Hermann Parzinger takes on the position of President of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage on March 1st 2008. On February 24, 2008 DW-TV will present a portrait of the culture manager. The Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage was established fifty years ago by the German Federal Government and the 16 German states. It is Europe's largest cultural complex with 2000 members of staff and encompasses a total of 17 museums, libraries and research institutes.
World War Two started on 1 September 1939 when German forces unleashed an attack on the Polish garrison on the Westernplatte peninsular on the territory of what was then the Free German City of Danzig, later Gdansk. But that historical wisdom is not strictly true. The first shots opening Nazi Germany`s war were fired just a few minutes earlier when German Luftwaffe planes launched a ferocious attack on Wieluń, a Polish town which had no military or industrial targets of any significance. This horrific bombing forms the dramatic framework of the film documentary, told from both angles, with German Wehrmacht soldiers elaborating on their first wartime experiences and Poles explaining how, as civilians, they were subjected to aerial attacks, how they fled the fighting, how they were forced to leave their homes: personal memories 70 years after the opening of World War II hostilities. For the first time, in a joint German-Polish project, film makers from both countries describe the events that marked the beginning of Hitler's assault on Poland.
World War Two started on 1 September 1939 when German forces unleashed an attack on the Polish garrison on the Westernplatte peninsular on the territory of what was then the Free German City of Danzig, later Gdansk. But that historical wisdom is not strictly true. The first shots opening Nazi Germany`s war were fired just a few minutes earlier when German Luftwaffe planes launched a ferocious attack on Wieluń, a Polish town which had no military or industrial targets of any significance. This horrific bombing forms the dramatic framework of the film documentary, told from both angles, with German Wehrmacht soldiers elaborating on their first wartime experiences and Poles explaining how, as civilians, they were subjected to aerial attacks, how they fled the fighting, how they were forced to leave their homes: personal memories 70 years after the opening of World War II hostilities. For the first time, in a joint German-Polish project, film makers from both countries describe the events that marked the beginning of Hitler's assault on Poland.
When Saruul Fischer came to East Germany from Mongolia at the age of eleven, she could not have known how important her homeland would be to her in the future.
People with disabilities in Lebanon have become an afterthought in a country scarred by war. Each year, European volunteers form friendships with the members and reignite their zest for life.
Darul Uloom Haqqania – Pakistan's oldest and best-known Islamic religious seminary, or madrassa. It's been preaching a hard-line interpretation of Islam since 1947.
“Animals behind bars:” That’s usually the first thought when you go to a zoo. Time for an image change. So do zoos need to change to meet future challenges? And perhaps they can even help to protect endangered species?
A Short History of German Reunification: After the fall of the wall, tensions were high as negotiations about Germany’s future began between France, the Soviet Union, the US and Britain. But were Helmut Kohl’s shrewd tactics the real catalyst in the reunification? What many now take for granted was more exciting than any thriller when it was actually happening. The reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall was certainly not a foregone conclusion. Barely 327 days lay between the Wall’s fall and reunification on October 3, 1990. The GDR had imploded and Chancellor Helmut Kohl took advantage of the situation with a 10-point program. The two German states negotiated the merger of East and West Germany with the four victorious powers of World War II - The United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France. The result was the so-called "2 + 4 Treaty” that regulated the whole reunification. Our report looks at the most important events. Prominent politicians such as former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and US chief negotiator Robert Zoellick talk about the events they experienced and helped to shape at first hand. Renowned international historians and journalists also give a multifaceted picture of a tumultuous time. And documents from British archives show how great the fear of a resurgent Germany really was.
Marlyn Capio was forced into prostitution as a child. Now she works for a child protection agency, trying to rescue young girls who work in the red light district. About 100,000 minors a year are forced into the sex trade in the Philippines.
Night-time satellite images of the Earth show a sea of light that stretches across populated areas around the globe. The electric light-bulb has come to represent economic prosperity and the advance of modern technology. But too much light can have a negative effect on the health of both humans and animals -- and scientists are warning of the dangers of light pollution. At night, city lights kill large numbers of insects, confuse migrating birds, and rob many people of a good night's sleep. Humans have developed their day / night cycle over millions of years -- a cycle that dictates that people work during the day, and relax in the evening. Now, researchers are working on next-generation lighting systems that are more sustainable and work more efficiently.
The Antonov An-225 is the world's biggest airplane. A colossus - developed in the Soviet Union to carry the Buran Space shuttle. Today it carries other giants such a turbine from Prague, Czech Republic, to a refinery in Perth, Australia ASAP. On board: the crew of Ukrainian Antonov Airlines.
Who is the talented fraudster, smuggling counterfeit antiques onto the art market? Experts have named him the “Spanish master” but his exact whereabouts are still unknown. An investigative journey into the wheelings and dealings of the art world.
9/11 – hardly any other date signifies an event and its global consequences to such an extent. Fifteen years later, Americans are still traumatized by the attacks and society deeply divided.
An estimated 30 million Russians work off the books. Known as "Garazhniki," they make furniture, fix cars and do other jobs. Now, after two years of recession, President Putin hopes to legalize them and collect taxes. But many think they'll resist.
Retired actress Helena Norowicz has embarked on a second career: she's become a fashion model at the age of 82. She's booked for photo shoots and even struts the catwalk.
The first Soviet space mission in 1957 launched a race into the future. In film and comics as well, science fiction and outer space became all the rage. The Soviet satellite "Sputnik" ushered in a new, futuristic age. For the next ten years, the future and its favorite setting, space, were more in vogue than ever before. This documentary takes a wry look into the fantastic future of the 1960s - one that is already deep in the past. On October 5, 1957, a radio signal sent America into profound shock and enthralled the world. The persistent beep of the Russian satellite "Sputnik 1" spread like wildfire around the globe. The Soviet Union had put the first ever man-made satellite into orbit around the Earth. The space age had begun. In the coming decade, the future - and its favorite setting, space - was in fashion like never before. Pneumatic space heroines appeared in science fiction comics and films and futuristic sounds conquered the dance floors. In September 1966, the future also began on German television: The launch of the seven-part science fiction series "Space Patrol - The Fantastic Adventures of the Orion Spaceship" made TV history. In short, the future had begun and was promising great things. Our documentary looks back at this utopian time between "Sputnik" and the US moon landing. How did human beings see the future - our present - half a century ago? And how did culture reflect this boundless enthusiasm for technology and optimistic belief in the future?
Traditionally our sense of smell has been downplayed as relatively unimportant, especially in the modern age. Research shows, however, that the human body's biggest gene family, making up around 1percent of our DNA, is dedicated to olfactory processes. We can in theory distinguish between over a trillion different odours. Why the complexity, and to what purpose?. Researchers call smelling our most primeval sense. The part of the brain where odours are decoded is directly connected to the limbic system the source of memories and emotions. Our immediate reaction to a smell is as such a feeling. All humans have an individual sense of smell; there are no two identical 'noses'. What we all share, however, is a feeling of revulsion to unpleasant smells a sensation unique to homo sapiens. It turns out that the triggers are not pre-programmed in our DNA. Every society has its own cultural norms that define our perception of smells but there are also certain odours that result in identical signals being sent. Somewhat surprisingly, our olfactory receptors are located not only in the nose but all over the body: in the liver, the kidneys, and with men in the testicles. Where do our preferences and aversions for smells come from? And in which other parts of the body do odour molecules play an important role? This documentary presents the latest insights into our sense of smell.
Robots and machines could soon replace humans in the workplace as artificial intelligence improves. Imagine having colleagues controlled by computers. Society is facing radical changes. Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution - is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Artificial intelligence is constantly gaining ground. The digital era and the Internet are not just changing industrial production processes. An increasing number of jobless people are facing stiff competition from intelligent machines. One software company owner in the US even says the machines are better designed to do most jobs than people are. And that isn’t just restricted to the car industry. Workers cost money and employers are out to minimize labor costs. What will that mean? Soon there could be more intelligent robots and machines than humans and they could soon be replacing people in the workplace. Industry 4.0 poses a great challenge to the world as we know it and millions of people could lose out in the process. Find out more in 'Robitics - Impacting the Workplace'.
