Russia's war emigrants pursue careers in German politics – DW

DW9 hours ago

Many young Russians fled their home country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and found refuge in Germany. Now some of them are engaged in local politics. DW tells their stories.
In Russia, speaking out against the war Moscow has been waging in Ukraine since February 2022, can get you targeted by the authorities quickly. Tens of thousands of war-critical Russians have fled their home country to escape repression and criminal prosecution, and found a new home in Germany. Some of them now want to make a difference in German politics.
Russian opposition leads first major anti-war march abroad
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From local Moscow politics to Germany's parliamentary elections
Ilya Makarov, 21, became politically active in his hometown Izhevsk in the Ural region shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. First, he tried to participate in local elections, but was denied registration as a candidate.
He didn't give up and ran for municipal council in Moscow with an antiwar campaign. The response from the authorities came swiftly. A week after the elections in September 2022, Makarov faced administrative charges and was detained for 15 days.
After a second arrest in January 2023, Makarov's lawyer warned him that he could face potential criminal prosecution, so he decided to leave Russia and ended up in Worms, a town in the southwestern German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Makarov said he wasn't sure at first whether he wanted to stay in Germany. But "the urge to take an active stance" in the country he lived in took over eventually, he added.
Inspired by the European Parliament elections in July 2024, Makarov joined Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD). The center-left party's program aligned the most with his own views, Makarov told DW.
Image: privat
Makarov was assigned to work on the party's information stands while campaigning in Russian and Ukrainian, which he said he had learnt while talking to local Ukrainians, ahead of the German parliamentary elections in February 2025. His info booths were mostly set up in districts with large populations of Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking voters. Makarov said the work reminded him of street politics in Russia, with voters sharing their problems that he helped collect and solve.
Going forward, he wants to create a working group of Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking SPD party members on the local level, which would involve translating campaign materials from German and hosting discussion clubs for Russian-speaking activists and party members.
Makarov said he would like to develop his career within the SPD after obtaining German citizenship, which he intends to apply for in the future.
Moscow artist supports German liberals
Anastasiya Lukomskaya, a 35-year-old artist and activist from Moscow, had left Russia for the United Arab Emirates before the war in Ukraine began. After Russia's invasion of its neighbor, she realized that coming back home, where she had been detained a few times for attending opposition rallies, could be dangerous.
In summer 2023, she went to Georgia and joined the youth political movement "Vesna," or "Spring," now labelled an "extremist organization" by the Russian authorities. Later Lukomskaya relocated to Germany.
After getting to know Germany's political landscape at her government-mandated integration courses, Lukomskaya decided to join the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).
Anastasiya Lukomskaya feels better represented by the FDP than she did by Russian parties Image: privat
"Even in Russia there was no political force that matched my views so closely," she explained her choice to DW. She could relate, for example, to the party's economic views and its support for Ukraine and Israel.
During the parliamentary election campaign in February, Lukomskaya, too, was engaged in street-level campaigning, putting to use the experience she had gained as a volunteer for the 2018 presidential campaign of late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
Even though Anastasiya Lukomskaya is uncertain about her political future, she would like to produce creative content. She hopes to create art that will convince Germans to vote for the FDP, which did not make it into Germany's parliament in the 2025 elections.
Threatened by police in Russia, then joined the Greens in Germany
Ilya Zernov, 21, was born in Tolyatti, an industrial town in the southwest of Russia. He went to college in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan republic, where he participated in anti-war activities. As a result, his home was searched by the police. He said officers threatened him and brought him to the police station. After his release, Zernov spoke to his lawyer and family, and fled to Serbia. In March 2023, he moved to Leipzig and has been living there ever since.
In early 2025, Zernov joined the environmentalist Green Party, which he says addresses the issues that are important to him.
"I am a vegetarian, and I care about the environment, human rights, and international thinking," Zernov told DW. "I don't consider myself completely left-wing, our values just match."
Ilya Zernov participates in Green Party activities in Leipzig Image: Privat
Zernov acknowledged that it is still difficult for him to fully participate in German politics because of the language barrier. But he attends events organised by the party's youth organization, the Green Youth. Recently he was offered to join its working group on migrant affairs, but has not yet decided whether to agree or not.
"I have experience as a migrant, but I lack a structural understanding of local problems," Zernov explained, adding that he didn't know yet what new insights he had to offer to the party.
That doesn't mean he's sitting idly by. Zernov wants to organize letter-writing evenings to support imprisoned left-wing activists in Russia. Long-term, once his German improves sufficiently, he would like to pursue a career within the Green Party.
But most importantly, he wants "to remain free and find some minimal satisfaction in life."
Edited by: Carla Bleiker

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Stymied French politicians turn to sins of the past – DW – 06/07/2025

