reassembled those individually observed elements. Nature was an inspiration for him, not a template.

He combined his impressions into invented landscapes from his own imagination, such as "The Sea of Ice." The apocalyptic painting turns the frozen Elbe River into a wide sea, with a shipwreck crushed between slabs of thick ice, ominously piled high in the center of the image — a scene never witnessed by Friedrich, only imagined by him.

Until his death in 1820, he lived just a stone's throw from the Elbe River. His house, at An der Elbe 33 in Dresden, was where he hosted future Russian Czar Nicholas I, who bought several of his paintings.

Enlightenment rationale gives way to emotion of Romanticism

While the Enlightenment emphasized reason and a rational understanding of the world, the Romantic period that followed was marked by emotion and sensitivity. Subjective moods were given prominence, which can be seen in the art of Caspar David Friedrich.

Friedrich responded to the strict compositions of the Enlightenment with disquiet and emotion: jagged mountain landscapes, morning mist, gloomy layers of cloud that sometimes threaten to swallow people up.

One of his major works is "Monk by the Sea," which he began in 1808. It's considered one of his most unconventional works, as there is no sense of spatial perspective; sea and sky merge. In the foreground, a small and reverent man stands with his back turned to the viewer — thus acting as a proxy and a figure of identification. Infinity and the enormity of the universe are the themes of the painting.

Rügen's famous chalk cliffs

"Chalk Cliffs on Rügen" is considered one of Friedrich's most beautiful paintings, and it's among the most famous. He created it during his honeymoon in 1818. As if through a window, a motif frequently used by the painter, the view opens onto the Baltic Sea and a bright sky in the distance. The eye follows sailing ships gliding toward the horizon.

A number of works by Friedrich have been lost over the years. On October 10, 1901, for instance, his birthplace at Lange Strasse 28 in Greifswald burned down. Some of the paintings kept there were saved, but well-meaning relatives painted over them, thus destroying those that survived.

Several works by Friedrich were also among the art treasures lost during the Allied bombing raids on Dresden during World War II.

Today, the majority of the remaining pieces are in the collections of museums in Hamburg, Dresden and Berlin.

20th century brings renewed popularity

Friedrich died in poverty on May 7, 1840, his style of art no longer in vogue. New aesthetic movements had superseded Romanticism. Naturalism and Impressionism overtook Friedrich, leaving him behind.

His work had begun to lose its prestige by the 1820s, as the Dusseldorf School of painting became fashionable in Germany.

The rediscovery of his art began in 1906 with a small exhibition in Berlin that presented paintings and sculptures from the period of 1775 to 1875, and included 32 works by Friedrich.

That launched a phase of popularity that continues to this day. Friedrich never signed any of his paintings because he believed his name would never be forgotten. So far, he's been right.

This article was originally written in German. It was updated for the opening of the Berlin exhibition on April 18, 2024.

Despite all the talk of the English Premier League's seemingly bottomless riches and the Bundesliga struggling to compete financially, two German sides are in the men's Champions League semifinals and England's finest are instead licking their wounds.

"I don't think anyone thought we'd progress against Arsenal," admitted Bayern Munich President Herbert Hainer after their quarterfinal triumph.

Bayern will face Real Madrid on April 30 and May 8, while Borussia Dortmund take on Paris Saint-Germain on May 1 and May 7 for a place in the Wembley final on June 1, where UEFA bosses probably expected an English side to help supplement the atmosphere.

Yet it could be two German teams in the final, just like the last time the game was hosted in London in 2013, when Bayern edged Dortmund 2-1. Since then, 2020 was the only year the Bundesliga had two sides in the last four and no English team featured. Then, too, Bayern took the title — the last of their six European Cups.

That was a unique season due to the coronavirus pandemic, where the quarters, semis and final were all held in Portugal as one-off matches with no fans.

German teams beating English sides to the men's Champions League last four is a rarity rather than the norm. So, what are the reasons for Bayern's and Dortmund's success this season after Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United all fell by the wayside?

Too distracted

The most obvious reason is that the English teams were too distracted by the Premier League title race, whereas Bayern and Dortmund had long given up hope in the Bundesliga amid Bayer Leverkusen's incredible season, so could concentrate more on the Champions League.

Bayern beat Arsenal 1-0 in their home quarterfinal after a 2-2 draw in London. The Gunners' focus and energy was, to some extent, elsewhere. The games for Arsenal came among crunch Premier League clashes, which included a surprise 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa that hit their domestic title chances.

Bayern, meanwhile, have all their eggs in one basket, the Champions League being their last hope of a trophy in Thomas Tuchel's final few weeks in charge. Tuchel wants his legacy to be a Champions League triumph rather than just being the Bayern coach who finally surrendered the Bundesliga after 11 seasons. He was desperate to beat Arsenal, and it showed in the way he celebrated the win.

"It means a lot to me. It's an important step. Semifinals, last four," Tuchel, who won Europe's premier club competition with Chelsea in 2021, told reporters.

More English churn

Chelsea might have won the European title three years ago, and Man City last term, but some of this season's Premier League entrants were not as au fait with the Champions League as perennial qualifiers Bayern and Dortmund.

Manchester United, who went out in the group phase, have been in and out of the competition in recent seasons, with the glory years under Sir Alex Ferguson long gone.

Newcastle's inexperience helped Dortmund top their group, while Bayern profited from having greater Champions League know-how than Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal boss, said: "We haven't played in the competition for seven years; we haven't been in this position for 14 years."

"Fast forward, super quick in one season, and we had the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final, [but we are not] because the margins have been very small," he added. "Those margins sometimes are coming from something that maybe we don't have yet."

End of away goals rule

This season's quarterfinals also demonstrated how teams have begun to play differently in the knockout stages following the abolition of the away goals rule by UEFA, boosting the two German sides and hampering the English.

Had the rule still been in place, Arsenal could possibly have been more attacking at the Allianz Arena following a 2-2 draw in the first leg in London.  Dortmund, meanwhile, had to go for goals against Atletico Madrid, with their away goal from the first leg counting for little.

After drawing 3-3 at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid would previously have been aware that a lower scoring home draw for Manchester City would have sent Pep Guardiola's side through in the second leg. Instead, Los Blancos could afford to sit back, knowing that a draw could eventually lead to a penalty shootout which they won. 

"They defended deeper than previous seasons," City's Pep Guardiola said. "They did it better than us."

UEFA coefficients

Another plus point for the German sides eclipsing the English is the race for an extra Champions League spot in next season's revamped competition, which will increase to 36 teams in one big league.

To make up the extra numbers, the two best performing domestic leagues in Europe get an extra wide berth, each using a complicated statistics called coefficients.

Italy looks likely to snatch one spot, with Germany battling England for the other. Bayern or Dortmund going on to win the Champions League should secure the Bundesliga a fifth spot, and if Dortmund end up finishing fifth in the German top flight but win the European Cup, a sixth place for Germany might also be up for grabs.

Leverkusen's victory in the Europa League quarterfinals over West Ham, coupled with Liverpool's exit from the competition, have added even further weight to the chances of Germany securing an extra spot in the premier European competition next season.

So much for a league supposedly significantly weaker than the powerful Premier League. 

Edited by: Kalika Mehta

More than 1.1 million people have fled to Germany as a result of the war in Ukraine — including an estimated several thousand Romani refugees, members of Europe's largest minority. While members of mainstream Ukrainian society received a warm and unbureaucratic welcome as refugees, most Romani people have experienced a very different Germany: highly bureaucratic, unhelpful, suspicious, derogatory, and racist.

This is the conclusion reached by the Reporting and Information Center on Antiziganism (MIA) in its monitoring report "Antiziganism against Ukrainian Romani refugees in Germany." Antiziganism is a form of racism that is directed against Romani people or against people who are perceived as such.

Romani families fleeing the war in Ukraine are entitled to the same assistance in Germany as other Ukrainians. "But this welcoming culture is simply not there for Romani people," MIA managing director Guillermo Ruiz told DW: "We have seen from day one how Ukrainian Romani people have been discriminated against in all forms." MIA has received around 220 such reports.

According to the report, Romani people are systematically discriminated against: in refugee shelters, by the police, who raise doubts about their nationality, by railway employees, who force them out of waiting areas, train stations, or trains, by school authorities, who have denied Romani children access to school, by social workers or volunteers who are committed to helping other Ukrainians.

"It really shocked us," says Ruiz. Some Romani families were treated so badly that they traveled back to the war zone. Reports of racial discrimination continue to come in from all over Germany.

'Ukrainian Romani people are descendants of Holocaust survivors'

Representatives of municipalities in Bavaria said: "We can continue to take in Ukrainian refugees, but not Roma." One district administrator said that they would "take in refugees, but not dogs and Roma." These statements are particularly alarming, Ruiz emphasizes because they were made by German authorities. "Germany has a historical obligation to this minority."

In Europe, up to half a million Romani people were murdered in the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany. "The Ukrainian Romani refugees are the descendants of Holocaust survivors," says Ruiz. According to estimates, almost half of the Romani people in Ukraine were murdered during the German occupation.

On April 8, International Romani Day, Mehmet Daimagüler, the Federal Commissioner for Combating Antiziganism, warned that it is not enough to simply lay wreaths for those who were murdered: "The dead are held in high esteem, while their descendants are despised."

Renata Conkova works every day for the descendants of the persecuted. The 44-year-old helps Ukrainian Romani refugees navigate government agencies and doctors, enrolling in school, and finding housing. As a member of the Romani community in Slovakia, she has experienced discrimination firsthand. For the past three years, she has worked in Thuringia for RomnoKher, an advocacy group for people with a Romani background.

