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00:02Europe I would not want to miss this rich in history and culture absolutely beautiful for
00:13centuries this continent has played a central role on the world stage but this is Europe's
00:21most perilous moment since the Second World War this is the bunker it faces an aggressive Russia
00:31an ambitious China it's quite shocking to hear you say that it is much closer right now to Beijing
00:38than it is to Washington and Europe's most powerful ally can no longer be fully relied on I said if
00:45you're not going to pay your bills we're not going to defend you I'm Katya Adler and after years of
00:54living and working in Italy France Spain and Germany I've got to know them really well you
01:01said that Germans don't have an excellent sense of humor so how are these four countries with mainland
01:08Europe's biggest economies responding to this turbulent new world there are a lot of police
01:15vans behind us what strengthens them oh wow it looks like a shark and what weakens them in this
01:26episode I'll continue my travels through Germany to see how a surprising descendant of this country
01:32has changed everything ancestral home of the troops then I'm off to Spain a country still coming to terms
02:00with its painful past I'm starting this part of my German journey in a quiet corner of the country
02:05in the Bavarian Alps in the far south of all the countries that I'm visiting on this journey I think
02:13Germany is the most misunderstood go often to France Italy Spain on holiday but look at this it's
02:22spectacular and there's only one way to really see this landscape so I'm a bit nervous but I'm quite
02:33thrilled at the same time actually yes I'm quite happy to be up here I'm just a bit nervous about
02:58jumping off that jumping off that I've known these mountains since I was young but I have never
03:03done this you have to run if I tell you to run I have to run okay okay Katja ready
03:15go forward go forward go forward go forward and run run run oh my gosh wow oh my lord
03:30my brain is kind of it's like oh wow this is amazing and then it's like oh my god I'm
03:35so high
03:41absolutely beautiful look at that you know people think of Germany and they think of the Autobahn
03:48and they think of factories here we are not an Autobahn not a factory in sight and I cannot get
03:59the smile off
03:59my face look what we have down there what a castle this castle looks so much like something out of
04:13a fairy
04:13tale that apparently it caught the eye of Walt Disney it's said to be the inspiration for sleeping
04:20beauty's castle and it became part of Disney's logo as well that is impossibly romantic I mean no
04:27wonder Disney fell in love with this castle I think that tells you a lot about Germany there is a
04:34lot
04:34of unashamed romance in this country okay we're gonna land now okay we're getting closer
04:50yeah it was pretty amazing it was I didn't expect I was gonna love it as much as I did
05:01and I would also
05:03say that I've spent a lot of time in my career trying to persuade people how interesting and beautiful
05:14Germany is but I've never gone to those lands before for outsiders Germany is often associated with high-tech
05:25engineering or it's Nazi past but there's another less well-known side to this country which is just as
05:33important to its identity I've stopped off in Fusen a medieval town just a couple of miles from the castle
05:42gorgeous isn't it this is classic Bavaria look at the pharmacy these painted buildings are also you see
05:51them a lot whenever I travel to Germany for work if I have five minutes free I'll always look for
05:59an
05:59old town and I'd love it you find a quaint town centers like this across Germany they are dripping with
06:14nostalgia thank you I grew up in the UK the parts of my family are from Germany and I love
06:23its culture
06:24and traditions not good for the figure but you know it's very good for the soul and actually
06:30coffee and cooking coffee and cake it's like a religion in Germany this is another part of the
06:39German character that isn't so well known there's a word in German the midley Kate it sort of means
06:45comfy coziness it's very hard to translate into English and it's it's it's just very German sit and have
06:52your cup of coffee it's it's not glamorous like in France it's not dramatic like in Italy it's kind of
06:59quiet comforts that inclination towards quiet comfort tells you a lot about Germany long haunted
07:09by the horrors of their country's Nazi past modern Germans have shied away from taking the lead
07:15politically or militarily in Europe the leaders they choose can come across as a little bland compared
07:23to Italy's or France's Angela Merkel one of Germany's longest serving prime ministers was
07:29nicknamed mutty meaning mummy but now Germany is being forced to step out of the shadows like
07:40much of Europe it's facing a new and different kind of threat hybrid warfare Munich Airport has halted
07:49all flights after unidentified drones were spotted in the area airports in Denmark Norway and Poland have
07:56all recently suspended flights due to drones Moscow denies any involvement but these incidents have
08:02raised fears that Moscow is testing Europe's defenses from drones shutting down airports to packages plans
08:10to explode on planes to underwater cables being cut hybrid attacks on Germany blamed on Russia have
08:18increased significantly in the last couple of years Sunka yep hello my god you look busy please join me at
08:30the
08:30table pleased to meet you Sunka Mararins is a colonel in the German air force and a specialist in hybrid
08:39warfare he advises military and political leaders on the attacks that Europe's facing but instead of using a
08:46powerpoint presentation to illustrate the threats he's made a board game it comes from the military war
08:54gaming every time I see an article I create a gaming card so that my players really learned this is
09:01happening not just making stuff up well this was an event in the Baltic Sea and someone fired from a
09:08ship
09:09onto a German helicopter other thing this happens in the UK the nuclear power plant of Sellafield was hacked
09:15you see someone going our real critical infrastructure mines are floating this is something what happened
09:23in the Black Sea affecting now shipping the same like we have seen with the drones around airfields you
09:29have to clear the area you can't go on with that the front line of Russia's war may be in
09:34Ukraine
09:35but all of Europe is under attack now we are in a hybrid war with Russia it's happening every day
09:43all
09:44around us how much has Germany been affected by it Germany is affected almost every day every day every
09:50day every day something's happening somewhere here on this map you really can see what happened over the
09:56the last three years but these are high level events uh we have seen much more on a lower scale
10:02but here you see
10:03attacks against governmental organization you see attacks against industry you see attack against critical
10:10infrastructures you'll see something like a water company which was attacked so I can see the United Kingdom I can
10:16see
10:17Poland, Lithuania, different countries that have had these high-level attacks.
