Germany updates: Soldiers gather for first-ever Veterans Day – DW – 06/15/2025
06/15/2025
June 15, 2025 AfD and Left Party warned over behavior in parliament
The president of the German parliament, Julia Klöckner, has warned members of the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the socialist Left Party (Die Linke) over their behavior in the Bundestag, accusing of them of using the platform offered by parliament to go viral on social media.
"We have a strengthened Left Party and a strengthened AfD in parliament who seem to need each other to serve their respective constituencies on TikTok and other platforms," said Bundestagspräsidentin Klöckner, who fulfils functions similar to that of a parliamentary speaker in other countries.
"There are currently several candidates for top spot when it comes to rule breaches," she told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media outlet this weekend.
"And that shouldn't be taken as an accolade. The floor [of parliament] is not a stage on which to produce content for digital media. This is where we confront each other using words."
Klöckner, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), recently ordered two Left Party members to leave the hall after donning items of clothing which conveyed "intentional provocations."
Last week, lawmaker Cansin Köktürk was asked to change out of a black t-shirt which bore the word "Palestine" while her colleague Marcel Bauer refused to remove a Basque beret. Klöckner judged that both items contravened rules which state that lawmakers' attire must "respect the dignity of the house."
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Germany updates: Soldiers gather for first-ever Veterans Day – DW – 06/15/2025
06/15/2025 June 15, 2025 AfD and Left Party warned over behavior in parliament The president of the German parliament, Julia Klöckner, has warned members of the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the socialist Left Party (Die Linke) over their behavior in the Bundestag, accusing of them of using the platform offered by parliament to go viral on social media. "We have a strengthened Left Party and a strengthened AfD in parliament who seem to need each other to serve their respective constituencies on TikTok and other platforms," said Bundestagspräsidentin Klöckner, who fulfils functions similar to that of a parliamentary speaker in other countries. "There are currently several candidates for top spot when it comes to rule breaches," she told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) media outlet this weekend. "And that shouldn't be taken as an accolade. The floor [of parliament] is not a stage on which to produce content for digital media. This is where we confront each other using words." Klöckner, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), recently ordered two Left Party members to leave the hall after donning items of clothing which conveyed "intentional provocations." Last week, lawmaker Cansin Köktürk was asked to change out of a black t-shirt which bore the word "Palestine" while her colleague Marcel Bauer refused to remove a Basque beret. Klöckner judged that both items contravened rules which state that lawmakers' attire must "respect the dignity of the house."
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Germany marks first ever Veterans Day – DW – 06/15/2025
Skip next section Monument to Nazi crimes in Poland to be unveiled in Berlin 06/15/2025 June 15, 2025 Monument to Nazi crimes in Poland to be unveiled in Berlin Germany's complex relationship with its armed forces can be traced back in large part to the crimes committed by German troops during the Second World War — especially in eastern Europe and in Poland in particular. On Monday, a new monument is set to be unveiled in central Berlin to commemorate the victims of the Nazi invasion and occupation of its neighbor between 1939 and 1945, during which an estimated six million Poles, around a fifth of the civilian population, were murdered. The new monument will consist of a large boulder from the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which borders Poland, on the site of the former Kroll Opera House. The Opera House served as the seat of the German parliament for much of the Nazi period after the nearby Reichstag building was damaged in the 1933 Reichstag fire. As such, it was the location for dictator Adolf Hitler's declaration of war on Poland in September 1939. Peter Oliver Loew, the director of the German-Polish Institute, told the Catholic news agency KNA that it is "important to send a message, even if it's only a temporary location for now." In June 2024, the German government approved plans for a permanent monument and a "German-Polish House," a precise timeline for which has not yet been set. Nowadays, Germany and Poland are key allies at the heart of the European Union, but the memory of the German occupation of Poland remains a live issue, especially in Warsaw, where nationalist politicians frequently raise the issue of German reparations for Nazi crimes. "I will fight for them from the very first day of my presidency," promised new Polish President Karol Nawrocki during his recent campaign, for instance. For historian Loew of the German-Polish Institute, the new memorial is therefore "a necessary and important step on the road to rapprochement between our two countries."
