Germany news: Far-right youth groups raided by police

Germany's birth rate has fallen to its lowest level on record. But as one expert explains, the issue is not that people are rejecting family life — it is that society has not made having children compatible with modern lifestyles.

With names like "Deutsche Jugend Voran" (German Youth Lead the Way ) or "Jung und Stark" (Young and Strong): far-right extremists are banding together across Germany to spread hatred and violence. For the past two years, security agencies and experts have been monitoring mounting acts of violence and far-right propaganda from within these circles.

The young perpetrators primarily target the LGBTQ+ community, individuals they think are immigrants, or young people they suspect to be leftists. Attacks have repeatedly happened in Berlin and other cities — especially during Christopher Street Day and Pride parades.

Who are those neo-Nazi networks and how do they operate? Read this DW report to find out.

Days after the stranded humpback whale known as "Timmy" was towed to the ocean and released, the domestic media frenzy about his whereabouts and wellbeing endures. 

The state environment minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Till Backhaus, has complained that the private company that orchestrated the last-ditch rescue attempt has not kept to a promise of providing data on the whale's location and health. 

Backhaus, who very much leant into a position as the political face of the drama, criticized the company on Wednesday, saying, "I would have liked to see considerably more transparency." 

He said that he did not want to comment on "speculation" that the whale had likely died, for instance on Tuesday from the German Oceanographic Museum. That is one of the groups that had advocated giving up on the rescue mission and allowing the whale to either perish or swim free by itself. 

Meanwhile, the captain of the tugboat the "Robin Hood," which had been used to help tow the stranded whale out of the shallows of the Baltic Sea coastline and back toward its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean, said that he wished he had never volunteered for the operation. 

Martin Bocklage told the Ostsee-Zeitung local newspaper that as a "thank you" for his efforts he had received social media insults, bad online reviews for his company, and even death threats. "I would have rather not tried to help," he was quoted as saying, complaining that his crew was first celebrated as heroes, and then "portrayed as murderers and animal torturers." 

He declined to comment further on the circumstances of the whale's release from the specially modified barge that transported it on Saturday, saying that whatever information he gave could then be used against him. 

Other institutes have voiced doubt that whatever trackers were attached to the whale would ever have been capable of measuring and transmitting data like life and vital signs, asking whether they were simply GPS devices unable to provide more than a location. 

During the several weeks when the animal was stranded, several heated arguments between various organizations and individuals about the optimal course of action broke out, as did uncertainty about the inexact science that is the veterinary monitoring of a live whale. Most involved did at least concur that the whale had suffered during up to two months outside its natural habitat and that its survival was at risk.

The United States has announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, while President Donald Trump has signaled he may not station Tomahawk missiles there. Critics say the moves could benefit Russia by weakening NATO's eastern flank.

In an in‑depth interview with DW, Germany's vice chief of defense Nicole Schilling rejects the idea that the US has become an unreliable partner, stressing that cooperation with Washington remains close. 

According to Schilling, Germany's new military strategy is based on a clear assessment of the current threat from Russia, focusing not only on long-term modernization but also on capabilities needed in the next five to 10 years.

Plenty of football fans will have cleared their schedules tonight in Bavaria and beyond. 

Bayern Munich kick off against Paris St Germain at the Allianz Arena at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT).

The first leg in Paris set an array of records. It finished with PSG as the narrow 5-4 winners, after the highest-scoring Champions League semi in history. 

Given the attacking quality at both coaches' disposal, more goals seem entirely possible in tonight's game, even if the statisticians would probably warn that expecting another nine-goal thriller might be asking too much. 

London club Arsenal await the winner in the final on May 30, following their victory in the other semifinal against Atletico Madrid. 

Germany's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate signed their joint coalition agreement for the new state government on Wednesday.

In the March state elections, the CDU came in first at 31%, with the SPD running up at just under 26%. The state chapters of both parties gave the green light for a joint government last Saturday. 

The CDU's Gordon Schnieder (CDU) is designated to take over as state premier. He signed the coalition agreement Wednesday in Mainz with the incumbent president, the SPD's Alexander Schweitzer.

Among other things, the negotiated agreement provides for more police positions and a mandatory year of kindergarten.

It remains to be seen who will join Schnieder's cabinet. According to reports, both parties intend to announce their personnel decisions separately. It is not yet clear when this will happen.

