Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is three points ahead in a new poll for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- The poll comes after the AfD thrashed the center-right CDU in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election
- Former Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that truth and lies are increasingly being blurred, including by people in power
- Merkel acknowledged that some decisions during her time as chancellor helped fuel support for the AfD
Here is a roundup of top stories from and about Germany on the weekend of Friday, September 11 through Sunday, September 13:
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Skip next section Thousands protest against AfD in Düsseldorf09/12/2026September 12, 2026
Thousands protest against AfD in Düsseldorf
With the slogan “Not a Step Back! No to the AfD and Right-Wing Hate Speech!” around 20,000 people marched through downtown Düsseldorf, according to reports from the police and organizers.
Several political initiatives called for the protest rally to send a united message of support for an open, democratic society.
Among the participants, who marched peacefully without any counter-demonstrations, according to police, were the “Grandmas Against the Right.”
On their poster, which was secured with a small piece of fabric and pins, they proclaimed: “The right is only for knitting.” Numerous families with children also joined the protest march in beautiful weather.
The demonstration was prompted by the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party received nearly 44% of the vote, the most by far, but fell short of an absolute majority.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MVcQSkip next section Russia’s GRU spy agency was behind attempted Leipzig drone attack: reports09/12/2026September 12, 2026
Russia’s GRU spy agency was behind attempted Leipzig drone attack: reports
Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that security officials have tied the recent attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport to a Russian national working directly with Moscow’s GRU military intelligence agency.
Classified security assessments cited by the paper say the man, who entered Germany from Turkey and exited to Russia via Serbia, was responsible for operational logistics.
German authorities reportedly knew of the man’s ties to the GRU when he entered the country but failed to put him under surveillance.
German intelligence sources said that the explosives were likely smuggled into Germany via truck from Bulgaria and Serbia.
Berlin said forensic evidence found at Leipzig/Halle airport — including drone configuration, explosives and trigger mechanisms — pointed to a Russian plot.
Authorities were later able to match DNA traces on the drone to those found after an arson attack at a Leipzig logistics facility on July 20, 2024.
The airport incident occurred on the evening of August 4 and involved an explosives-laden drone that was discovered near a Ukrainian transport jet.
Leipzig/Halle airport is a hub for military aid destined for Ukraine.
Authorities were able to disarm the drone for which the German government blamed Russia — on the basis of the report — in early September.
Russia has denied any involvement.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MUvHSkip next section Welcome back to our coverage09/12/2026September 12, 2026
Welcome back to our coverage
After an overnight break, we are back on the news of the day from Germany, where we will start with intelligence reports that provide evidence that Russia was behind a failed August 4 drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport.
After that we will look at Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming that the failed policies of Western politicians are the reason for the rise of the far-right AfD in Germany.
And speaking of the AfD, we will then look at panic in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU over the prospects of the party — which is currently polling at 7% ahead of state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — failing to clear the 5% hurdle to enter the state’s parliament when voters take to the polls on September 20.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MUx8Skip next section This blog is now paused09/12/2026September 12, 2026
This blog is now paused
Wesley Dockery Editor
We are pausing our coverage.
We will back with more Germany news in this blog on Saturday. Bis dann!
https://p.dw.com/p/5MUNQSkip next section International Ausschwitz Committee president calls for AfD ban process09/11/2026September 11, 2026
International Ausschwitz Committee president calls for AfD ban process
Eva Umlauf, a Holocaust survivor and the president of the International Auschwitz Committee, has written an open letter calling for a move to ban the AfD in Germany.
She addressed the letter to Henrdik Wüst, a prominent CDU politician and the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, most likely because he has in recent days called for the establishment of some kind of working group to evaluate the case for a ban motion.
“Let deeds follow your words,” Umlauf wrote in the letter to Wüst, published in full by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. “Set an AfD ban case in motion. Now, before it is too late.”
She recounted her own time in Auschwitz, having been brought there in her mother’s arms aged two.