10:22But most of them are concentrated in Germany.
10:24Why?
10:25We are the second best provider for Ukraine.
10:28In terms of military?
10:29In terms of military support, in terms of humanitarian aid.
10:35None of these attacks feel significant enough to provoke all-out war.
10:40And that's the point.
10:42They allow Russia to cause fear and division.
10:44They weaken Europeans' confidence in their governments
10:48and cause rifts between allies, with very little risk of retaliation.
10:54If Russia would be able to crack the German public opinion,
10:59that the German public opinion would say to the politicians,
11:01please don't use our money for Ukraine any longer,
11:04this would be a victory for Russia in Ukraine.
11:07And this is really the challenge we see in the 21st century.
11:12You know, it's not always easy to say, with 100% certainty, with each individual incident, Russia's behind that, or
11:22China.
11:22But it is clear that the number of hybrid attacks in Europe is on the rise.
11:27And that when it comes to big countries like Germany or NATO as a whole,
11:32while they may have discussed what to do if tanks roll over borders,
11:36when it comes to hybrid warfare, there is no joined-up plan.
11:47And it's hard to make a plan, when NATO's most powerful member appears increasingly disinterested in German and European security.
11:58I'm just arriving at Rammstein Air Base.
12:02It's the headquarters for US Air Forces in Europe and Africa,
12:06and of NATO Allied Air Command.
12:09It's a pretty significant place, and I'm not supposed to film going in through the gates,
12:14so it's cameras down.
12:19Hello.
12:20Oh, hi. Nice to be Asia.
12:21Yes, nice to meet you.
12:22Hi, I'm Katya.
12:23I'm pleased to meet you, and I'm looking forward to having a tour.
12:27Yeah, absolutely.
12:28Is that right?
12:28I'd love to take you around.
12:29Fantastic.
12:30Okay.
12:31Master Sergeant Asia Hinson has been stationed at Rammstein for two years.
12:37So, Rammstein is a very unique base, just because of how much the base actually does.
12:45Here is kind of like a medical complex.
12:48The dental clinic is huge.
12:50It's a dental squadron.
12:51It's not just a clinic.
12:52Dentist squadron.
12:54Yes.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Well, you do have a lot of mouths to look after.
12:56Yes.
12:57We also have a dog grooming facility here as well.
13:02Rammstein is the largest American air base in Europe, part of a local cluster of US military bases,
13:08which are home to 55,000 Americans.
13:12Actually, this is the largest American community outside of the United States.
13:17Full stop.
13:18Not just military?
13:19Not just military.
13:21The base was built after the Second World War, when Germany was split in two.
13:27The Soviet Union treated East Germany as a satellite state.
13:32The Americans built Rammstein military base in West Germany and invested heavily in Western
13:38Europe as a buffer against the spread of communism from the East.
13:43And as Germany was forbidden for a while from having its own military because of its Nazi past,
13:49the US provided its defense, plus a security guarantee that all of Europe has benefited from.
13:57Meanwhile, these American troops benefit from experiencing life in Europe.
14:02Well, sort of.
14:14It's kind of like a huge mall.
14:16It has multiple stores.
14:18Yes.
14:19So they definitely adhere to all the American traditions.
14:23Yeah, so it's like going to a mall back home.
14:26Yes, absolutely.
14:27You get popcorn, hot dogs, nachos with nacho cheese and all that great stuff.
14:32You've got Taco Bells, Starbucks, okay.
14:36People typically flock to Popeyes and Panda Express.
14:40So where are we going to get our lunch?
14:42I like Panda Express.
14:43Okay.
14:45I'll take the teriyaki chicken.
14:47So you're paying with US dollars?
14:49Yes.
14:49That does feel odd, actually, to see dollars in Europe.
14:55Yeah.
14:55Thank you, Q.
14:56So tasty.
14:58Thanks, Asia.
14:59You're welcome.
15:01I mean, the base is so huge, and this place is so huge.
15:05Could you just sort of spend your time in Germany, in here?
15:09You know, not really venture outside into Germany?
15:12Yeah, I think you would be missing out, but absolutely.
15:14You could live on the base and not go anywhere.
15:18These troops seem really settled here.
15:21But while Russia remains Europe's most pressing security concern,
15:25Washington has new priorities.