As artificial intelligence improves, machines could soon replace us in the workplace. Are robots set to take over? Society is facing radical changes. Industry 4.0 - the fourth industrial revolution - is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Artificial intelligence is constantly gaining ground. The digital era and the Internet are not just changing industrial production processes. An increasing number of jobless people are facing stiff competition from intelligent machines. One software company owner in the US even says the machines are better designed to do most jobs than people are. And that isn’t just restricted to the car industry. Workers cost money and employers are out to minimize labor costs. What will that mean? Soon there could be more intelligent robots and machines than humans and they could soon be replacing people in the workplace. Industry 4.0 poses a great challenge to the world as we know it and millions of people could lose out in the process. Find out more in 'Robitics - Impacting the Workplace'.
Between 1998 and 2011, a German neo-Nazi terrorist group murdered ten people. They called themselves the National Socialist Underground or NSU, carried out robberies to finance their terrorist cell, and planted bombs to spread terror in Germany.
A fence divides Muslim and Croat pupils at a school in the Bosnian town of Travnik. Here and elsewhere in Bosnia contact between different ethnic groups is discouraged, even though the war ended over 20 years ago.
Cyborgs are no longer just characters in science fiction movies. They live among us. Technology has developed to make life easier, but is there a bad side? Some humans have implanted devices in their skull to sharpen their senses and become cyborgs. Others have planted magnets in their fingers, or chips underneath their skin to open doors. Gimmickry - or are these the pioneers of some brave new world? Some people are now taking the next step: Cyborgs or human machines that integrate technology into their bodies to enhance their abilities and expand their senses. Who are these people? And what drives them? Oliver Waack-Jürgensen from Berlin is one of them. He suffers from a bone disease and has two artificial knees and an artificial hip and will be getting another new hip soon: So far, so normal. But the new hip will be able to do more than the old conventional one: recharge a mobile phone wirelessly from its kinetic energy, for example, or measure and analyze body data and save and transfer it via Bluetooth. It may even host a free router: WLAN from the hip. Neil Harbisson is already one step ahead. The Briton is the world's first officially recognized cyborg. He is color-blind and can only perceive the world in shades of grey. However, the "Eyeborg,” an antenna in his head, allows him to hear colors. A sensor scans the colors in Neil's field of vision and then a chip in his head converts them into sounds. Each color has its own individual sound in his ears. Not only can Neil cannot hear the spectrum of colors visible to us, he can also perceive ultraviolet and infrared waves. Neil Harbisson is a co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation - an international organization that helps people become cyborgs. But at what price - and where are the limits? Are we losing our humanity? What would happen to society if some people had superhuman abilities? Whatever the answer, technology is already getting closer to us than we could ever have imagined - in some cases even under our
Artist Gustav Klimt was a revolutionary, an overrated decorative painter and pornographer. Today his artworks are some of the most expensive of all time. Gustav Klimt was one of the most important Art Nouveau painters and enfant terrible of Austria’s conservative middle class. His opulent portraits of women caused a stir in the early 1900s. As co-founder of the Vienna Secession, he helped revolutionize art history. Opposing the historicism of contemporary art, he employed a frivolous sensuality that many of his contemporaries found highly uncomfortable. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Vienna, more than any other European city, embodied the spirit of a cozy society in which art was to be innocent and adapted to the prevailing conditions of the imperial age. Like a number of other well-known artists that did not conform, Klimt’s art was subjected to scorn and hostility and it took almost half a century after his death for his greatness to be finally recognized in France and Germany. His themes reflect the great existential questions of life and death, joy, fear and birth. And he repeatedly returns to an exploration of the myth of woman in his ornamental works.
The New Silk Road is one of the most ambitious undertakings by far to be put forward by the Chinese president Xi Jinping. The goal of this gigantic project is the construction of a transport link between Asia and Europe: 10,000 kilometers of road, a railway freight line and a shipping route are to run from western China to Europe via Kazakhstan, the Urals and Moscow. Since the start of the 21st century China has become the most important export nation on the global stage. But in light of increasing tensions in the South China Sea and the threat from North Korea, it’s becoming more and more important for China to open up alternative trade routes. As a result the country has turned its gaze westward, to central Asia with its many resources and to Europe, which is still its most important trading partner. The New Silk Road is intended to connect China to Europe via Kazakhstan and Russia over a distance of 10,000 kilometers. The construction of the road with the parallel railway line has already begun in Chongqing, a megacity in the country’s interior that’s just one example of the economic boom of the past thirty years. The products made here will, it’s hoped, reach European customers effortlessly in a few years’ time. But it’s not just China’s exporters who hope to benefit from this infrastructure project. Rural regions in the west of the country should also see a boost. There’s the province of Xinjiang for example, which has seen little of the economic growth of recent years. But China’s ambitions go beyond its national borders. The planned New Silk Road runs past rich oil fields as it goes through Kazakhstan. The extraction of oil is to be ramped up, thereby securing China’s growing need for energy. By extending the route all the way to the edge of the Urals, Beijing can get all the way to Russia. But it’s not certain whether the former big brother will welcome the expansion of China’s sphere of influence all the way to central Asia and Europ
For years, the Arctic ice has been retreating, releasing valuable raw materials. The states adjoining the Artic Ocean are interested in the resources and the race to obtain them is on. But the consequences for humans and animals there are dramatic. DocFilm The fight for the Arctic For years, the Arctic ice has been retreating, releasing valuable raw materials. The states adjoining the Artic Ocean are interested in the resources and the race to obtain them is on. But the consequences for humans and animals there are dramatic. Watch video 26:25 The fight for the Arctic’s resources is coming to a head. The states adjoining the Arctic Ocean are positioning themselves, scouting out the land and securing the best sites for getting their hands on the raw materials. Russia already has an ultra-modern nuclear-powered icebreaker in operation. The Norwegian company Statoil is conducting test drilling with its cutting-edge rig "Songa Enabler,” which was designed especially for the Arctic; it’s the most northerly drilling operation in the world. Norway hopes to discover vast natural wealth in the Arctic. But the borders in the Arctic have not yet been set, and a war over resources is always a distinct danger. For the animals of the Arctic, including seals and polar bears, the melting sea ice is also having drastic consequences. They’re losing their habitats and their search for food is becoming increasingly difficult. In addition, the rubbish that is piling up in the Arctic only degrades very slowly and it’s poisoning the animals. Seabirds and whales are dying because they can’t digest the plastic in their stomachs. International fishing fleets are the main culprits when it comes to rubbish in the Arctic. The ice used to be a natural barrier. Now the trawlers can penetrate further and further into the icy ocean and, as a result, catch greater quantities of fish. Overfishing is almost inevitable. Furthermore the huge trawl nets used by the industrial fis
Science fiction or reality? Researchers are trying to create an artificial brain that emulates the human mind. What is the future of mind uploading and AI? We are all familiar with science fiction films featuring mad researchers who breathe life into machines. Is this futuristic vision already becoming reality? This documentary sheds light on a massive research effort of neuroscientists and roboticists. The Space Race was yesterday. The big challenge today is the creation of an artificial brain. From simple molecules to complex networks of neurons - the cartography of the human brain has begun. The goal pursued by scientists and experts around the world is to emulate the human brain. But the consortiums of researchers are as varied as their motivations. Most scientists are primarily concerned with understanding the brain, one of the last great mysteries, and using the new insights to develop advanced treatments for neurological diseases. But among those involved in the race for the artificial brain are transhumanists looking for ways of making people immortal through technology. Internet giant Google wants to know how artificial intelligence interacts with the world and learns autonomously. Can the human brain be replaced by a machine? It would have to take on the function of 100 billion neurons interconnected in a highly complex network. And suppose the search for an artificial brain were to succeed - would it provide digital immortality to a handful of eccentric billionaires? This documentary accompanies a number of researchers who are working toward this science fiction vision with practically inexhaustible funds - and with lots of science and ever less fiction.
Dust Storm looks at the growing menace created by this increasingly common phenomenon, which threatens both the environment and human health. Up to five billion tons of dust and sand blow around the earth each year: Dust Storm looks at the growing menace created by this increasingly common phenomenon, which threatens both the environment and human health. Governments are working feverishly on early warning systems and measures to protect their citizens. The Middle East, with its vast deserts, is particularly prone to dust and sandstorms. But the phenomenon is also becoming increasingly common in North America, Europe and Asia. The documentary explores the causes of dust storms and shows why they are becoming stronger and more frequent. Climate change in particular plays a major role. Scientists and politicians have been working closely together for a long time to protect people and infrastructure. Dust storms pose an extreme health risk, and the only real protection is to seek cover. But early warning systems don’t always sound the alarm in time. This documentary shows what protective measures can already be taken today and which ones experts are now working on.