RomnoKher offers workshops in which Romani refugees learn how everyday life is organized in Germany. Renata Conkova runs a monitoring program to identify possible diseases, necessary vaccinations, and education levels. She organizes literacy classes for children and parents. There is a great interest in education.

Marginalization in Ukraine and Germany

Many Romani people in Ukraine were also pushed to the margins of society, forced to live in extreme poverty on the outskirts of cities, sometimes without electricity or sanitation. Many have reported being denied access to school, Conkova said, which has left generations illiterate. The MIA report highlights marginalization and even violence in the 2010s.

Racism is commonplace for Romani refugees in Germany as well, Conkova observed. Guillermo Ruiz agrees: Even today, long-standing antiziganist prejudices against the minority are widespread. They are accused of criminality, child abduction, or the trafficking of children and women. "Unfortunately, antiziganism is still the norm in Germany."

Prejudices are being spread through media reports, but also through gatherings of so-called concerned citizens from the right or far right, some of which have been organized by the AfD, said MIA managing director Ruiz. At these gatherings, the alleged "Roma problem" was discussed. Ruiz asked a mayor why his citizens were worried: "What are the Romani people doing, where's the problem?" The mayor said: "They are just there."

Antiziganism among the Ukrainian mainstream

Renata Conkova has repeatedly heard Ukrainian interpreters make racist remarks about refugees. And in the city of Cologne, Ukrainian refugees protested against being housed together with Ukrainian Romani people, with similar reports coming from many German states. In one case, Roma families were so intimidated that they no longer dared to leave their rooms.

The MIA Reporting Center is calling for further education and awareness of antiziganism among authorities and aid workers, as well as an end to discrimination against Ukrainian Romani people in all areas of life.

On International Romani Day, German Family Minister Lisa Paus strongly condemned hate speech against the minority: "Every incident is one case too many." She called on people to report any incidents: "Stand up for Romani people!"

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.

Björn Höcke, the chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in the eastern state of Thuringia, stands accused of intentionally deploying a slogan used by the Nazi party's paramilitary wing in a speech at a campaign rally.

His trial begins on April 18 at the Halle Regional Court. It will deal with Höcke's election campaign appearance on December 12, 2023 in the Thuringian city of Gera. At the time, the Waldhaus restaurant there was packed with AfD supporters. 

Höcke took to the stage and told the audience he would have to appear in court because of an indictment from 2021. "Because I once closed an election campaign rally with a rhetorical triad: 'Everything for our homeland! Everything for Saxony-Anhalt! Everything for..." Höcke then encouraged his audience to finish the slogan. They cheered and shouted back "...Germany!" while Höcke stood on the stage laughing and nodding.

"Everything for Germany" (Alles für Deutschland) was the slogan of the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA), or storm troopers.

The SA played a major role when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, the NSDAP, came to power in 1933. In this early phase, the storm troopers terrorized Germany, killing, torturing and intimidating mainly communists and Jews. During the Nazi era, Germans committed the Holocaust, killing over six million Jews and many other persecuted groups. They were also responsible for the deadliest conflict in world history, World War II.

With the fall of their self-proclaimed "Third Reich" and the end of German mass murder throughout Europe in 1945, the SA, like all other Nazi organizations, was banned along with its symbols and slogans. Under German law the use of slogans and symbols linked to anti-constitutional organizations such as the Nazi Party is banned in all but historical and educational contexts.

Björn Höcke's history of revisionism

Björn Höcke has claimed in the past not to know the origin of the "Everything for Germany" slogan. His critics doubt that, as he is a former history teacher and taught the subject at a high school in western Germany's state of Hesse. In 2014, he moved to the state of Thuringia in former East Germany and quickly became one of the AfD's most radical representatives there. He has taken part in neo-Nazi demonstrations and has regularly made headlines with revisionist theories about Germany's Nazi past.

In 2016, at an AfD rally, Höcke expressed sympathy for the notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck, who had to serve a lengthy prison sentence as a repeat offender.

In 2017, the AfD tried to expel Höcke following his controversial speech in which he called Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe a "monument of shame." He also criticized Germany's remembrance of the Holocaust. "These stupid politics of coming to grips with the past cripple us — we need nothing other than a 180-degree reversal on the politics of remembrance," he said suggesting a more positive, celebratory take on the country's history. At the time the Thuringian Court of Arbitration rejected his expulsion.

In 2018, Höcke published his thoughts as a book in a "volume of conversations." In it, he suggests it is wrong that "Hitler is portrayed as absolutely evil."

The book is full of radical statements and was later used as the basis for a court ruling in 2019 that Björn Höcke can legally be described as a "fascist," based on a "verifiable factual basis." This regional AfD chapter has been classified as "verified right-wing extremist" by the state's intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Whether because of or despite his radicalism, Höcke has led the AfD in Thuringia to become the strongest political party there. Höcke has never held a political office. But that could change this year: The AfD currently polls at over 30% ahead of this year's state election.

Björn Höcke wants to head the regional government which would make him the first far-right politician in postwar Germany in one of the 16 federal states. That office has considerable political power: Premiers are largely responsible for the education and media policy of their state and decide on the details of executing the federal government's asylum policy. The AfD has long been calling for a radical change of course in asylum and immigration rules. Höcke himself has suggested that the country needs a new leader to ward off the threat Germany is facing: "national death through population replacement."

Björn Höcke has long set the tone in his party and has triggered nationwide debates about his thoughts, worldview, and political actions.

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.

A third man joined a weekslong hunger strike near the office of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Tuesday.

The "Starve until you are honest" campaign is demanding that Scholz show "honesty on the climate castastrophe."

Why are three people on a climate hunger strike in Berlin?

The activists are camped out in a tent near the Chancellery and are calling for Scholz's government to set a more radical course when it comes to fighting climate change. Scholz belongs to the Social Democrats (SPD), and his coalition also includes the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP).

Those on strike are calling on Scholz to issue a statement saying, "The continued existence of human civilization is extremely endangered by the climate crisis."

The campaign issued a statement saying that Michael Winter, a biologist from Garching in the southern state of Bavaria had joined the hunger strike.

Winter said he could not stand to see science being ignored by the government.

"That's why I've joined the hunger strike," he said.

According to the group, the first participant in the strike was 49-year-old Wolfgang Metzeler-Kick, who has not eaten for 40 days. The second man involved in the strike, Richard Cluse, 56, has not eaten for over three weeks.

"We are both engineers, we know what we're talking about," Metzeler-Kick and Cluse said on Tuesday. They argued that there is technology available that would allow Germany to become carbon-neutral and that only political will to implement it was lacking, criticizing what they saw as "ignoring [the problem], failure and lies" on the part of the government.

Metzeler-Kick claimed to have lost 18 kilograms (39.6 pounds) during the strike. He and Cluse are being treated by doctors.

It's not the first time climate activists went on a hunger strike. A group of teenagers called on politicians to commit to protecting the environment ahead of a federal election in 2021. Some of the participants in that hunger strike ended up requiring hospitalization. 

Government warns against 'radical' protest

The government has not entered into direct contact with the activists. Last week, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit warned against "such radical forms of protest" that can damage one's health.

Hebestreit said Scholz would continue to implement his climate policy without following any concrete demands "no matter how emphatically they are brought before him."

"For us it sounds like the chancellor would prefer to let us die than to comment on this," Cluse said in response.

sdi/sms (dpa, EPD)

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Amir Schraff's (name changed by the editors) nightmare began on December 24, 2022. On that day, the single father from Afghanistan, who had been living in Germany for more than 16 years, received notice that his lease near Bonn was being terminated because the owner was apparently planning to use it. What followed is something that hundreds of thousands of people in Germany are currently going through: Months of desperate searching for an affordable place to live.

It can involve dozens of unanswered requests, hundreds of other applicants, and seemingly endless queues of people waiting to see an apartment. That is, if you're lucky enough to be invited in the first place. Only to receive the usual response soon after: "We're sorry, we've chosen someone else!" Schraff, who filed a lawsuit against the termination of his lease, told DW: "The housing situation in Germany is getting worse and worse."

A look at the figures shows just how dire the situation on the German housing market really is: There is a shortage of over 800,000 apartments in Germany, a figure that is growing. More than 9.5 million people, mostly single parents and their children, live in cramped conditions, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

400,000 new apartments per year — an unattainable objective

Due to high interest rates and construction costs, the German government is far from achieving its ambitious goal of building 400,000 new homes a year, including 100,000 social housing units.

According to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, around 245,000 apartments were built in 2023, and only 210,000 this year. With the supply of housing in Germany so low, and demand so high, rents are also skyrocketing. And in their desperation, more and more people like Amir Schraff are turning to organizations like the Deutschen Mieterbund (German Tenants' Association), which campaigns on behalf of tenants.

Peter Kox, managing director of the Deutschen Mieterbund Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahr, told DW: "Almost 50% of people in the large cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Bonn are now eligible for subsidized housing based on their income. These days, it's not just those on public assistance who are frequently coming to us for help, but also average members of society."

There is a reason why Chancellor Olaf Scholz says that housing is the most important social issue in Germany: It not only affects single-parent families, the unemployed, students, and refugees, but increasingly the middle class as well. A highly volatile situation.

Kox reports that his organization has now reached a record high of almost 25,000 members, with more joining every day. "People are getting very desperate. In recent years, we've seen that it's not just those with new urgent problems who are coming to us for help, for example with an energy bill that they won't be able to pay."

Now, he says, some members who Kox hasn't heard from for years are coming forward looking for a place to live: "For example, because their landlords is trying to get rid of them so that they can rent out the apartment again at a higher price."

