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What you need to know
- Geopolitical conflicts are prompting Germans to change their travel plans
- Activists gear up for weekend of Easter peace marches punctuated by the Iran war
- German men require military permit to leave country longer than 3 months
- Economist with the government’s ear recommends temporary autobahn speed limits
- Fuel prices are veering into record territory amid the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz
- Rescuers monitor stranded and ailing humpback whale ‘Timmy’ in Baltic Sea
- Left-wing populist BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht says her party is not open to any coalitions in eastern states, with the AfD or established parties
Welcome to our roundup of headlines from and about Germany on the Easter weekend:
We’re pausing our coverage
We’re pausing our updates of the top headlines out of Germany for the night.
But we’ll be back again tomorrow with more news from Easter Sunday in Germany.
Thanks for reading!
Thousands join Easter peace marches across Germany
Several thousand people took part in the traditional Easter peace marches across Germany on Saturday.
People rallied in some 70 towns and cities, according to the Network of the German Peace Movement.
These included Berlin, Bremen, Munich, Duisburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart.
The number of participants varied but remained limited. Some 3,000 were counted in Stuttgart, 1,600 in Berlin and 300 in Duisburg, according to the police.
Marches took place on Thursday and Friday, but Saturday is traditionally the main day. Some actions are also planned for Sunday and Monday.
This year’s event focused on the return of conscription in Germany as well as military buildup.
The organizers spoke of a higher participation of young people thanks to the topic of conscription, which has already triggered repeated protests and school walk-outs.
“It is important that so many people are taking to the streets for peace,” Kristian Golla of the Network said. “In almost 40 years of Easter peace marches, I have never experienced an Easter that was so full of crises around the world.”
AfD is Germany’s strongest party nationwide in the poll
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is now the strongest political force in the country, a new survey showed.
The party’s support currently stands at 26%, according to the Sunday trend poll conducted by market research firm INSA for Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The figure remains unchanged from past week.
Support for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU parties dropped 1%, to 25%, while his coalition partner — the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — was at 13%.
Numbers for other opposition parties, the Greens and the Left, remained unchanged at 12% and 11% respectively.
The AfD is currently the second-largest party in Germany’s parliament.
The party has been capitalizing on growing public discontent and concerns over a raft of issues, including economic stagnation, increasing job losses in the industrial sector and high energy prices.
Diesel prices hit another record high
Diesel prices in Germany have spiked to another record high as the Easter weekend began.
The daily average price for a liter of diesel reached €2.391 ($2.75 per liter — $10.45 per gallon) on Friday, a new all-time high, according to ADAC, an automobile association.
On Thursday, diesel prices had already surpassed Wednesday’s previous record, at €2.346.
In a bid to ensure transparency and control price increases, the German government has changed rules since Wednesday, allowing gas stations to hike fuel prices only once a day at noon.
The measure was modeled after Austria, where this practice has long been in place.
But there have been significant price jumps at gas stations since then.
The price hikes “show that the Austrian model certainly does not deserve the name ‘price brake’ and that it actually has a counterproductive effect,” the ADAC stated.
WATCH: Germany rehearses mass evacuations for a NATO war
Russia’s threat has pushed Germany to carry out the biggest war drill of its kind in decades — testing its readiness for mass evacuations of wounded allied soldiers from NATO’s eastern border in Lithuania.
Calls grow louder for scrapping VAT on food
Amid soaring fuel prices, pressure is mounting on the German government to abolish the value-added tax (VAT) on food, especially on healthy food items.
The business wing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the current government, has called for scrapping the tax on items such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, bread, pasta, rice and eggs.
German policymakers cannot control global oil prices, “but we can ensure that rising energy and food costs don’t hit Germans’ wallets unchecked,” Esra-Leon Limbacher, an MP and head of the business wing, told the Bild newspaper.
“Whether a child eats a healthy diet should not depend on the parents’ bank balance,” he added.
The head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, echoed the call.
She said scrapping the levy — which currently stands at 19% on most goods, and 7% on select food items — would particularly help low-income households far more than a cut in income tax.
