Germany news: President Steinmeier heads to Asia

The 86th anniversary of the first transport carrying prisoners to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz has been marked by commemoration ceremonies.

A ceremony at the site of the former camp in what was then German-occupied Poland was attended, among others, by trainees from automaker Volkswagen, according to the deputy chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner.

In remarks made in Berlin, he stressed how important it was that young people were involved in passing on the memory of the atrocities committed there.

Heubner said the first prisoners— 728 young Poles and Polish Jews — had quickly realized "in what a hell of hate and destructive intent they had ended up."

He said that, as the earliest inmates, they had used their knowledge about the camp's workings and the mentality of the SS guards to help other prisoners who came later.

"The prisoners who were deported to Auschwitz after them still today remember them with great appreciation and gratitude," he said.

Most of the first prisoners had reportedly been trying to escape Poland to join foreign forces and fight against the German occupiers of their home country.

In Auschwitz, the Nazis murdered more than a million people, including some 960,000 Jews, before the camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on January 27, 1945.

The International Auschwitz Committee was founded in 1952 by survivors of the death camp to give support to survivors and fight racism and antisemitism.   
  

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, have sent a video message to the Germany team, wishing it every success in its World Cup bid.

In the video, the couple is seen kicking a football on the lawns at Bellevue Palace, the presidential residence.

"We are sharing your sense of excitement and cross our fingers — not just my wife and I, but the whole country," Steinmeier said.

Büdenbender added: "Play with a lot of team spirit, joy and passion. We hope for lots of goals from you, and we are looking forward to the games."

Steinmeier also said he hoped that "a fifth star can be sewn on the jersey," referring to Germany's four previous victories at the tournament in 1954, 1974, 1990 und 2014.

The German president and his wife will be watching the first games in the tournament from abroad, as they are undertaking a five-day trip to Asia starting Sunday.

On Saturday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz also sent best wishes to the team, saying ""All of Germany is crossing its fingers! Everyone here is sharing the thrill!"

Germany will make its first appearance in this year's FIFA World Cup in a match against debutant Curacao in Houston, Texas.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has sent birthday wishes to Donald Trump as the US president turns 80 on Sunday. 

According to the presidential office, Steinmeier wished Trump health and happiness, as well as "wisdom, confidence and the positive power that grows from the long democratic history" of his country.

Steinmeier also mentioned the German connections of Trump, whose grandfather, Friedrich Trump, migrated to the US in 1885.

The president said the birthday offered the opportunity to "cast a look at the past and remember the special historical roots" that connected Trump's family with Germany.

 Steinmeier spoke of the "generations of brave emigrants that left their homes and build up extraordinary things in America."

Steinmeier said that the legacy of "this close connection between our two countries" should be valued and the trans-Atlantic exchange continue to be fostered.

Despite his own migrant background, Trump has enacted a harsh migration policy during his terms in office and frequently criticized Germany and Europe over a range of issues.

The number of blood donors in Germany is falling as the population ages, making it harder to supply the 15,000 blood donations needed every day, the German Red Cross (DRK) said ahead of World Blood Donor Day on Sunday.

"We have more and more older donors and fewer young people coming through," Patric Nohe, spokesman for the DRK blood donation services, told the dpa news agency.

"We have the problem that the pool of people who donate blood is shrinking," he said.
  
While Germany no longer has an upper age limit for blood donation, many older donors gradually cease donating because of age-related health conditions, Nohe said.

Nohe said it was not too late for people in their 30s and 40s to begin donating blood.

Manuel Neuer will be taking to the field as goalkeeper in Germany's first 2026 World Cup match against Curacao on Sunday, coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Saturday.  

"All the players are fit and Manu will start," Nagelsmann said at his pre-match press conference.

The match in Houston in the US state of Texas will be the 40-year-old goalkeeper's first appearance for Germany in nearly two years.

He has been brought out of international retirement after he helped Bayern win the Bundesliga title and reach the Champions League semi-finals this season.

A calf injury kept Neuer out of recent warm-up friendlies against Finland and the US, both won by Germany.

Nagelsmann said Germany would be striving for excellence in the match against Curacao, which is taking part in its first World Cup.

The Curacao players "are all well-trained and can go into the tournament without pressure. That always makes an opponent dangerous," Nagelsmann said.

"You never win a match just because you're favorites. We will win a match only if we produce a perfect performance," he said.  

The railway line from the German capital, Berlin, to the major northern port city of Hamburg is to reopen on Sunday after around 10 1/2 months of renovation, national rail operator Deutsche Bahn said. 

The line is seen as the most important direct connection between two cities on the long-distance rail network in Germany.

A first section of the line, from Hamburg to Schwerin, was already reopened in mid-May.

During the renovation, which started in August last year, tracks, switches and signals were replaced, and 28 stations were modernized.

Work on the line was delayed by about a month and a half at the start of the year, with Deutsche Bahn saying that frost was to blame.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is leaving for a five-day trip to Asia on Sunday.

According to the presidential office, his trip will take him to Indonesia, the Philippines and Uzbekistan.