Almost everything in the Chinese megacity of Shanghai is bigger and faster than anywhere else. Shanghai has the world’s biggest port and the longest underground railway system. Its skyline is soaring to ever-new heights. How can its 24 million inhabitants keep up? A driving force behind China’s rapid change, Shanghai is a city of superlatives and eventful history. The documentary follows people there through their everyday lives. Li Langbin is a dock worker; Li Yinfeng a security officer in the subway; and 25-year-old Dai Meng a singer rising to fame. These are some of the faces behind this dynamic metropolis. Entrepreneurs from all over the world also see the potential here in Shanghai. David Li has returned from the USA to launch a cutting edge start-up for autonomous driving. The skyscrapers in the Pudong district are a symbol of China's burgeoning economic growth. Not far away, old districts that still bear the traces of European colonialism, Japanese occupation and Mao's Cultural Revolution are disappearing. We meet people like Mr. Xi, who is opposed to this wave of modernization and refuses to leave his 100-year-old Shikumen house, even though most of his neighbors have already gone. Shanghai’s breakneck pace affects everything and everyone.
Travel could be changing. The Hyperloop is a capsule that is supposed to glide through a steel tube at 1200 kilometers an hour. Travel has always been a dream of humankind: to reach distant places or foreign countries in the shortest possible time. Even today, roads and rails are overloaded and resources are scarce. The most innovative idea for a solution is the Hyperloop. This is a capsule that is supposed to glide through a steel tube at 1200 kilometers an hour. Will we travel from Berlin to Paris in less than an hour? Los Angeles, the city of dreams, is the birthplace of a vision that could revolutionize travel. The Hyperloop is a rail moving at the speed of sound, 1,200 kilometers per hour, through a vacuum tube. The idea came from the billionaire Elon Musk. An international competition is intended to push the concept forward. A team from Munich has also been working on it. Students from the Technical University are determined to be part of the mobility of tomorrow. In the future, the desire for mobility is expected to increase. More and more people are traveling longer distances, but the existing infrastructure was not designed for such a mobile society. Is the Hyperloop - which travels as fast as sound - the solution to our traffic problems? Innovative technology has already been tried out in Germany. In the 1980s, the Transrapid monorail reached speeds surpassing today’s ICE and TGV. However, an accident resulting in 23 deaths on the test track in Emsland in 2006 put an end to its development in Germany. Does a new concept such as the Hyperloop stand a chance - or will we ultimately be left with that most durable of all means of transport, the car? Autonomous, self-propelled vehicles are designed to help make our mobility safer, but they may also bring new dangers. The first serious accident involving a self-driving car claimed a life. Nevertheless, digitalization is seen by many as the key to controlling motor traffic in the future.
Cologne Cathedral on the Rhine is one of the tallest churches in the world. Germany's most-visited landmark hosts royalty, politicians and celebrities. In the course of its history Cologne's majestic cathedral (known in German as 'Der Kölner Dom') has repeatedly been used for political and commercial ends. The documentary shows how the gentle giant has always retained its dignity. Home to one of the largest church treasuries in Germany, even today the cathedral continues to play an important role in the city's economic life. It attracts 20,000 visitors a day and its silhouette is used to promote the sale of all manner of products and souvenirs, from bottle openers to cookie cutters. As a powerful and distinctive symbol, it is also used to ensure publicity; the cathedral has seen environmental activists chaining themselves to scaffolding around its spires and a feminist protester appearing topless during a Christmas mass, while skaters and buskers also use the cathedral square for performances. The cathedral provides a backdrop for heads of state, international music stars and party events, but is exposed on a daily basis to wear and tear - from vandalism, street urination and the weather. The maintenance bill alone runs to around €20,000 a day. There have even been break-ins - the most spectacular being the Cathedral treasure robbery in 1975, described in the documentary by former public prosecutor Maria Therese Mösch. And one thing is certain: Cologne Cathedral and its powerful cardinals will always play a key role in Germany’s Catholic church.
Today modern archaeology often works with digital technology. Geophysics has allowed thousands of ancient sites to be located - a huge gain for science. The dig is no longer the be-all and end-all of archeology. We accompany some archeologists on their journey into the virtual past. Geophysics comprises a range of techniques with various geological and military functions. Geomagnetism is used to locate enemy submarines or potential reserves of oil or other minerals. Now, German and Irish archeologists have teamed up to use it to trace prehistoric grave systems. Researchers in western Germany are applying it to locate ancient procession and pilgrimage routes. Shipping archeologists in Bremerhaven are availing of digital technology to create virtual models of shipwrecks and, in Berlin, archeologists and game designers have also embarked on a joint project. As luck would have it, they scanned every millimeter of a temple in the Syrian city of Aleppo, not suspecting that, soon afterwards, the complex would be largely destroyed in the country’s civil war. Their virtual model is evidence that the study of the past can have uses for the present, just as technologies of the present can help us to study the past.
Ai Weiwei is a global star and an enigma. DW followed him for a year for this intimate portrait. The film shows Ai Weiwei at home, at work, and on the road for work, as he prepares his latest series of works focused on refugees and their fates.
In Bangladesh headlines are dominated by violence: Secular bloggers murdered by extremists, opponents of the government disappear, the Hindu minority is under attack. Why is Bangladesh finding it harder and harder to reconcile democracy and religion?
A new generation of Israelis and Germans is showing that reconciliation really is possible, even though – more than 70 years after the Holocaust – Germany still contends with anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish attacks.
The Spanish enclave of Melilla lives from the trade of second-hand goods. Carried on the shoulders of Moroccan women, these goods cross Europe's southernmost border. It’s a lucrative business for the traders, but inhumane work for the carriers.
With his pamphlets, Stéphane Hessel became an icon for youth culture in Europe and North Africa even in old age. He addressed issues such as rebellion against injustice, environmental destruction and the fight for human rights. Why was he so popular?
Lisbon, Portugal’s "White City", is an old multifaceted European city. The metropolis has experienced many periods of prosperity and has survived equally many crises. But what makes Lisbon so attractive today – especially among young people?
Countless Palestinians were forced to leave their homes after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. What Jewish Israelis celebrate as their declaration of independence, Palestinians call "Nakba" - catastrophe. Today they hope to one day rebuild their villages.
Charlemagne was one of the most powerful kings in world history and is widely regarded as the "Father of Europe." In 800, he became the first western European ruler to be crowned emperor in Rome. But who was Charlemagne really?
Otto the Great is regarded as the progenitor of Germany and German history begins with him. During his reign, the four main tribes on German territory began to see themselves as having a collective fate. But opponents made Otto's life difficult.
The Five Star Movement celebrated an historic victory in the Italian parliamentary elections. In tough coalition talks, top candidate Luigi di Maio has been under consideration for the job as prime minister. But what does the movement stand for?
In the Middle Ages, Friedrich I, also called "Barbarossa", was regarded as a brilliant ruler who fought for the "honor of the empire." Barbarossa's reign coincided with the crusades and the great age of chivalry. His life was full of ups and downs.
There is growing demand in the western world for organic food and consumers are prepared to pay a significant premium for it. But do consumers always get what it says on the label? How can authenticity be verified?
How did Martin Luther, a simple monk, become a key figure in history in the 15th century? Born into a world governed by the Roman Church and a distant emperor, Luther managed to unite and divide Germans. His message changed the world.
After the Thirty Years' War, there was a dramatic rivalry between two monarchs: the Prussian King Frederick II and the only female ruler of the House of Habsburg Maria Theresa. Only after making peace did both powers begin to flourish culturally.
The pages of a school exercise book contain the brave testimonies of 300 Central African women who suffered war atrocities. The notebook details the crimes committed by Congolese mercenaries in 2002. What does life look like for the victims today?
Prussia's Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck paved the way for the first German nation-state. For the first, the Germans were united in a single state with a single capital: Berlin. Bismarck became the Chancellor of the new German Empire.
Racism and assaults on foreigners did not fit with Communist East Germany's own self-image at all. Nevertheless, foreign contract workers were repeatedly hounded and subjected to violent attacks. Many of these crimes remain unsolved today.
As Afghanistan becomes increasingly dangerous, more international aid workers are withdrawing. But there are still some people in the country who refuse to give up.
Zero interest, exploding real estate prices and a rising stock market – the rich are getting richer. But what dangers does the global financial system pose to average citizens? Is the world facing a new financial crisis?
12,000 years ago, humans shifted from the nomadic lifestyle to the more settled life of farmers. The Stone Age produced monumental buildings made of stone blocks weighing tons. A trip back in time to an important period of human history.