And then there are those who are left behind in the scramble for housing. People who are forced to camp outside or, as Kox reports, who don't have stable housing and move from friend to friend or spend the night in public shelters. The managing director of the German Tenants' Association in Bonn estimates that there are now 3,500 homeless people in his region — ten times more than just a few years ago. His urgent appeal: "Around 30,000 people are expected to move to Bonn in the next 20 years, so we will need 15,000 housing units. And 10,000 of them should be publicly subsidized apartments, if we assume that in a healthy housing market 12 to 14% of all apartments should be publicly subsidized and rent-controlled."

Renting more common than owning

Germany is a country of renters and is by far the leader in Europe in rentership. More than half of the population does not own their own home; it is the only country in the European Union with more renters than homeowners. But Germany is now paying dearly for its previous political mistakes: the federal government sold thousands of apartments to private investors, while at the same time local governments drastically reduced the construction of social housing.

Matthias Bernt, an expert on housing policy, told DW: "We used to have 4 million social housing units and 15 million rental units, which means a ratio of 1:4. Today we have one million social housing units and 21 million rental units, which means a ratio of 1:21. If you can somehow get a social housing unit today, you've just won the lottery."

Bernt is acting head of the research focus "Politics and Planning" at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space. He has observed that the housing crisis is most pronounced in large cities and university towns. In the capital Berlin, for example, there are more and more Airbnb apartments. At the same time, the average price for new rentals is around twice as high as that of older contracts.

Loopholes in rent freeze laws

The German government is desperately trying to combat these trends and has now extended the rent freeze until 2029. This means that when a new lease is signed, the rent cannot be more than ten percent higher than a comparable lease in that area. However, there are exceptions for new buildings, extensively modernized, or partially furnished apartments.

In other words, loopholes that urgently need to be closed, says Bernt. "I think that in the short term we really need more regulation of the rental housing market. For example, it is not right that half of the apartments in Berlin are using this trick and being advertised as partially furnished. Landlords get around the rent cap by putting a table and a wardrobe in the apartment and charging exorbitant sums for it."

At the Day of Housing Construction in Berlin, industry associations also sounded the alarm. They called for an annual sum of €23 billion ($24.5bn) to boost the ailing housing construction sector. At the same time, they warned of a "dangerous scenario in which a crisis in the housing construction sector could trigger a domino effect and cause massive damage to large parts of the economy." And there is a second argument: urgently needed skilled workers from abroad would not come if they could not find an affordable apartment. And thirdly, the failure of the federal government to keep its promise of building 400,000 new homes per year could push voters to the political fringes. But Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz remained firm and rejected further subsidies. Housing policy expert Bernt recommends looking abroad:

"The strategy of just build, build, build won't work. The most important thing is that construction is inexpensive and remains affordable in the long term. If you look to Austria or Switzerland, which also have a large rental market, there are certainly models that could be used to create housing for the long term. Vienna is a shining example, where almost half of all apartments are owned by the city. This ensures that housing in Vienna is affordable."

This article originally appeared in German.

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It was the most spectacular arrest in decades in connection with the left-wing terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF). Following tips from the public, investigators from Lower Saxony rang the doorbell of an apartment building in the district of Kreuzberg in Berlin on February 26, 2024.

The woman they arrested there was 65-year-old Daniela Klette, a member of the former RAF, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group. Since then, investigators have hoped to solve many previously unsolved crimes committed by the group which carried out assaults and terrorist attacks in Germany until the 1990s.

Cash, Kalashnikovs and a bazooka

Among other things, investigators found €40,000 (about $42,000) in cash, a bazooka with a warhead, pistols and Kalashnikov rifles. There was also an embarrassing mishap: officers apparently allowed Klette to use the restroom, during which she seized the opportunity to warn her suspected accomplice Burkhard Garweg by phone.

Garweg, who was also in Berlin at the time, and the third suspected former terrorist, Ernst-Volker Staub, have since disappeared. "I can't imagine that the two of them are currently living out their days in peace," Friedo de Vries, the head of the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, told the German Press Agency. "We are determined to arrest Mr. Garweg and Mr. Staub."

The weapon finds are the biggest success for the investigating authorities in years. One of the pistols, for example, comes from a raid on a gun store in Maxdorf, Rhineland-Palatinate in 1984. Officers hope to be able to link more of the weapons found to RAF crimes. It's still largely unclear who exactly committed the robberies and murders.

Red Army Faction defined by hatred of capitalist state

The so-called "third generation" of left-wing terrorists, to which Klette and the two fugitives also belonged, were active between 1984 and 1993 and killed 10 people. The murders of Alfred Herrhausen, the head of Deutsche Bank, in 1989 and politician Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, head of the Treuhandanstalt, in 1991 caused a particular stir.

At the time, the Treuhandanstalt was an agency tasked with organizing the privatization of state-owned companies in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). These were typical targets of the terror group: what they saw as representatives of the hated capitalist state.

There have been three generations of left-wing extremist terrorists in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Their goals at the beginning, after the student revolts at the end of the 1960s, were to bring about a left-wing revolution in Germany and put an end to the US war in Vietnam. The first RAF generation around the founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof carried out attacks on department stores and were imprisoned.

The second generation made it their goal to free Baader and Meinhof from prison. In the mid-1970s, they committed murders such as those of the then-Attorney General Siegfried Buback and Hanns Martin Schleyer, a former SS officer and head of the Federation of German Industries and the Confederation of German Employers' Associations.

The third generation, which was active until the terrorist group dissolved itself in 1998, was the most mysterious: it carried out attacks without being discovered. Its members later raided money transports and banks to finance their lives underground and remained undetected — until now.

Did the authorities look the other way for too long?

According to Konstantin von Notz, the Green Party's interior affairs expert in the Bundestag, the intelligence services did not take the continuing threat posed by the RAF members seriously enough.

"The crimes committed by them, so the argument goes, were solely to raise money to finance the perpetrators' own livelihoods in the underground. An ongoing political motivation for the crimes was always ruled out," von Notz told DW. The wanted posters of Klette, Garweg and Staub showed pictures that were decades old. All three seemed to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Klette is now in Vechta women's prison in Lower Saxony, strictly isolated from other prisoners and under round-the-clock video surveillance in her cell. Like many captured RAF members before her, she has remained silent regarding all the accusations.

After her arrest, there were demonstrations of solidarity for Klette in several cities across the country. On March 9, around 600 people in Berlin marched in front of the Klette's apartment. She was already in custody at the time. On March 17, there was demonstration in Vechta, where she is currently imprisoned.

Another protest action has been announced for this coming week in Vechta. For von Notz, this is a sign that the ideology of the left-wing extremists is still popular.

"The findings in the accused's apartment alone, but also expressions of sympathy from the left-wing extremist scene, show there is still a considerable danger from the members of the third generation of the RAF and that their actions are still not clearly condemned by some deranged people," he said.

At least 33 murders in 22 years

The terrorist group carried out at least 33 murders between 1971 and 1993. Experts estimate that up to 80 people were active in the group's inner circle at any one time. In the entire period up to its dissolution in 1998, around 1,000 people were convicted of supporting the group and around 500 for membership.

The public was shocked by the cold-bloodedness with which bodyguards, drivers and police officers were murdered. Hanns Martin Schleyer was kidnapped in Cologne on September 5, 1977, and his four companions were literally executed with 119 shots.

A total of 26 members of the RAF leadership were sentenced to life imprisonment. Some of them have been released, such as Christian Klar, one of the leading heads of the RAF in the 1970s. He has never distanced himself from his actions.

This article was originally written in German.

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A government-appointed commission has recommended that abortion should be officially legalized within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, potentially paving the way for what would be an historic step in Germany.

Terminating a pregnancy officially remains a criminal offense in Germany, as stipulated in paragraph 218 of the criminal code, though abortion is exempt from punishment if carried out within the first three months of pregnancy and the woman has received counseling. In addition, abortion is expressly permitted in cases of rape or if the woman's life or physical or mental health is at risk.

But that legal framework is around 30 years old and has long been criticized. Germany's governing coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP) is revisiting the issue — and wants to liberalize abortion law. On Monday, a government-appointed commission presented its recommendations, and called for the old constitutional prohibition on abortion to be abolished.

SPD politician Katja Mast said that what is new about this recommendation is that early abortions would no longer be a criminal offense: "I think that regulations on abortion do not belong in the criminal code because, in my view, it stigmatizes women," she said.

The Catholic Church has concerns

Religious groups and associations have had very different reactions. Catholic Archbishop of Berlin Heiner Koch told the Catholic News Agency that we would prefer to stick with the existing regulation because it "values both the mother's needs and concerns and the protection of the unborn child." The Central Committee of German Catholics is critical of the decision because it gives the embryo less protection in the early stages of pregnancy.

The association Pro Familia, on the other hand, welcomed the new recommendations, and advocates for the complete decriminalization of abortion and the abolition of compulsory counseling.

Political opposition came, as expected, from the conservatives. Friedrich Merz, leader of the largest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), warned that with such a reform the government would be "introducing a major social conflict into the country." In a newspaper interview, Dorothee Bär of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), expressed her "astonishment that the protection of the life of the unborn child is apparently no longer to play a role."

The right-wing populist party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) also opposes the measure, while the socialist Left Party is calling on the government to turn the recommendations into a draft law and present it soon.

If the coalition were to do so, the CDU/CSU and the AfD would presumably join forces in the Bundestag to oppose it — a dilemma for the CDU/CSU, as it has previously refused to cooperate with the AfD.

