German-Russian ties have been a story of difficulties. The first phase was marked of course by the Second World war, which saw more casualties in Russia than anywhere else. Then it was the Cold War that left its mark on bilateral ties. The two countries approached each other only slowly until the Wall fell.The Soviet Socialist Republic became a democracy, at least in its own way. We spoke with the people who were the architects of today's ties: former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Valentin Falin, who as Russian ambassador in Bonn and then as government adviser left his mark on the German-Russian relationship.

• 12/25/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Few politicians have both experienced and shaped German-French ties more intensively than Daniel Cohn-Bendit. He was born in 1945 in southern France, the son of a French mother and a German Jewish father.He personally experienced the lingering postwar animosity between the two neighbors - and their reconciliation several years later. As a student leader in the 1960s he was the linchpin of the German and French protest movements. Today he is a Member of the European Parliament for the Greens.

• 12/25/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

The American occupation after World War II was a culture shock for Germans. The GIs brought a free press, democratic values - and swing music, chewing gum, cowboy romance and Care packages.While Germans admire and love the American Way of Life, the policies of the superpower have repeatedly come under protest - during the 1960s student revolts, the 1980s decision to deploy midrange missiles in Europe, and the 2003 Iraq War. The former State premier of Saxony, Kurt Biedenkopf, was one of the first German exchange students in the US in the late 1940s. John Kornblum helped shape US-German ties as diplomat and US Ambassador in Berlin.

• 12/25/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

They're fleeing persecution and injustice, and thought their lives were at risk in Afghanistan. They're leaving for many reasons.Aside from economic refugees, more people are fleeing because they feel under threat from the Taliban, who are growing in strength by the day. They’re teachers who worked in mixed classrooms of girls and boys, lawyers who called for fair trials, even German-trained policemen. These are the kind of people who wanted to rebuild their country, but who have lost their faith in a better future.

• 12/11/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Climate experts and politicians from around the world are negotiating a new climate treaty in Copenhagen. Saving the planet is one of Marie Sophie Rohwäder's top interests.The girl from Berlin joined 100 students from across Germany for a climate protection project. The aim is to make the climate a higher priority in school lesson plans. Protecting the planet begins right in front of Sophie's front door every day. She's even traveling with a small delegation to Copenhagen, to introduce her grassroots project.

• 12/11/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Achim Steiner of Germany is the head of the United Nations Environmental Program, UNEP. With his 500 employees, he is considered one of the world's most important environmentalists.From UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, his job is to coordinate campaigns against drought, deforestation and climate protection. At the moment, the 48-year-old is under quite a bit of stress. He is getting ready for the upcoming Climate Conference in Copenhagen, where almost 200 countries are expected to hammer out a new program for protecting the earth's environment. A portrait from Nairobi.

• 12/4/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Last week, German Labor Minister Franz-Josef Jung resigned following allegations of a cover-up of civilian deaths in Afghanistan when he held the portfolio for defense. It's becoming increasingly apparent that the Afghan conflict is a problem for the new government.More and more people oppose the fact that German troops are involved in the conflict. And this at a time when the German parliament, the Bundestag, is due to vote on extending the mission. Meanwhile, the signal that's coming from the US is that more soldiers are needed in the region. What position will Germany take with respect to the US President's new strategy? And will the German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg soon have to invest even more money and possibly send more troops to Afghanistan.

• 12/4/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

ISAF troops in Afghanistan are being attacked more and more frequently. And an increasing number of German soldiers are being killed or wounded. No one talks about a mission to stabilize and rebuild the country anymore. The German government is seeking a strategy appropriate to pacify the country – and enable it to withdraw the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.

• 11/27/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

At the end of November, the governments of Israel and Germany will hold their second joint cabinet meeting. The aim of the meeting is to show that the two countries trust each other and can cooperate. People and Politics goes to Berlin and Jerusalem to see how do young Israelis and Germans view this measure.

• 11/27/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

John Demjanjuk faces charges of aiding and abetting almost 30,000 cases of murder committed when he was a guard at Sobibor concentration camp in Poland. His trial is being held in Munich at the end of November. One of the joint plaintiffs is Kurt Gutmann. His mother and his older brother Hans were murdered in Sobibor. Gutmann is seriously ill, but he is mustering all his strength for the trial.

• 11/27/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

The community of Bontkirchen in central Germany was until recently split between two federal states.This meant that for some residents, every-day life was marked by a a variety of idiosyncracies ranging from schools to car license plates to waste disposal. Now the border between the two states has been moved to make everyone's life a little easier.

• 11/20/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Christian Democrat Wolfgang Schäuble has been a busy man since being appointed finance minister.There's economic growth and budget consolidation to master - not to mention confronting the ambitious fiscal reforms called for by junior coalition partners the Free Democrats. The 67-year-old former interior minister is proud of his job - but says he is not to be envied.

• 11/20/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Nora is 23 years old and is learning to read and write. It was only during her apprencticeship after leaving school that her literacy problems became apparent.The number of people in Germany with similar difficulties is estimated at over 600,000. Education minister Annette Schavan has launched a 30 million euro program of action.

