When we visited Berlin back in September, for example, there were a lot of people resting and relaxing on the grass in front of the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building. But when we returned in October, hardly a place could be found in this stretch of nearly three miles where there wasn’t a demonstrator in the Fridays for Future movement.
“This is not just about protecting the environment,” one protester told me. “It’s about preparing a safer future for humans to adapt to the rapid changes going on around us.”
Germany is a very modern country, and even in the past one hundred years, it has had a rich and complex history. So it’s best to keep in mind that Germans can be sensitive about their past. A case in point is when I met a professor, Dr. Schmidt, who is now working with me at the University of Konstanz. He told me that there were many Jewish citizens who lived in Konstanz until 1939, but tragically, all of them either fled or were deported by the Nazi party. Dr. Schmidt’s grandfather, who was an air raid warden during the Second World War, had the chance to assist a local Jewish family across the border into Switzerland. Dr. Schmidt’s grandfather had known the father of this Jewish family since his childhood. Dr. Schmidt’s grandfather was not even a member of the Nazi party but, because he feared his own imprisonment, he knew that he would face prison charges if he did not report this family for deportation. Instead he arranged that the family cross the border under the cover of night, and his superiors never learned of the incident. Though he did not learn it until seven years later, the family had survived and escaped safely to Spain.