15:28Donald Trump has made it clear.
15:30Europe must be more self-reliant when it comes to defence.
15:34He isn't the first US president to say it, but he's certainly the most direct.
15:39I said, if you're not going to pay your bills, we're not going to defend you.
15:44The threat has worked.
15:46Feeling suddenly vulnerable, Germany is massively increasing its defence spending,
15:52roughly tripling its budget over a ten-year period, with more promised if needed.
15:58Germany's new drive when it comes to defence is the biggest single turnaround I've seen in this country in all
16:06my years reporting on it.
16:08The German government now says it wants to build the biggest army in the whole of the European Union.
16:15It's a massive change, but so is the attitude of Germany's European neighbours.
16:19They used to fear the idea of a mighty German military because of its history.
16:25Now, they're begging for it.
16:38It's hardly a secret that Donald Trump has an uncomfortable relationship with Europe, shall we say.
16:44But Germans feel particularly got at, even if you look at when Donald Trump was a property magnate in New
16:51York.
16:51He's said to have talked often about wanting to get rid of German cars on the streets of Manhattan.
16:58Yet, as it happens, his grandparents were from Germany, from its prosperous wine country.
17:05The vineyards.
17:06I'm just down the road from the American airbase.
17:13Ancestral home of the Trumps.
17:16Wow, look at that church.
17:19And vineyards and pretty houses and no golf course in sight.
17:25Trumps first moved here over 400 years ago.
17:29And there are still some who live in the area.
17:33Oh, look!
17:35Beckerai Trump.
17:36Trump Bakery.
17:38I am going to go in there.
17:41The former owner of this bakery was a distant relative of the American president.
17:49They don't want to talk.
17:52There's been a lot of grief.
17:53Just being associated with the name Trump has caused a lot of problems, it seems, for the family.
18:00Trump is not popular in Germany.
18:02You don't even need to go on the streets.
18:04You can see that very clearly in opinion polls.
18:08Apart from the bakery, there are few other signs of this area's most famous descendant.
18:14Hello.
18:15But the mayor of Karlstadt, Thomas Jaworek, is taking me to see the grave of Donald Trump's granddad.
18:28Oh, yes. Is there a lot of interest in the Trump graves?
18:32No.
18:34Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, grew up in Karlstadt in the 1870s.
18:40It was Friedrich Trump who went to the United States just for income reasons.
18:49From there he then went to the gold rush and he bought land in New York.
18:55And that's actually the fundament for the...
18:58The Trump empire.
19:01Friedrich's wife, Elisabeth, Donald Trump's grandmother, was also from Karlstadt.
19:05They got married and that's one of the wedding pictures.
19:10Who do you think looks most like Donald Trump?
19:14I think none of them.
19:15No? I think I can see a bit in Elisabeth.
19:19Maybe I'm imagining it.
19:21Perhaps for the hair.
19:23I do find it intriguing that, you know, Donald Trump's ancestry on his mum's side goes to Scotland.
19:30That seems to play in the UK's favour, you know, when it comes to personal relations with Donald Trump.
19:36But so far, this link to Germany hasn't helped.
19:40I mean, your former Chancellor, Angela Merkel, she even writes about it in her autobiography,
19:44that he... Donald Trump seemed to be out for Germany, you know, not in a friendly way.
19:49It's what it is.
19:50Do you hope to tempt him here now?
19:52He's slapping tariffs on German cars and Germany's building its military,
19:56so maybe he's more favourably disposed.
19:59Will you invite him?
20:00I think we cannot afford the security taxes to run this invitation.
20:07It's a good thought, though. It's an interesting thought.
20:10Donald Trump used to say his grandfather was Swedish, not German.
20:15Now he seems proud of his heritage.
20:17But two thirds of Germans, according to polls, look at the US as one of the biggest threats to world
20:23peace,
20:24more than China, and just behind Putin's Russia.
20:40My next stop is Berlin, Germany's capital city, and before German reunification in 1990,
20:49East Berlin was the capital of communist East Germany,
20:52a country more or less controlled by the Soviet Union,
20:56which in turn played a huge role in defeating the Nazis.
21:04I'm visiting Treptower Park, a memorial to the Soviet soldiers who died here in 1945.
21:13Look, you can see the statue to the hero Soviet soldier with a crushed swastika at his feet.
21:23I've never been here before, and the enormity of it all really hits you.
21:30There's no way that the Allies would have won the war against the Nazis without Soviet help and sacrifice.
21:38All in all, 25 million Soviet civilians and soldiers died in World War II.
21:4625 million.
21:52Guilt about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis still shapes Germany in all sorts of ways, including its relationship with
22:01Russia.
22:02Professor? Or can I say Jens?
22:04Yeah, just Jens.
22:06Okay. Hello, I'm Katja. Pleased to meet you.
22:09Professor Jens Wendland's father was a senior figure in the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union.
22:16Einen Moment.
22:21Das ist mein leiblicher Vater, und das ist Himmler.
22:25Mein leiblicher Vater, Hans-Adolf Pritzmann, SS-Obergruppenführer,
22:29durch persönliche Befehle von Erschießungen den Tod von 400.000 Menschen zu verantworten hat.