• 11/20/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Ahead of the Social Democratic Party conference on November 12, designated chairman Sigmar Gabriel is sounding out the rank and file. After the SPD's disastrous showing in October's federal elections, he wants to hear for himself the party faithful's worries and travails, while sending a message: don't just approve what the party bosses decide. Help make the decisions themselves!

• 11/16/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Parents who care for their little children at home instead of putting them into nursery schools or kindergartens are supposed to receive an extra €150 monthly. That's the plan of the new center-right coalition to support home raising... and it's raising a storm of criticism. One key objection is that especially poorer families could put the money to uses other than the welfare of their kids. We report on the ideals and realities of preschool supervision in Germany.

• 11/16/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

There were a few a surprises when the cabinet of Germany's new coalition government was unveiled. Veteran politician Wolfgang Schäuble will be Germany's new Finance Minister, making him the most important man in Merkel's cabinet. The former Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg will get the defense portfolio and, as expected, Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle will be representing Germany on the international stage as Foreign Minister. The FDP's Philipp Rösler is set to become Germany's next Health Minister.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

In 1975 Bernhard Fey was shot and seriously injured by an automatically triggered weapon while trying to escape to the West. On that day, Gerhardt Lehmann was in the East German army and in charge of the relevant sector of the border. The two men look back and tell us how they see East Germany, the Berlin Wall and the old border today.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Arnold Vaatz was among the East German intellectuals behind the peaceful revolution of 1989. He was a founding member and spokesman of the "Neues Forum" civil rights movement, and was also on the special "Round Table" set up after the fall of the Wall to bring the outgoing communist regime together with reformists. He is now a member of the German parliament.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Andreas Falge was one of the first East Germans to cross the Bornholmer Straße border crossing into West Berlin on November 9, 1989. 24 hours later he was back in the East. Today he takes tourists to various points where the Berlin Wall used to stand. He tells us his story.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

We look at two men who played crucial roles in the relations between the two Germanys. Egon Bahr was a close confidante of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and the architect of the latter's groundbreaking policy, Ostpolitik, or rapprochement with the East. Lothar de Maiziere was a lawyer who was involved in the winding down of the communist system and ended up as the last leader of East Germany.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Evelin Senarclens de Grancy has just published her autobiography. Born in the former East Germany, she fled to the west after facing increasing harrassment from the East German secret police. But the author also faced repression in the west. Her second husband was a spy and double agent working for the Stasi.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Resentment among the East German population had been increasing for years. In the spring of 1989, developments began to snowball: the growing loss of the country's citizens to the West via Hungary, the weekly demonstrations, Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to coincide with the 40th anniversary of East Germany, and the resignation of party leader Erich Honecker. We chronicle the fall of the communist regime.

• 11/13/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

One of the new coalition partners' major policy directions is already clear: Germany will be spending more money on education. The government intends to raise its education budget to 10 percent of GDP, up from the current 8.8 percent.There are also plans to offer more stipends for university students and to cut down bureaucratic hurdles to recognizing school and university diplomas. In the new coalition's strategy papers there has been mention of making the right to an education a human right as delineated by the country's constitution.

• 10/29/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

When the financial crisis drove the world markets to the brink last year, German Chancellor Merkel demanded that no bank ever be allowed to grow so large or so powerful that they could threaten governmental stability.Now at the G-20 summit in Pittsburg world leaders are hoping to make that demand a reality. What steps has the German government taken at home to rein in financial risk-taking? Could banks, managers, and their financial products soon be under a tighter yoke?

• 10/19/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

German Chancellor Angela Merkel enjoys excellent personal popularity ratings in Germany, although both the media and the opposition regularly portray her as indecisive and lacking in leadership skills.She's now seeking another four-year term in office, and surveys show she as a good chance of making it. We look back over Merkel's first term in office and at the current election campaign and discuss why Merkel as an individual has such wide appeal for voters, while her party enjoys only moderate ratings.

• 10/19/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Germany's Social Democrats are in the doldrums. Never have the SPD's poll ratings been so low shortly before national elections. Their candidate for chancellor, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has often been seen as a grey technocrat, has been unable to significantly boost the party's popularity.Only about 25 percent of the population say they would vote for the SPD if elections were held today. But the SPD has kept up its mantra that it is aiming for a role in government, not opposition. We take a look at the Social Democrats in Germany, whose candidate for chancellor is thought to have little chance of gaining office.

• 10/19/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

So far, both major parties say they are not willing to enter a coalition with the Left Party. The Greens and the pro-business FDP have been courted by both the CDU and SPD as potential coalition partners.In Germany's five-party system, neither of the main parties can hope to enter government without forming a coalition with one of the smaller parties. But on many occasions those smaller parties appear to block their own progress by refusing right from the start to work with certain other parties.

• 10/19/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0

Germany, a nation with traditionally high voter turn-out, has seen a rash of political apathy in recent times.13 million voters stayed home during the last parliamentary election and political analysts predict that the voting booths could be even emptier come election day. Now a countrywide initiative of politicians, artists, and businessmen are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.

• 10/19/09
• Comments: 0
• Votes: 0