The CDU could face a similar dilemma should it — or the AfD, or both — challenge such a bill before the German Federal Constitutional Court. Back in the 1990s, a Bundestag resolution to liberalize abortion law failed once already before the Federal Constitutional Court. The compromise that emerged as a result became the current law that is now being questioned.

'Advertising ban' on abortions already overturned

The government has already implemented, or is in the process of implementing, other measures related to abortion. Paragraph 219a, known as the ban on advertising abortion, has already been repealed — under that law, doctors who publicly provided information about abortions were liable to prosecution, and many were.

A ban on what is known as sidewalk harassment is currently making its way through the legislative process. This would make it a misdemeanor for anti-abortion activists to aggressively protest near counseling centers, hospitals, or doctors' offices that offer pregnancy counseling or carry out abortions.

Abortion in the USA, Ireland, and France

The current debate in US shows just how polarizing the issue remains. Since a Supreme Court ruling in 2022, every US state has been able to regulate its own abortion laws, and some have re-imposed severe restrictions on abortion. The Supreme Court in Arizona has now even spoken out in favor of reinstating a law from 1864 — when the Civil War was under way and women were not allowed to vote — which would make abortion almost completely illegal in Arizona.

On the presidential campaign trail, however, not even Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has committed to supporting a national ban on abortion. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in March, 57% of US citizens believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

A referendum held in 2018 in Ireland, another country with a strong Catholic tradition, resulted in a two-thirds majority in favor of legalizing abortion. At the time, many did not expect such a clear result in the previously socially conservative country. 

France, meanwhile, enshrined abortion rights in the constitution earlier this year, as a guaranteed "freedom to terminate a pregnancy." The former archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, reacted with indignation on the social media platform X: "The law urges the conscience to kill." France had reached a low point, he wrote. "It has become a totalitarian state." If the German government follows the commission's recommendations, Germany is also likely to face a heated debate on the subject.

This article originally appeared in German.

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Perennial contenders in German football, the Bundesliga title had always evaded Bayer Leverkusen, leading to the somewhat cruel "Neverkusen" nickname.

But this season, Xabi Alonso's team romped away with the league, mathematically sealing the title with five games to spare.

The team is yet to lose a league game all season, with 25 wins and four draws in 29 matches, while they're conceding less than a goal a game on average. 

How did they dispel more than a decade of Bayern Munich dominance? What was Xabi Alonso's impact from the dugout? What were the best images from Sunday's long overdue celebrations in the small city near Cologne? Check out our coverage here. 

The appointment of Xabi Alonso

Though the stunning unbeaten campaign of 2023-24 has captured global attention, Bayer Leverkusen's charge to a first Bundesliga title has its origins in a miserable start to the previous campaign. Gerardo Seoane, who had overseen a third-placed finish the season before, was gone by October 2022, having won just five points from the first eight games.

The subsequent appointment of Xabi Alonso, who had never coached a senior side before, was something of a risk, with Leverkusen in real danger of following other German heavyweights such as Schalke, Hamburg and Hertha Berlin into the second division.

"This shouldn't be viewed as an experiment for Leverkusen. It's not about experience, it's about quality," insisted sporting director Simon Rolfes on Alonso's appointment. "There's always an element of risk involved but you always have to improve. I'm absolutely convinced it will work out."

It's fair to say it did. After mixed results in his first month, Alonso's style started to come through. A system based on control of possession, width from wingbacks and a high press saw Leverkusen pick up 46 points from their last 24 games, qualify for the Europa League and confirm the cerebral former Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern Munich midfielder as a coach to watch.

The recruitment

The sale of Moussa Diaby to Premier League side Aston Villa for €55 million (about $58 million) meant Rolfes had an opportunity to help Alonso build a squad in his image for this season. Nigeria striker Victor Boniface (€20.5 million) and experienced midfielders Jonas Hofmann (€10 million) and Granit Xhaka (€15 million) have been critical to Leverkusen's run. Boniface got them off to a flyer, scoring six in his first five games before injury, while Xhaka has added steel and presence to a midfield that lacked both, and featured in every game so far. Hofmann, always a canny operator, has played 26 games and links Leverkusen's midfield and attack.

But there’s little doubting the best value arrival, with Alex Grimaldo's free transfer from Benfica almost certainly the best deal any German club made this term. The Spaniard, another ever present in the league, has already scored nine and assisted 11 goals. The Barcelona youth product, in tandem with Dutchman Jeremie Frimpong, has offered width, set pieces and penetration that has proved impossible to handle for the rest of the league.

"I think that's one of my strengths in knowing where I can cause damage, knowing where the spaces are," Grimaldo told the Bundesliga in December. "With the freedom that Xabi has given me with the block we've got, it means I know how to attack the space and have the chances to score."

The improvement of key players

But it's not just the new boys. Frimpong, German internationals Jonathan Tah and Robert Andrich, Argentine central midfielder Exequiel Palacios and several others have all found a consistency they lacked under previous coaches.

Florian Wirtz is another case in point. Long regarded as one of Germany's brightest hopes, Wirtz was still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury that dashed his 2022 World Cup hopes when Alonso arrived. While his performances under Seaone had been good, the 20-year-old has moved up another notch now he's fully fit and firing under Alonso, scoring a treble as Leverkusen brushed aside Werder Bremen with a 5-0 win to seal the title on Sunday.

"The control, the play between the lines, in small spaces, this is something natural, and something I can't teach him," said the Spanish boss.

Wirtz is yet another Leverkusen man to have featured in every league game, demonstrating the consistency of selection and good fortune with injuries which have also marked their season. His eight goals and 11 assists are both career highs, and he is also now Germany's fastest ever men's international goal scorer. Europe's big clubs are interested, but Alonso's decision to stay put in Leverkusen might just influence his young charge.

Beating Bayern Munich

That decision meant Bayern Munich, as well as Liverpool, were denied their primary coaching target. But it isn't the first time Alonso has thwarted the Bavarians this season. An injury-time penalty from Palacios rescued a point in Munich in September, but it was a thoroughly convincing 3-0 home win in February that, in the eyes of many, turned Leverkusen from a team troubling Bayern to one who would dethrone them after 11 consecutive titles.

That Josip Stanisic, on loan from Bayern, opened the scoring was a reflection of Bayern's confused recruitment and, perhaps, arrogance. On the day, Bayern were toothless, with just one shot on goal, and Leverkusen picked them off with ease. It felt like a changing of the guard and was hailed as a tactical master class from Alonso.

The late show, on repeat

In the end, Leverkusen's relentless run and Bayern's uncharacteristic collapse has meant the title has been secured with little drama. That's rarely been the case with Leverkusen in the past, with the nickname "Neverkusen" (or "Vizekusen" in German) a commonly thrown reference to losses of nerve in the past.

This season, that's been flipped on its head by a number of injury-time salvage jobs. The Werkself have scored a staggering 24 goals in 29 league games after the 81st minute. They've made a remarkable habit of turning losses into draws, draws into wins or even, as happened against Hoffenheim and Europa League opponents Qarabag in March, defeats into wins in injury time.

They are Neverkusen no more.

Edited by: Mark Meadows

Bayer Leverkusen have broken Bayern Munich's stranglehold on the Bundesliga title after a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen confirmed Xabi Alonso's side as champions with five games to spare. Fans rushed from the stands to the pitch to celebrate the moment.

Leverkusen were not among the favorites for the title at the beginning of the season, with Bayern expected to wrap up a 12th consecutive title and Borussia Dortmund, pipped to the post last year, anticipated to be their closest challengers.

Time to celebrate

But Spanish coach Alonso has led his team to the verge of the first invincible season in Bundesliga history, with the German Cup final to come and Leverkusen still in the Europa League.

"We have to enjoy and celebrate today with our families, friends and fans," said Alonso after the game. This was my first (full) season as a coach, the feeling is incredible."

The "Werkself" ("Worker's Eleven"), as Leverkusen are known as a result of their link to pharmaceutical company Bayer, have made a happy habit of grasping late draws and wins from impossible positions this season and also demolished Bayern 3-0 back in February.

Wirtz seals it in style

Among their best performers have been left wingback Alex Grimaldo, a free transfer signing at the beginning of the season, experienced midfielder Granit Xhaka and Florian Wirtz, a homegrown talent who scored three times on Sunday. Wirtz, 20, will be hopeful of playing a key part for Germany in their home Euros later this year.

"It's indescribable," Wirtz said. Personally, it hasn't yet sunk in what we've done. I'm going to have to go back to the dressing room to get my head around it."

Leverkusen face Dortmund (5th), Stuttgart (3rd) and Eintracht Frankfurt (6th) in their next three Bundesliga games. But Bayern's collapsing form has meant these games, and the final two against Bochum and Augsburg, will matter only in terms of breaking further records.

 

Edited by: Martin Kuebler

A Bundesliga title, a German Cup final, a decent shot at a European trophy and, so far, not losing a single game: Xabi Alonso's first full season as a first team coach could not have gone much better.

A win for his Bayer Leverkusen side on Sunday, or a loss for Bayern Munich and Stuttgart the day before, will seal a first ever "Meisterschale" for the "Werkself" and underline Alonso's credentials as the best young coach in the world.

The turnaround since he took over in October 2022, with Leverkusen in the relegation zone, has been dramatic. But the origins of the 42-year-old's coaching success date back much further.

Basque born, German influenced

Alonso's playing career, like his coaching career, started at Real Sociedad, a club based in the Basque region of Spain where Alonso spent most of his formative years. His father, Periko Alonso, won La Liga twice with Sociedad and once with Barcelona, where Xabi spent a few of his early years, while his brother, Mikel, also played more than 100 games for Sociedad.