22:37Muss man sich mal vorstellen. Das kann man sich nicht vorstellen.
22:40Und er hat sich folgerichtig zum Schluss des Krieges mit Himmler zusammen umgebracht.
22:47Jens says he's sickened by the Nazis' mass murder of Soviet citizens.
22:52He's devoted much of his career to building bridges with Russia, teaching media studies in Moscow.
23:00Ich habe es für wichtig gehalten, in Moskau zu arbeiten aus zwei Gründen.
23:05Das eine ist, ja, auch schlechtes Gewissen, Schuldgefühle.
23:09Und das zweite war, ich habe dem Traum angehangen, im Moment ist es ja nur ein Traum,
23:16dass wirklich Russland zu Europa gehört.
23:19Ich habe das immer so empfunden und habe immer gedacht, es ist kulturell gehört es zu uns und es gehört
23:27zu Europa.
23:28Even when it comes to the war in Ukraine, Jens is very open to Russia's perspective.
23:35You speak so warmly about Russia and about your time in Russia, about working in Russia.
23:42Do you see Russia though as an aggressor these days?
23:46You know, it marched into Ukraine, a sovereign country. Do you accept that?
23:52Ja, Putin war ein Aggressor, klar. Das war so, aber es kam ja nicht von ungefähr.
24:00Deutschen haben für diese Kooperation, beziehungsweise für die Bindung Russlands an Europa zu wenig getan.
24:09Zu wenig Konkretes getan.
24:10Dass Misstrauen bleibt, ist auch nie ausgeräumt worden.
24:14Und wir haben auch zu wenig dafür getan, um Misstrauen auszuräumen.
24:18Das war so, um.
24:21Since the end of the Cold War, Germany has worked really hard to build close business ties with Russia.
24:28And the invasion of Ukraine came as a huge shock.
24:32That was really interesting.
24:35What a contrast to the UK, where when it comes to Ukraine, Russia is definitely seen as the aggressor.
24:44Jens was explaining it all very much from Russia's point of view.
24:50Jens is far from alone in wanting to normalise relations with Moscow.
24:54The AFD party, which regularly leads opinion polls in Germany, wants to end sanctions on Russia and start buying cheap
25:02Russian energy again.
25:10The shadow of Germany's Nazi past hangs over everything in this country in one way or another, including attitudes to
25:19immigration.
25:20I've come to Mannheim, a city in the rich, industrialised west of the country.
25:31We hear Turkish everywhere here.
25:35We've got kebab shop.
25:38There's another one down there and another one.
25:41Jewelry shop, the kind that you see all over the place in Amman and Jordan.
25:46There's another one, two, three of them down this street and delicious cakes.
25:52I feel like I'm back in the Middle East.
25:54Germany's economic rise from the ashes of World War II was supported by lots of foreign workers.
26:01Germany's large immigrant population goes back to the 1950s, 60s and early 70s,
26:08when it was looking for workers to come and feed the booming economy in West Germany.
26:14And they came from all over the Mediterranean and a lot from Turkey.
26:19Germany called them Gastarbeiter, that means guest workers.
26:22The implication was, you come here and work and then you go home. But a lot of people stayed.
26:29Today, a quarter of Germany's population is either an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.
26:35Here in Mannheim, it's almost half.
26:42Hello.
26:43Hello.
26:44Hi.
26:45Hello.
26:46Hello.
26:46Hi.
26:46I find your business so beautiful.
26:48Yeah, thank you very much.
26:49Nisa Ökal runs a wedding dress shop together with her mum.
26:53Du bist hier geboren?
26:54Ja, tatsächlich.
26:55Ich bin hier geboren mit meinem Opa, väterlicherseits.
26:58Der ist damals hergekommen aus der Türkei.
27:00Der ist dann als Gastarbeiter hergekommen.
27:03Meine Vorgeneration, die hat hier so viel hergebracht.
27:06Die hat hier die Brautläden reingebracht, die hat hier die Goldläden reingebracht,
27:10die ganzen Restaurants, die ganzen Speisen.
27:13Wenn man sieht, ey, die Familie hat sich hier was aufgebaut.
27:17Und Steuern bezahlt.
27:18Ja, das ist Teil Deutschlands.
27:19Ja, genau.
27:19Also das war die Idee von den Gastarbeiter, oder?
27:21Dass man die Wirtschaft hilft.
27:24Ja, die Wirtschaft einfach ankurbeld.
27:27For decades, immigrants into Germany, along with their families,
27:31were broadly accepted and seen as a necessary part of a growing economy.
27:36But in 2015, that changed radically.
27:41This year has seen an unprecedented number of migrants arriving in Europe.
27:47Most have come from Syria.
27:49Eleven million Syrians have been left homeless and many have fled abroad.
27:54No bus, no train.
27:56We are very tired.
27:58As over a million Syrian refugees and other migrants arrived in Europe,
28:03many EU countries shut their borders.
28:08But Chancellor Angela Merkel did an extraordinary thing.
28:12She welcomed them.