Steinmeier's wife, Elke Büdenbender, will be accompanying him on the trip, as will a business delegation.

In Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, the president will focus on the peaceful coexistence of different religions.

In the Philippines, Steinmeier will then visit a production facility of German airline Lufthansa, and also meet Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.

For the final stop in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, a visit to a branch of German construction company GP Günter Papenburg is planned.

Uzbekistan has more German-language learners than any other country in Asia, the presidential office said.

The DW newsroom in Bonn on the Rhine says a hearty guten Tag to all users of Germany's international broadcaster!

And you are joining us on the BIG DAY, with Germany set to start its campaign to win a fifth football World Cup with its first match in Houston, US.

The presence of veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the squad after being called out of retirement has only added to the general excitement surrounding the match against Curacao.

We will also be looking at German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's trip to Asia with a business delegation.

And in good news for those who like traveling by rail, the important line from Berlin to Hamburg is reopening on Sunday after more than 10 months of renovation work.

You can read about these and other stories about Germany in our blog on June 14.

Thank you for joining us today.

We will be back from the DW newsroom in Bonn on Sunday morning to bring you more of the latest from and about Germany. 

Bis bald!

German immigrants have shaped American history at the highest levels of power. From New York’s Little Germany to icons like Levi Strauss and Steinway – and even the german roots of Donald Trump.

A contentious photo has emerged of a far-right politician and a lawmaker from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) at an event in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The photo appears to show the pair sharing a microphone, seemingly in contravention of a policy by mainstream parties to refuse to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is leading national and state polls.

The image, which was taken during a business event on Thursday in Halberstadt, shows CDU lawmaker Guido Heuer leaning on the shoulder of AfD candidate while both men smile.

Heuer, who was first elected to the state parliament in 2016, downplayed the controversy at another event in Dessau-Rosslau on Saturday, saying the pair had only shared a microphone due to an equipment shortage.

"That [photo] was more of a confrontation, not fraternization," he told DPA news agency.

The voters of Saxony-Anhalt are due to pick their next state government on September 6, with the AfD currently polling 15 percentage points ahead of the CDU at around 40%.

The photo has reignited speculation over whether the two parties might cooperate after the election, despite the informal, political so-called firewall around the AfD.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says a German astronaut will be selected for one of two upcoming NASA lunar missions.

The ESA said the astronaut would either blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the Artemis 4 or Artemis 5 mission, adding that a final decision has not yet been made.

The space agency said the contest between the two German finalists, Matthias Maurer and Alexander Gerst, had also not yet been decided.

Both astronauts are veterans in space, with Gerst flying to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014 and 2018, and Maurer in 2021.

The ESA made the comments to DPA news agency after NASA this week confirmed that Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will join the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for 2027.

Artemis 3 will remain in Earth's orbit, performing docking manoeuvres with lunar landers.

Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) party has picked its candidates for two upcoming state elections.

In northern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the party held a meeting in Wismar to nominate incumbent State Premier Manuela Schwesig. Schwesig currently leads a coalition of the SPD and the left-wing Linke.

In the 2021 state election, the SPD received 39.6% of the vote. Ahead of the September 20 election, however, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is well ahead in the polls.

An Infratest dimap survey for public broadcaster NDR, published in May, put the AfD on 36%, versus 27% for the SPD and 13% for Linke.

Meanwhile, in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), in western Germany, Jochen Ott was picked as the SPD's lead candidate for state premier.

At a meeting in Düsseldorf, party members gave Ott, a former teacher from Cologne, 96.2% support.

NRW holds its state election on April 25, 2027.

The director of Germany's national football team, Rudi Völler, says it is ready to seek its fifth World Cup win as it prepares to take to the pitch for its first match.

"The team is raring to go," he said at the opening of the German House of Soccer in New York, adding: "We'll present a really good game, I'm sure of it." 

All of Germany's four previous World Cup victories have kicked off with a win in the first game of the tournament.

In this case, that will be on Sunday against the team from Curacao, which is taking part in a World Cup for the first time and will certainly have many well-wishers.

Ahead of the match in Houston, Texas, Chancellor Friedrich Merz sent the team his best wishes in a video call, saying "All of Germany is crossing its fingers! Everyone here is sharing the thrill!"

The match will, among other things, see the unexpected return of veteran goalkeeper and former Germany captain Manuel Neuer after 709 days of retirement from the national team. 

The number of offenses committed against homeless people rose by almost 17% in 2025 compared with the year before, the German Interior Ministry has said.

According to the daily Rheinische Post, which cited the ministry's response to a parliamentary inquiry, there were 2,563 crimes committed against homeless people as against some 2,200 in the two previous years.

Homeless men were the main targets, featuring in 2,000 cases, while women were victims in some 500 crimes.

The inquiry came from the Left Party, with its parliamentarian Sahra Mirow telling the Rheinische Post that Germany was currently seeing an "unprecedented escalation of violence toward people without a home."

Mirow called the statistic provided by the Interior Ministry "the tip of the iceberg."