Germany news: Berlin mulls sending migrants to third nations

A study has found that about 11% of roughly 95,000 adoptions carried out between 1945 and 1990 in the Soviet occupation zone and later East Germany may have involved excessive and disproportionate intervention by youth welfare authorities.

The findings were presented as part of a research project examining more than 1,300 adoption files linked to suspected forced adoptions. Researchers said around 10,450 adoptions may have resulted from what they described as normal family conflicts.

The study was carried out by the DIH, a German research institute that examines the history and consequences of institutional care and child welfare systems in Germany.

The institute's Anke Dreier-Horning said the study found little evidence of systematic measures aimed at politically persecuting biological parents. She said there had been no planned or systematic, politically motivated approach by East German authorities in adoption procedures.

Forced adoptions and enforced separations mainly resulted from disproportionately harsh interventions by youth welfare services, Dreier-Horning said. She added that this severity and the powerlessness of those affected reflected the systemic injustice of the East German system.

The Hamburg Regional Court has handed down long prison terms in a case involving the smuggling of about 4.6 tons of cocaine through Germany's largest port.

The court on Thursday convicted 10 defendants and sentenced them to between six and 12 years in prison for their roles in two major drug shipments handled via the Port of Hamburg in 2024.

Judges found that the men worked in shifting constellations and with different tasks to move two containers, each carrying more than two tons of cocaine, that arrived by cargo ship in May and September 2024, according to the ruling.

Prosecutors said the two main defendants were a logistics entrepreneur recruited by unknown organizers and a truck driver who helped move the containers to unloading sites. Other defendants took part in unloading one container at a Hamburg warehouse, where police arrested them in the act.

The logistics operator and truck driver received prison sentences of 11 and 12 years, while the others were sentenced to between six and seven and a half years. One defendant was acquitted. Most convictions were for aiding large-scale drug importation and trafficking.

Investigators said one container from Ecuador carried about 2.5 metric tons of cocaine and was unloaded at an unknown location in Hamburg, with the drugs still missing. A second container seized in September in Rothenburgsort contained 2.1 tons of cocaine. The main defendants were aged 44 and 60 at the start of the trial, with the others aged between 22 and 42.

Germany's Federal Foreign Office said on Thursday that it had summoned Russia's ambassador and informed him of the expulsion of a person accused of spying in Germany.

In a statement posted on social media, the Foreign Office said the federal government does not tolerate espionage on German soil, "especially not under the cover of diplomatic status." It said the individual had been acting on behalf of Russia.

You can read the full story here. 

Police in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia thwarted a presumed attempt by climate activists to vandalize a private plane belonging to Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Anrsberg-Menden airfield to the east of Dortmund.

Police arrested three people, two women and a man with German citizenship, two in their 20s and one in their 50s, "who can be classified as part of the climate activist spectrum," Hochsauerlandkreis police and prosecutors in Arnsberg said in a joint statement. 

"Given the circumstances of the encounter, it can be assumed that they intended to damage an aircraft currently parked there, which is owned by the Federal Chancellor," they wrote. 

A fourth suspect had already attracted the authorities' attention during a traffic stop beforehand. Police reported that because the person admitted to looking for the airfield — and had a known record of politically motivated criminality — officers initiated the search of the site that uncovered the other suspects. 

A group called Wiederstandskollektiv, roughly translated as Resistance Collective, claimed responsibility for the incident, saying it engaged in a "protest action" that intended to "put Friedrich Merz's private jet out of action."

The group said it intended to paint the plane a striking shade of pink, and that the arrested individuals had brought a bicycle with them as a "climate-friendly" alternative means of transport for the chancellor.  

Merz is a hobby pilot with his own pilot's license for small aircraft. Although predominantly based in Berlin these days, his private residence is in the Sauerland region, near the airfield in question.

In Kenya, DW interviewed German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on key policy challenges, including Europe's role in East Africa, Germany's lack of skilled workers, and competition with global powers such as China.

Germany has joined a group of EU countries hoping to create return hubs for migrants and deport migrants to third countries.

After talks on the sidelines of an EU interior ministers' meeting in Cyprus, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the group aims to draw up a roadmap and define concrete next steps in the coming weeks.

He said there was a shared goal of reaching possible agreements with third countries later this year.

According to Dobrindt, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Greece are taking part in the initiative, which could later be expanded to include other states. He said the European Commission was closely involved, while political responsibility remains with the participating member states.

Meanwhile, the number of deportations from Germany has increased significantly over the past year, according to a report.

Citing figures from the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany's Welt newspaper reported that about 23,000 people were deported in 2025, an increase of 15% compared with the previous year. Compared with 2023, the figure represents a rise of 45%.

"The migration policy shift is working," Dobrindt told the newspaper. "More returns, fewer pull factors, effective controls: We are bringing order to migration policy," the minister added.

Police have carried out raids and made an arrest in Saxony as part of investigations into the suspected Reichsbürger network, prosecutors say.

A 41-year-old suspect was arrested in Freiberg and special police units searched 11 properties across Saxony.

Authorities said digital storage devices were seized, along with knives and radio equipment. Eight suspects aged 38 to 63 have been accused of being members of or supporting a terrorist organization between August and December 2022.

Prosecutors said they were intended to become part of so-called homeland security companies after a planned overthrow of Germany's government.

Investigations and the analysis of seized evidence are continuing.

The Reichsbürger group became known after a nationwide counterterrorism operation in December 2022. Prosecutors allege the network planned a violent coup and accepted that people could be killed. German aristocrat and property investor Heinrich XIII. Prince Reuss, who was earmarked to lead the new state, and other leading figures were arrested at the time.

Trials linked to the case are underway in Frankfurt am Main, Munich, and Stuttgart.

Police say a major fire broke out near a villa built north of Berlin by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Witnesses reported smoke rising from a building on the site in Wandlitz, near the Bogensee lake, prompting emergency services to respond.

The villa that served as Goebbels' summer retreat was not damaged, a police spokesperson said, adding that the fire affected a former lecture building. The roughly 16-hectare (about 40-acre) site is owned by the state of Berlin.

Police said firefighting efforts were still ongoing.

The damaged building dates back to the period when the site housed a training facility of the former East German youth organization Free German Youth. After German reunification, the area was used as a conference center before falling into disuse around 2000 and gradually deteriorating.

Around 90 emergency personnel were deployed to the scene, according to a regional emergency official, who said cold weather was posing a challenge to the responders.

Guten Tag from the DW newsroom here in Bonn.

Germany has joined a group of EU nations to set up a path for sending migrants to third countries via so-called return hubs. The group also includes Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Greece.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt says the nations hope to have a roadmap in the coming weeks and officials agreements later this year.

No partner countries have been named yet.

Stay with us for this and more on what Germany is talking about today.