28:15Die Welt sieht Deutschland als ein Land der Hoffnung und der Chancen.
28:19Und das war nun wirklich nicht immer so.
28:23Germany expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015,
28:27far more than any other country.
28:29But Merkel's decision has had profound consequences.
28:37A trail of devastation after a car ploughed in to protestors.
28:42Three people have died in a knife attack in southern Germany.
28:45About an hour or so this news broke that a car had driven into a crowd at a Christmas market,
28:50possibly 60 to 80 people being injured.
28:58A string of attacks over the last few years carried out by asylum seekers and immigrants
29:03has fueled concerns that immigration is out of control.
29:07Many German Christmas markets now have barriers to make people feel safer.
29:14There was an attack here in Mannheim's central square too,
29:18when an Afghan man stabbed and killed a policeman.
29:24All these attacks have made Germans feel incredibly insecure.
29:30It's pushed up support for the far right,
29:33because a lot of people feel that migration is totally out of control now.
29:39The attacks are fuelling support for views that are tough on migration.
29:45And breaking taboos that have existed in Germany since the end of the Second World War.
29:55As a result of changing attitudes,
29:58the AFD has become the first hard-right nationalist party
30:02to be voted into the German parliament since World War II.
30:06It's Germany's biggest opposition party by far.
30:12And it's very well known and liked for its hard-line policies on immigration.
30:18One leading AFD politician was even found guilty of using Nazi slogans
30:37and downplaying the Holocaust.
30:38We were very pleased to have made this new
30:41as a political world to be a great witness and a great country.
30:55Support for the AFD is particularly noticeable in Germany's East.
31:03This is a map of the election results from the last year
31:08the last general election here in Germany.
31:10Look at that. The blue is AFD.
31:14And you can see a clear split between the country, East and West.
31:19And that is the dividing line between West Germany
31:22and what was former communist East Germany.
31:25If this isn't a picture of a country still deeply divided,
31:29I don't know what is.
31:32I've come to a city in East Germany called Schwerin.
31:38Ooh, look at that.
31:41Now that is... Wow!
31:43You know, there is a tendency to think of East Germany
31:49as an ugly, poverty-stricken,
31:54former communist version of the West.
31:58But, oh my God, does it have some beautiful secrets.
32:01Look at that.
32:02I mean, a fairytale castle on a lake.
32:07It's gorgeous.
32:09Oh, this is stunning.
32:14The reason I'm here is to get a better idea
32:17of why the AFD is gaining ground in places like this.
32:22I am on my way to meet a couple of young podcasters,
32:30supporters of the AFD,
32:33and I'm going to arrive just before they start recording,
32:37so we're going to have to be very quick, quick, quick.
32:40Punctlichkeit, punctuality, that's what Germans believe in,
32:43and I think I've just failed the test.
32:45As the AFD has gained popularity,
32:48Berlin's position towards it has hardened.
32:51In 2025, the German authorities officially classified the party
32:56as extremist, describing their policies as anti-democratic.
33:01There's even been talk of banning the AFD outright.
33:06The local government here is also investigating the man I'm about to meet
33:10for extremism, a claim he contests.
33:15Hello.
33:16Hi.
33:16I am so sorry.
33:18I hope I'm not too late.
33:19It's fine.
33:20It's fine.
33:21No worries.
33:22I'm Katja.
33:23Sorry.
33:23Boris, hello.
33:24Nice to meet you, Boris.
33:26That's Matthias.
33:27Hi, Matthias.
33:28Boris von Morgenstern is a journalist who vlogs on YouTube
33:31about immigration and culture wars.
33:35I'm just going to sit and observe,
33:37so please just carry on as you would.
33:39Okay, then we'll start.
33:40You can get inside.
33:41The inner sanctum.
33:43Yeah.
33:44Excellent.
33:44Where should I put myself?
33:46You can come through here.
33:48Okay.
33:49Today Boris is joined by regular guest Matthias Schröder.
33:54So you're going to tell your listeners that we're here today?
33:56They already know, yeah.
33:57They know already.
33:58I had to tell them this time it's not my fault that we're late.
34:01Usually it is, but now I have someone to blame.
34:07Okay.
34:27There are now dozens of AFD supporters like Boris and Matthias,
34:35using social media far more skillfully than traditional parties
34:39and helping to bring the AFD's agenda to huge numbers of young voters.
34:49Boris and Matthias have invited me to meet some of their friends.
34:54Why is it, do you think, that so many Germans are moving towards the AFD?
35:02That's not such a simple question. I think that it's fundamentally
35:05with uncertainty. And many people in Germany have the feeling,
35:12that the only way possible, how you can give a voice through this party is.
35:19And that many topics, which have been ignored by other parties in the last few years,
35:27for example?
35:28Das Thema Migration als Hauptthema. Es wird immer darüber gesprochen.
35:34Und wenn man diese Probleme dann explizit benennt, muss man sich häufig anhören,
35:38man sei Extremist in irgendeiner Form. Und ich glaube, auf gut Deutsch gesagt,
35:44haben die Leute einfach die Schnauze voll davon.
35:46Ja.
