65 years after the Berlin Wall was built, Germany’s east-west scars help feed a rising far-right party
Decades after the Berlin Wall fell, observers see deep-seated regional grievances and feelings of second-class citizenship driving a surge for the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
On August 15 and 16, 2026, Berlin's techno music scene paused its festivities to mourn the victims of a Pride attack. The weekend in Germany was dominated by wildfire containment efforts, particularly the Hürtgenwald forest fire that had been raging in the Eifel region. This was Germany's largest recorded forest fire in North Rhine-Westphalia, described as the most serious in the region's history.
Although most emergency crews had withdrawn by Sunday, helicopters and thermal imaging flights continued to monitor hotspots for any signs of reignition. Around 2,000 residents evacuated from Gey district returned home. Meanwhile, a wildfire in Saarland had burned approximately 15 acres of forest in the municipality of Illingen, with firefighters battling the blaze under challenging terrain and limited water access.
A separate wildfire in Belgium's High Fens nature reserve had engulfed around 3,000 hectares and threatened to reach within 3 kilometers of the German border, prompting authorities to urge residents to stay away from the area.
Written by urgent.news from DW English (Top Stories)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