“At some point, and it is not so far away now, the last of us survivors will be gone,” Umlauf wrote. “Therefore we are passing on the burden that we have carried for a lifetime: to this country, to this society and in particular to you as a politician.”
She recalled that the first state government led by Hitler’s NSDAP was Anhalt in 1932.
“Eight months later, Hitler became chancellor,” she said. “It was possible, because others believed that they could contain him. And because many looked the other way. Because they thought it would pass. The Holocaust did not start with gas chambers, it began with apathy.”
She issued three requests to Wüst in the letter. First, to ensure that “steps towards an AfD ban process are taken rapidly.” Second, to speak to Holocaust survivors and people in Saxony-Anhalt “who are afraid right now.”
And finally, to support a potential bid for an investigation into a ban from his position in the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament. Such a motion would need to clear that chamber with majority support.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5MUBcSkip next section Bonn public transport: 2 of 60 defective streetcars repaired after 7 weeks09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Bonn public transport: 2 of 60 defective streetcars repaired after 7 weeks
This public transport update is accompanied by a magnitude 3.7 myopia warning from our Bonn newsroom.
The company that runs Bonn’s public transport, Stadtwerke Bonn, has said that two of its 60 defective city trams or streetcars are back in service.
It said they would help out with the annual fair in the Pützchen district over the weekend, which brings additional visitors to the eastern part of the city.
The need to take some 60 vehicles out of service for repairs was announced a full seven weeks ago on July 21. It’s not clear how far the other 58 are from resuming service.
Replacement buses have been trying to pick up the slack, and some subway stations have also been shut for repairs.
This is exacerbated by ongoing road disruptions in the former capital due to the long-term closure of the main highway bridge over the Rhine River.
The chairman of the oversight committee that monitors Stadtwerke Bonn, David Lutz, recently conceded: “Our patience really is somewhat at an end and used up.”
Lutz called on the company to issue a fixed timetable for its plan to reestablish the tram services. A legal firm has also been asked to evaluate any potential shortcomings.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MUBHSkip next section AfD seeks to prosecute Merz over ‘ethnic cleansing’ comments in parliament09/11/2026September 11, 2026
AfD seeks to prosecute Merz over ‘ethnic cleansing’ comments in parliament
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party says it is seeking to prosecute Chancellor Friedrich Merz for comments he made during Wednesday’s general debate in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.
Merz had said that the AfD’s contentious “remigration” policy amounted to “nothing other than an ethnic cleansing by skin color and heritage.” The comment prompted jeers from AfD members in parliament, but Merz repeated a paraphrased version of the allegation over the commotion.
It’s extremely rare for parties to seek to prosecute politicians for comments they make in parliament, which are subject to far-reaching parliamentary privilege and in most cases are exempt from prosecution under Article 46 of Germany’s constitution.
However, the AfD believe that Merz’s comments constituted defamatory insults — the only type of speech that is not necessarily protected by indemnity. Senior AfD politician Stephan Brandner described Merz’s comments as “relevant to prosecution.”
Under German law, authorities are typically allowed to investigate parliamentarians for such comments if they see fit. However, the Bundestag must also vote to revoke the lawmaker’s immunity.
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https://p.dw.com/p/5MU9MSkip next section Munich police investigate death threat against prominent Jewish representative 09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Munich police investigate death threat against prominent Jewish representative
Police in Munich said on Friday that they had launched an investigation into a potential death threat against Charlotte Knobloch on a park bench in the English Garden in the city center.
Knobloch, 93, is a Munich resident and former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and fairly well known throughout the country.
Police said that a female witness on Wednesday saw and reported the graffiti, which it described as “personal threat in white lettering against a member of the Israeli cultural center” in Munich.
Knobloch, whom the police did not name, chairs that organization. She had issued a public response to Sunday’s AfD election victory in Saxony Anhalt.
“On days like these it is hard for me to recognize my home,” the Holocaust survivor wrote. “I never could have imagined in my worst nightmares that right-wing extremists in Germany would again win elections in this manner.”
