News from Germany

> Wiesbaden's woodland praised for its diversity

> German journalists ask for press freedom and safety in Gaza

> Germany is horrified by the deadly stabbing in Solingen

> More than 200,000 foreign nationals granted German citizenship

Wiebaden's municipal woodland has been named 'Forest of the Year'

ENVIRONMENT

A forest for all seasons

December 2024: Every year, the Association of German Forest Rangers* selects a woodland area in Germany as ‘Forest of the Year’. For 2025, the Association gave the title to the municipal forest of Wiesbaden (state capital of Hesse) and justified the award as follows: ‘The Wiesbaden forest is diverse, provides drinking water and is well cared for.” The organisers of the title praised the city of Wiesbaden’s early decision to allow the forest to develop as naturally as possible, resulting in the presence of rare animal and plant species.

The residents of Wiesbaden and neighbouring areas use the forest intensively for sport, leisure and all types of recreation. The forest also supplies around 300,000 households with drinking water, which is extracted from four 100-year-old underground cisterns.

However, the beauty and versatility of the Wiesbaden forest have their drawbacks. Due to intensive recreational use, litter and mountain bikers are particular issues. The spread of raccoons is also a challenge.

With around 4,300 hectares of woodland, the city of Wiesbaden is one of Germany's largest municipal forest owners. The municipal forest extends over very different altitudes from 170 metres to 540 metres. A special feature is the extensive meadow valleys within the forest, which are stepping stones for biodiversity and many protected plants. There is also a 25-hectare burial woodland.

The Bund Deutscher Forstleute (Association of German Forest Rangers) is a trade union for everyone working in the forestry sector.

Further reading: Germany's greenest cities | Street trees in German cities | Germany's climate goals |

PRESS FREEDOM IN GAZA

German journalists ask Gaza-war combatants to respect press freedom and reporters’ safety

September 2024: In an open letter, German journalists demand freedom of the press in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. They also require that the warring parties support reporters' work in the war zone and grant them protection. Israel is called upon to lift the entry ban on independent international reporters. The approximately 200 signatories include employees of the public broadcaster RTL, Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit.

The German journalists consider the conditions under which journalists work in Gaza to be currently more dangerous than anywhere else in the world. They refer to an investigation by Reporters Without Borders, which reports that some 140 media workers have been killed since the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023. At least 31 of them did their work, some of them deliberately.

In their public appeal, the German journalists accuse the Israeli military (Israeli Defence Forces) of killing members of the press. “Attacks on members of the press are war crimes. Nevertheless, the Israeli military repeatedly killed colleagues who were unmistakably recognisable as press representatives due to the inscriptions on their waistcoats and helmets. At the beginning of August, for example, the army shot 27-year-old Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Refee. Both were killed.”

“The Israeli military claimed responsibility for this targeted killing. The reason given was that they were Hamas operatives. No valid evidence for this claim was presented. The Israeli practice of accusing killed members of the press of terrorism after the fact dates back to before 7 October 2023. We are not ignoring the fact that there are journalists in Gaza who work for Hamas-affiliated media or have contact with Hamas. However, killing them is also prohibited under international law - as is the destruction of journalistic infrastructure.”

“At the same time, the Israeli government continues to prevent the independent entry of international media representatives, thus restricting press freedom in an unprecedented manner. No other war zone of our time has been sealed off to external reporting for as long as Gaza since 7 October.”

The 200 signatories of the open letter also complain that German media companies are not taking a stand. In July 2024, more than 70 international media organisations called on Israel to give journalists independent access to Gaza. The organisations, including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, point out that no independent media access to Gaza has been permitted since the start of the war, increasing the pressure on domestic journalists, and creating a space for mis- and disinformation to flourish.

No German media organisation has joined the Committee to Protect Journalists' appeal to Israel.