To finance the measure, Fahimi told the Tagesspiegel daily: “Germany could introduce a much higher VAT on luxury goods, such as extremely expensive watches, yachts, jewelry or luxury cars.”
The calls came after Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), also recently spoke in favor of such a measure, saying that it would “allow us to do something” to control soaring prices in the wake of the Iran war.
German finance minister urges windfall tax on energy firms
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, along with his counterparts from Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain, has called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies in response to surging fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Such a measure would “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” the ministers wrote in a letter to the European Commission.
It would also send a signal that “we stand united and are able to take action,” they added.
The letter gave no details as to how much the tax should be and which companies would be asked to pay.
Despite massively expanding its renewable energy capacity, the EU remains heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels.
The surging oil and gas prices since the outbreak of the Iran — European gas prices, for instance, have risen over 70% since February 28 — have made affordable energy a top priority for European policymakers.
Oil price spike: Minister rejects gasoline rebate, speed limit
Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has rejected calls for tax breaks and speed limits on the nation’s motorways amid spiking fuel costs due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The minister, from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, has cast doubt on the effectiveness of a tax rebate.
She pointed out that in Italy and Austria, which have reduced taxes, gasoline and diesel have not become cheaper. The same thing happened with Germany’s 2022 fuel rebate. “Billions were spent, but the intended effect fizzled out,” Reiche told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
Reiche also rejected imposing speed limits on the country’s famed autobahn network.
She believes it would not have any effect on the prices.
“The price of gasoline and diesel isn’t determined on German highways, but on the global market. Speed limits and car-free Sundays would have no noticeable impact on that,” she said.
The surge in gasoline and diesel prices has sparked a public debate in the country about how to ease the impact on consumers.
Easter peace marches held in several German cities
Traditional Easter marches are being held across Germany this weekend.
They began on Friday as people took to the streets in several towns to call for peace.
The Saturday preceding Easter Sunday is traditionally the main day of the marches, with thousands expected to participate in rallies nationwide.
The gatherings are organized locally by trade unions, left-wing, Christian and peace groups.
Over 100 events are planned across Germany this year, said Friedenskooperative, a network of the German Peace Movement.
The marches this year are being held in the shadow of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Crises force Germans to change their Easter holiday plans
Many Germans are altering their travel plans for Easter and the months ahead due to conflicts and crises, according to a survey published on Saturday.
The survey, conducted by the German Institute for Tourism Research, found that 16% of the 1,124 people polled between March 25 and 30 had changed their plans for the next three months due to geopolitical crises.
“Going on holiday is not unpolitical,” Julian Reif, the head of the institute, said, adding that political conditions in the destination were a major component of holiday decisions.
Still, 72% of Germans are planning to travel on holiday, whether at home or abroad, in the April-June period.
Within the country, Bavaria is a popular destination, while Spain and Italy lead the rankings for foreign travel.
Welcome back!
Frohe Ostern and Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom in Bonn. We are resuming our coverage of all things Germany this Saturday, April 4.
We’re pausing coverage
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest headlines that include annual Easter peace marches scheduled in cities like Düsseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.
German men require military permit to leave country longer than 3 months
While people in Germany debated and even took to the streets to protest the potential reintroduction of mandatory military service for men, a change to the country’s conscription law that took effect at the beginning of the year has gone largely unnoticed.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Friday about already-enacted amendments to the legislation requiring men between the ages of 18 and 46 to “obtain an approval from the relevant Bundeswehr Career Center if they wish to leave the Federal Republic of Germany for more than three months.”
The paper went on to say the rule would apply regardless of whether a German man “planned a semester of studying abroad, working in a foreign country or going on a backpacking trip around the world.”
While the law requires German men to request the permit, it also obliges the military career center to issue it.
A Bundeswehr spokesperson told the Ippen.Media group of local papers that, in the event of a war breaking out, it needed to know how many men were living long-term outside the country.
Acknowledging the “profound” impact of the amended conscription law, the Ministry of Defense has said it is working on new rules for exceptions to the exit permit requirement.