How were our ancestors capable of building gigantic structures like burial mounds and stone rings, given that the technical possibilities of the Stone Age were still very simple? Archaeologists give us a deep insight into the history of humankind.
After more than five years, one of the most complex trials in post-war German history is coming to an end – the trial against the neo-Nazi NSU. Much of the trial focused on Beate Zschäpe. What role did the defendant and her associates play?
Museums have become the new cultural prestige objects – especially in the United Arab Emirates. The challenge of producing the world's biggest and most beautiful museum has taken on a new dimension. Hundreds of millions of Euros are being invested.
The Soviet Union succeeded in launching the first manmade Earth satellite into orbit in 1957. The world reacted with fear and fascination at the idea of exploring space. A look at the myths and realities of the first Sputnik expedition into space.
With its hula dancers, cool surfer dudes and white, sandy beaches: Hawaii is the place to go. Millions of tourists visit the archipelago in search of South Pacific paradise and "Aloha" - the breath of life. What is life really like on these islands?
Experts have long warned of an evolution in the world of cybercrime. Cyber attacks are increasing in frequency and scope. Financial markets, trade secrets and foreign government networks are all at stake. But is the fear of cyber attacks justified?
Philip Spenner spent his youth on the streets of Nairobi. Violence, fear, hunger and homelessness were daily obstacles. A donor from Hamburg made it possible for him to attend school. Today Philip Spenner is a high school teacher in Germany.
The wave of optimism that accompanied Poland's accession to the EU in 2004 is now a distant memory. What explains the extreme shift in Poland? What is the motivation behind Jaroslaw Kaczynski's drastic changes? And what is the impact of his policies?
Rendani Nethengwe is one of the most experienced rangers in South Africa's Kruger National Park and responsible for the protection of the animals. He sometimes fights poachers who ruthlessly slaughter elephants for their ivory tusks.
Karl Lagerfeld - the man behind the brand or the brand behind the man? Almost everyone knows who he is and where his talents lie but does anyone really know the man behind the sunglasses? A rare insight into the life of a fashion icon.
Colonia Dignidad, one of the darkest chapters in Chilean - and German history. For 20 years Winfried Hempel was trapped in the sect, an isolated world in which he had to endure slavery and torture. His struggle for justice.
Is free trade fair? What trickery, threats and deception take place when it comes to global trade? The documentary not only takes a look at the role of US President Trump and economic powerhouse China, but also the role of the European Union.
The world’s insatiable demand for chocolate is fueling poverty and environmental degradation. This report explores how a blend of fair working conditions and sustainable farming in Africa can deliver chocolate that leaves no bitter aftertaste.
Today modern archaeology often works with digital technology. Geophysics has allowed thousands of ancient sites to be located without resort to a shovel - a huge gain for science. Discover new insights from a journey into the virtual past.
Spain's Mar Menor is Europe's largest saltwater lagoon but it is under threat from industrial farming in the region. The local residents and fishermen are taking on the agricultural lobby to try and stop the destruction of this natural paradise.
The German and French armed forces are facing challenges due to foreign deployment. Both have to struggle with a lack of personnel and financial problems. Outsourcing and privatization are the solution - but at what price?
For 30 years, a brutal war between Catholics and Protestants raged in Central Europe. Power, intrigue, secret treaties and shady deals were at the center. In 1648, the bloody conflict was finally brought to an end by the Peace of Westphalia.
Even 23 years after the end of the war, Bosnia's population has to live amongst deadly minefields. Mine clearer, Davor Kolenda, thinks it’s a disgrace. Kolenda and his team are fighting for a mine-free Bosnia-Herzegovina – often risking their lives.
External companies have long been supplying armed forces with equipment as well as know-how and personnel. But just how privatized are defense forces in Europe and what could the impacts of connecting the worlds of military and business be?
Brutal soldiers and marauding mercenaries turned Central Europe into a battlefield in 1618. Almost all the major European powers had a hand in the war. The peace negotiations lasted five years and signaled the beginnings of modern diplomacy.
West Virginia, USA - under its wild mountain idyll hides the "black hell": A labyrinth of tunnels just one meter high, in which miners still spend their entire working days toiling in the dark on their hands and knees. Hard life in a coal mine.
Fear has returned to Europe. Jewish people are afraid of attacks in the street. This documentary explores the causes of this new wave of anti-Semitism in Germany and in neighboring Poland and France.
Singapore, the small city-state in Southeast Asia, has always been a country of immigration – and is one of the richest countries in the world. People of different ethnicities, religions and cultures live peacefully side by side.
Cashless payments are on the rise around the world. They are fast, easy and convenient. But who benefits from digital payment systems? What happens to our financial data? Are consumers losing some of their freedom as a result?
Korea’s education system is ruled by competition. With suicide being the No.1 cause of death among teenagers, it’s been argued the system produces overachieving students who pay a high price in health and happiness. Digitization could bring about a change to Korea’s overheated education system.
In January 1616, the Dutch navigator Willem Cornelisz Schouten, discovered the southern tip of South America. 400 years later, adventurer Arved Fuchs sets out to make the journey around Cape Horn on a traditional fishing boat.
The torture victims of the Syrian regime fear being forgotten. Survivors of the jails are now fighting for justice in Germany. The principle of 'universal jurisdiction' could allow crimes against humanity in Syria to be prosecuted in foreign courts.
For decades in the West, Libya was practically synonymous with Muammar Gaddafi. But since the revolution there and the NATO deployment in 2011, images of civil war and chaos are more common. Are hopes of a democratic new beginning doomed to fail?
Everything we do in the digital world involves data. The bits and bytes can serve our interests or be used against us. But without digital trust there can be no digital business. How do startups deal with personal data and cybersecurity?
Four refugees are torn between Syria and Europe – torn between the safety of their places of refuge and news they receive from friends and family back in Syria. Through these messages, the film offers an intimate insight into life in war-torn Syria.
This film could turn our image of Africa upside down: mobile payments in remote villages, drones monitoring harvests, 3D printers that deliver spare parts and reduce electronic waste, and robots that direct traffic. Creative start-ups, from Nairobi to Kumasi, are developing technical innovations that are inspiring the world.
The 2008 financial crisis spread distrust in banks and sped up the acceptance of new kinds of money. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin now promise to provide transparent, democratic alternatives. Startups in the Philippines are disrupting old structures.
Forests are so much more than just exploitable land; they can also be a place of healing. An increasing number of doctors and scientists agree forests can have positive health effects, such as alleviating hypertension, depression and stress.
The Allied occupation of Strasbourg on November 23, 1944, spelled the end of the Reich University. Most professors had fled, but Johannes Stein, Dean of the Medical Faculty, stayed on. What did he know about the crimes of the National Socialists?
Refugees Amjad, Omar, Zena and Shahinaz are living in Münster, Saarbrücken, Ahrweiler and Lausanne. However, they are not entirely present in their new homes. Every day they receive messages and videos from relatives and friends in Syria.
All over the globe, digital transformation is opening new paths for women. In Indonesia, more and more are taking the opportunities for independence it offers to open a business. But how do the young founders cope with the challenges posed by the role? All have had to overcome hurdles thrown up by traditional structures, widely accepted clichés and investors who prefer to bet on men.
To find a flurry of snowflakes in a winter wonderland, you sometimes have to travel far. We traveled to Montreal in Canada, to the forests of Karelia in Russia, and to the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Winter can be tough in all three places.
What is life like in Raqqa today? In October 2017, the northern Syrian city was liberated from the rule of the so-called Islamic State, or IS.
Soil is the foundation of nature, environment and food. Soil is full of life, of which most people know little about. But mismanagement is threatening world food supplies. The consequences are desertification and contamination. Is disaster looming?
The Alaska Highway: A 2,400-kilometer track through swamps and mountain ranges and the only road connecting the US mainland to Alaska. Built by the US military in just seven months in 1942, today it’s a popular route for tourists and truckers.
Markus is autistic. He’ll probably never grow up, nor does he want to. "Most people don’t understand that, even my parents think it’s bad," says Markus. The documentary follows Markus for a year.
Lake Malawi, between Malawi and Tanzania, has long been home to an extraordinary variety of fish. But the most important species in Africa's third largest lake is almost extinct, a result of unscrupulous over-fishing and population growth.
2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the opening of Germany’s best-known art school, the Bauhaus. Do the Bauhaus’s social ideals and design principles still shape how we live today? Explore the legacy of this iconic German institution.
In India, public outrage over violence against women has reached fever pitch. Entrepreneurs are no longer willing to let the devastating violations go unchallenged – they’re trying to create safer cities with technology.
