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 Less than a week later, it is already exhibited as a historical document in the section "Today," the last of five time periods covered in the interactive exhibition.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.
It is snowing, and 16-year-old Carlotta is standing on the vast military training ground in Grafenwohr watching a howitzer 2000 fire live ammunition. It is cold and very loud when the shells are fired, so Carlotta has to wear earplugs. This is not a day like any other for the young school student: While her friends are sitting in warm classrooms in Cologne, she has made her way to Bavaria by train alone.
A section of the A7 motorway in Hamburg is to be closed from Friday night until Monday, December 8th. The closure also affects the Elbe tunnel. The affected section of the A7 motorway runs from the Hamburg-Stellingen junction to the Hamburg-Heimfeld junction. The main closure is set to begin from 10 pm on Friday, December 5th and then continue for 55 hours. The closure is expected to be lifted on Monday morning at 5 am on December 8th.
"The state is giving up revenue, but passengers will not see any of the tax reduction," Wissel predicted in an interview with DW. Although airlines would save around 15 ($17.5) per ticket potentially up to 50 in certain fare classes dynamic pricing systems mean those savings are unlikely to show up on customers' bills, he said.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a rallying cry for Europe's future global competitiveness at a City of London banquet, as he wrapped up the second day of his UK state visit. Addressing guests inside the historic Guildhall in the British capital's financial district on Thursday, Steinmeier urged the continent to adopt some of the so-called Square Mile's innovative "spirit" to counter a narrative of decline.
Homelessness in Germany has reached alarming levels, with over half a million people lacking permanent accommodation as of early 2025. The crisis affects men and women of all ages, with families and young people increasingly at risk. As winter intensifies the dangers faced by those without shelter, we look at how residents in Germany can support some of the social welfare organisations working to alleviate homelessness.
All programmers, from hobbyists to those working at Microsoft or Google, use open-source software, which is present in between 70% and 90% of the computer applications we use today. No one starts a project from scratch; instead, they turn to libraries like GitHub or GitLab to download packages of code already written, reviewed, and improved by the community. Developers spend an average of two-thirds of their time adapting open-source software to their needs, and they build their application on top of that.
The changes, the EC says, "aim to reduce the number of crashes on EU roads and undue administrative burden on citizens and authorities." Figures show that last year alone 19,940 died on EU roads. New rules include, among many other measures, the introduction of digital driving licenses and bloc-wide driving bans for dangerous drivers. All change on European roads then, you might assume - but not quite, or not yet, it turns out.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz dug in on proposed pension reforms Friday despite resistance from younger members of his conservative CDU party who fear they will saddle future generations with unaffordable costs. Speaking Friday morning after late-night talks with his junior coalition partners the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Merz said it was the SPD's "wish that we not amend this bill". "We agreed on this yesterday," he added.
Thirteen people are reportedly injured - one seriously - after a tram came off the rails in the south of Düsseldorf, western Germany, on Wednesday morning. A police spokesperson said it appeared the tram, which was travelling on the U72 line in Düsseldorf-Holthausen, had derailed due to a technical issue with the signal box. The tram was on Bonner Straße at around 5:40am when the derailment happened. The vehicle then collided with another tram.
The state's government - made up of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) - has announced it will halve its funding for integration services for international residents, dropping from €6 million to just €3 million in 2026. This means that only 21 out of 91 integration projects applying for funding will receive support in the coming year, according to the Saxony Refugee Council ( Sächsischer Flüchtlingsrat - SFR).
With China covering, for instance, more than 95% of the rare earth market, you cannot replace this in a short time," he told DW. "These are long-standing and reliable trading relationships, and the material and processes are proven.
Many of the objects dating from 1933 to 1945 up for sale under the title "System of Terror Vol II" contained the names and personal information about the persecuted. "For victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors, this auction is a cynical and shameless undertaking that leaves them outraged and speechless", Christoph Heubner, the executive-vice president of International Auschwitz Committee said in a statement. "They should be displayed in museums or memorial exhibitions and not degraded to mere commodities."
A 300-kilogram bronze church bell stolen in Bremen days ago has been recovered, the city's police said on Friday. A recycling center employee contacted the authorities to notify them he had purchased the stolen bell from two unknown men, before later learning about the stolen church bell and connecting the dots. The bell will return to the tower of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Bremen, which is mostly used now as a charity shop.
The biggest Christmas Post office is the branch in Himmelpfort, Brandenburg, just north of Berlin. It dates back to 1984, when a local postal worker discovered two letters to Santa from children in Berlin and Saxony. The postal worker replied to them herself, but word quickly spread that this was the place to write to if you wanted to reach Santa. Now Himmelpfort receives around 300,000 wish lists every year.