The ministry did not answer questions regarding consequences for men who leave the country for longer than three months without the proper permit.
Activists stage traditional Easter marches across Germany
Peace activists began holding annual peace protests across Germany against the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, military buildup and conscription.
The Peace Cooperative Network, which coordinates the traditional Easter marches, said it was “cautiously optimistic” that participation could exceed last year’s turnout of 40,000 people.
In the western city of Gronau, around 150 demonstrators gathered outside the uranium enrichment plant on Good Friday, organizers said. Rallies were also held in several other cities, including Chemnitz, Biberach and Gütersloh.
The first protests took place on Thursday in Erfurt, Jena, Königs Wusterhausen, and Regensburg.
Thousands of people are expected to take part in the more than 120 events planned throughout the Easter long weekend. Saturday, the main day of action, will see marches in Duisburg, Bonn, Bremen, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, and Stuttgart.
The peace movement is urging the German government to push for diplomatic solutions to end ongoing conflicts and boost support for people affected by war, among other demands.
Stricken humpback whale sprayed with water to soothe suffering
The stranded humpback whale off the island of Poel has not moved and is lying “in an unnatural position, with its back in the sun,” a spokesperson for the state Environment Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said on Friday.
In a bid to ease the suffering of a creature that experts believe is in the process of dying, they sprayed water from the Baltic Sea onto its exposed back.
The whale is thought to have lost its way, veering into the much-too-shallow Baltic Sea early in March. It has ended up stuck several times since, and has been stationary in or near its current location for most of the week amid clear signs of its deterioration.
“We are working on the firm conviction that the animal is dying there,” Burkhard Baschek, the scientific director of the German Oceanographic Musueum said earlier in the week.
To make matters worse, should the experts be mistaken and the creature’s condition were to suddenly improve, the water level after a few days of drier weather is currently so low that it would have no realistic chance of moving off into deeper waters.
- Geopolitical conflicts are prompting Germans to change their travel plans
- Activists gear up for weekend of Easter peace marches punctuated by the Iran war
- German men require military permit to leave country longer than 3 months
- Economist with the government’s ear recommends temporary autobahn speed limits
- Fuel prices are veering into record territory amid the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz
- Rescuers monitor stranded and ailing humpback whale ‘Timmy’ in Baltic Sea
- Left-wing populist BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht says her party is not open to any coalitions in eastern states, with the AfD or established parties
Welcome to our roundup of headlines from and about Germany on the Easter weekend:
Welcome to our roundup of headlines from and about Germany on the Easter weekend:
We’re pausing our updates of the top headlines out of Germany for the night.
But we’ll be back again tomorrow with more news from Easter Sunday in Germany.
Thanks for reading!
We’re pausing our updates of the top headlines out of Germany for the night.
But we’ll be back again tomorrow with more news from Easter Sunday in Germany.
Thanks for reading!
Several thousand people took part in the traditional Easter peace marches across Germany on Saturday.
People rallied in some 70 towns and cities, according to the Network of the German Peace Movement.
These included Berlin, Bremen, Munich, Duisburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart.
The number of participants varied but remained limited. Some 3,000 were counted in Stuttgart, 1,600 in Berlin and 300 in Duisburg, according to the police.
Marches took place on Thursday and Friday, but Saturday is traditionally the main day. Some actions are also planned for Sunday and Monday.
This year’s event focused on the return of conscription in Germany as well as military buildup.
The organizers spoke of a higher participation of young people thanks to the topic of conscription, which has already triggered repeated protests and school walk-outs.
“It is important that so many people are taking to the streets for peace,” Kristian Golla of the Network said. “In almost 40 years of Easter peace marches, I have never experienced an Easter that was so full of crises around the world.”
Several thousand people took part in the traditional Easter peace marches across Germany on Saturday.
People rallied in some 70 towns and cities, according to the Network of the German Peace Movement.
These included Berlin, Bremen, Munich, Duisburg, Leipzig and Stuttgart.
