Lufthansa Airlines, the flag carrier of Germany, takes great pride in its aviation heritage spanning almost a century. Images from the 1920s and 1930s including Junkers Ju 52 aircraft used by the Luftwaffe feature prominently in Lufthansa's marketing, alluding to the "pioneering spirit" of the brand and its place in aviation history. But the story of Lufthansa's role in the Third Reich war machine, one that includes the large-scale use of forced labor, remains largely under the radar.
When the Romans pushed over the Alps 2,000 years ago into the area between Lörrach on Germany's southern border with Switzerland, and Pforzheim to the north, they named the moody glades of deciduous trees and firs the silva nigra: the black forest. In many ways, though, the Schwarzwald, as the Germans call it, isn't dark at all. Guests on the terrace of the Romantik Hotel Spielweg in the Southern Black Forest gaze up at the white vapour trails left by planes crisscrossing
Sitting in the cramped interior of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 armoured vehicle, Tom, 20, hangs on every word coming from Achim, an officer with the German military, as he breathlessly talks students through the workings of the most modern tank in the world. What damage would you expect its ammunition to inflict? Tom asks. Achim replies: A standard round has a range of 30km, and anything within a 100-metre radius of that would be a direct hit, Achim says. The students exchange surprised glances.
The Eisbach wave on a side branch of the Isar river had been a landmark in the Bavarian city since the 1980s but it vanished in October after annual cleanup work along the riverbed. Activists had placed a beam in the water early on 25 December to partially recreate the wave, according to German media reports, and hung a banner above the water that read Merry Christmas.
Police officers shot dead a 33-year-old man at a hospital in Giessen, north of the financial capital Frankfurt, authorities said. Hospital staff called the police saying a patient had threatened them with scissors, with police describing the man as being in psychological distress, the Hesse State Criminal Police Office (LKA) said in a statement. Investigators said the man had attacked officers with the scissors, prompting them to open fire. The man later succumbed to his wounds.
It's still going to be cold, however. Forecasters expect frost, sub-zero temperatures and possibly the coldest Christmas since 2010. READ ALSO: Which supermarkets and shops are open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? The meteorologists' prediction is based on the average temperature for Germany, which is expected to be around -2C to -3C over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Germany has deported a convicted criminal to Syria for the first time since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, the Interior Ministry has said. The man was handed over to Syrian authorities in Damascus on Tuesday morning. Why has the deportation taken place now? It comes after Berlin reached an agreement with the Syrian government allowing deportations of convicted criminals and security threats to take place on a regular basis.
The deportation just before Christmas capped months of talks with Syria's government, which mirrored similar efforts by Berlin to strike a deportation deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Human rights groups have criticised efforts to send immigrants back to either country, citing continued instability and evidence of rights abuses. But Germany's conservative-led government has made the resumption of deportations to Syria a diplomatic priority since former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country just over a year ago.
BKA chief Holger Munch said the drone sightings represent a "significant situation of danger." German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in October that the German government believes Russia is behind many of the drone sightings over German territory. Munch told Bild that it cannot be assumed with "100% certainty" that all of the suspicious drones are being guided by Russia. However, he said he suspects the drones are being steered by a state actor aimed at sowing uncertainty in Germany.
It's a strange season to talk about forgiveness. While streets glow with fairy lights and shop windows promise that compassion is only a gift-box away, Germany is once again confronted with the unresolved wounds of its recent past. The trap of the season is this: believing that every gesture of regret must be met with mercy. As if forgiveness was a resource available to anyone who is reasonable enough to move on, no matter how atrociously they have been treated.
The Bundesbank now predicts GDP will expand by 0.6 percent in 2026, down from a June forecast of 0.7 percent. Growth is expected to pick up to 1.3 percent in 2027, it said. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said that next year's recovery will be driven by "public spending and a rebound in exports," as major government outlays on infrastructure and the military start impacting the broader economy.
German lawmakers Wednesday approved about €50 billion in military purchases, as Berlin accelerates defence spending in the face of a hostile Russia and signs of weakening security commitments from Washington. The extensive list of procurements ranged from missiles to artillery, torpedoes, armoured vehicles, satellite systems and new uniforms as Berlin races to overhaul the long-neglected Bundeswehr. Officials said that the new purchases, greenlighted by parliament's budget committee, mean a "historic" number of defence acquisitions have been approved this year, worth nearly €83 billion.
The German pensioner received an urgent call on Tuesday from a man posing as a police officer telling him a family member was in distress a common trick used against elderly people. Immediately smelling a rat, he kept the caller on the line saying he would rush to get 10,000 (8,750) in cash and several gold coins to hand over. While he strung the conman along, his daughter called Ingolstadt police who were able to catch a 20-year-old male suspect at the pickup spot.