35:47Das Thema Migration als Hauptthema in den letzten Jahren, so wie sie geführt wurde,
35:50von den etablierten Parteien, schon eher so ein bisschen das Vertrauen entfolscht hat der Bürger.
35:57Und ich bin ja selbst auch hier im Osten groß geworden und höre das auch selbst von
36:01meinen Eltern, von Großeltern, dass sie ja oft sagen, und das ist natürlich oft so,
36:06früher war alles besser.
36:07Und ich habe mich gefragt, wie können junge Leute langen für ein Hausland
36:12oder gute alten Tage, die sie nie wirklich erlebt haben.
36:16Ist das wirklich der Traum, dass die AfD sogar sogar verkauft hat?
36:19Es gibt so Filme aus den 70ern, wie die Straßenzüge aussahen.
36:24Keine großartigen Absperrungen. Es gab keine Betonklötze,
36:27die jetzt in Anführungszeichen jeden Weihnachtsmarkt schützen müssen.
36:30Es gab keine Einlasskontrollen für Weihnachtsmärkte.
36:33Das ist das Gefühl, was fehlt. Das ist verloren gegangen.
36:36Das Gefühl von Sicherheit im eigenen Land ist komplett verloren gegangen.
36:42The AfD has millions of supporters, like Boris and his friends,
36:46who feel alienated from traditional establishment politics.
36:51For them, classifying the AfD as extremist is just a ploy to weaken support for the party.
36:59Das erste Mal, als die AfD als gesichert rechtsextremistisch eingestuft worden ist,
37:04war der Zeitpunkt, wo die AfD plötzlich die CDU überholt hat in einem Land.
37:10Are you suggesting that it's the German establishment trying to shut the AfD down?
37:17Yeah.
37:17Rather than actually having bona fide arguments why the AfD should be shut down?
37:23That's what you're saying. So it's against democracy?
37:26Yeah.
37:27Definitions.
37:33You don't have to agree with them, but the AfD is huge in Germany and it's growing
37:40and it feels victimised by the German establishment.
37:44And the danger of the German establishment trying to shut the AfD up,
37:48or even shut it down altogether, is that increasing numbers of its supporters
37:53will lose faith in traditional politics here altogether
37:56and become more open to arguments that the freedom of speech,
38:01or the voice of the people, are being muzzled.
38:09It's time for me to leave Germany.
38:13This is a country in flux at home and under pressure from its European neighbours
38:18to step up on the world stage.
38:23Right now Germany is uneasy in its own skin.
38:27It's unsure of who or what to be just at the moment that this continent
38:32is at its weakest since the Second World War.
38:34And as Europe's biggest economy, it is time for Germany to stand up
38:40and to take far more of a leadership role,
38:43one that it's been afraid to take since World War II.
38:52Next, I'm heading to Spain.
38:57Of all the countries I'm visiting, this is the one that Brits are most familiar with.
39:03We make more than 15 million trips here a year,
39:07enjoying white sandy beaches and stunning coastal villages.
39:14But although we may think of Spain as being united by paella, sangria, flamenco,
39:21living here it can feel less like one nation
39:23and more an assembly of 17 often very different regions
39:27with distinct identities.
39:31I'm starting in the region of Catalonia,
39:33in a small town called Villafranca, not far from Barcelona.
39:42I've come here on a day when the town celebrates
39:44one of its most colourful and craziest traditions.
39:50We've got one group playing something over there.
39:53These guys playing something completely different.
39:56I say, you know, this is what I love about Spain.
39:59This mix of, you know, festivities, but absolutely chaotic people of all ages
40:06all coming together.
40:21But today is about far more than the music.
40:26You look at that lady's shirt at the back.
40:28The yellow and red stripe, that is the Catalan flag.
40:33These are very proud Catalans.
40:36Today, the town is celebrating its Catalan identity
40:39with an age-old tradition,
40:43building giant towers made of people.
40:51So if you have a look at the people on the bottom here,
40:54everyone is kind of moving forward to give support to the base structure.
41:00The lightest scramble to the top.
41:04Oh, the little ones are coming now, like small children.
41:09But they're helmets for protection.
41:11Okay, here we go.
41:19Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
41:22Wow.
41:23It can happen.
41:25You can see they're shaking, but thankfully everyone's okay.
41:28They're okay.
41:34It's not unusual for a collapse to lead to a hospital visit.
41:38But that's not enough to put them off.
41:57Oh my God.
42:09They did it. They did it.
42:1810, 12 hours a week of practice.
42:21And it lasts a couple of seconds, but it is really impressive.
42:26To find out why they do something so dangerous,
42:29I'm catching up with one of the climbers,
42:31Maria Camel, whose young children take part as well.
42:35So I have to say, first of all, congratulations.
42:39That was amazing.
42:40What does it mean to you and to everybody here to do these castals?
42:45What does it represent?
42:47It represents a tradition.
42:50It's a very strong symbol of the Catalan character, of the Catalan people.
42:55We are strong. We work together.
42:58We like to reach the sky.
43:01We have Catalan music playing what happens.
43:04Lots of people wearing Catalan flags.
43:06What's your mother tongue?
