While Germany is trying to make major budget cuts, billions of euros are silently sitting in banks and other financial institutions unused and unnoticed in so-called forgotten accounts. A 2021 report from the country’s research ministry estimated that up to €4.2 billion ($4.9 billion) was in such accounts. Other estimates are much higher, some as high as €9 billion. The banks themselves haven’t released any figures. As people get older, have multiple accounts or die, relatives and heirs are having a hard time identifying accounts. Online banking, with no paperwork or printed statements, makes it more difficult because the information is locked up in email accounts or on hard drives. Non-traditional financial assets like cryptocurrencies or NFTs are even harder to keep track of.   What is an abandoned account? Sticking to traditional financial assets, abandoned, forgotten or dormant accounts are simply bank deposits or securities, such as stocks and bonds, that remain untouched for a...

When the world seems to be falling apart, people look for something to hold on to. “Now, more than ever, with the world plagued by crises and at risk of being engulfed by war, there is a growing desire for unity,” says Evelyn Meining, artistic director of the Mozartfest Würzburg. Throughout history, the genius and beauty of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s music has frequently provided comfort during times of crisis — and it continues to do so today. “As a composer, he is a figurehead, especially when there is a sense of hyper-stimulation and polarization,” Meining tells DW. That is why the motto of Germany’s largest Mozart festival this year is “Evoked Beauty: Mozart the Idol.” Mozart as an idol of modernity The opening concert of the festival, featuring the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, demonstrated just how powerful and moving Mozart’s music can be. The Salzburg orchestra performed Mozart’s penultimate symphony in G...

European Union lawmakers and members agreed in principle on Monday on a new deal tightening migration rules and allowing the establishment of so-called “return hubs” outside the bloc, amid growing sentiment against illegal migration. The deal, proposed by the European Commission last year, comes as far-right parties across the bloc have been growing in popularity and as public opinion has been pushing for a tougher stance on illegal migration. The German DPA news agency reported that the deal was moved forward with the support of right-wing parties in the European Parliament, an unusual move. The agreement comes even as irregular arrivals into the EU fell 26% in 2025, their lowest level since 2021. EU officials, however, argue that the problem now is governments’ struggle to enforce deportation orders, with fewer than 30% being carried out. The legislation still requires formal approval by EU governments and the European Parliament. How the...

The German state of Baden-Württemberg is clamping down further on smoking in public places with a new package of laws that came into effect at the start of June.  One notable change turns what was already a house rule at many pools around the country into a strict law — smoking at outdoor swimming pools is no longer permitted.  Operators are permitted to set up small smoking zones for patrons, provided they do not disturb other swimmers — a step that’s contentious in some quarters.  The new restrictions also extend to other common gathering places for young children like playgrounds, bus and tram stops, theme parks and zoos. The latter two can, like outdoor pools, provide small smoking zones.  Smoking areas will no longer be permitted at public transport stops, meanwhile.  The new regulations will also impact some public indoor spaces. For instance, hotels will no longer be permitted to offer smoking...

The “Global Refugee Crisis 2026” report, published Monday in Berlin, is intended to be a wake-up call, according to its co-editor Petra Bendel from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Bavaria). At its presentation, she expressed concern about the impact of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), a legal framework adopted in 2024 that will become legally binding across all EU member states on June 12: “We fear a further expansion of detention-like accommodation for asylum seekers at the external borders,” Bendel said. She was especially critical of the plan to concentrate refugees found to have no prospect of asylum in “return hubs,” repatriation centers located in third countries outside of the European Union (EU). These are a central feature of tougher migration policy, that Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party has described as “innovative.” To set up such centers, however, the EU would be dependent on “cooperation partners,” which...

Walk into a bakery or a bookshop in Bavaria‘s Chiemgau region, and you might spot a customer paying with what looks like play money — colorful banknotes printed with grasshoppers, ladybugs and other insects.  “An estimated 10 to 15% of customers pay this way,” one bookseller told DW. The locals call it the “Chiemgauer” — and it’s a currency they invented themselves.  Quirky as it sounds, it underpins a micro financial system that has been running for more than two decades — and has recently evolved into a tool for cutting carbon emissions in this picturesque corner of southeastern Germany. A classroom experiment that got out of hand The Chiemgauer was born in 2003 at a local high school, where economics teacher Christian Gelleri and a group of students were looking for a way to support local businesses losing customers to shopping malls and big chains. Their solution was a...

Germany 4-0 Finland (1-0) Goals: 1-0 Undav (34′), 2-0 Wirtz (48′), 3-0 Undav (57′), 4:0 Musiala (63′) Attendance: 25,122 A day before Germany depart for America, Julian Nagelsmann’s team comprehensively beat Finland in Mainz thanks to an outstanding performance by striker Deniz Undav. The Stuttgart forward scored twice and assisted one to help deliver the expected result. “We can keep going like this,” Nagelsmann said afterwards. “One of our strengths is that we always look like we can score.” There’s not a lot to make of these games. Less than two weeks out from a World Cup is not the time to experiment tactically, and most starters are rested. These games are almost always about players avoiding injury and squad players pushing to start. A confidence-boosting win Jamal Musiala scored, which will be a big boost to his and the team’s confidence after the Bayern Munich man’s long injury layoff....

Alevis make up around 13% of Muslims living in Germany today. Members of this religious community once predominantly lived in rural Anatolia, Turkey, passing on their spiritual beliefs and rites orally. When Turkey began experiencing a rural exodus from the 1950s onwards, along with increasing urbanization and migration to Europe, many Alevi village communities disappeared — and with them the knowledge of their faith in many places. Alevism developed from the 13th century onwards. Today, Alevis constitute the second largest religious community in Turkey after Sunni Islam. Alevis include Turks, Kurds and members of other ethnic minorities such as the Zaza. The Alevi faith grew out of a combination of Central Asian shamanism, Shiite Islam and Muslim mysticism. Alevis venerate the Prophet Muhammad, alongside his cousin and son-in-law, the first Imam Ali, and the Twelver Shiism, while also emphasizing ethical and mystical teachings. Alevis practice their faith in Alevi cemevi, the central space of Alevi worship....

05/31/2026May 31, 2026 German representatives, AfD politicians to attend Putin’s economic forum The patron of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is Vladimir Putin, seen here in 2025Image: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu/picture alliance Members of Germany’s business community are set to officially attend the economic forum in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg in early June after staying away for four years over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The forum has been held under the auspices of the Russian president since 1997. Its program says that German participants will include Stefan Dürr, a dairy producer operating in Russia with the EkoNiva Group, and Thomas Bruch, the longstanding managing director of Globus Holding. Matthias Schepp, chairman of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, defended the attendance by German businesspeople to the dpa news agency. “Not least with a view to the period following a ceasefire, we want, like other major Western countries, to maintain the...

Udo Lindenberg comes from Gronau, a small town near the Dutch border. His hometown is so proud of its most famous son that it dedicated both a public square and a larger-than-life statue to him. At its unveiling in 2015, Lindenberg himself described the monument as the “Statue of Liberty of Gronau.” Years later, the statue collapsed and had to be restored, but this did little to diminish its symbolic value. Leaving the countryside behind Lindenberg always had a strong urge to leave his rural surroundings behind. He grew up with three siblings in modest conditions; his father drank heavily, and the family home was often described as emotionally distant. As a child, Lindenberg would drum on metal boxes in the backyard, spend time with friends and imagine a life beyond Gronau. He later summed up that feeling in the line: “The best road in our town is the one leading...