The number of participants varied but remained limited. Some 3,000 were counted in Stuttgart, 1,600 in Berlin and 300 in Duisburg, according to the police.
Marches took place on Thursday and Friday, but Saturday is traditionally the main day. Some actions are also planned for Sunday and Monday.
This year’s event focused on the return of conscription in Germany as well as military buildup.
The organizers spoke of a higher participation of young people thanks to the topic of conscription, which has already triggered repeated protests and school walk-outs.
“It is important that so many people are taking to the streets for peace,” Kristian Golla of the Network said. “In almost 40 years of Easter peace marches, I have never experienced an Easter that was so full of crises around the world.”
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is now the strongest political force in the country, a new survey showed.
The party’s support currently stands at 26%, according to the Sunday trend poll conducted by market research firm INSA for Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The figure remains unchanged from past week.
Support for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU parties dropped 1%, to 25%, while his coalition partner — the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — was at 13%.
Numbers for other opposition parties, the Greens and the Left, remained unchanged at 12% and 11% respectively.
The AfD is currently the second-largest party in Germany’s parliament.
The party has been capitalizing on growing public discontent and concerns over a raft of issues, including economic stagnation, increasing job losses in the industrial sector and high energy prices.
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is now the strongest political force in the country, a new survey showed.
The party’s support currently stands at 26%, according to the Sunday trend poll conducted by market research firm INSA for Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The figure remains unchanged from past week.
Support for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU parties dropped 1%, to 25%, while his coalition partner — the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — was at 13%.
Numbers for other opposition parties, the Greens and the Left, remained unchanged at 12% and 11% respectively.
The AfD is currently the second-largest party in Germany’s parliament.
The party has been capitalizing on growing public discontent and concerns over a raft of issues, including economic stagnation, increasing job losses in the industrial sector and high energy prices.
Diesel prices in Germany have spiked to another record high as the Easter weekend began.
The daily average price for a liter of diesel reached €2.391 ($2.75 per liter — $10.45 per gallon) on Friday, a new all-time high, according to ADAC, an automobile association.
On Thursday, diesel prices had already surpassed Wednesday’s previous record, at €2.346.
In a bid to ensure transparency and control price increases, the German government has changed rules since Wednesday, allowing gas stations to hike fuel prices only once a day at noon.
The measure was modeled after Austria, where this practice has long been in place.
But there have been significant price jumps at gas stations since then.
The price hikes “show that the Austrian model certainly does not deserve the name ‘price brake’ and that it actually has a counterproductive effect,” the ADAC stated.
Diesel prices in Germany have spiked to another record high as the Easter weekend began.
The daily average price for a liter of diesel reached €2.391 ($2.75 per liter — $10.45 per gallon) on Friday, a new all-time high, according to ADAC, an automobile association.
On Thursday, diesel prices had already surpassed Wednesday’s previous record, at €2.346.
In a bid to ensure transparency and control price increases, the German government has changed rules since Wednesday, allowing gas stations to hike fuel prices only once a day at noon.
The measure was modeled after Austria, where this practice has long been in place.
But there have been significant price jumps at gas stations since then.
The price hikes “show that the Austrian model certainly does not deserve the name ‘price brake’ and that it actually has a counterproductive effect,” the ADAC stated.
Russia’s threat has pushed Germany to carry out the biggest war drill of its kind in decades — testing its readiness for mass evacuations of wounded allied soldiers from NATO’s eastern border in Lithuania.
Russia’s threat has pushed Germany to carry out the biggest war drill of its kind in decades — testing its readiness for mass evacuations of wounded allied soldiers from NATO’s eastern border in Lithuania.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Amid soaring fuel prices, pressure is mounting on the German government to abolish the value-added tax (VAT) on food, especially on healthy food items.
The business wing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the current government, has called for scrapping the tax on items such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, bread, pasta, rice and eggs.
German policymakers cannot control global oil prices, “but we can ensure that rising energy and food costs don’t hit Germans’ wallets unchecked,” Esra-Leon Limbacher, an MP and head of the business wing, told the Bild newspaper.