43:08My mother tongue is Catalan.
43:10I always speak Catalan at home and I learn to speak Spanish at school.
43:16So later, six or seven years old.
43:19Yes.
43:19And what about your children?
43:21My children speak Catalan at home and also in the school.
43:25They learn Spanish as a second language or a foreign language?
43:29The main lessons in Catalonia are done in Catalan.
43:33Do you feel more Spanish or Catalan?
43:36I definitely feel Catalan. I don't feel Spanish at all.
43:41At all?
43:41I know I have nothing against Spanish people or Spanish country, but I don't think I belong to Spain.
43:48I think for a lot of people that's quite a dramatic thing to say in a way.
43:53You know, many tourists come to Barcelona, to Catalonia, and they just think,
43:58Oh, it's a region of Spain.
43:59Yes.
44:00Not for you.
44:01Not for me.
44:04Maria is far from alone amongst Catalans in not feeling Spanish.
44:15Near to Villafranca is the largest city in Catalonia, Barcelona.
44:24I've come to Barcelona on a really special day. It's Catalan National Day.
44:33Today is about celebrating Catalan culture.
44:36But a lot of people aren't just here for a celebration.
44:40They're here because they want independence from Spain.
44:44The Catalan flag has red and yellow stripes.
44:47But on proud display today are also Catalan flags with a star.
44:52And they symbolise a call for independence.
44:56I'm trying to look for one flag that's not calling for independence.
45:05And I can't see one.
45:11From the very, very young to the very, very old, Catalan nationalists, they do feed that to their children with
45:20mother's milk.
45:21It is felt so strongly, so deeply.
45:27Catalonia does have considerable autonomy from Spain with its own parliament and police force.
45:33But many here feel that isn't enough.
45:36Isn't there a difference between having your language, having learning catalan, having your traditions and wanting to break away from
45:45Spain?
45:46Yes, it's true.
45:47The problem is that Spain doesn't allow us to grow our culture.
45:51There are some interests to eliminate the Catalan culture.
45:58Go to Spain and visit Cataluña!
46:01Go to Spain and visit Cataluña!
46:06So much passion on the streets today.
46:10A lot of joy, but also anger and frustration.
46:18You know, it does seem remarkable in modern day Spain.
46:22And of course it's not all Catalans, but there are so many people who feel hostile.
46:29Almost disgusted at the idea of being called Spanish.
46:34Or just being part of this country.
46:43So much of that hostility towards Spain, in Catalonia and other parts of the country,
46:48can be traced back to Spain's civil war of the 1930s.
46:59The first of the actual pictures from Spain in revolt tells a graphic story of bloodshed and violence.
47:05The land of smiling tomorrow is grim today.
47:08After almost three years of fighting, General Francisco Franco's nationalist forces defeated Spain's Republican government.
47:17Franco went on to rule Spain as a dictator for almost 40 years.
47:23He imprisoned political opponents, sent many to forced labour camps, and executed tens of thousands.
47:33In his drive to dominate Spain, he tried to centralise and control it all from Madrid.
47:40Franco violently clamped down on regional identities in areas like Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia,
47:47which all had their own languages and independence movements.
47:52Franco felt really threatened by regional pride and local nationalist sentiment, and he tried to crack down on all that
48:01hard and fast.
48:03But the thing is, if you try to repress people's passions and their sense of identity, they often just come
48:10out all that much stronger.
48:14Across Spain today, many still burn with resentment about the brutality inflicted by the Franco regime.
48:22Yet just outside Madrid, there's still a giant memorial Franco commissioned essentially to glorify himself.
48:33That is massive.
48:42Franco claimed this memorial and its 150-metre-high cross stand in honour of everyone who died during the war,
48:51on both sides.
48:52But Franco's political prisoners were forced to build it, and it's become a symbol of what opponents believe is lingering
48:59sympathy for his legacy.
49:03This place always sends shivers down my spine.
49:08It's thought that more than 30,000 bodies are buried here.
49:12But the families of those who were killed opposing Franco said, no-one asked them if the remains of their
49:19loved ones could be brought here,
49:21to a place they saw and still see as a homage to right-wing nationalism and a successful military coup,
49:30and ultimately where Franco's body was laid to rest in glory inside that basilica.
49:38After Franco's death, instead of confronting what he'd done and trying to heal the country,
49:43Spain's political class imposed what they called a pact of forgetting that many Spaniards have not forgotten.
49:53Look, two banners have just been unfurled.
49:58While we've been filming, I've just seen the activists' runoff.
50:021936 and 1975, you know, that's from the start of Franco's military coup until the end of his dictatorship.
50:09That is a message saying glory to a freed Basque country.
50:14The activists are showing the repression they were put under by Franco and his regime.
50:22Oh, look, they're taking them. They're taking them off now.
50:26Yeah.
50:29Yeah, the security guards making sure they disappear.
50:35These aren't images Spain wants us to see.
50:44This remains a hugely divided country between those who feel they still haven't received justice
50:51and those who saw the Franco era as one of political stability and economic growth.
50:57But a public memorial perceived to be celebrating Franco is surprising.