According to media reports in Bavaria, including from the Abendzeitung München, the message had read “The AfD has won, tomorrow we will hang up the Knobloch,” which would be a play on her surname sounding similar to the German word for garlic, Knoblauch.
Police confirmed to the dpa news agency that the alleged threat was contextually linked to Sunday’s election result, without offering specifics.
Investigators appealed for further information from members of the public.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MTwcSkip next section Elversberg coach Wagner wins appeal, touchline ban lifted for Bayern game 09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Elversberg coach Wagner wins appeal, touchline ban lifted for Bayern game
The Bundesliga’s new smalltown team Elversberg will have their coach in the dugout for the biggest home game of the season this Sunday.
Vincent Wagner has successfully appealed a touchline ban which would have consigned him to the stands when champions Bayern Munich visit the western town near the French border.
Wagner was dismissed last weekend during Elversberg’s 4-3 away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The 40-year-old was given two yellow cards, the first when he entered the pitch to protect a decision which replays showed was a mistake by the match officials. He was later dismissed with a second yellow card when he again approached the referee.
“I felt my reaction was inappropriate,” ref Martin Petersen said with the benefit of hindsight. Given a second chance, he said he would have acted differently.
Wagner thanked Petersen for his candor.
Others including Bayern Munich’s coach Vincent Kompany had voiced confusion at the suspension — and at the DFB electing to uphold it at the first of Elversberg’s two permitted appeals — speaking out in favor of lifting the touchline ban.
Elversberg is one of the smallest clubs ever to reach the Bundesliga, and has two wins from its first two top-flight league games. Making it three in a row against Bayern on Sunday, while surely unlikely, would turn the volume of the fairytale David-versus-Goliath chatter up to 11.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MTttSkip next section AfD’s Siegmund under fire for weapons and migration comments09/11/2026September 11, 2026
AfD’s Siegmund under fire for weapons and migration comments
The AfD’s candidate to lead the state government in Saxony-Anhalt faced widespread criticism in Berlin on Friday after comments he’d made in Magdeburg on Thursday evening.
Asked about a contentious local plan for an arms company to build a facility in the state, Ulrich Siegmund, whose party often criticizes Germany’s recent defense spending increases, said: “We don’t automatically demonize the production of military equipment, because we will of course need relevant materials for future remigation and deportation offensives.”
Siegmund went on to say how exporting weapons into “foreign wars” was a different matter in his view, but rival politicians in Berlin were more interested the first part of his answer on Friday.
SPD‘s Dirk Wiese alleged that Siegmund wanted “to carry out his deporation plans with the help of weapons of war,” and said this crossed “every red line.”
Senior Left Party politician Sören Pellmann said that “just like the Nazis in their time, these enemies of democracy are announcing what they plan to do.” He said nobody should later feign ignorance.
Greens‘ co-leader Felix Banaszak, meanwhile, said the “disturbing” comments showed “how very ready the AfD is to cross legal boundaries in order to push through its aims.”
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https://p.dw.com/p/5MTpjSkip next section Finance Ministry moves to forbid ‘cash only’ businesses09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Finance Ministry moves to forbid ‘cash only’ businesses
It might seem like entering a time machine for foreign visitors, but a deceptive number of businesses in Germany still refuse to accept any form of payment other than cash.
The practice is particularly prevalent in the hospitality sector in places like bars and restaurants, or in small corner stores.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is planning to bring this era to an end, and in future to require that all stores enable at least one form of non-cash payment, according to a policy paper shared with the German news agency dpa and other media on Friday.
“We want any businesses providing goods or services on site to offer at least one digital form of payment,” the policy paper states.
The plan was one of the more minor points the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats agreed to in their coalition negotiations as they laid out their plans for the current legislative period.
The paper, which is still several steps from becoming law, does not currently foresee specifying how people should be able to pay.
Instead, it says that one of “the digital means of payment available and used on the market” should be permissible.
But — and this news could be of interest to travelers from less cash-crazed neighbors like the Netherlands — at least one European method of digital payment should be accepted, rather than means available only to German residents.