“Whether a child eats a healthy diet should not depend on the parents’ bank balance,” he added.
The head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, echoed the call.
She said scrapping the levy — which currently stands at 19% on most goods, and 7% on select food items — would particularly help low-income households far more than a cut in income tax.
To finance the measure, Fahimi told the Tagesspiegel daily: “Germany could introduce a much higher VAT on luxury goods, such as extremely expensive watches, yachts, jewelry or luxury cars.”
The calls came after Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), also recently spoke in favor of such a measure, saying that it would “allow us to do something” to control soaring prices in the wake of the Iran war.
Amid soaring fuel prices, pressure is mounting on the German government to abolish the value-added tax (VAT) on food, especially on healthy food items.
The business wing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in the current government, has called for scrapping the tax on items such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, bread, pasta, rice and eggs.
German policymakers cannot control global oil prices, “but we can ensure that rising energy and food costs don’t hit Germans’ wallets unchecked,” Esra-Leon Limbacher, an MP and head of the business wing, told the Bild newspaper.
“Whether a child eats a healthy diet should not depend on the parents’ bank balance,” he added.
The head of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Yasmin Fahimi, echoed the call.
She said scrapping the levy — which currently stands at 19% on most goods, and 7% on select food items — would particularly help low-income households far more than a cut in income tax.
To finance the measure, Fahimi told the Tagesspiegel daily: “Germany could introduce a much higher VAT on luxury goods, such as extremely expensive watches, yachts, jewelry or luxury cars.”
The calls came after Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), also recently spoke in favor of such a measure, saying that it would “allow us to do something” to control soaring prices in the wake of the Iran war.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, along with his counterparts from Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain, has called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies in response to surging fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Such a measure would “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” the ministers wrote in a letter to the European Commission.
It would also send a signal that “we stand united and are able to take action,” they added.
The letter gave no details as to how much the tax should be and which companies would be asked to pay.
Despite massively expanding its renewable energy capacity, the EU remains heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels.
The surging oil and gas prices since the outbreak of the Iran — European gas prices, for instance, have risen over 70% since February 28 — have made affordable energy a top priority for European policymakers.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, along with his counterparts from Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain, has called for a tax on windfall profits of energy companies in response to surging fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Such a measure would “send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public,” the ministers wrote in a letter to the European Commission.
It would also send a signal that “we stand united and are able to take action,” they added.
The letter gave no details as to how much the tax should be and which companies would be asked to pay.
Despite massively expanding its renewable energy capacity, the EU remains heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels.
The surging oil and gas prices since the outbreak of the Iran — European gas prices, for instance, have risen over 70% since February 28 — have made affordable energy a top priority for European policymakers.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has rejected calls for tax breaks and speed limits on the nation’s motorways amid spiking fuel costs due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The minister, from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, has cast doubt on the effectiveness of a tax rebate.
She pointed out that in Italy and Austria, which have reduced taxes, gasoline and diesel have not become cheaper. The same thing happened with Germany’s 2022 fuel rebate. “Billions were spent, but the intended effect fizzled out,” Reiche told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
Reiche also rejected imposing speed limits on the country’s famed autobahn network.
She believes it would not have any effect on the prices.
“The price of gasoline and diesel isn’t determined on German highways, but on the global market. Speed limits and car-free Sundays would have no noticeable impact on that,” she said.
The surge in gasoline and diesel prices has sparked a public debate in the country about how to ease the impact on consumers.
Germany’s Economy Minister Katherina Reiche has rejected calls for tax breaks and speed limits on the nation’s motorways amid spiking fuel costs due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The minister, from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, has cast doubt on the effectiveness of a tax rebate.
She pointed out that in Italy and Austria, which have reduced taxes, gasoline and diesel have not become cheaper. The same thing happened with Germany’s 2022 fuel rebate. “Billions were spent, but the intended effect fizzled out,” Reiche told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
Reiche also rejected imposing speed limits on the country’s famed autobahn network.
She believes it would not have any effect on the prices.