Whang Od is the last tattoo artist of the Kalinga, a mountain tribe in the north of the Philippines. She has spent her whole life tattooing warriors and headhunters. These days, young people will travel across the world just to meet her.
Part two of the Bauhaus series traces its worldwide influence on art, design and architecture. Where do we encounter the Bauhaus in everyday life? Nowadays is it just a brand? Is the Bauhaus to blame for the modern world’s obsession with design?
In India, public outrage over violence against women has reached fever pitch. Entrepreneurs are no longer willing to let the devastating violations go unchallenged – and so they’re trying to create safer cities with technology.
Part 3 explores the influence of the Bauhaus philosophy on today’s globalized society. “How do we want to live in the future?”, “Can design and good craftsmanship improve lives?” - have the questions that the Bauhaus posed been answered?
Towards the end of World War II, a train set off from the Leitmeritz concentration camp with several thousand prisoners on board. The film shows how the Czech population succeeded in liberating around 1,500 of an estimated 4,000 prisoners.
Could private investment be more effective than traditional development aid? A German company is setting up a solar container in the village of Amaloul Nomade in Niger. If the project is successful, it will be launched in another 500 villages.
Africa's future belongs to the startups. Whether in Kenya, Uganda or Senegal - with their apps and platforms the founders are looking for gaps in existing services and are working on solutions from the private side.
What are the opportunities and limitations of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence? The world of work is undergoing radical change. The documentary shows companies embracing new technologies to help them they stay globally competitive.
Female genital mutilation is a serious violation of human rights. Yet, an estimated 200 million women worldwide have suffered genital mutilation as children. More than 50,000 victims now live in Germany. How do these women overcome such trauma?
Farmers now live far more in the future than any other professionals. "Smart farming" is the agricultural industry's new buzzword: A majority of German farmers uses digital solutions to optimize their harvests.
Digital nomads: They travel the world permanently, work on the road and are always online. Their lives epitomize the digital revolution and how it is changing how we work and live. But their Lifestyle also has its limits.
The train line through Ecuador is considered one of the most spectacular in South America. It's 450 kilometers long and runs from the Pacific coast up to the Andean highlands. The train zigzags to ascend 500 meters – not a trip for the faint-hearted.
Researchers into raw materials in Germany are developing new products with the aim of launching sustainable production trends: bamboo bicycle frames, chicory fiber pantyhose, and crockery made from old coffee grounds.
More and more war crimes and human rights violations are brought to indictment. In almost all conflict and crisis regions in the world, people are now using their smartphones to document events. And older crimes can be reconstructed using satellite imagery. The documentary shows how state-of-the-art technology helps uncover these crimes worldwide.
Alondra de la Parra is a star of classical music. She has conducted more than 100 orchestras in 20 countries, breaking the glass ceiling in a male-dominated profession. In 2017, she was appointed Music Director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Doris Wagner used to be a nun. She reported to the Catholic Church authorities how she had been spiritually and sexually abused by priests - to no avail. She then appeared in a televised conversation with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.
In Colombia, the human rights organization Equitas is searching for missing people with the help of their relatives. Satellite images, 3D mapping and algorithms are lending new momentum to the seemingly hopeless search. Can technology bring justice?
Music for video games is a growing if still underrated genre. Some tracks now even make the charts. What began with the simple 8-bit Game Boy melody has warped into complex compositions and arrangements that are finding their way into concert halls.
Few cities are as threatened by the phenomenon of mass tourism than Venice. Every year, more than 30 million visitors come to the city, causing many residents to move away. Those who have remained feel left behind. But they are fighting back.
Women around the world use social media platforms as a weapon in their struggle for equal rights. Their online campaigns against femicide in Latin America, FGM in Africa or compulsory headscarves in Iran, mobilize thousands others.
Two young Palestinian men attack Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron with knives. One of the attackers is shot dead; the other is wounded, left lying on the ground unable to move. What happened next would spark debate in Israeli society like few other events in the country’s history.
A refugee from Ethiopia has built a new life for herself in Italy, producing and selling goat’s cheese. The move has helped increase numbers among an increasingly rare breed of the animals, which are allowed to graze on abandoned communal pastures.
Europe is paying African states billions of euros to act as its new border police. Development aid is being used as a bargaining chip to control immigration. What price do refugees hoping to seek asylum pay and who is benefiting from this policy?
When the price of crude oil tumbled between 2014 and 2016, it heralded the demise of an economic and geopolitical world order in place since the end of World War II. Today, fracking technology has turned the US into the world's largest oil producer.
Light wheeled tanks roll over the sands of Mali on a patrol led by a young Bundeswehr officer. The documentary accompanies the man for a year as he’s deployed on the UN mission - from its start at training camps in Germany until he returns home.
Elon Musk and Tesla initially appeared to have left the rest of the car industry in the dust. But things have become tougher for Elon Musk's crown jewel company. The race to dominate the market for the car of the future has entered a critical phase.
Experts predict that up to 20% of Bangladesh will disappear beneath the water within the next 30 years as rivers and sea levels rise. As many as 30 million people will have to be resettled as a result of climate change.
The government led by the right-wing Lega and anti-establishment Five Star movement is causing a stir. Xenophobia, frustration, isolation, aggressive rhetoric and indifference to rising debt are now part of everyday political life in Italy.
In the Chinese city of Chongqing, the Shibati district is the only neighborhood to have survived the government’s drive to demolish and rebuild. But it won’t be around for long. Here too, the narrow alleyways are giving way to vast shopping centers.
The Internet has turned the worlds of retail, book publishing and finance upside down. Now the next chapter in the digital age is dawning - the era of the virtual currency Bitcoin. It's a revolution that could ultimately make banks superfluous.
How much power do people with a lot of money really have? Who decides how Germany should look? These questions are the subject of the film "Land of Inequality - Power.” Many studies show that a small but wealthy part of society defines a country’s political direction. It’s the same all over the world.
A heavy metal fan base has been developing in Botswana for years now, and a surprising number of women from across the generations are identifying with the genre as they rebel against a society structured along patriarchal lines.
The Patriarch of Moscow Kirill I is the head of the rapidly expanding Russian Orthodox Church and one of the most influential men in Russia. Allied with Vladimir Putin, Kirill is working to impose more conservative values there.
General Francisco Franco left a lasting impact on Spain. Now old resentments have been resurrected over the issue of relocating his remains and Spaniards are calling for those responsible for the regime’s atrocities to be finally brought to justice.
American Louis Sarno is a fully accepted member of the Bayaka tribe – a traditional pygmy people. After living with the tribe for 25 years, he took his young son on a trip from the African rainforest to the concrete jungle of New York City.
North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un has not reined in its nuclear program, despite a number of UN resolutions. How did he manage that and who are the men who have helped Kim Jong Un keep his dreams of reaching nuclear power status alive?
Nuclear rearmament is back in full swing and the INF treaty between the USA and Russia has been suspended. East and West seem to be on a collision course again. Are we looking at a return to a scenario such as the balance of terror in the 1980s?
During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, Hutu militias killed about 800,000 people. Most of them belonged to the country's Tutsi minority. Contemporary witnesses and insiders such as President Paul Kagame describe the events.
More and more people are dying or suffering injury from unsafe medical devices such as prostheses, pacemakers or breast implants. In Germany, such incidents have tripled over the last 10 years, whilst in the USA it’s five times as many.
The Akha in Laos live almost untouched by modern civilization. They still adhere to their archaic customs. But they are on the verge of upheaval.
Is the so-called "Islamic State" aiming to use the Philippines as its bridgehead in Asia? IS took control of the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi in 2017, and it took the Philippine army five months to take it back.
Recent scandals have rocked the Bundeswehr: a lack of military strength, abuses of power, and right wing extremists in its ranks. The Bundeswehr has long been neglected, leading to staff shortages, overwork, poor equipment and a high level of frustration. What's gone wrong?
During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, Hutu militias killed about 800,000 people. Most of them belonged to the country’s Tutsi minority. Contemporary witnesses and insiders such as President Paul Kagame describe the events and the failures of the international community.
Writer Davit Gabunia travels through his native Georgia to visit the grave of his cousin, who was killed in the war against Russia in 2008. He gives you a profound and moving picture of how his country ticks.
For the ethnic Turkmen of northeastern Iran, a wedding is the event of a lifetime: A flamboyant affair complete with centuries-old customs that bring to life the rich traditions of these once nomadic tribes.