Xabi Alonso's quiet intelligence, exceptional passing range and astute tactical brain soon caught the attention of Liverpool, then Real Madrid and finally Bayern. "I'm Basque, total Basque, but with big German influence now," he told The Guardian earlier this season.

Fast learner

Though he spent about half of his career outside Spain, it was two Spanish coaches who would arguably have the greatest influence on Alonso. Both Rafael Benitez, at Liverpool, and Pep Guardiola, at Bayern Munich, saw a coach in the player.

"He was clever and he analyzed. When you explain things to some players, you have to repeat them. Xabi learned quickly," Benitez, under whom Alonso won the first of his two Champions League titles in 2005, told The Times.

For Guardiola, Alonso's approach marked him out. "He understands the game and has curiosity to understand the game. He knew during the weeks what we would have to do to win the next games," he said.

Possession and pragmatism

That analytical brain has served Alonso the coach just as well as it did Alonso the midfielder, and informs his tactical preferences.

The emphasis he puts on possession is clear: Leverkusen have attempted and completed the most passes in the Bundesliga this season. But those passes always have a purpose, with Leverkusen tending to build up rapidly through the middle. His wingbacks are kept high, wide and involved in transitions, particularly on the counterattack.

Equally though, Alonso has shown he is capable of adapting his style, most notably in the critical 3-0 win over Bayern in February. He dropped right wingback Jeremie Frimpong, regular attacking midfielder Jonas Hofmann and Czech striker Patrik Schick to make his team more solid, but with plenty of pace on the break. The surprise changes completely nullified Bayern, who mustered just one shot on target despite dominating possession.

"I think we have controlled well, to find the right moment when to press, when to wait, who could have the ball, who could not have the ball, and defensively for me it was an outstanding performance," Alonso explained after the match, which cemented Leverkusen's status as genuine title contenders.

Team builder

Frimpong came off the bench to score the third in that game, perhaps underlining the trust between players and coach even when tough calls are made. While not the most demonstrative of leaders, Alonso blends his trademark calmness with clear passion and drive on the touchline, and he is comfortable and personable in his dealings with the media, whether in English, Spanish or German.

"All the players have trusted him in how we play," Frimpong told TNT Sports earlier this week. "You can see it on the pitch, how we're always happy and like a team. The coaches he's played under, [Carlo] Ancelotti and Pep [Guardiola], he's had all this experience. When you have that, of course you'll be good at what you do. He's the gaffer, but he's amazing. Such a nice guy."

It is Ancelotti, who coached Alonso to his second Champions League win at Real Madrid and a Bundesliga title with Bayern, who proved the role model. "In terms of man management, Carlo Ancelotti is a master," he said. "When you talk about how you want to convince the players, or how to get the players to have a good relationship with you, Ancelotti is the master of them all."

Staying put

It looked, for a time, as if Alonso would take over at Bayern at the end of the season, or perhaps attempt to fill Jürgen Klopp's substantial shoes at Anfield. But Alonso has now confirmed he will stay with Leverkusen.

"There were many reasons and so many players," he said. "The season has been great so far, and we want to keep having this thing together. I feel part of it."

He may be just one part of the Leverkusen success story, but it's hard to believe he isn't the most important part.

Edited by: Jonathan Crane

They represent the face of politics on the ground — but local politicians in Germany are increasingly in danger.

That was enough reason for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to recently warn that "democrats must not simply shrug their shoulders and accept it" when mayors and local politicians, as he put it, "no longer address certain controversial topics, delete their social media accounts, or even resign their office or mandate in order to protect themselves and their family from hostility."

Steinmeier made these remarks on April 11, when he and the Körber Foundation invited more than 80 honorary mayors to Berlin to discuss the concerns and needs of local politicians, who in Germany often work unpaid.

Ahead of the event, which was held under the slogan "Democracy Begins Locally," the Körber Foundation commissioned a survey from the research institute Forsa, which found that 40% of mayors in small towns said they or people close to them had been insulted, threatened or physically attacked because of their work. In an earlier Forsa survey conducted in 2021, the figure for full-time elected officials was as high as 57%.

As a result of this experience, more than one in four mayors have considered withdrawing from politics. Not only that, almost two-thirds of respondents reported an increasing discontent among citizens in their municipality. Some 35% see right-wing extremism as a major challenge for their community in the coming years.

Just under one in five reported an increase in anti-democratic tendencies in their area. That figure rises to one in four in eastern Germany, where three state elections are to be held this September.

Increasing attacks on local officials

Michael Müller felt the increased risk in his hometown of Waltershausen in Thuringia, where an incendiary device was set off outside his house in February.

Müller, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) still can't believe it. On the night of the crime, his car was set on fire in front of the house, and the fire spread to the facade of his family home, where he lives with his two children. All managed to escape unscathed, but the case is now being investigated for attempted murder.

Müller doesn't believe it was a coincidence that just a few days earlier he had called for a demonstration against right-wing extremists.

He views such threats with great concern, because "many people think: Is it worth sacrificing my free time for this society that threatens me in return?" At some point, he fears, "there will be fewer and fewer people who sacrifice their free time and work as city councilors, local councilors or mayors."

A representative study carried out as part of the organization Competence Network against Hate on the Net confirms similar findings for online debate: the more brutal it becomes, the more people withdraw from online discourse.

The precedents are alarming. Henriette Reker, the mayor of Cologne, narrowly escaped death in 2015. One day before the election, a fanatical right-wing extremist stabbed her in the neck.

Andreas Hollstein, mayor of the town of Altena, was also stabbed in the neck by a refugee hater in 2017.

The murder of Walter Lübcke, a local district president in Kassel, central Germany, by a right-wing extremist in 2019 shook many people in Germany. The wider public learned what some local politicians had to endure: gallows set up in their front garden, an animal carcass left in the letterbox, hate mail highlighting a child's home address and school.

Elected representatives fight back

Wiebke Sahin-Schwarzweller, mayor of the town of Zossen, Brandenburg, is a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). She told DW that she had been openly threatened during her 2019 election campaign. "My husband, who is of Turkish origin, was also the target of slander," she said.

Unlike top politicians, local politicians don't have armored limousines or personal security at their disposal. But Sahin-Schwarzweller is fighting back nonetheless: she has been in constant contact with Steinmeier on the issue since 2018, and has been pushing hard to raise awareness.

That work resulted in the Stark im Amt portal, which offers support to local politicians. Public prosecutors, police stations and authorities have now been sensitized to the issue.

In March 2022, the federal government presented 10 measures from the action plan against right-wing extremism, which included the protection of elected officials and a new, nationwide contact point for local politicians, due to be launched this summer.

Marcus Kober from the German Forum for Crime Prevention is jointly responsible for its implementation. "Counteracting the feeling of having to deal with this alone is a very important first step," he told DW. The second step is then to clarify whether it is a criminal offense, which authority is responsible and to identify the services available in what is now a relatively well-developed help system.

For Kober, the municipal representatives urgently need protection. After all, they take the rap for all decisions at the state or federal level. For him, they are the main engine of the democratic system. In other words, if it stutters, then democracy is in danger.

This article was originally written in German.

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The German nonprofit investigative newsroom Correctiv has looked into the cases of 48 members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, many of whom are accused of brutal physical attacks, verbal assault and incitement to hatred.

At least 28 have been investigated by the German judiciary and have either been sentenced in a court of first instance or have been issued penalty orders, which they can still appeal. But despite the legal cases against them, many are still lawmakers in the German Bundestag, state parliaments or local councils.

In legal terms, none of them have to fear any consequences. In Germany, the right to stand for election or to be elected to public office only expires in the case of serious felonies such as murder, manslaughter or rape.

'Defamation and vilification campaigns' against AfD

Correctiv also looked into the judicial records of politicians other than AfD party members, including lawmakers from the Left, the Greens, and the conservative, social democratic and liberal parties. So far, however, it has been unable to identify similar behavior on the part of politicians belonging to other German political parties.

Martin Reichardt, a lawmaker and member of the AfD's federal board, said Correctiv's reporting was a "portal of lies" that had launched "defamation and vilification campaigns against the AfD." Police in the German city of Erfurt looked into Reichardt in 2023 after he described President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as "one of the worst dividers and agitators in German history." The investigation was later dropped.

Numerous politicians from other political parties have expressed their concern about the danger posed by the AfD. Thorsten Frei, the chair of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) faction in the Bundestag, said he personally considered those lawmakers who have been accused of committing offenses "unsuitable to hold public office." He warned that the institutions of parliamentary democracy could be harmed.

Links to Russian disinformation network?

The AfD has come under increasing pressure since Correctiv revealed in January that leading members had taken part in a controversial conference late last year, during which participants openly discussed plans to deport people from Germany. The plans included the deportation of people with German passports.

The report triggered a wave of demonstrations against the far right across Germany, with millions going out onto the streets in hundreds of towns and cities.

In early April, the Czech government claimed it suspected an online Russian disinformation network of having links to the AfD. It said Moscow had used the far-right website Voice of Europe to damage Ukraine and influence politics in the EU. It was claimed that AfD politicians had taken payments for their collaboration.

The AfD has rejected these accusations and continued its counterattack on media outlets, state institutions and other political parties.

Party becoming increasingly radicalized

At recent party conferences, more radical members have received increased backing. Last year, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence service, classified the Young Alternative for Germany, the AfD's youth wing, as "right-wing extremist." Long considered controversial among its own ranks, the group is now enjoying increased support.

