Germany

A 22-year-old from Frankfurt has become one of TikTok’s biggest stars. SOPHIA DEBOICK explains the simple charm behind his success.. and what it says about his country.

The country has a reputation for being tech- and risk-averse. But a new generation of entrepreneurs are proving that is no longer the case.

The country is usually seen as a force for stability and symbol of solidity on the international stage. But is that actually so?

How Germany's influence has grown in the world since the end of World War II.

Post-war Germany has been characterised by good governance and solid leadership. But as the country goes to the polls to replace Angela Merkel, Germans – and the wider world – fear its good run is coming to an end.

News that you might have missed from around the continent, selected by Steve Anglesey.

Angela Merkel has taught Germans to crave stability... but they are still turning away from her party.

Two of Germany’s candidates for Chancellor are running in the same constituency – home to the super rich and celebrities.

News that you might have missed from around the continent, selected by Steve Anglesey.

Gerd Müller, who died earlier this month, was not only a Bayern Munich icon but a man who gave Germans their pride again. So when he fell, club and country helped pick him up By ROB HUGHES

More weird news from Europe, including a fake Kanye West gig in a field near Paris, a cow-riding German and the Austrian punk singer who vaccinates his own fans

Esther Loewy lied when she told an orchestra conductor she could play the accordion, and it was a lie that saved her life, writes SOPHIA DEBOICK

A mission to archive fanzines, flyers, badges and the ephemera of punk, techno, hip-hop and more is underway in Berlin. By DANIEL SCHNEIDER

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on his first reading of one of the most important books of the 20th century

A vaccination centre in Sonneberg, central Germany, southern Thuringia, increased its footfall by nearly 80 per cent by offering a free bratwurst with each jab

SUNA ERDEM reports on a sleepy area of Germany, devoid of big cities and obvious structural advantages, whose economic success is defying orthodoxy and attracting attention as a model for levelling up left-behind regions

Otto Lilienthal was drawn to the sky by his idealism and his experience of war. It was ultimately a fatal attraction

The country's tragic floods might have been expected to boost support for the Greens ahead of September's elections. But this doesn't appear to have happened

In his younger days, Billy Wilder was a journalist in Europe. A new book of his writings doesn’t give much of a glimpse of the continent, but does provide insights into his later career

Berlin journalist Annette von Broecker’s life has spanned her city's division and reunification

The city is seriously considering proposals to seize apartments from landlords to resolve its housing crisis. Is it an extreme throwback to its communist days, or a bold move that could offer a solution to other European cities? Sunset on a summer’s day in Tempelhofer Feld, the former central Berlin airport that’s been turned into a sprawling […]

Attack adverts showing Green party candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock as Moses with a list of 10 commandments have caused uproar in Germany Readers of largely sober and serious German newspapers were met with some surprising content recently: Full-page adverts dominated by a photo of the Green Party candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, dressed as […]

He infuriated Hitler, won over Churchill and de Gaulle and inspired one of the central characters in Casablanca. So why do we know so little about pan-European visionary Count Coudenhove-Kalergi? The story of uniting Europe goes back a long way before 1950 and the Schuman Declaration. But there is a piece of that history after the […]

The German Greens have confirmed Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor in September’s election, during a party conference in Berlin. Receiving a near unanimous 98.5%, Baerbock accepted, saying that she predicted a “duel” with Germany’s CDU-CSU conservatives.  “For the first time in decades, real change is in the air,” she told the 688 Greens delegates […]

The country’s complex relationship between church and state has further complicated an ongoing scandal When Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and advisor to Pope Francis, offered his resignation last week, you could almost hear the cymbals clash. Both Marx’s motive and the public manner of his step were a complete novelty. Usually, when prominent German clergy […]

As Angela Merkel departs the scene, her party faces an insurgent effort to move it much further to the right and to reverse her centrist approach. Will it succeed? Two years ago German politician Walter Lübcke was assassinated with a close range shot to his head, as he stood on his front porch. Lübcke, a member of […]

How, even when speaking clearly, true meaning can get lost when different nationalities communicate “Hello Tanit, hope you don’t have a hangover”, I read, nodding. “Are you able to file soon?” I wasn’t. Not soon, anyway. But I felt extremely lucky to have a English editor. Even when I miss a deadline he writes friendly emails. A German […]

Germany fared almost as badly as the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps it’s time to come to an arrangement… Ooops, they did it again. Zero points… To us. And no, three pity points from the Austrian and Romanian juries don’t make our shame any less complete. But still, Vielen Dank, Britain, for saving us from the bottom […]

Protests, polemic and polls show how Islamists and the far right are targeting Jews and attempting to rewrite the painful past “Our parents kept the suitcases packed, ready to leave any moment,” a friend wrote after I asked how she was coping with the anti-Semitic protests in Berlin. “Our generation of German Jews had long since stowed the […]

With good reason, their windows are a source of great pride for Germans. But is it time for them to start looking beyond them? There’s one thing I just can’t get my German head around whenever I’m in a UK bathroom. I’m not referring to the separate hot and cold water taps – although they can be a […]

TANIT KOCH on how the quest for equality is having an impact on the German language. Some of us have put lockdown to great use and improved our language skills at home. Some, like editor-at-large Alastair Campbell, have even chosen German, despite the lasting damage done to its reputation by Mark Twain (The Awful German Language), Hollywood (“Achtung! Schnell, […]

Tanit Koch on how the ruling German elite do not have the same upbringing as politicians in the UK If I had to choose just one word to praise the EU, it would be this: Erasmus. These academic exchanges are a beautifully efficient way to achieve cross-border friendship and mutual understanding. Because, yes, foreign languages […]