Fire engines, police helicopter, ambulances and stalls as far as the eye can see. In a low voice, information is given on how to defend oneself against everything from radioactive radiation to pandemics and rocket attacks. All this happens in the middle of the historic center of Potsdam, the largest city in the state of Brandenburg. Here, people can listen to the anti-aircraft siren to familiarize themselves with the sound. Photo: Roger Sevrin Bruland / news A huge anti-aircraft siren is on display in the square so that people can see what it looks like. And soon we will hear what it sounds like when the flight alarm goes off. A familiar sound to people in Ukraine, but something quite foreign to us who live in peaceful Europe. In the shed next to it, a group of young people are given the task of packing a large rucksack with the most important things. What is the most important thing they are thinking about, asks the woman behind the counter sternly. Is it water, food, clothing or medicine? Maybe a battery for a flashlight? Then the facit is handed out in the form of a packing list with the logo of the German Civil Defense. Checklist for what people should have in their stock. Photo: Roger Sevrin Bruland / news The Emergency Preparedness Day in Potsdam was a pilot project where one looks at how best to prepare people for crises and war. At the same time, it awakens bad memories in a people who still remember the Second World War. Yes, it is almost 80 years ago, but since 1945 parents and grandparents have told the story of the great defeat and the great downfall. The driver, Adolf Hitler, had decided to fight to the last man. Entire cities were bombed to rubble. Berlin in 1945. Photo: Ap In Berlin, the remains of buildings were collected in an 80-metre high pile that lies on the road to Potsdam. It is simply called Teufelsberg, the devil’s mountain, and is a popular downhill ride close to the Olympic Stadium. Here, then, lie the remains of the Nazis’ ambitions for world domination. The decommissioned listening station of the CIA can be glimpsed at the top of the man-made Teufelsberg in Berlin. Baketoppen is now a popular hiking destination. Photo: Reuters The alarm goes off At twelve o’clock the anti-aircraft sirens start to sound in Potsdam. You can almost see a chill running down the back of the very oldest who have met. An elderly couple tells news that they hope young people take emergency preparedness seriously. It can save lives if disaster strikes again. – War is never beautiful. There are no just wars, the man says. He points to his wife: – Her father was killed in the war, we were both born in war. We sincerely hope we never have to experience something like this again, he says. The couple are worried about developments in Europe. Both were born during the Second World War, they say. Photo: Roger Sevrin Bruland / news A more dangerous Europe At the same time as the preparedness meeting, a great drama took place in Russia. The leader of the feared Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had sent soldiers towards Moscow. No one knew how it would end. Would there be a civil war in Russia? Would it unravel completely? Would there be a large influx of refugees towards Europe? Would nuclear weapons be widespread? A man tells news that he is worried about what will happen in the next few hours in Russia. Many Germans, especially those who come from the old GDR, sympathize with the Russian people. And Germany as a country has spent the entire post-war period making up for the misdeeds of the Nazis. Chancellor Willy Brandt kneels at the former Jewish ghetto in Warsaw in 1970. This is considered one of the strongest symbols of German remorse. Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, and in the dedication it was emphasized that he had knelt at a Jewish memorial. This was seen as an example of “how he worked to bury hatred and seek reconciliation over the war’s mass graves”. Photo: Ap This is how the war in Ukraine has become a mental shock. For almost 80 years, the German people have worked to turn away from a militaristic political culture. It was probably the first Secretary General of NATO, Hastings Ismay, who has been attributed the following quote about what role NATO should have in the post-war period: – It is about keeping the Soviet Union out, the USA in and Germany down. The contrast could hardly have been greater with current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. When he visited Berlin in June, he made his big appeal to German industry to equip itself. There is a shortage of weapons and ammunition and it is Germany that has the capacity to do something about this, said Stoltenberg in a speech to German industrial leaders on 19 June. The Secretary General of NATO and the German Minister of Defense at a salvage armored vehicle visit a mechanical workshop in Flensburg that prepares tanks for Ukraine on 20 June. Photo: AP Germany is gearing up The German government has taken the call seriously. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ambitions to spend 2 per cent of gross national product on defence. One will notice that Europe’s largest economy is now gearing up. But many people I talk to in Berlin are worried about the long-term consequences. They want nothing to do with war, and believe that the money should rather be used for climate measures. This is a generation that has grown up with war-damaged grandparents. War is something that must be avoided at all costs. If you build enough weapons, sooner or later they will be used. New churchyards but old cannons Recently I was in France and visited the war churchyard at Verdun. 17,000 crosses on the plain where the great battle was fought between Germany and France during the First World War. French President François Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel during a ceremony at the war cemetery in Verdun in 2016. After two world wars, Germany and France have become allies and cooperate in NATO to secure Europe. Photo: Ap Knoklane to over a hundred thousand 20-year-olds are laid to rest inside the memorial itself. Identification of the fallen is still ongoing. Forensic doctors identify bones at the Verdun battlefield, 100 years later. Photo: Reuters Perhaps the cemetery guard in Verdun would have made a greater impression if news’s correspondent had not first seen the newly planted graves in Ukraine. They grow incredibly fast and bear witness to the price a new generation of young people must pay. One of many cemeteries in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters What both wars have in common is that most were killed by artillery bombardment. In this sense, the nature of war has changed little in 100 years. And one might be tempted to ask. How many times must young men die for old men’s hunger for power? What happened to never again? It will be sad if the Germans now come to the conclusion that it is futile to make up for themselves and to seek peaceful solutions to the conflict. “It ain’t over til the fat lady sings” It finally calmed down in Moscow. There was no civil war and the end of the world this time either. Yevgeny Prigozhin took the plane to Belarus, and his mercenaries were sent home. At the police helicopter in Potsdam, the police orchestra lined up to play some cozy jazz. The kids got ice cream and the parents enjoyed themselves in the sun. The police orchestra plays cheerful jazz to lift the serious mood. Photo: Roger Sevrin Bruland / news But probably everyone who had turned up on this Saturday morning felt that they had spent the day doing something useful. Namely preparedness.
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Germany strengthens preparedness – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
