Decades From Home - A Podcast About Germany Episode 108: Firecracker Foolery
New year, new episode and we kick off 2023 with a lesson on how to gracefully offer your New Years greetings, Nic discovers that New Year’s Day has a morning as well as a late afternoon, and Dili argues that sleep is the best way to celebrate Silvester.
Reports of chaos on the streets of many German cities over leads us to our annual discussion on Germany’s problem with fireworks. Maddeningly, the debate in Germany quickly became a question of migration and integration, and not one of public safety. We question the current narrative, and wonder whether Germany is ignoring a larger problem.
Dili brings us some positive news to start the year, as two museums in Berlin offer to voluntarily return items that were stolen during the colonial period. Might this decision push other European countries to do the same? We also ask whether wealthy individuals should be held to account for the activities of their ancestors during empire.
Despite Nic’s reservations, we finish the show with some predictions for the coming year.
Articles Discussed on the Show
Mit Böllern und Raketen:Entsetzen über Angriffe auf Rettungskräfte
For those of you looking to support Ukraine or the many refugees currently fleeing the conflict, please take a look at these different charities and consider donating if you can:
Ukraine Crisis Media Centre - A list of different donation pages to help the Ukrainian military response.
Disaster Emergency Committee - Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal
Image Credit
Foto von Tzvi Kilov auf Unsplash
Theme tune courtesy of Kloß mit Soß