Three quarters of the world’s insect population has disappeared in the last 30 years and many species have become extinct. And it's all man's fault. This documentary looks at the dramatic consequences of this hitherto unrecognized catastrophe.
Leonardo's famous painting "The Last Supper" hides a secret: only 20 percent of the original work is still visible. In the style of a thriller, the documentary attempts to reconstruct what it originally looked like.
After the end of the First World War, millions of people in Europe became stateless refugees. A newly devised passport created by the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees was their salvation.
Rangers in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are at war against militias exploiting natural resources. The conflict has cost the lives of more than 180 rangers, whose job it is to protect endangered silverback gorillas.
Beginning at the end of the 14th Century, the Renaissance created a new type of man, triggering economic, scientific, technical, religious, social and cultural developments that are unique in history.
Activists are calling for fashion based on ethical principles. On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1,134 textile workers. The terrible event marked the beginning of a radical change in the fashion industry.
The classic division of roles between men and women is eroding. Debates on sexism, marriage for all and a third gender have shaken up society and challenged centuries of tradition. Our documentary questions definitions of masculinity and femininity.
The Copts, Egypt’s original Christians, are being persecuted and killed by Islamist fanatics. But, although they are a minority In the Islamic country, they have done much to shape Egypt's culture.
25 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa’s black women are looking for their chance. Jabulile Ndaba was one of many who had no education and little chance of ever changing that.
The business in post-radioactive tourism is booming. The accident at the Chernobyl power plant in 1986 was the worst nuclear disaster in history. So what’s it like there today? Is it deadly silent? On the contrary. Thousands of tourists flock to the scene of the catastrophe every year.
Iran: wealth and a western lifestyle in Tehran, poverty and tradition in the Persian Gulf. Rock music and Koran schools in the holy city of Maschhad. People who love their country and yet have problems with it.
How many millions of people will be forced to leave their homes by 2050? This documentary looks at the so-called hotspots of climate change in the Sahel zone, Indonesia and the Russian Tundra.
If medical research does not appear profitable, it usually gets shelved. But now, through networking and crowd-funding, research is also found in less commercially viable areas. Scientists around the world are taking the initiative themselves.
400 years of African American history can be seen at a museum in Washington. Opened by President Obama in 2016, the house conveys a past marked by slavery and racism - and is itself a symbol of reconciliation.
You can literally feel the bad air in the world’s dirtiest city, the Indian capital, Delhi. Thirty years ago, the air in Germany was as bad as it is today in India. Then stricter environmental legislation brought improvements.
Nelson Mandela was democratic South Africa’s first freely elected president. Imprisoned by South Africa’s apartheid regime for 27 years, he later received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and became president in 1994, becoming a PR icon for worthy causes. The documentary traces the triumphs and tragedies in this epochal figure’s life.
No company stores more data than Amazon, the former online bookseller. Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has become the richest man in the world. Every second Euro in online trading is spent at Amazon. Is the IT giant, with its unabated growth, about to turn our economic system upside down?
Greeks fearing for their livelihoods and health are locked in a fight against international gold mining corporations. Highly toxic pollutants such as arsenic are used in gold mining and are polluting the environment.
The refugee camps in Greece are hopelessly overcrowded. Many refugees are sick and traumatized and government agencies overtaxed. The situation is particularly difficult for unaccompanied minors. The number of suicides is increasing.
A vibrant Jewish community existed in Baghdad until the 1950s. The film tells the story of Jewish Iraqis in the first half of the 20th century - until their mass emigration - through private images.
Bulgaria has a fragrant treasure: the Damask rose, which provides costly oils for luxury perfumes. Roses in the EU's poorest country thrive like nowhere else. A film about rose pickers and farmers and their struggle for a bigger share of the profits.
From Bolivia's rainforests to the deserts around Timbuktu in Mali and the Himalayan empire of Bhutan, the question always arises: what huge effects has tourism had on culture, the economy and the environment in the last 30 years?
This documentary tells the optimistic story of a young woman fighting for freedom, justice and a future for young girls in Nepal.
Our hunger for energy goes beyond all limits and will double in the next 20 years. But what available technologies could meet the growing thirst for electricity? And will we also have to cut power consumption? What can Europe learn from China?
Up to 75 percent of the insects in Germany have already disappeared - a silent death with serious consequences. Two thirds of the one hundred most important agricultural crops require pollination by insects. New habitats are needed.
Be it Italy, France, Hungary, Poland or Germany, many European countries are experiencing a shift to the right. Right-wing populists are expected to make significant gains in the European Parliament elections this spring.
Rhino - Horns are more expensive than gold or cocaine and fetch as much as 30,000 Euros per kilogram. The illegal trade in the coveted raw material is firmly in the grip of the Mafia.
1949 was a special year in German history as two separate states were founded almost in parallel. The division into East and West Germany reflected the division of the world into two during the Cold War. The East-West conflict was to last over 40 years.
Swiss environmental activist Bruno Manser has been missing since 2000. On Borneo he fought against illegal logging and corruption in the timber industry. Where have profits from the mass clearing of the rainforest ended up? A tragic story.
Despite Germany’s strict weapons laws, the number of firearms is increasing. Is this fascination with shooting part of our nature? Our reporters meet scientists, weapons advocates and opponents, and even get to pull the trigger.
It challenges the state before a private court - an international tribunal of arbitration - with the proceedings held in camera. Billions are at stake for taxpayers in the power struggle between states and multinationals.
The switch to renewable energies will affect people's everyday lives. How will we get from A to B when fossil fuel reserves run out in the future? How will we fly around the globe without oil and gas?
Dadaab in Kenya is one of the oldest, largest and most dangerous refugee camps in the world. Many refugees are now leaving it to return to their home countries. For those who have to stay, the only escape from everyday life is cinema.
What will the world look like in 2060? What role will climate change or the growing world population play? How does the drive for prosperity fit together with finite resources? John Webster writes a letter to his unborn great-granddaughter in film.
In spring 1989, Chinese students demonstrated on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square calling for more freedom and democracy. The protests were brutally suppressed by the Communist regime.
Plastic garbage and the death of the coral reefs show the downside of mass tourism in Thailand, which hosted 36 million visitors in 2018. The documentary looks at the effects on tourist resorts above and below water.
6 June 1944: D-Day. Alongside the British troops were cameramen and photographers tasked with recording the Normandy landings. The images they took give us new insights into the greatest seaborne invasion in history.
What happens when a multinational company doesn’t like a law? It challenges it before an international tribunal with the proceedings held in camera. Billions are at stake for taxpayers in the power struggle between states and multinationals.
What will the world look like in 2060? What role will climate change or the growing world population play? How does the drive for prosperity fit together with finite resources? John Webster writes a letter to his unborn great-granddaughter in film.
In India, 90 percent of all marriages are still arranged by parents. Maria and Gabriel met while studying and become a couple. Eight years later they wanted to marry - to the horror of Gabriel's Indian family. Marriages of love are still the exception in India.
The rich in Germany been never been as well-off as they are today and assets have never been so unevenly distributed. But who are they? How do they live? And what do they think of their country? A journey into the discreet world of the super-rich.
Your fingerprints, your iris and your voice are unique features in biometric identification. IT companies promise privacy and security. But cyber-crooks have already managed to break into biometric data banks -- with potentially dangerous results.
The Douglas DC-3 is by far the most successful aircraft in the world. Sixteen thousand of them were built, and they flew under various different names, including "Skytrain," "Skysleeper," "Dakota," "C-47" - and in Germany "Raisin Bomber."
It’s a horrifying scenario: Being operated on under general anesthesia - and you are still awake! Around ten million operations are performed under general anesthesia in Germany each year. But what exactly happens in the brain is still a mystery.
Four female artists fight for international women's rights with rap music, dance and graffiti. They fight against genital mutilation and domestic violence and for the dignity of sex workers.
Rock ’n’ roll was born from a spirit of rebellion that questioned authority and the traditional morality of the Christian church. And for many Christian leaders, it was clear that rock music paved the way to damnation. To them, everything about rock ’n roll clearly spoke of the "Devil’s Music" - from its roots in African-American culture to its hip-shimmying rhythms and less-than-pious lyrics
A trip along Chile’s National Route 7, the Carretera Austral, takes us into the stunning wilderness of Patagonia - a place that many German emigrants chose as their new home almost a century ago.
Markus is autistic. He’ll probably never grow up, nor does he want to. "Most people don’t understand that, even my parents think it’s bad," says Markus. He spends a lot of his time playing with toys, while also dealing with the struggle for his father’s acceptance, and the question of what he can contribute to society. The documentary follows Markus for a year.
