EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS Top European Court hands Swiss women wide-ranging climate victory Members of the Swiss Climate Seniors (KlimaSeniorinnen) celebrate their victory in the European Court of Human Rights April 2024: A determined group of senior Swiss women won a great victory against its own country in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Switzerland must do more to protect the climate, according to the judges in the case brought by the climate seniors. Europe's top human rights court ruled that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing t ..read more

Half of Ukrainian refugees want to remain in Germany Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than one million people have fled from the war-torn country to Germany, most of them being women and children. Research carried out this year indicates that nearly half of the refugees would like to remain in Germany for at least several years or even forever. Even of those who do not want to stay in Germany forever, some 30 per cent hope to be able to maintain close contact with Germany and perhaps live intermittently in the country.   The family situation ..read more

German mayors against the right Bürgermeister gegen Rechts > Hamburg Mayor: “There is no place for racism in Hamburg.” > Leipzig Mayor: “The ideology of the far-right makes me want to vomit.” > Munich Mayor: “When tens of thousands of my fellow citizens speak out against racism and hate, I am proud to be their mayor.” > Stuttgart Mayor: “Right-wing extremist movements are trying to undermine our basic democratic order.” > Havixbeck Mayor: “I am very worried about the threat to our democracy.” German mayors against the Right (from left): Eliza Diekmann (Coesfeld, North Rhine-Wes ..read more

Descendants of German resistance fighters appeal to their fellow citizens to reject the New Right German Nazi resistance fighters (left to right): Descendents of Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were among those who called for a rejection of Germany's New Right. February 2024: More than 280 descendants and relatives of Nazi resistance fighters have appealed to voters in Germany in an open letter. They call on people to learn from Germany's history and to stand up to the New Right. In their open letter below, they write that it was their pare ..read more

WORLD MAYOR 2023 Stefan Fassbinder, Mayor of Greifswald, Germany, given the World Mayor Friendship Award February 2024: The London-based City Mayors Foundation has announced the winners of the 2023 World Mayor Prize and Awards. The biennial honours have been awarded since 2004. The 2023 World Mayor Friendship Award has been given to Stefan Fassbinder, Mayor of Greifswald, Germany, for his and the city’s cooperation with and support of communities in Ukraine, Poland and Brazil. He, together with many of his fellow citizens, has also provided generous assistance to refugees arriving from war-to ..read more

Germans against the far-right From the Coasts to the Alps, Germans are protesting against the far-right January 2024 anti-right protests in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) January 2024: Factory workers, mayors, AI programmers, teachers, taxi drivers, sex workers pensioners, college students, rappers, footballers, doctors, and industry bosses are among hundreds of thousands of Germans who have been and will be demonstrating against right-wing extremism. Demonstrations were already held in Hamburg, Hannover Mainz, Münster, Bochum, Jena and Freiburg. Further demonstrations ..read more

GERMAN BRIEF: WOMEN Grants for female scientists to focus on research work May 2023: Young scientists, particularly female ones, are often overwhelmed by the demands put upon them. They have to research and publish, teach courses and take on administrative work, exchange ideas and network, often in combination with childcare. And at the same time, they must always keep an eye on the academic job market. The quality of their work, their career prospects and their private lives suffer as a consequence. To alert academic institutions, politics and the public to the wasteful neglect of some of th ..read more

GERMAN BRIEF: TURKS IN GERMANY Young German Turks rebel by voting for Recep Erdoğan 29 May 2023: In yesterday’s (28 May) second-round election for the Turkish presidency, a two-third majority of Turkish voters in Germany again supported President Erdoğan. More than 67 per cent of German Turks preferred Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while his opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, obtained less than 33 per cent of the vote. Overall, the result between the President and his challenger was much closer, with Erdoğan receiving the support of 52 per cent of voters against 48 per cent for Kılıçdaroğlu. President Erd ..read more

IMMIGRATION Acquiring a German passport will become easier and faster May 2023: Germany will make it easier for foreign residents to become German citizens. The government has just published the final draft of its long-awaited bill to speed up and simplify the naturalisation of foreign passport holders. It will also be easier to hold dual citizenship which is particularly important to the 1.5 million Turks living in Germany without a German passport. In future, people will need to have lived only five years in Germany instead of eight. Foreign residents who have shown a strong commitment to t ..read more

GERMAN BOOKS Martin Walser wrote for and about ordinary people July 2023: The German journalist Wolfgang A Peters described his friend Martin Walser not only as one of the greatest German writers of the 20th century but also one who wrote like no other about and for ordinary people in post-war Germany. Now Martin Walser is dead. He died on 28 July 2023, in Überlingen on Lake Constance, less than 100 kilometres from his birthplace of Wasserburg. Martin Walser was one of the greats who shaped German literature after World War II. Although he never received the same international recognition as ..read more