Experts believe radical forces within the party are continuing to find solidarity in their own ranks and are rarely sanctioned despite political scandals, because the party as a whole is progressively radicalizing. More moderate forces have come under internal pressure, and some less radical members have left the party. Members once considered very extreme, including Björn Höcke, the party's leader in the eastern state of Thuringia, are now setting the tone. 

The former history teacher is due to stand trial for a second time this month after being charged with uttering a Nazi slogan once used by the Sturmabteilung (SA), once the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. He has denied the accusations.

According to recent polls, the AfD currently enjoys more than 30% support in Thuringia as well as in other states in eastern Germany.

This article was originally written in German.

"The parade lineup follows my command," shouts Inka von Puttkamer during a ceremonial roll call at the Kiel naval base. She is the new commander of the 3rd Minesweeper Squadron — and the first woman to head a combat unit in the German navy.

All Bundeswehr careers have been open to women since 2001, when Germany changed its military service policy after a European Court of Justice decision in 2000 that granted women unrestricted access to all military careers.

"A lot has happened since then," Maja Apelt, military sociologist at the University of Potsdam, told DW. Indeed, there are many more women serving in the Bundeswehr today than some decades ago. In 1985, there were only 117 women in the service — a tiny fraction of military personnel. In December last year, more than 24,000 women were employed by the Bundeswehr.

New contact points, such as equal opportunities officers, were also established. "A lot has happened on the formal side," Apelt added.

But the total proportion of women is still low compared to the whole of the Bundeswehr. Those 24,000 women represent only around 13% of military staff. And most — more than 8,000 — are in the medical service. Minus these, the proportion of women in the Bundeswehr falls to less than 9%. This is despite the fact that the German government recently set its gender equality goal at 20%.

Germany is lagging behind

If Germany could reach that objective, it would surpass many other countries — but today, it is trailing several nations. For instance, the US Army now employs almost 20% women. Even the Marine Corps, a particularly demanding branch of the armed forces, is now almost 10% women.

In Europe, Norway is leading the way, with 15.7% female soldiers among its military personnel. In France, the proportion of women in its armed service stands at 16.5%.

Germany's Bundeswehr commissioner in parliament, Eva Högl, emphasized the importance of the presence of women in the military in her most recent annual report. "They increase the quality of the service with their experience and skills: Studies show that mixed teams are always the best, and the strongest," she said.

Sociologist Apelt added that women in the Bundeswehr would ensure that women's issues and concerns would be taken into account in conflict zones.

The Bundeswehr already appears to be aware of this advantage. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pointedly commented on the army's low proportion of women on a visit to the Bundeswehr Career Center in Stuttgart last August. "That's not enough. Incidentally, it doesn't do justice to the Bundeswehr's claim to be an all-citizen's group, a citizen army," he said.

In her report, Högl emphasized that Germany's claim to have a "citizens' army" has a long way to go, especially at the top level. "Even the few female soldiers with exemplary careers, for example, the first female Bundeswehr battalion commander, or the first female submarine commander in the navy — cannot hide that fact," the report said. There are only three women generals in the entire Bundeswehr — and they are all medical doctors.

A recent survey conducted by the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences showed that only 36% of young women aged 16 to 29 see the Bundeswehr as an attractive employer, while 56% of young men did so. Could these figures be the result of the lack of women in the military's leadership positions?

The military reflects society

Some other issues that might make the Bundeswehr less attractive for women might be the incompatibility of military service and family, and cases of sexual harassment. The Bundeswehr commissioner's report mentions the military's two-year general/admiral staff course, for example. The report said the training needs to be designed with more flexibility, and less frequent moves, which can be difficult for military personnel with children.

Sexual harassment is still an issue in the Bundeswehr. The commissioner's report states that in 2022, there were more than 350 reported events of "suspected crimes against sexual self-determination." An internal Bundeswehr study showed that 80% of those affected are women.

Apelt sees a larger social dimension in all of this, because the Bundeswehr reflects areas in which men dominate. "Hardly any profession is as closely linked to masculinity as a soldier," she said.

Still, Apelt said the higher number of women in the medical service shows that the Bundeswehr is not deterring them. But she emphasized that "role models are important," especially in leadership positions.

"It's important to see that it is possible: 'I'm not the only one, and it's conceivable for a woman to go this route.' Women in senior positions are, on the one hand, role models — and on the other, they can open doors, as well," she said.

Inka von Puttkamer also sees herself as a role model. But she thinks this should stop being a rarity in today's navy.

"It's a problem that being a woman is always emphasized," she said. "The Bundeswehr is offering both my husband and myself the opportunity of leadership positions and the ability to combine that with family life. It is stressful, no doubt about it. And it requires a lot of organization and advance planning. But it is possible."

This article was originally written in German.

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Chopping cacao beans with machetes. Carrying heavy sacks during harvest — all tasks that school-age boys and girls in Ghana and elsewhere should not to be doing. Yet an in-depth investigation by US TV network CBS and Swiss public broadcaster SRF recently revealed that the chocolate manufacturer Mars and the Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli may be using child labor in Ghana. Studies suggest that around 700,000 children continue to work in the cocoa industry in Ghana. 

The problem clearly affects the entire global retail industry: Major German companies have also been accused of benefiting from child labor. The non-profit Oxfam alleges that suppliers of German supermarket chains Edeka and Rewe have violated environmental and human rights. And, according to a joint investigation by German media outlets NDR, WDR, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a supplier for auto giant BMW is also suspected of environmental pollution.

All these cases are potential violations of the Supply Chain Act, which has been in effect in Germany since the start of 2023. The aim of the law is to ensure that raw materials are sourced and exported from countries in the so-called Global South without violating human rights, employing child labor, or destroying the environment. 

Germany's Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze insisted that the German Supply Chain Act had already brought some success: "We hear from many partner countries that trade unions are being taken more seriously, that complaints offices are being set up, and that there have been some changes in local working conditions," she told DW.

The Supply Chain Act explained

The law stipulates that German companies with more than 1,000 employees must now take a close look at whether their goods and services meet the law's requirements. The German Labor Ministry lays out companies' obligations like this: "These obligations apply to their own business operations, to the actions of any contractual partners, and to the actions of other (indirect) suppliers," the ministry said. "This means that the responsibility of companies no longer ends at their own factory gates but extends along the entire supply chain."

Germany's Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hubertus Heil had long been an advocate of the law, and claims that Germany is now a pioneer. Despite much criticism from companies, there are also businesses that have made special efforts "because they don't want to be pilloried," he told DW at a recent trade conference.

Criticism from businesses and NGOs

In Germany, the federal agency responsible for monitoring the Supply Chain Act is the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), which also assesses arms exports. Although there have been some initial audits and complaints about noncompliance with the law, no fines or penalties have yet been imposed.

Perhaps for this reason, the requirements of the Supply Chain Act do not go far enough for many NGOs. Business associations, on the other hand, have complained about too much bureaucracy and the cost of extensive documentation. Siegfried Russwurm, chairman of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), told DW, "The implementation of the German Supply Chain Act has resulted in many negative and unintended effects along with heavy bureaucratic hurdles."

The environmental and human rights organization Germanwatch had cautious praise for the new regulations, but business responsibilities specialist Finn Schufft also told DW: "There are still shortcomings. One of them is the fact that companies cannot be held liable under civil law."

Ninja Charbonneau of the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF called the law a "milestone," but said she would have liked to see a more explicit reference to children's rights, and: "in the long run, it would be good if it applied to all companies."

An EU Supply Chain Act is now due to get the green light in April. This is similar to the German law, but is also stricter in some respects. For example, it will apply to companies with as few as 500 employees, rather than 1,000, and if companies violate the EU requirements, they could be sued for damages.

However, it will still take a few years before all the bureaucratic hurdles can be overcome and the EU law comes into force. Heil said that the German law will continue to apply until then. Now, he added, we have two years to implement the EU directives. "Without the German regulation, there would not have been the impetus for the European solution," he said.

This article was originally written in German.

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In March, the German parliament elected former policeman Uli Grötsch to the newly created position of federal commissioner for the police. This meant the Social Democrat (SPD) politician also had to resign his seat as a member of the German Bundestag, as the new position is designed to be independent.

Grötsch, who served as a police officer for 21 years, is now the contact person for complaints about instances of discrimination in the federal police. Though he can point out demonstrable misconduct, any decision about punishment, up to and including dismissal, would have to be made by the employer or the courts.

At a press conference in Berlin organized by the media service Mediendienst Integration, Grötsch expressed his astonishment at the number of complaints he has received in his first three weeks. There have been three to four submissions a day, with now over 70 in total. Around 30% came from the police, with the rest coming from the general public.

Looking for a diverse team

Grötsch's tenure is to last five years. During this time, he said, there is one thing he wants to do above all else: build trust. To do that, Grötsch said he will need a team that is as diverse as possible. "I need someone with black skin, someone with an Arab background, and, ideally, an LGBTQI person," he said.

Grötsch wants to build a team with those "who have experienced discrimination or belong to a group that is often discriminated against." However, he is still a long way from achieving that goal: 10 out of 18 posts have been filled — so far not one by an LGBTQI person.

"I would like to choose the five that I think are best for the job," Grötsch stressed, though of course the candidates must also conform legal requirements. They must, for example, come from within the police force.

Grötsch plans to meet soon with anti-racism expert Abdou Rahime Diallo, director and spokesperson of Diaspora Policy Interaction (DPI). As a student in 1998, Diallo experienced firsthand what racism can feel like. He was running through Düsseldorf's main train station and suddenly found himself lying on the ground.

"Three police officers were on top of me, I couldn't breathe, I was in endless pain — and most of all, I was humiliated and traumatized," said Diallo of his experience. "And the reason was: I'm Black."