The German journalists who signed the open letter are calling for more courage from German publishers and broadcasters. “German editorial offices seem to simply accept the blatant restrictions on press freedom as a given. There are several German-speaking correspondents and local journalists on the ground in Israel/Palestine who are doing a very good job. Nevertheless, large agencies such as the Deutsche Presse Agentur (German Press Agency) repeatedly rely exclusively on information from Israeli authorities in their reporting. Editorial offices often use this without providing the necessary context so that readers can critically categorise this information.”

Some media also contribute to the defamation of Palestinian colleagues in Gaza. “Israel: Killed journalist was Hamas fighter’, was the headline on the Tagesschau Middle East live blog following the killing of Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Refee. By way of comparison, the international news agency Reuters ran the headline ‘Israel kills an Al-Jazeera journalist and claims, without evidence, that he was a Hamas operative.’ “

Many German journalists are unsettled. They would prefer not to comment on the topic of Gaza at all because they fear being defamed as terror supporters or encouraging anti-Semitism. Regardless of what positions press representatives take on Israel/Palestine and the associated debates. “Freedom of the press should be our common concern.”

Sources: Gaza Journalisten Schützen | Committee to Protect Journalists | Deutschlandfunk |

TERRORIST ATTACK IN SOLINGEN

Germany is horrified by the deadly stabbing in Solingen. Visitors at the largest Muslim gathering in Europe pray for the victims

August 2024: A stabbing attack on Friday (23 August 2024) that left three people dead at a local festival in the western German city of Solingen is being treated as terrorism, German prosecutors said.

The suspect in the attack, a 26-year-old man from Syria, was living in a refugee shelter a few hundred yards from where it took place, the police added. “He was wearing bloodstained clothes when he turned himself in late on Saturday night (24 August 2024).” The federal prosecutor’s office said it believed the suspect had joined the Islamic State “at an undeterminable” time before the attack.

According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the alleged perpetrator is a 26-year-old Syrian who arrived in Germany at the end of December 2022 and applied for asylum in Bielefeld. This was rejected - and the man was supposed to be deported to Bulgaria last year under the Dublin Convention. The native Syrian had entered the European Union there.

Der Spiegel further explained that the alleged assailant was Issa Al H., a 26-year-old Syrian born in Deir ez-Zor, who has been living in Germany since 2022, where he has applied for asylum. A year after he arrived in Germany, he was granted subsidiary protection, a status accorded to people who can prove that they are threatened in their own country due to armed conflict.

The terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack although the German police have not yet confirmed whether the confession letter received in Düsseldorf was indeed genuine. IS posted on its social media channels a message that called the suspect a “Soldier of Islam” who carried out his act to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere. Police and the prosecution authorities will now have to determine whether Issa Al H did indeed have links to the IS, whether the organisation directly inspired his act or whether it was an opportunistic claim.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other leading politicians expressed their shock and horror. The Chancellor spoke of a terrible crime and declared that such offences must be dealt with with the full force of the law. On Monday (26 August 2024), Scholz announced a rapid tightening of gun laws. “Everything within our power’ should be done now, he said during a visit to Solingen. This applies in particular to the use of knives as weapons.”

The Chancellor was more cautious about a possible tightening of asylum laws. Scholz referred to the German parliament’s recent decisions to increase the number of deportations. He emphasised that enforcement must now take place consistently. “If necessary, there would also have to be further changes to the law,” Scholz said he was furious about the offence. His anger is directed at the Islamists who threaten peaceful coexistence.

After the attack, the City of Solingen cancelled the festival, originally planned for three days.

The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which is poised to make significant gains in three state elections next month (September 2024), was quick to react. Even before the suspect’s identity was confirmed, one of the party’s leaders called for “migration and security policy changes.” One party member called immigrants “the source of all evil.”

Germany’s Muslim Ahmadiyya community has condemned the knife attack in Solingen as appalling. “It was terrible and above all, it saddened us because it was allegedly carried out in the name of Islam, by the so-called Islamic State (IS). That is why it is doubly sad for us,” Imam Sharjil Khalid told German TV broadcaster SWR. “The congregation is praying for the victims.”