The paper would only apply to commercial businesses. Non-commercial enterprises like clubs or charities would not necessarily be bound by it.
In its argumentation, the government notes how digital payment rather than cash can help combat tax evasion, money laundering and other financial crimes.
According to Germany’s Bundesbank, non-cash payment is now the most popular method at the point of sale. In 2025, 55% of point-of-sale transactions did not involve cash changing hands.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MTTmSkip next section YouTube duo angers viewers with crass rented elephant livestream09/11/2026September 11, 2026
YouTube duo angers viewers with crass rented elephant livestream
Two moderately successful German YouTubers have upset viewers and animal rights groups alike with a livestream featuring a rented elephant.
In the roughly 15-minute clip, which has since been deleted, the 23-year-old men filmed the vast mammal and encouraged it to dance, perform tricks and play with a scarf, among other things.
They paid €3,500 (roughly $4,000) to rent the access to the 40-year-old herbivore Citta from professional animal trainers. On the video they asked questions like whether they were “on the menu” and what ivory — the trade of which is illegal — costs.
Some viewers expressed their dismay in real time, accusing the streamers of animal abuse.
Dortmund-based Semih Jackson and Jordan Almani have just over half a million subscribers on YouTube. Other examples of their attempts at cerebral entertainment include them taking a convertible car through a car wash and releasing fireworks indoors.
The animal’s trainer and owner, Sonni Frankello, told German newspaper Bild that the duo had wanted him to transport the animal across Germany to Dortmund, but he had replied it was too great a distance.
“They really were a bit wild. But our elephants are used to a few idiots,” Frankello told Bild. “If I had seen a genuine danger or threat, I would have intervened.”
In a social media video explaining the circumstances of the filming, Frankello said that his elephants were his “greatest pride and indeed my life,” adding that he had worked with them since childhood. He said there was no point of addressing complaints from animal rights groups as they “are never satisfied with anything.”
The animal rights group PETA told Bild it was a “damning indictment” that it remained possible to “rent” the creatures under any circumstances in Germany.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MT8eSkip next section Düsseldorf firefighters battle workshop blaze09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Düsseldorf firefighters battle workshop blaze
Smoke could be seen over the Düsseldorf skyline on Friday as firefighters tried to douse a blaze at a workshop.
At least one person was seriously wounded in the fire on Höherweg in the industrial area in the Flingern Nord district.
The fire broke out in the workshop area of a large car dealership and garage in the area.
Düsseldorf’s fire department said that around 40 personnel were on site.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MT42Skip next section Germany charges 7 suspected Hamas members over attack plot09/11/2026September 11, 2026
Germany charges 7 suspected Hamas members over attack plot
German federal prosecutors on Friday charged seven suspected members of the Islamist militant group Hamas.
The men allegedly plotted to carry out a deadly attack on Israeli or Jewish targets in Germany or Austria.
Read more about the charges the suspects face.
https://p.dw.com/p/5MSAxSkip next section German football body to pass on high-risk policing costs09/11/2026September 11, 2026
German football body to pass on high-risk policing costs
Dmytro Hubenko Editor
The German Football Association (DFB) will pass on at least part of any police costs it is charged for high-risk matches to the home club concerned, under a decision announced on Friday.
DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said the association was effectively required to do so because of its duty to safeguard its assets.
“If the DFB receives fee notices for police costs, we will pass those costs on to the respective clubs,” Neuendorf said.
Neuendorf said the DFB still considered charging football organizations for police deployments to be “the wrong approach.”
“The common goal of politicians, police, associations and clubs must be to improve security on the ground and reduce the number of police deployment hours required for football matches,” he said.
He argued that a fee system would achieve neither objective and said the DFB continued to favor cooperation between football authorities, politicians and police.
The issue stems from legislation in the city-state of Bremen allowing authorities to charge football organizers for additional policing at high-risk matches.
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that such charges can, in principle, be lawful.
The state government in Saarland is now planning a similar system.
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