When the police officers realized that he was German, they pushed him away and told him to move on. "I tried to protest, but it didn't help," said Diallo. He was young at the time and in a state of shock. Who could Diallo have turned to?

Today, he said, there are more places that offer help. "Today, I would have handled it very differently — definitely!"

'It's a big challenge for us to reach out to people'

But a look at the map of Germany also shows how much catching up is still necessary. Apart from the new federal commissioner, only eight of Germany's 16 states have comparable offices, though, as Mediendienst Integration established, they all have very different levels of expertise.

Only Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein allow the commissioner unrestricted access to police and prosecutors' files. Berlin is the only state where the commissioner for the police can conduct their own investigations. Offering information on complaints against the police in languages other than German remains an exception, but is planned in some states.

Studies on racism in the police now exist at both federal and state levels. According to Hartmut Aden, political scientist at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, a lot has happened in this field since 2009 when he started researching discrimination.

"Back then, it was still very taboo in police academies to even talk about topics like police and racism," said Aden. Today, he has found that police cadets have become much more critical, not least because the police force has become much more diverse.

Experts agree it's difficult to assess how widespread racism and other forms of discrimination actually are in the police force. Sermin Riedel, commissioner for the police in the state of Bremen since 2022, has one main explanation for this: those affected usually find it very difficult to talk about it.

"It's a big challenge for us to reach out to people, to get them to tell their story," she said. Riedel has found that despite all efforts to raise awareness, talking about racism is still often met with defensiveness in the police.

That is why she urges people to understand that racism is not only synonymous with right-wing extremist networks — it can occur whenever unintentional patterns of action or thought lead to police actions that have racist implications.

This could include random identity checks based on skin color or other external characteristics, known as racial profiling. Aden describes such policing as a "classic" example of racism. Such checks are fertile ground for "very subjective perceptions, including prejudice," he said. Those who have faced such abuse can contact the commissioner of their state and now also at the federal level.

This article was originally written in German.

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Authorities in Germany's southeastern state of Bavaria announced on Tuesday that they will ban smoking cannabis at the popular Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich.

It comes after Germany's federal government partially legalized marijuana for personal use at the start of the month.

What did Bavaria say about the potential ban?

Cannabis consumption would be banned in beer gardens, at public festivals and on restaurant terraces if the plan comes into effect.

Bavaria's government said in a statement that it wants to "limit the public consumption of cannabis despite the federal government's dangerous legalization law."

Clemens Baumgärtner, the head of Oktoberfest, told the web.de news portal he wanted to keep the festival cannabis-free.

"A family festival like the [Oktoberfest] and cannabis consumption don't go together," he said.

Baumgärtner is a member of the Bavaria-based opposition conservative CSU party, which opposed the legalization measure.

"Bavaria is strengthening the protection of children and young people," said Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, also of the CSU.

"Our aim is to limit cannabis consumption in public spaces," said Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach. "That is important for health protection and especially for protecting children and young people."

Germany partially legalized cannabis possession

Germany's new law regulating cannabis came into effect on April 1.

The move gives Germany some of the most liberal laws on the consumption of the drug in Europe. Malta became the first EU member state to legalize recreational cannabis use in 2021 and Luxembourg did so in 2023.

In Germany, adults over 18 are allowed to carry 25 grams of dried cannabis and keep up to three marijuana plants at home for personal use.

The substance remains banned for minors and cannot be consumed within 100 meters (328 feet) of schools, kindergartens and playgrounds.

A second part of the legislation, which will take effect in July, allows people to join clubs where they can buy the drug.

Under Germany's federal system, each state has some latitude in deciding how it will impose the new rules.

sdi/sms (AFP, dpa)

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It was the most spectacular arrest in decades in connection with the left-wing terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF). Following tips from the public, investigators from Lower Saxony rang the doorbell of an apartment building in the district of Kreuzberg in Berlin on February 26, 2024.

The woman they arrested there was 65-year-old Daniela Klette, a member of the former RAF, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group. Since then, investigators have hoped to solve many previously unsolved crimes committed by the group which carried out assaults and terrorist attacks in Germany until the 1990s.

Cash, Kalashnikovs and a bazooka

Among other things, investigators found €40,000 (about $42,000) in cash, a bazooka with a warhead, pistols and Kalashnikov rifles. There was also an embarrassing mishap: officers apparently allowed Klette to use the restroom, during which she seized the opportunity to warn her suspected accomplice Burkhard Garweg by phone.

Garweg, who was also in Berlin at the time, and the third suspected former terrorist, Ernst-Volker Staub, have since disappeared. "I can't imagine that the two of them are currently living out their days in peace," Friedo de Vries, the head of the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, told the German Press Agency. "We are determined to arrest Mr. Garweg and Mr. Staub."

The weapon finds are the biggest success for the investigating authorities in years. One of the pistols, for example, comes from a raid on a gun store in Maxdorf, Rhineland-Palatinate in 1984. Officers hope to be able to link more of the weapons found to RAF crimes. It's still largely unclear who exactly committed the robberies and murders.

Red Army Faction defined by hatred of capitalist state

The so-called "third generation" of left-wing terrorists, to which Klette and the two fugitives also belonged, were active between 1984 and 1993 and killed 10 people. The murders of Alfred Herrhausen, the head of Deutsche Bank, in 1989 and politician Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, head of the Treuhandanstalt, in 1991 caused a particular stir.

At the time, the Treuhandanstalt was an agency tasked with organizing the privatization of state-owned companies in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). These were typical targets of the terror group: what they saw as representatives of the hated capitalist state.

There have been three generations of left-wing extremist terrorists in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Their goals at the beginning, after the student revolts at the end of the 1960s, were to bring about a left-wing revolution in Germany and put an end to the US war in Vietnam. The first RAF generation around the founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof carried out attacks on department stores and were imprisoned.

The second generation made it their goal to free Baader and Meinhof from prison. In the mid-1970s, they committed murders such as those of the then-Attorney General Siegfried Buback and Hanns Martin Schleyer, a former SS officer and head of the Federation of German Industries and the Confederation of German Employers' Associations.

The third generation, which was active until the terrorist group dissolved itself in 1998, was the most mysterious: it carried out attacks without being discovered. Its members later raided money transports and banks to finance their lives underground and remained undetected — until now.

Did the authorities look the other way for too long?

According to Konstantin von Notz, the Green Party's interior affairs expert in the Bundestag, the intelligence services did not take the continuing threat posed by the RAF members seriously enough.

"The crimes committed by them, so the argument goes, were solely to raise money to finance the perpetrators' own livelihoods in the underground. An ongoing political motivation for the crimes was always ruled out," von Notz told DW. The wanted posters of Klette, Garweg and Staub showed pictures that were decades old. All three seemed to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Klette is now in Vechta women's prison in Lower Saxony, strictly isolated from other prisoners and under round-the-clock video surveillance in her cell. Like many captured RAF members before her, she has remained silent regarding all the accusations.

After her arrest, there were demonstrations of solidarity for Klette in several cities across the country. On March 9, around 600 people in Berlin marched in front of the Klette's apartment. She was already in custody at the time. On March 17, there was demonstration in Vechta, where she is currently imprisoned.

Another protest action has been announced for this coming week in Vechta. For von Notz, this is a sign that the ideology of the left-wing extremists is still popular.

"The findings in the accused's apartment alone, but also expressions of sympathy from the left-wing extremist scene, show there is still a considerable danger from the members of the third generation of the RAF and that their actions are still not clearly condemned by some deranged people," he said.

At least 33 murders in 22 years

The terrorist group carried out at least 33 murders between 1971 and 1993. Experts estimate that up to 80 people were active in the group's inner circle at any one time. In the entire period up to its dissolution in 1998, around 1,000 people were convicted of supporting the group and around 500 for membership.

The public was shocked by the cold-bloodedness with which bodyguards, drivers and police officers were murdered. Hanns Martin Schleyer was kidnapped in Cologne on September 5, 1977, and his four companions were literally executed with 119 shots.

A total of 26 members of the RAF leadership were sentenced to life imprisonment. Some of them have been released, such as Christian Klar, one of the leading heads of the RAF in the 1970s. He has never distanced himself from his actions.

This article was originally written in German.

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A government-appointed commission has recommended that abortion should be officially legalized within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, potentially paving the way for what would be an historic step in Germany.

Terminating a pregnancy officially remains a criminal offense in Germany, as stipulated in paragraph 218 of the criminal code, though abortion is exempt from punishment if carried out within the first three months of pregnancy and the woman has received counseling. In addition, abortion is expressly permitted in cases of rape or if the woman's life or physical or mental health is at risk.

But that legal framework is around 30 years old and has long been criticized. Germany's governing coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP) is revisiting the issue — and wants to liberalize abortion law. On Monday, a government-appointed commission presented its recommendations, and called for the old constitutional prohibition on abortion to be abolished.

SPD politician Katja Mast said that what is new about this recommendation is that early abortions would no longer be a criminal offense: "I think that regulations on abortion do not belong in the criminal code because, in my view, it stigmatizes women," she said.

The Catholic Church has concerns

Religious groups and associations have had very different reactions. Catholic Archbishop of Berlin Heiner Koch told the Catholic News Agency that we would prefer to stick with the existing regulation because it "values both the mother's needs and concerns and the protection of the unborn child." The Central Committee of German Catholics is critical of the decision because it gives the embryo less protection in the early stages of pregnancy.

The association Pro Familia, on the other hand, welcomed the new recommendations, and advocates for the complete decriminalization of abortion and the abolition of compulsory counseling.