The annual meeting of the Ahmadiyya community, which was this year held in Mendig, near Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, was attended by 55,000 visitors. It is the largest Muslim gathering in Europe.

“We hope that our peaceful event will also enable people to differentiate between extremist Muslims and the majority of peaceful Muslims. We are coming together here to stand up for respect and love for our neighbours.”

CITIZENSHIP

More than 200,000 foreign nationals granted German citizenship in 2023

May 2024: In 2023, more than 200,00 people from 157 countries were granted German citizenship. Former Syrian nationals alone accounted for more than a third (38%) of naturalisations. The five most frequently represented nationalities Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Romania and Afghanistan together accounted for more than half (56%) of all naturalisations. Naturalised citizens were on average 29 years old and therefore significantly younger than the population in Germany (45 years). At 45 per cent, the proportion of women among naturalised citizens was lower than in the overall population (50 per cent).

With 75,500 people, 27,100 more (+56%) than in the previous year, Syrian nationals were the largest group of naturalised citizens in 2023. In 2022, their number had already more than doubled year-on-year to 19,100; in 2021, it had even increased sevenfold to 6,700.

Syrian citizens who received a German passport in 2023 were on average 24.5 years old and 64 per cent of them were men. Before being naturalised, they had lived in Germany for an average of 6.8 years. The high number of naturalisations of Syrians is therefore linked to the high influx of Syrian asylum seekers between 2014 and 2016, who now increasingly fulfil the requirements for naturalisation, including language skills and minimum length of stay. Spouses and underage children can also be naturalised without a minimum period of residence. This applied to around some 28,000 (37%) of naturalised Syrians.

Turkish and Iraqi nationals together made up the second largest group of origin of naturalised citizens in 2023 with 10,700 naturalisations each. The number of naturalisations of Iraqi nationals increased by 3,900 (+57%) compared to 2022, while the number of naturalisations of Turkish nationals fell by 3,500 (-25%).

The number of naturalisations of Ukrainians rose by 300 (+6%) to 5,900 in 2023, after almost tripling from 1,900 to 5,600 between 2021 and 2022 in the wake of the Russian attack on Ukraine. Naturalisations of Ukrainian citizens accounted for three per cent of all naturalisations in 2023.

CANNABIS

Germany legalises the recreational use of cannabis, but conditions apply

April 2024: On 1 April 2024, following Malta in 2021 and Luxembourg in 2023, Germany became the largest country in the European Union (EU) to legalise cannabis for recreational use. Possession of up to 25 grams of dried cannabis is now permitted in public places, as is home cultivation of up to 50 grams and three plants per adult. However, cannabis smokers will have to wait another three months before they can legally buy drugs through so-called ‘Cannabis Social Clubs’.

The situation will change in July with the introduction of the clubs. These non-profit associations will be able to sell their members a maximum of 25 grams a day and no more than 50 grams a month. These clubs, a kind of shared cannabis garden, will be able to grow the drug on an outdoor plot, in a greenhouse or an uninhabited building. Checked at least once a year by the authorities, each association will be able to welcome, for a membership fee, a maximum of 500 people who have been resident in Germany for at least six months.

According to the German government, the new legislation should make it possible to combat trafficking more effectively. Believing that the policy of prohibition has failed, Health Minister Dr (med) Karl Lauterbach regularly points out that countries such as Canada, which have implemented legalisation, have been able to reduce the black market. The minister said cannabis was coming out of the taboo zone. "It's better for real help for drug addicts, prevention for young people and the fight against the black market", he added.

But many medical associations fear an increase in consumption, particularly among young people. Up to the age of 25, cannabis use entails greater risks for the still-developing brain, according to experts, who point in particular to the danger of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

Germany's health minister has promised increased resources to raise awareness among young people of the dangers of cannabis, without announcing any specific amounts. The authorities point out that cannabis remains banned for under-18s. Consumption is also banned within a 100-metre radius of schools, crèches and playgrounds.

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