The new state parliament will convene for its constituent session on May 18. 

German footballer Philipp Lahm told an event in Munich on Wednesday that he doesn't expect the national team to be among the finalists at this year's World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Lahm was part of Germany's World Cup winning team that beat Argentina 1-0 during the 2014 tournament in Brazil. 

He said that although the current team has good players, "the past hasn't necessarily shown that we've really grown as a team in recent years or over the last few tournaments."

Since winning in 2014, Germany has exited during the group stages in Russia in 2018 and in Qatar in 2022. Germany also hasn't reached a European Championship final during this time. 

"That's why the favourites are definitely others, when I think about France or Spain, maybe even Portugal. But it's always possible," he said.

Lahm stepped away from the national team career after the 2014 victory. He retired from football in 2017 after more than a decade at Bayern Munich.

Police responded Tuesday after a 29-year-old man at the Dortmund Zoo fed pork goulash to lions in an enclosure.

The zoo alerted police after staff confronted the man, who refused to provide his personal information.

He told officers the lions seemed "hungry," police reported on Wednesday.  

According to the report, responders found remnants of pork goulash in the man's backpack, some of which had already been eaten by an animal.

Raw pork can be dangerous for big cats. A veterinarian from the Dortmund Zoo secured the meat scraps. The police said the zoo could sue for treatment costs if an animal becomes sick.

The man will, however, not face criminal charges for now, as feeding animals is not a crime, police said.

BMW on Wednesday reported a 23% dip in quarterly profits compared with 2025 amid US President Donald Trump's tariffs, which cost the German carmaker an estimated €300 million ($353 million) between January and March.

However, CEO Oliver Zipse told reporters Wednesday after the release of the company's results that he expects EU-US trade tensions to be resolved.

This is even as Trump threatened last week to raise tariffs on European cars, saying that the EU was not complying with a trade deal unveiled last July. The deal still needs to be approved by EU member states.

Zipse said Trump's threat was "not entirely unexpected."

"The American side implemented the deal over eight months ago, the European side still hasn't," he added.

The CEO, who is stepping down next week, said BMW is in talks with Washington to receive tariff relief, as BMW operates its largest plant in the southern US state of South Carolina, and is the US' largest car exporter by value.

"I am also confident that, over the course of the year, we will succeed in agreeing some sort of offset deal, which works in such a way that an offset is created for importers who are also exporters," Zipse said.

A year after taking office, Germany's federal leadership is struggling with the drudgery of coalition governance. Whenever there are problems, the coalition partners are blamed. Or US President Donald Trump.

DW chief political editor Michaela Küfner has observed an emerging pattern: In view of his direct criticism of Trump, Merz "often pays a high political price for his verbal clumsiness."

The question remains: "whether this chancellor, with his unprecedented talent for scoring political own goals, can translate his recognized economic expertise into political action."

Read the full story about the challenges facing Merz's government. 

German police on Wednesday morning were searching the homes of 36 suspected members of two far-right youth groups, Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor said.

The groups, "Deutsche Jugend Voran (DJV)" (German Youth Forwards) and "Jung und Stark (JS)" (Young and Strong), are being investigated by Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor for forming a criminal organization.

More than 600 police officers searched approximately 50 locations in 12 federal states, the public prosecutor said.

The suspects are predominantly youth and young adults, some of whom, according to investigators, have been known for violent behavior in the past.

Prosecutors said in a statement that "some of the accused are said to have attacked members of the left-wing scene or people they believed to be pedophiles. In each instance, the victims were beaten by several attackers and sustained significant injuries."

No arrests are planned at this time.

"Today's searches are intended to clarify the existing grounds for suspicion," investigators said in the statement carried by the epd news agency. 

DJV and JS emerged in mid-2024, along with numerous other regionally and nationally organized far-right youth groups. Since then, they have been on the radar of German security authorities. Both groups are considered to be prone to violence.

Law enforcement agencies estimate that each group numbers several hundred members. Both groups operate nationwide, but the DJV is mostly centered in Berlin and Brandenburg.  

Guten morgen from the newsroom in Bonn! Today, we are reporting on a nationwide police operation targeting members of two far-right youth organizations.

And the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz is marking 1 year in office. 

Follow us for this and everything else being talked about in Germany today.