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VW in Brazil: A dark history – DW – 06/15/2025
Brazil is one of VW's most critical foreign bases. The company's past in the country is blighted by decades of human rights abuses and exploitation. US President Donald Trump is trying to turn back time by using import tariffs as a tool to force international companies to manufacture their products in the United States. Many companies produce abroad, usually to profit from lower labor costs in their respective host countries, or to have a closer relationship with customers. This creates jobs in foreign markets, which also boosts local sales. One such company is Volkswagen (VW). Two years ago, the German automaker celebrated its 70th anniversary as a "Brazilian" carmaker. The company began work in Brazil when it opened a warehouse in Sao Paulo on March 23, 1953. The Anchieta factory, VW's first production facility outside Germany, opened shortly thereafter. "Volkswagen do Brasil has completed 70 years of technological innovation and pioneering spirit," said VW Brazil boss Ciro Possobom at the 2023 celebration. "VW has modernized its Brazilian factories, developed new technologies and is a brand that is much closer to the people today." A year later, VW announced that it would expand its presence in Brazil by enlarging its four locations in the South American country. At the time, automobile analysts reported that VW planned to spend 7 million Brazilian reals (€1.1 billion, or $1.26 billion) in Brazil by 2026. Now that plan has been revised to 16 billion reals by 2028. VW: Making money with cars and cows in Brazil VW's investment in Brazil has largely paid off from the start. It not only invested in cars there, the company has also sought to make money on cows, specifically, beef. To facilitate the latter, Volkswagen created a new agricultural business known as Fazenda Volkswagen, or the Volkswagen Farm, located in Cristalino, around 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) from VW do Brasil headquarters in Sao Paulo. Christopher Kopper, a historian at Germany's Bielefeld University who has studied the history of VW do Brasil, says it was there, of all places, away from the bustle of the big city, that VW's image began to tarnish. "VW was approached about its treatment of workers at Fazenda Volkswagen back in the 1980s," Kopper told DW. In 2016, Volkswagen tasked Kopper with compiling a report on VW do Brasil's activities during Brazil's military dictatorship, which began when a military junta staged a coup in 1964 and went on to maintain an iron grip on the country for the next 21 years. VW is accused of having exploited and abused the employees of subcontrators working at its failed cattle farm, Fazenda Volkswagen Image: Wolfgang Weihs/picture alliance Only VW workers were taken care of on the Fazenda VW contracted Swiss agricultural economist Friedrich-Georg Brugger to set up the farm in 1974. Brugger counted on VW employees and other contracted workers to carry out his ambitious agrarian experiment. It was only years later, in a report broadcast by German public television, that it became clear just how ruthless Brugger was in pursing his plans. Kopper said VW workers were always taken care of. "They had their own houses, their own schools, a medical clinic. But that did not apply to workers employed by subcontractors. They worked under conditions akin to indentured servitude." The historian explained that the company always maintained that distinction. He said managers always "talked their way out of trouble by emphasizing that they were not responsible for the treatment of laborers employed by subcontractors." At the same time, they never tired of "pointing out that full-time workers directly employed at the Fazenda by VW lived very well by local standards." Volkswagen accused of using slave labor To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dark secret: VW and Brazil's military dictatorship Work at the farm was conducted far away from prying eyes, and the project's ultimate failure did not make headlines either. "The Fazenda had no chance of making a profit from the outset," said Kopper. "The project was a wash." But what was even more shocking to Kopper than conditions at the Fazenda was what he learned about the company's attitude toward cooperation with Brazil's ruling military junta. "VW worked closely with the dictatorship's security apparatus," he said. "That applied to VW's main factory in Sao Paulo and other facilities." Kopper eventually realized that the conditions at the Fazenda were merely a detailed fragment from a much larger and far darker picture. Security at VW do Brasil factories, for instance, also worked closely with the junta. VW employees tolerated arrests and abuses by military police, even assisting them at times. "Correspondence with the board of directors in Wolfsburg [where VW is headquartered in Germany] documents full acceptance of the military dictatorship up until 1979," says Kopper of his findings. VW security personnel willingly helped Brazil's military dictators arrest and harrass employees Image: Andre Penner/AP Photo/picture alliance Shadows from the Nazi era Such behavior would be a scandal at any company, but it's even worse with Volkwagen when one considers the global automaker's start during the days of Adolf Hitler's dictatorship. Founded in Nazi Germany by Nazi organizations, Volkswagen systematically profited off of slave labor, exploiting and abusing thousands of forced laborers. Had those in positions of responsibility in Wolfsburg learned nothing? Of course, there were immediately suspicions that the company planned to continue its misdeeds from a decade earlier, just under another dictator on another continent. The scandal of what VW did in Brazil is made that much darker considering its roots in Nazi Germany Image: dpa/picture alliance VW managers with skeletons in their closets Kopper said it is really difficult to brush aside such accusations. "I would partially agree with that regarding management at VW do Brasil." He said the reasons for that have to do with the fact that many of VW's managers in the 1950s and 60s "had been army officers and Nazi party members" when they were younger. Kopper said that was not the case for Wolfgang Sauer, who ran VW's Brazilian subsidiary from 1971 to 1984, adding, "He was too young." According to the historian, Sauer was not bound to Germany's Nazi military tradition but rather to "Brazil's tradition of authoritarian paternalism: You can give workers social benefits, but that doesn't mean you have to accept independent works councils." The societal and juridical reappraisal of VW's actions during Brazil's military dictatorship is far from over. Numerous legal battles over damages and admissions of guilt await the global automaker. Only when that process has been completed can Wolfsburg close this chapter of its corporate history. This article was originally published in German and was translated by Jon Shelton.