In the heart of the Karakorum, the highest mountain range in the world, Muslim women are turning Pakistan's traditional gender roles upside down. In the remote mountain village of Shimshal, women are training as mountain guides for the first time.
Berlin has a unique treasure trove: the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the five largest universal collections in the world, including 19 museums with over five million objects from the bust of Nefertiti to the art of Joseph Beuys.
The second part of the documentary deals with the Mandu Yenu throne, which has been at the center of a debate about looted art in Germany. We also look into one of Joseph Beuys' works, which is also part of the collections of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin.
Imagine running a pharmacy and having to send away your customers empty-handed. Imagine being a doctor paid so little you can’t make ends meet. Imagine having cancer and hoping they’ll soon get a shipment of the medication you need, before the disease starts spreading again.
Resistance to antibiotics is leading to an increasing number of deaths. But special viruses could help. Antibiotics are becoming increasingly ineffective. But one medicine could help: it contains special viruses that can destroy germs. So-called bacteriophages have been used successfully in Georgia for decades.
Thirty million Europeans emigrated to the USA in the 19th Century to realize their American dream. But the continent was settled at the expense of its original inhabitants.
Neutrinos are spectral particles that are not only extraterrestrial but also extragalactic. Scientists have discovered that they make up a miniscule part of the cosmic rays that constantly bombard the Earth's atmosphere.
New generation realistic sex dolls are becoming more and more technically sophisticated and ever more popular. Europe's first doll brothel recently opened in Barcelona, quickly followed by ones in Britain, Germany and France. Enthusiasts and collectors of silicone ladies say this shows they are slowly becoming part of Europe's cultural mainstream. But the dolls are more than mere sex toys to some men - they actually live with them. The camera team visits Dean Bevan from Suffolk, Britain. The retired nurse felt lonely after separating from his wife. His solution: His doll Sarah and six of her "sisters." They live in the same house and he talks to them, photographs them, and even watches TV with them. If Sarah could speak and move, he says he'd prefer her to a real woman. But is this just a harmless foible or does it reflect an alarming social development where interpersonal closeness and communication engender fear instead of well-being?
The New Silk Road is a mammoth project intended to connect China with the West. It's a gigantic infrastructure project that Beijing says will benefit everyone. But this two-part documentary shows China’s predominant self-interest and geopolitical ambitions.
Child abuse in the Catholic Church was long a taboo subject, kept under wraps by senior church dignitaries. But in the pursuit of justice, the Church’s inactivity eventually prompted the victims of child abuse to take matters into their own hands.
Cape Town is already running out of water now. But the catastrophe was foreseeable. Politicians have ignored periods of drought and the rapidly growing population for too long.
Germany’s secret service, the BND, is heavily involved in the delivery of weapons to crisis areas of the world. As this documentary shows, it has - among other things - played along with arms deals made by German shipping companies.
Ella Fitzgerald’s voice was a phenomenon unrivalled to this day. She had absolute pitch and perfect intonation. Ella’s voice spanned three octaves, her phrasing seemed effortless, and the odd moments in her nearly sixty-year career when she sang off-key were few and far between. There is hardly any style of music in which she did not excel.
The New Silk Road is a mammoth project meant to connect China with the West. It’s a gigantic infrastructure project that Beijing says will benefit all. But this two-part documentary shows another side: of China’s self-interest and geopolitical ambitions.
High in the Andes, the Kolla are fighting to preserve their traditions. Argentina’s indigenous Kolla people live an austere life in the high desert plains. This is their home where they thrive.
The German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is one of the most sought-after artists in the opera world. He captivates audiences with the power, emotion and beauty in his singing, the intelligence of his acting, and his extraordinary range - from heroic stage roles in Wagner, to Schubert’s intimate Lieder compositions.
Will jellyfish conquer the oceans of our earth in the future? Jellyfish can destroy entire fish farms and even bring coastal nuclear power stations to a standstill. Scientists are now investigating their meteoric rise
Eleven dead and 70 injured: the result of a deadly weekend in Chicago. The city has experienced an explosion of violence in the last two years, with 650 more people killed in shootings there than the US’s two biggest cities combined: Los Angeles and New York. Young black men are the main victims of this endless cycle of gang crime, illegal weapons and social problems.
German-Palestinian Nidal wants to return from Berlin to his family in the Gaza Strip. But will Israel allow a Palestinian to pass through the country? And will the Palestinian Hamas government let him enter?
How did the banana become a global export hit? How did the United Fruit Company turn into a multinational empire that would turn Central American nations into easily manipulated "banana republics"? This documentary shows how global capitalism works.
Many see Chancellor Angela Merkel as the most powerful woman in the world. But is she? The 2015 refugee crisis saw her reveal a more humane side - and take a considerable political risk. But she can still repeatedly outwit her opponents and skillfully maneuver them to the sidelines.
Today, the July 20 plotters who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler are seen as heroes who paid for their courage with their lives. But to their children, their untimely deaths were a calamity that has haunted them through to the present.
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong was 38 in 1969 when he spoke these legendary words as the first man ever to set foot on the moon.
An Indian state in the Himalayas has completely transformed its agriculture and switched to organic farming. Sikkim has become a model for the rest of the world, because its farmers only cultivate their fields and plantations in a sustainable way.
Stories about the moon have provided inspiration for countless pop songs. The race for the first moon landing and the myths surrounding the Earth’s satellite have inspired some of pop culture’s best songs.
In the mid-20th Century, Franco’s Spain was impoverished and isolated from the rest of the world. But then a fresh breeze blew through the fishing village of Rota.
FSC eco-certification was established 25 years ago to stop the deforestation of primeval forests by attesting that products are made from "environmentally-friendly" wood. But does the FSC really prevent illegal deforestation?
Racism, intolerance and xenophobia have always existed in the USA. But under Donald Trump, America has become a bitterly divided country and the scene of a fierce cultural struggle for the nation's future.
At the age of 73, Walter Pfeiffer is at the zenith of his career as a fashion photographer and illustrator. The Swiss artist gives an insight into his eventful life - and his models tell us what his pictures mean to them today.
The trumpet festival in the western Serbian town of Guča is one of Europe’s most captivating musical events. Each year, a bold mix of national pride, fairground fun and a Woodstock-like air attracts visitors from all over the world.
It is far too late to save the Alpine glaciers. And now, the dangers caused by tons of melting ice are rising sharply. Every year, climate change is destroying two of the currently 70 square kilometers of glaciers left in the Alps.
The EU has enlisted the help of Mali and Niger in an effort to keep African immigrants in Africa. A documentary that focuses on one of the most complicated and geopolitically important regions in the world: Niger and Mali.
Violence against women is a violation of human rights, but it happens everywhere. We meet women in Benin, Bangladesh, DRC and Germany who have been victims of horrific violence, yet fought their way free.
Astor Piazolla, the founder of "Tango Nuevo," revolutionized Argentinian tango, breaking the rules of traditional tango and bringing the country's iconic music and dance to international concert halls.
What will happen next in northern Syria? All of the parties to the conflict - the Americans, Assad's regime, Russia, Iran and Turkey - have their own agendas for the war-torn region. But what do the Kurds themselves think about their future?
Only the US and China currently have more billionaires than India. Some of them are as famous as pop stars and enjoy similar adulation. Their social media accounts have millions of followers - in a country where more than half the population lives below the poverty line.
The Amazon rainforest is often called the Earth’s ‘green lung’. Today, indigenous peoples like the Yawalapiti are its last guardians. Their young chief Tapi describes the effects of ongoing climate change and the threats the Yawalapiti face.
Social media are influencing the way women feel about their own bodies. Young women in particular are constantly being confronted with pictures of beautiful female bodies online - images which have almost always been digitally enhanced.
The Basque terrorist organization ETA is a thing of the past. But be they behind bars or walking around in freedom, the treatment of former ETA members is controversial and divisive.
Daniel Hope is one of the most sought-after violinists of our time. This very personal portrait looks at his career and the history of his family, who came to London from Berlin via South Africa - and at what drives him as a musician.
Ocean cruises are booming, but the downside is massive air pollution from the ships’ exhaust fumes. The cruise industry's billion-dollar business is extremely lucrative - and a threat to coastal cities.
Are we facing a golden digital age or will robots soon run the world? We need to establish ethical standards in dealing with artificial intelligence - and to answer the question: What still makes us as human beings unique?