Political opposition came, as expected, from the conservatives. Friedrich Merz, leader of the largest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), warned that with such a reform the government would be "introducing a major social conflict into the country." In a newspaper interview, Dorothee Bär of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), expressed her "astonishment that the protection of the life of the unborn child is apparently no longer to play a role."

The right-wing populist party the Alternative for Germany (AfD) also opposes the measure, while the socialist Left Party is calling on the government to turn the recommendations into a draft law and present it soon.

If the coalition were to do so, the CDU/CSU and the AfD would presumably join forces in the Bundestag to oppose it — a dilemma for the CDU/CSU, as it has previously refused to cooperate with the AfD.

The CDU could face a similar dilemma should it — or the AfD, or both — challenge such a bill before the German Federal Constitutional Court. Back in the 1990s, a Bundestag resolution to liberalize abortion law failed once already before the Federal Constitutional Court. The compromise that emerged as a result became the current law that is now being questioned.

'Advertising ban' on abortions already overturned

The government has already implemented, or is in the process of implementing, other measures related to abortion. Paragraph 219a, known as the ban on advertising abortion, has already been repealed — under that law, doctors who publicly provided information about abortions were liable to prosecution, and many were.

A ban on what is known as sidewalk harassment is currently making its way through the legislative process. This would make it a misdemeanor for anti-abortion activists to aggressively protest near counseling centers, hospitals, or doctors' offices that offer pregnancy counseling or carry out abortions.

Abortion in the USA, Ireland, and France

The current debate in US shows just how polarizing the issue remains. Since a Supreme Court ruling in 2022, every US state has been able to regulate its own abortion laws, and some have re-imposed severe restrictions on abortion. The Supreme Court in Arizona has now even spoken out in favor of reinstating a law from 1864 — when the Civil War was under way and women were not allowed to vote — which would make abortion almost completely illegal in Arizona.

On the presidential campaign trail, however, not even Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has committed to supporting a national ban on abortion. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in March, 57% of US citizens believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

A referendum held in 2018 in Ireland, another country with a strong Catholic tradition, resulted in a two-thirds majority in favor of legalizing abortion. At the time, many did not expect such a clear result in the previously socially conservative country. 

France, meanwhile, enshrined abortion rights in the constitution earlier this year, as a guaranteed "freedom to terminate a pregnancy." The former archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, reacted with indignation on the social media platform X: "The law urges the conscience to kill." France had reached a low point, he wrote. "It has become a totalitarian state." If the German government follows the commission's recommendations, Germany is also likely to face a heated debate on the subject.

This article originally appeared in German.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a visit to China on Monday said Chinese cars would be welcome on the market in Germany but warned against the use of unfair trade practices.

While Germany's economy has benefited from Chinese demand for products like cars to chemicals, ties have been strained with German companies arguing they face unjust market barriers in China.  

Only thing that ought to be clear is 'fair competition,' Scholz says

Scholz, who is in China on a three-day visit with several leading German executives, made the remarks while speaking at Tongji University in Shanghai.

He noted that, when Japanese and South Korean cars were launched onto the market in Europe, there had been fears that they would completely conquer the market in a one-way shift toward Asia.

"Nonsense!" said the chancellor. "There are Japanese cars now in Germany and German cars in Japan," he said. "And the same applies to China and Germany."

"At some point, there will also be Chinese cars in Germany and Europe. The only thing that must always be clear is that competition must be fair. In other words, that there is no dumping, that there is no overproduction, that copyrights are not infringed," Scholz said.

Bullying smaller neighbors is wrong, Scholz says, without naming Taiwan 

Sholz added small countries should not have to fear larger ones. However, he didn't mention China or Taiwan by name. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out annexing it by force if it deems it necessary.  

The world works when we all have a few principles in common," Scholz said. "One of these principles is that we should not be afraid of our neighbors. We want that in our own lives."

"If our neighbor is a big, strong, muscular person, then we always want to say hello and be sure that he will never hurt us," he told Shanghai university students.

The same, he said, was true between nations and that countries "should not have to be afraid of one another at all." "Borders must not be moved by force become. That's the central point."

What else is on the agenda?

In Shanghai, Scholz is also due to visit an innovation center of German plastics manufacturer Covestro. Later on Monday, the chancellor is set to dine with the Party Secretary of Shanghai, Chen Jining.

The second stop on the chancellor's three-day visit, Shanghai, comes after a first day in Chongqing, in the country's southwest. On Tuesday, he will head to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

Scholz's visit comes while the European Union ponders punitive tariffs to protect the bloc's manufacturers from more affordable imported Chinese electric cars.

The chancellor is being accompanied by a dozen chief executives, among them the bosses of German vehicle manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as the chemical company BASF. Volkswagen, Europe's largest car manufacturer, is absent from the trip.

rc,jsi/rm (dpa, Reuters)

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They represent the face of politics on the ground — but local politicians in Germany are increasingly in danger.

That was enough reason for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to recently warn that "democrats must not simply shrug their shoulders and accept it" when mayors and local politicians, as he put it, "no longer address certain controversial topics, delete their social media accounts, or even resign their office or mandate in order to protect themselves and their family from hostility."

Steinmeier made these remarks on April 11, when he and the Körber Foundation invited more than 80 honorary mayors to Berlin to discuss the concerns and needs of local politicians, who in Germany often work unpaid.

Ahead of the event, which was held under the slogan "Democracy Begins Locally," the Körber Foundation commissioned a survey from the research institute Forsa, which found that 40% of mayors in small towns said they or people close to them had been insulted, threatened or physically attacked because of their work. In an earlier Forsa survey conducted in 2021, the figure for full-time elected officials was as high as 57%.

As a result of this experience, more than one in four mayors have considered withdrawing from politics. Not only that, almost two-thirds of respondents reported an increasing discontent among citizens in their municipality. Some 35% see right-wing extremism as a major challenge for their community in the coming years.

Just under one in five reported an increase in anti-democratic tendencies in their area. That figure rises to one in four in eastern Germany, where three state elections are to be held this September.

Increasing attacks on local officials

Michael Müller felt the increased risk in his hometown of Waltershausen in Thuringia, where an incendiary device was set off outside his house in February.

Müller, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) still can't believe it. On the night of the crime, his car was set on fire in front of the house, and the fire spread to the facade of his family home, where he lives with his two children. All managed to escape unscathed, but the case is now being investigated for attempted murder.

Müller doesn't believe it was a coincidence that just a few days earlier he had called for a demonstration against right-wing extremists.

He views such threats with great concern, because "many people think: Is it worth sacrificing my free time for this society that threatens me in return?" At some point, he fears, "there will be fewer and fewer people who sacrifice their free time and work as city councilors, local councilors or mayors."

A representative study carried out as part of the organization Competence Network against Hate on the Net confirms similar findings for online debate: the more brutal it becomes, the more people withdraw from online discourse.

The precedents are alarming. Henriette Reker, the mayor of Cologne, narrowly escaped death in 2015. One day before the election, a fanatical right-wing extremist stabbed her in the neck.

Andreas Hollstein, mayor of the town of Altena, was also stabbed in the neck by a refugee hater in 2017.

The murder of Walter Lübcke, a local district president in Kassel, central Germany, by a right-wing extremist in 2019 shook many people in Germany. The wider public learned what some local politicians had to endure: gallows set up in their front garden, an animal carcass left in the letterbox, hate mail highlighting a child's home address and school.

Elected representatives fight back

Wiebke Sahin-Schwarzweller, mayor of the town of Zossen, Brandenburg, is a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). She told DW that she had been openly threatened during her 2019 election campaign. "My husband, who is of Turkish origin, was also the target of slander," she said.

Unlike top politicians, local politicians don't have armored limousines or personal security at their disposal. But Sahin-Schwarzweller is fighting back nonetheless: she has been in constant contact with Steinmeier on the issue since 2018, and has been pushing hard to raise awareness.

That work resulted in the Stark im Amt portal, which offers support to local politicians. Public prosecutors, police stations and authorities have now been sensitized to the issue.

In March 2022, the federal government presented 10 measures from the action plan against right-wing extremism, which included the protection of elected officials and a new, nationwide contact point for local politicians, due to be launched this summer.

Marcus Kober from the German Forum for Crime Prevention is jointly responsible for its implementation. "Counteracting the feeling of having to deal with this alone is a very important first step," he told DW. The second step is then to clarify whether it is a criminal offense, which authority is responsible and to identify the services available in what is now a relatively well-developed help system.

For Kober, the municipal representatives urgently need protection. After all, they take the rap for all decisions at the state or federal level. For him, they are the main engine of the democratic system. In other words, if it stutters, then democracy is in danger.

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.

The German airline group Lufthansa said on Sunday flights to Amman, Beirut, Erbil and Tel Aviv  would be suspended at least until Monday amid the turmoil unleashed by Iran's overnight attack on Israel.

The group, which includes German flagship carrier Lufthansa, along with Swiss and Austrian airlines, would also make sure its flights did not use the airspace above Israel, Jordan and Iraq for the foreseeable future, it said in a statement to Reuters news agency.

The company had already said on Friday it was suspending flights to and from Tehran until April 18 and would not use Iranian airspace during that time.

Major disruption to air traffic

Fears of further escalation in the Middle East have led a number of airlines around the world to change their flight paths or to cancel or suspend their services.

Emirates Airlines said on Sunday it would be canceling some of its flights and re-routing others, while Kuwait Airways said early on Sunday it was diverting all incoming and outgoing flights away from "areas of tension." 

Dutch airline KLM and the Australian airline Qantas have also both said they had adjusted their flight routes to avoid flying through dangerous airspace. 

tj/rc ((Reuters, dpa)