"More openness to technology and greater flexibility are the right steps," said Merz, who has made vocal demands for the ban to be eased as the country's flagship auto sector faces mounting problems.
At the opening of the renovated venue, Steinmeier noted that the Beethovenhalle is not only dedicated to Bonn's most famous son and his music. "It is also, and you can surely guess that this is particularly close to my heart, a place of democratic history." This democratic history began after World War II. Germany lay in ruins destroyed, divided and internationally isolated.
The defense ministry has announced that it's funding research and development at SWARM Biotactics to create technology that can "steer cockroaches and send them on reconnaissance missions," CBS News reported. CEO Stefan Wilhelm said the cockroaches are "super resilient" and can crawl through "tiny spaces," climb up walls, go into pipes, and navigate through rubble. How does this work? Neuroscientists at the company put electrodes on the critters' antennae to "stimulate the insects' natural ability to navigate."
The foiled plot was targeting a Christmas market in the area of Dingolfing in the southern German state of Bavaria, German authorities said. The exact name of the market that was the target of the foiled plot has not yet been specified by authorities. The Munich public's prosector's office said that four of the men had been issued formal arrest warrants, with the other individual in preventative custody.
Hundreds of Afghans previously promised sanctuary in Germany have been told they are no longer welcome, in a stark U-turn by the conservative chancellor, Friedrich Merz. The 640 people in Pakistan awaiting resettlement many of whom worked for the German military during the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan will no longer be taken in, as Merz's government axes two programmes introduced by its centre-left-led predecessor.
There was something fowl in on a road in central Germany. Thousands of chickens were on the loose after a truck overturned on the highway. A truck was carrying about 5,000 chickens when its trailer overturnedImage: Matthias Bein/dpa/picture alliance Thousands of chickens were on the run after a lorry overturned on a highway, authorities in the central German city of Magdeburg said on Thursday.
The vehicles will initially refuel at a mobile hydrogen station installed at the operator's Jever depot. The temporary setup was developed jointly with the Technology Transfer Centre (ttz) Bremerhaven and hydrogen producer Lhyfe to enable immediate fleet deployment. A permanent public station operated by Score is planned for 2026 in the JadeWeserPark in Schortens, positioned to serve both public transport and regional logistics users, Deutsche Bahn points out in a press note.
The latest addition to the chronologically structured exhibition can be found logically enough at the very end. It's a red protest sign against the new military conscription law, with the slogan "Wages up, armaments down." A museum employee carried it back to the museum from the demonstration that took place at Bonn's Hofgartenwiese on December 5. Less than a week later, it is already exhibited as a historical document in the section "Today," the last of five time periods covered in the interactive exhibition.
German banks are warning their customers of a four-day delay in bank transfers at the end of December this year. If you're due to send or receive money at the end of December in Germany, you may face delays because of the way the European Central Bank's systems work and how the Christmas dates fall this year. Every weekend, as well as on certain public holidays, the payment transfer systems operated by the European Central Bank are closed.
Three men go on trial in Germany on Tuesday, accused of tailing a former Ukrainian soldier on behalf of Russian intelligence services for a possible assassination plot. The alleged ringleader, an Armenian partially identified as Vardges I., recruited another Ukrainian, Robert A., and a Russian, Arman S., prosecutors charge. The trio allegedly tried to lure the former Ukrainian soldier to a Frankfurt café last year, but the alleged target became suspicious and contacted police.
Germany's BKA federal investigative police force published its data on migrant crime statistics for 2024. It said that of 1.967 million known criminal suspects in 2024, 172,203 were temporary migrants like asylum seekers, people granted asylum or other temporary rights to reside, or people in the country illegally. That equates to 8.8% of the total, an almost identical share to the 8.9% recorded in 2023.
Prosecutors accuse the defendant of murder and five counts of attempted murder. He is alleged to have coerced vulnerable teenagers online into harming themselves; in one case, a 13-year-old is believed to have died by suicide. In total, prosecutors list 204 offences said to have been committed when the accused was a minor or young adult, involving more than 30 child and teenage victims.
German industrial production unexpectedly jumped in October, official data showed Monday, the latest sign that Europe's crisis-wracked top economy may be turning a corner. Factory output rose 1.8 percent month-on-month, according to preliminary data from federal statistics agency Destatis, after a 1.1 percent rise in September. The positive result, boosted by the construction and the machinery sectors, was far better than a 0.55 percent decline forecast by analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet.