“The price of gasoline and diesel isn’t determined on German highways, but on the global market. Speed limits and car-free Sundays would have no noticeable impact on that,” she said.
The surge in gasoline and diesel prices has sparked a public debate in the country about how to ease the impact on consumers.
Traditional Easter marches are being held across Germany this weekend.
They began on Friday as people took to the streets in several towns to call for peace.
The Saturday preceding Easter Sunday is traditionally the main day of the marches, with thousands expected to participate in rallies nationwide.
The gatherings are organized locally by trade unions, left-wing, Christian and peace groups.
Over 100 events are planned across Germany this year, said Friedenskooperative, a network of the German Peace Movement.
The marches this year are being held in the shadow of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Traditional Easter marches are being held across Germany this weekend.
They began on Friday as people took to the streets in several towns to call for peace.
The Saturday preceding Easter Sunday is traditionally the main day of the marches, with thousands expected to participate in rallies nationwide.
The gatherings are organized locally by trade unions, left-wing, Christian and peace groups.
Over 100 events are planned across Germany this year, said Friedenskooperative, a network of the German Peace Movement.
The marches this year are being held in the shadow of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Many Germans are altering their travel plans for Easter and the months ahead due to conflicts and crises, according to a survey published on Saturday.
The survey, conducted by the German Institute for Tourism Research, found that 16% of the 1,124 people polled between March 25 and 30 had changed their plans for the next three months due to geopolitical crises.
“Going on holiday is not unpolitical,” Julian Reif, the head of the institute, said, adding that political conditions in the destination were a major component of holiday decisions.
Still, 72% of Germans are planning to travel on holiday, whether at home or abroad, in the April-June period.
Within the country, Bavaria is a popular destination, while Spain and Italy lead the rankings for foreign travel.
Many Germans are altering their travel plans for Easter and the months ahead due to conflicts and crises, according to a survey published on Saturday.
The survey, conducted by the German Institute for Tourism Research, found that 16% of the 1,124 people polled between March 25 and 30 had changed their plans for the next three months due to geopolitical crises.
“Going on holiday is not unpolitical,” Julian Reif, the head of the institute, said, adding that political conditions in the destination were a major component of holiday decisions.
Still, 72% of Germans are planning to travel on holiday, whether at home or abroad, in the April-June period.
Within the country, Bavaria is a popular destination, while Spain and Italy lead the rankings for foreign travel.
Frohe Ostern and Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom in Bonn. We are resuming our coverage of all things Germany this Saturday, April 4.
Frohe Ostern and Guten Tag from DW’s newsroom in Bonn. We are resuming our coverage of all things Germany this Saturday, April 4.
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest headlines that include annual Easter peace marches scheduled in cities like Düsseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest headlines that include annual Easter peace marches scheduled in cities like Düsseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart.
While people in Germany debated and even took to the streets to protest the potential reintroduction of mandatory military service for men, a change to the country’s conscription law that took effect at the beginning of the year has gone largely unnoticed.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Friday about already-enacted amendments to the legislation requiring men between the ages of 18 and 46 to “obtain an approval from the relevant Bundeswehr Career Center if they wish to leave the Federal Republic of Germany for more than three months.”
The paper went on to say the rule would apply regardless of whether a German man “planned a semester of studying abroad, working in a foreign country or going on a backpacking trip around the world.”
While the law requires German men to request the permit, it also obliges the military career center to issue it.
A Bundeswehr spokesperson told the Ippen.Media group of local papers that, in the event of a war breaking out, it needed to know how many men were living long-term outside the country.
Acknowledging the “profound” impact of the amended conscription law, the Ministry of Defense has said it is working on new rules for exceptions to the exit permit requirement.
The ministry did not answer questions regarding consequences for men who leave the country for longer than three months without the proper permit.
While people in Germany debated and even took to the streets to protest the potential reintroduction of mandatory military service for men, a change to the country’s conscription law that took effect at the beginning of the year has gone largely unnoticed.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Friday about already-enacted amendments to the legislation requiring men between the ages of 18 and 46 to “obtain an approval from the relevant Bundeswehr Career Center if they wish to leave the Federal Republic of Germany for more than three months.”
