Free Republic

Friedrich Merz.... He has insisted that Hamas cannot be allowed a role in Gaza’s future and that hostage release and disarmament are non-negotiable. This is not callousness; it is the minimum moral logic of diplomacy. A peace plan that includes Hamas is not a peace plan at all – it is surrender to fanaticism and rewards the wrong side. And here Germany’s historic responsibility comes into sharp relief. No European nation has a deeper obligation to the security of the Jewish people. For Germans, the Holocaust was not a tragic accident; it was a state-driven programme of annihilation, which can...

Germany is war-gaming a mass-casualty scenario—up to 1,000 wounded soldiers per day—amid Russian airspace violations and warnings of possible conflict by 2029. Surgeon General Ralf Hoffmann says Ukraine’s drone-saturated battlefield is reshaping injuries toward blasts and burns, complicating evacuation and forcing longer stabilization times.

"A democracy thrives on the freedom of choice — but that wasn't even granted to the citizens". Germany’s left have long claimed that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a threat to democracy, and due to this claim, they argue the party should be banned entirely. Although banning parties is typically reserved for authoritarian regimes, this outcome remains a very real possibility in Germany, and a local election in the city of Ludwigshafen just showed what such an outcome could look like in practice. Incredibly, the main candidate for the AfD, Joachim Paul, was banned from running in the mayoral...

A German shop owner in the northern city of Flensburg posted a sign on Wednesday that Jews are banned from entering his store, sparking outrage among state officials in Schleswig-Holstein. Hans-Velten Reisch, the 60-year-old owner of the store that sells Gothic-Utensils and technical literature, posted a sign that reads, “Jews are banned from entering here! Nothing personal. No antisemitism. Just can’t stand you.” Germany’s largest daily newspaper, Bild, reported on Thursday that Reisch defended his anti-Jewish sign. He told the paper that “I watch the news every evening. And when I saw what the Jews were doing in the Gaza...

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has admitted that Germany has been 'living beyond its means for years' with experts now warning that the country could face ruin without economic reforms. The conservative German leader has caused uproar after declaring that the country could no longer afford the cost of its pensions system, which has soared to more than 31 per cent of GDP - one of the highest levels in Europe. Merz also warned of a 'profound epochal break' and the need for 'painful' austerity measures to guarantee that young Germans would have any future prospects. Economic adviser Marcel Fratzscher, who also...