Skip next section Suspect arrested in Hanau swastika case
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Suspect arrested in Hanau swastika case
Police in Hanau reported later on Thursday that they had detained a suspect over dozens of Swastikas that had appeared around town, painted in what they now believed to be human blood — likely the suspect’s own.
They said the 31-year-old man was arrested after a tip-off from a witness, and that he had a high blood alcohol level at the time of his arrest.
He was detained at a flat within Hanau city limits, they said.
https://p.dw.com/p/53CVy
Skip next section Trial begins for suspected NSU accomplice
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Trial begins for suspected NSU accomplice
The trial of Susann E., whose full name is withheld in Germany for privacy reasons, opened in Dresden on Thursday. The 44-year-old is charged with assisting a terrorist organization and faces up to a decade in prison.
The “National Socialist Underground” was a terror cell most closely associated with neo-Nazi extremists Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhard and Beate Zschäpe. From 1998 to 2011 they carried out a number of nail bombings and shootings that left 10 people dead, mostly targeting individuals who appeared to have an immigrant background.
Susann E. is accused of helping the trio evade the authorities as they lived under false identities. Her husband was convicted on similar charges in 2018 and served two years and a half years in prison.
More specifically, prosecutors say she lent Beate Zschäpe her health insurance card so that the latter could go to the doctor while on the run.
https://p.dw.com/p/53Bfy
Skip next section Study: Majority of Germans concerned about right-wing extremism
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Study: Majority of Germans concerned about right-wing extremism
According to a new study conducted by the Social Democrat (SPD)-aligned Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 79% of Germans describe themselves as staunchly committed to democracy, up 6% from four years ago.
Some 70% said they perceive the rise of right-wing extremism as a threat to Germany. At the same time, 22% said they believe the problem was being “hyped up” by the media.
While 88% of respondents said that dignity and equality for all should be a top priority in any democracy, 25% said that too much consideration is given to minorities. About 11% outright rejected the notion that minorities deserve fundamental rights.
About 30% of people admitted to having negative attitudes towards asylum seekers and 36% said the same about the long-term unemployed.
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has published its “The Tense Middle” study every four years since 2006, surveying some 2,000 adults from different backgrounds over a period of two months.
https://p.dw.com/p/53B8a
Skip next section 400 kg of drugs seized in major raid
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
400 kg of drugs seized in major raid
Police said they had to take apart the warehouse extremely carefullyImage: Zollfahndungsamt Berlin-Brandenburg/dpa/picture alliance
Authorities in the town of Nauen, outside of Berlin, have ended an eight-day search of a drug laboratory which resulted in the seizure of 400 kg (880 lb) of drugs and other substances and equipment worth many millions of euros.
The lab was manufacturing synthetic drugs 3-CMC and 4-CMC. The drugs are psychoactive and have been compared to MDMA and cocaine in terms of effects.
The raid took eight days, officers said, because of the highly dangerous refuse left from the drug-creation process, as well as the toxic chemicals left in barrels in the warehouse.
https://p.dw.com/p/53B6F
Skip next section Government debates reform to prositution laws
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Government debates reform to prositution laws
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner has restarted debate on Germany’s prostitution laws, which are seen as relatively lax.
Klöckner and federal Health Minister Nina Warken both said that Germany has a reputation for being the “brothel of Europe,” something they both want to change.
Both the buying and selling of sex are legal in Germany in regulated brothels.
Both women have suggested Germany instead follow the “Nordic model”, which criminalizes the buying of sex but not the selling, and of providing more support to sex workers who want to get out of the business.
Should buying sex be illegal in Germany?
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https://p.dw.com/p/53AMz
Skip next section Police investigate swastika vandalism made with blood
11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Police investigate swastika vandalism made with blood
Police in the central German city of Hanau are probing a streak of vandalism in which cars and houses have been smeared with swastikas that appear to have been made with blood.
Authorities said at least 50 cars as well as several mailboxes and sides of houses have been vandalized.
Drawing swastikas or other Nazi symbols in public is a crime in Germany, punishable with a hefty fine and up to three years jail time.
Hanau was the site of one of Germany’s deadliest mass shootings in recent history, when a far-right extremist opened fire on several bars known to be frequented by the immigrant community in February 2020.
https://p.dw.com/p/53AMZ
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage11/06/2025November 6, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
Guten Tag on this sunny morning from DW’s Newsroom in Bonn.
Today, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is attending a “steel summit” for the country’s metal industry as economic woes continue, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier concludes his Africa trip with a stop in Angola.
Follow here for the latest headlines from across Germany.
https://p.dw.com/p/53AMU