The paper went on to say the rule would apply regardless of whether a German man “planned a semester of studying abroad, working in a foreign country or going on a backpacking trip around the world.”
While the law requires German men to request the permit, it also obliges the military career center to issue it.
A Bundeswehr spokesperson told the Ippen.Media group of local papers that, in the event of a war breaking out, it needed to know how many men were living long-term outside the country.
Acknowledging the “profound” impact of the amended conscription law, the Ministry of Defense has said it is working on new rules for exceptions to the exit permit requirement.
The ministry did not answer questions regarding consequences for men who leave the country for longer than three months without the proper permit.
Peace activists began holding annual peace protests across Germany against the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, military buildup and conscription.
The Peace Cooperative Network, which coordinates the traditional Easter marches, said it was “cautiously optimistic” that participation could exceed last year’s turnout of 40,000 people.
In the western city of Gronau, around 150 demonstrators gathered outside the uranium enrichment plant on Good Friday, organizers said. Rallies were also held in several other cities, including Chemnitz, Biberach and Gütersloh.
The first protests took place on Thursday in Erfurt, Jena, Königs Wusterhausen, and Regensburg.
Thousands of people are expected to take part in the more than 120 events planned throughout the Easter long weekend. Saturday, the main day of action, will see marches in Duisburg, Bonn, Bremen, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, and Stuttgart.
The peace movement is urging the German government to push for diplomatic solutions to end ongoing conflicts and boost support for people affected by war, among other demands.
Peace activists began holding annual peace protests across Germany against the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, military buildup and conscription.
The Peace Cooperative Network, which coordinates the traditional Easter marches, said it was “cautiously optimistic” that participation could exceed last year’s turnout of 40,000 people.
In the western city of Gronau, around 150 demonstrators gathered outside the uranium enrichment plant on Good Friday, organizers said. Rallies were also held in several other cities, including Chemnitz, Biberach and Gütersloh.
The first protests took place on Thursday in Erfurt, Jena, Königs Wusterhausen, and Regensburg.
Thousands of people are expected to take part in the more than 120 events planned throughout the Easter long weekend. Saturday, the main day of action, will see marches in Duisburg, Bonn, Bremen, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, and Stuttgart.
The peace movement is urging the German government to push for diplomatic solutions to end ongoing conflicts and boost support for people affected by war, among other demands.
The stranded humpback whale off the island of Poel has not moved and is lying “in an unnatural position, with its back in the sun,” a spokesperson for the state Environment Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said on Friday.
In a bid to ease the suffering of a creature that experts believe is in the process of dying, they sprayed water from the Baltic Sea onto its exposed back.
The whale is thought to have lost its way, veering into the much-too-shallow Baltic Sea early in March. It has ended up stuck several times since, and has been stationary in or near its current location for most of the week amid clear signs of its deterioration.
“We are working on the firm conviction that the animal is dying there,” Burkhard Baschek, the scientific director of the German Oceanographic Musueum said earlier in the week.
To make matters worse, should the experts be mistaken and the creature’s condition were to suddenly improve, the water level after a few days of drier weather is currently so low that it would have no realistic chance of moving off into deeper waters.
The stranded humpback whale off the island of Poel has not moved and is lying “in an unnatural position, with its back in the sun,” a spokesperson for the state Environment Minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said on Friday.
In a bid to ease the suffering of a creature that experts believe is in the process of dying, they sprayed water from the Baltic Sea onto its exposed back.
The whale is thought to have lost its way, veering into the much-too-shallow Baltic Sea early in March. It has ended up stuck several times since, and has been stationary in or near its current location for most of the week amid clear signs of its deterioration.
“We are working on the firm conviction that the animal is dying there,” Burkhard Baschek, the scientific director of the German Oceanographic Musueum said earlier in the week.
To make matters worse, should the experts be mistaken and the creature’s condition were to suddenly improve, the water level after a few days of drier weather is currently so low that it would have no realistic chance of moving off into deeper waters.
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