51:03What a contrast to the fates of two other famous European 20th century fascist dictators, Mussolini and Hitler.
51:13Franco's body was taken away from here just a few years ago.
51:17But the shadow of this place still looms large here.
51:34In the 50 years since Franco died, little has been done to help the families of his victims move on.
51:43I've come to the south of the country to Cordoba and I'm on my way to a cemetery that has
51:48a mass grave from the Franco era.
51:55At first glance, this cemetery looks much like any other, the final resting place for thousands of loved ones.
52:06But tucked in a corner, at the far end, lie the remains of people executed by Franco's followers.
52:20Daniel Quiroga is coordinating the exhumation of the bodies buried here.
52:25This is a mass grave.
52:27This is a communal forest.
52:28Totally.
52:29In fact, we have more than 140 victims, people killed.
52:35In this cemetery, we know that there are more than 1400 people killed.
52:41And in the city of Cordoba?
52:43In the city of Cordoba, according to the latest investigations, they can reach 5.000 people.
52:47Wow, in all these mass graves in the city.
52:51Yes.
52:51How many people in Spain have disappeared?
52:54I can't give you a number. 120.000? 140.000?
52:58The base of all this process is the hiding place.
53:02It's thought that across Spain, there are up to 6.000 mass graves sites.
53:08Around a quarter have been dug up.
53:11And while bodies of the Republican leftists who fought against Franco were tossed into the ground in unmarked graves,
53:18those who fought for Franco were often given proper burials.
53:22These are people who fell on the front, from the criminal side, from the Franco's side,
53:28to whom they gave them honor and gave them a space in perpetuity,
53:32as you can see, with their names, with their death dates,
53:36with a monumental cross that speaks of that they were dead by God and Spain,
53:42to whom they gave them pensions to their wives and tried to seek a good life.
53:48It's a big contrast between this part of the grave yard and an unmarked mass grave.
53:55Totally, totally.
53:57Well, think that in Spain, in that time, and from that time,
54:01all of the towns were forgotten and buried.
54:06For almost 90 years, they were fighting to recover.
54:09No, the bones of their bones.
54:11That everyone would agree, because they were human rights.
54:14They were killed.
54:15Very emotional.
54:16Hombre, claro, claro.
54:17It's a real wound that's open in Spain still.
54:21Totalmente.
54:22No, nosotros estamos intentando cerrar esa herida,
54:25que hoy en dÃa sigue sangrando.
54:29Spain is a modern Western European country, but it still has one of the highest numbers of disappeared people in
54:38the world.
54:39Hi, I'm Katia. I'm so pleased to meet you.
54:43Rafael Amor and his daughter Maria Jose have been waiting for decades to find the remains of Rafael's father.
54:51How many years did he have disappeared?
54:56How many years did he have disappeared?
54:56A few years, if at all.
54:59He was very, very young to lose his father.
55:02He came to the people and he took it.
55:07He brought it here and killed him.
55:12Rafael's father, Francisco, was a captain fighting against Franco's army.
55:17But he was captured.
55:19He was brought to this cemetery, shot, and thrown into a mass grave.
55:26But, well, at the end, that is what most emociona to us,
55:31when he knows the date of shooting,
55:34he begins to write letters of death.
55:37The one who wrote my grandmother to death.
55:40He said to my dear wife,
55:44today I die,
55:46I have to know that I die with your name in my eyes.
55:49I have to know that I have committed to you without wanting to do it.
55:56I will always honor my memory telling my children
55:58the truth of the sad story of the end of his father.
56:02My Rafael.
56:04He has never had the eyes of his father more than twice in his face.
56:09He has never known me.
56:10He has never known you.
56:11He has never known me.
56:14Give him kisses in my name.
56:15And remember always of your husband who loves you.
56:18Francisco Amor.
56:23I'm so sorry.
56:26Rafael, I'm so sorry.
56:31This happened so many years ago,
56:34but there's still so much pain.
56:41I think that everyone has the right to know where their family are,
56:45and to have a good burial.
56:50To be able to take a flower.
56:57The work is due to start soon to unearth the remains in this cemetery.
57:02Once they're recovered, the aim is to identify them through their DNA.
57:06To finally bring some closure.
57:10Francisco Amor Cuadrado.
57:13Just one of so many Spaniards thrown away like rubbish into mass graves by Franco's fascists.
57:21This pain and division in Spain is just going to keep on being passed from generation to generation.
57:28Until this country confronts its ugly past and then finally puts it to rest.
57:35These old wounds divide and weaken Spain, politically as well as socially.
57:42It's continental Europe's fourth richest power.
57:46But the role Spain plays on the European stage is far off its potential.
57:57Next time I'll come face to face with one of Spain's biggest threats.
58:03Another fire starts there, another there, another there.
58:07Before heading to a European rainforest.
58:10You do not get this in Paris.
58:12And finding out why the heart of France is hurting.
58:17Looking in my wing mirror there, there are a lot of police vans behind us.
58:24Or are you walking towards the light of time?
58:25I'm going to make the Eagles comment this way in the manifesto's pocket.
58:26Or are you walking towards Philan利?
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