an hour ago

Stymied French politicians turn to sins of the past – DW – 06/07/2025

Amid parliamentary deadlock, the politics of remembrance has gained momentum in France. Three new initiatives attempt to recognize and heal historical injustices — at least symbolically. On Thursday, two years after France's controversial retirement age increase, the National Assembly voted to withdraw the reform. While the news was politically explosive because the far-right National Rally helped the left-wing opposition gain a majority in the vote, the decision hasn't yielded any actual legal results. The situation reflects the country's ongoing failure to address structural reforms since the parliamentary elections last summer, which left the government won without an absolute majority. But in the area of remembrance policy there has been significant movement. In the same week as the toothless retirement resolution, parliamentarians adopted three texts that reclassify historical events or offer the prospect of reparations. Alfred Dreyfus, shown here in the 1930s, is considered a national hero by many French people today Image: epa/AFP/dpa/picture alliance Alfred Dreyfus posthumously promoted On June 2, the French parliament voted unanimously to posthumously appoint Alfred Dreyfus to the rank of brigadier general. The Jewish officer was wrongly accused of high treason in 1894, based on falsified evidence that he revealed military secrets to the German embassy in Paris. Dreyfus subsequently spent four years in the notorious Devil's Island penal colony off the coast of French Guiana. The Franco-German dimension of the case had explosive foreign policy implications even then. The suspect's Jewish origins and his family background in the Alsace-Lorraine region, which came under German rule after the Franco-Prussian War, and strained relations with Germany, made him an ideal target for the nationalist mistrust many French people harbored at the time. Writer Émile Zola famously sided with Dreyfus in his essay "J'accuse…!", which played a critical role in the officer's exoneration and military rehabilitation in 1906. Nevertheless, after serving in the First World War as a lieutenant colonel, Dreyfus was only reinstated at a lower rank. This posthumous promotion for Dreyfus still has to pass the Senate. Alsatian MP Charles Sitzenstuhl, a member of French President Emmanuel Macron's center-right Renaissance Party, who introduced the initiative, offered a link to the present as a warning: "The anti-Semitism that plagued Alfred Dreyfus is not a thing of the distant past," he said. In June 1954, Indochinese conscripts hastily erect new fortifications for French colonial forces in Phu Ly, south of Hanoi, Vietnam Image: AP/picture alliance Recognizing returnees from Indochina Just one day after the Dreyfus vote, the National Assembly also passed a law to recognize and compensate former returnees from French Indochina after the colonial rule of territories including Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia ended in 1954. Around 44,000 people were repatriated to France, among them colonial officials, soldiers and their families, the descendants of French colonizers and local women, as well as local collaborators. Between 4,000 to 6,000 returnees ended up in temporary camps, which were often outfitted with wooden barracks that lacked heating and plumbing. Returnees were also subject to degrading policies that included bans on going out and owning cars or other luxury goods. The new law introduced by the left-wing Socialist Party now provides for financial support based on someone's length of stay in the camps. It is estimated that up to 1,600 people could claim compensation. Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries today Image: Java Reparations for Haiti? On June 5, the Assembly adopted a resolution addressing a "double debt" to Haiti that goes back to 1825. That was the year that France forced Haiti, which had declared independence in 1804, to pay compensation of 150 million gold francs. This was intended as a recognition of independence that would also compensate for the loss of French colonial possessions, including income from slaves. Haiti was forced to settle this "independence debt" over decades — a considerable economic burden that contributed to long-term poverty and instability on the island. The resolution, initiated by the Communist Party, calls for recognition, repayment and reparations for Haiti. But the text does not include concrete political steps or financial agreements. Nevertheless, the far-right National Rally voted against it. The "Senegalese riflemen," or "tirailleurs sénégalais," were a colonial infantry recruited by the French army during the First World War Image: The Print Collector/Heritage-Images/picture alliance A history of remembering Remembrance politics have some tradition in France. In 2001, the "Taubira" law, named after the parliamentarian who introduced it, recognized the slave trade and practice of slavery as crimes against humanity. The topic has been a part of school curricula in France ever since. In October 2006, the National Assembly passed a bill to criminalize the denial of the Armenian genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire with a year in prison or fine of €45,000 ($51,300). The bill never came into force after it failed to pass in the Senate, and was followed by a similarly doomed initiative introduced under President Nicolas Sarkozy. That draft law passed both chambers of parliament, but was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council in February 2012, which said that it amounted to unlawful interference with freedom of expression and research. Another example is the treatment of the so-called "Senegalese riflemen," the colonial soldiers from Africa who fought for France in the two world wars. For decades, many received significantly lower pensions than their French comrades, especially if they lived outside of France after decolonization. It was not until 2009 that President Sarkozy decreed an equalization of pension benefits, a step that held great symbolic significance. Social maturity or empty gestures? The latest spike in such initiatives has been met with mixed interpretations by political scientists. Some experts see the willingness to take historical responsibility as a form of social maturity. But others point out that in a politically paralyzed legislature, symbolic initiatives are easier to pass than structural reforms in areas such as pensions, education or the budget. This article was originally written in German.

German govt to ask EU court to rule on migrant turnbacks – DW – 06/07/2025

2 hours ago

German govt to ask EU court to rule on migrant turnbacks – DW – 06/07/2025

06/07/2025 June 7, 2025 German interior to seek EU verdict on border turnbacks Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the German government would seek a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the legality of migrant turnbacks at the border. Dobrindt's comments to the Funke media group follow a ruling by a court in Berlin on Monday that the refusal to allow three Somali nationals to enter last month was unlawful. The court ruled that on May 9, border guards failed to initiate proper asylum procedures and returned the trio to Poland. According to the court, Germany should have applied the European Union's so-called Dublin Regulation, establishing which country is responsible for the asylum claim of the migrants, before they were sent back. The Dublin rule specifies which EU state should process an asylum application, partly to prevent arrivals from making claims in wealthier countries rather than the first EU nation that they entered. Dobrindt said the government would provide its rationale for invoking Article 72 — a special clause under EU law that permits exceptions to the Dublin rule in emergencies. "We will submit sufficient justification, but the European Court of Justice should decide on the matter," Dobrindt said, adding: "I am convinced that our actions are in line with European law." Dobrindt insisted that Germany had to crack down on illegal migration, which he said would prevent the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from pushing more radical solutions. German Chancellor Merz rejects criticism of border controls To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Germany introduced tougher border checks on May 7, including new rules allowing asylum seekers to be turned away at the border for the first time. In the first days of the new rule, 19 people who sought asylum in Germany were denied entry, along with nearly 300 other migrants, local media reported. Following this week's court ruling, the cabinet approved even stricter measures.

Germany: Car drives into crowd in Passau – DW – 06/07/2025