You can still buy Adolf Hitler's credo all over the world, under the counter in some places, on the Internet or simply at the bookshop in others. But did Hitler actually write it himself? And was it really a blueprint for war and the Holocaust?
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet spent seven months on the International Space Station ISS, which brings together researchers from all over the world. He conducted experiments in space to find out more about the potential of human spaceflight. Could we really send people to Mars?
Illegal gold prospectors are threatening the Manu National Park in Peru, which is a World Heritage Site. More species of wild animals and plants have been documented in Peru than anywhere else on Earth. But now their very survival is at stake.
The Gulf states are preparing for a economic future independent of oil. The black gold once turned Bedouins into global players, but the market for oil and gas is changing as renewable energies become increasingly viable
There are over 45 million slaves worldwide today - more than ever before in human history. Modern slavery has many faces: workers, sex slaves, household servants and child soldiers. But some people are fighting this trade in human misery.
Be it sound, music or noise, the future will be audible. In a world full of visual stimuli, human hearing is underestimated. As scientist Trevor Cox puts it: "Without the acoustic aspect, everything is nothing."
Anti-Semitism is on the rise in France and the country's Jews feel increasingly threatened. After attacks on Jewish institutions and Jewish life, many feel abandoned by the state. A retired Jewish policeman wants to change that.
Huge areas of tropical rainforest are being destroyed to make charcoal for barbecues. The global deforestation is leading to growing problems. Nigeria and the DRC Congo - two of Europe’s main charcoal suppliers - are also affected.
Rodeo in Brazil is a balancing act between tradition and business. Its stars are the riders, mounted on specially bred fighting bulls. But animal rights activists are sounding the alarm because the bulls often face abuse, injury and death.
A box full of photos from the Second World War serves as the starting point for a historical thriller. It was found by a Polish filmmaker whose grandfather had served in the German army. But what does it mean for Michal Wnuk’s family history?
Opioid addiction has already cost nearly 200,000 lives in the US alone. But recent figures indicate the crisis is no longer a purely American problem. The use of these painkillers has also increased in Germany and France in the last few years.
Taiwan’s diverse culture has given way to many popular restaurants which specialize in exotic cuisine. It is THE place for foodies who love fusion and more. Few places in Asia have so many different delicious dishes on offer, and all in one city!
Think insects are pests? Think again. Our visually stunning documentary shows how these tiny geniuses can help us solve some of science’s biggest problems - from producing biofuels to killing drug-resistant bacteria and curing cancer.
For young people in Europe, the Second World War is safely in the past. But peace and the shared values of European unification are now under threat. Young Europeans are fighting to make sure that history does not repeat itself.
About 1.6 million tons of ammunition and chemical weapons lie in waters off Germany’s coasts. Left over from two world wars, this huge arsenal of sunken bombs, grenades, mines and torpedoes is becoming increasing unstable - and increasingly dangerous.
Musician, orchestra founder, artistic activist and intellectual: Violinist Gidon Kremer is one of the most exciting artists of our age. This film follows Kremer on tour around the world for a year and looks back on important stages in his life.
Swiss vet Marlene Zähner trains dogs to fight poaching in the Congo. The game population in the Virunga National Park has already been decimated by up to 95 percent. Gorillas in particular are facing extinction.
A father fights to save his daughter who has run off to join the terror organization Islamic State. For four long years Maik Messing doesn’t know if she will survive the ordeal. And for those same four years he was joined by a camera Team.
A year after Germany’s Bayer Group took over Monsanto, and it’s struggling to deal with the US seed giant’s controversial reputation. Now Bayer is also liable for Montano’s legal bills - which are starting to mount alarmingly.
Testosterone has long been seen as a metaphor for aggression, but is there really anything to the idea of the testosterone-driven male? Prominent scientists explain how subtle the hormone’s effects actually are.
Chris Gueffroy was the last person to be shot while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall in 1989. He was 20 years old when he was killed. His name became a symbol for those who were killed whilst attempting to escape Communist East Gemany.
Some diseases wait like ticking time bombs in our genetic blueprints. Gene mutations might mean that we have a greater risk of getting Alzheimer’s or cancer, for instance. But how do we cope psychologically with this knowledge? And do we really have no control over this ‘master plan’?
Farmland - the new green gold. Across the globe, global commercial demand for arable land is on the rise. One of the most profitable new agricultural hotspots is Ethiopia. In the hopes of huge export revenues, the Ethiopian government is leasing millions of hectares of land to foreign investors. But there’s a dark side to this dream of prosperity.
By 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the sea. Ten tons of plastic are produced every second. Sooner or later, a tenth of that will end up in the oceans. Coca-Cola says it wants to do something about it - but does it really?
John Neumeier has been head of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973 and has led the company to world fame. He has created 160 choreographies, many of which have long since become dance classics. Neumeier is always on the road, but at home in Hamburg.
The EU says 93% of Mediterranean fish stocks have been overfished, and blames big trawlers in particular. The fish are getting smaller, and some species have disappeared completely. What comes next, Greek fisher Evgenia asks.
What resemblance do today’s ethnonationalistic ideologies bear to those of the Weimar-era? Quite a lot, this documentary shows. Germany’s far-right scene is now bigger than at any time since National Socialism.
Climate change in the Arctic is fueling not only fear, but also hope. Sea levels will rise and flood many regions. But the melting ice will also expose new land with reserves of oil, gas and minerals. New sea routes are also emerging.
Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are leading to fundamental changes in the way we live. Algorithms can already detect Parkinson's disease and cancer and control both cars and aircraft. How will AI change our society in the future?
Fewer and fewer Germans are willing to donate their organs after death, which often means long waits for transplant patients. Our documentary accompanied two such patients over a period of four years.
The fall of the Berlin Wall began long before autumn 1989, in a warehouse at the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. This is also where the documentary begins, before moving through Europe, to Prague and the no-man's-land between Hungary, Serbia and Romania.
A man running amok in Florida took just six minutes to kill 17 people. Nationwide protests in the wake of the Parkland massacre called for tougher firearms laws. The killer had acquired the assault rifle he used in the killings legally.
Mahatma Gandhi, the man who led India to independence from British rule, was assassinated on 30 January 1948. This documentary shows how the ethnic and religious conflicts that divided the Indian subcontinent still shape it today.
The word Treuhand still triggers stronger reactions in East Germany. For millions of East Germans, the change from a planned to a market economy meant unemployment - and an affront that still rankles today.
Namibia was a German colony for 30 years and the Germans left scars that remain even today, a century later. When the Herero tribe revolted against their colonial masters in 1904, the German General Lothar von Trotha decided to wipe them off the map.
A family torn apart by the brutal civil war in Somalia, scattered all over the world. A fate shared by countless refugee families. "Global Family" explores existential questions about what it means to leave a home and make a new one.
The rich in Germany been never been as well-off as they are today and assets have never been so unevenly distributed. But who are they? How do they live? And what do they think of their country? A journey into the discreet world of the super-rich.
Paavo Järvi: The Estonian star conductor has rediscovered the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms. The film follows him and the orchestra at rehearsals, in the studio and at concerts and presents the highlights of the romantic masterpieces.
Nowhere has experienced global warming like Svalbard, midway between Norway and the North Pole. Readings by a joint Franco-German research team show average temperatures have risen by 1.6 degrees in just ten years!
The Soviet Union's Secret Plan to Land Men on the Moon
Insects are dying out and scientists and environmentalists are sounding the alarm. Our film team meets entomologists, farmers, scientists, chemical companies and politicians in a bid to lay bare the causes of insect mortality.
Xu Qing is training as a geriatric nurse in the Black Forest. The 23 year old Chinese woman encounters people in the last stages of their lives, a stern boss and endless sausage sandwiches. The film follows her through three eventful years.
More well-preserved dinosaur fossils have been found in Thüringen than anywhere else in the world. Almost every skeleton find has become a global sensation. And the archaeologists keep digging. They may already have discovered a new species.
When the Tambora volcano erupted in Indonesia some 200 years ago, around 100,000 people perished. But the disaster was not over. The eruption’s ash cloud would cause crop failures, epidemics and civil disturbances across the northern hemisphere.
Millions of people worldwide live from fishing. But the livelihoods of small fishermen are under threat - from power plants in India, tourism development in Sri Lanka, nature conservation in Costa Rica, and the global rise of ocean grabbing.
During the war in Yugoslavia, thousands of Bosnian women were raped and many became pregnant as a result. But their children are even now not recognized as war victims. The NGO "Forgotten Children of War" aims to change that.
A former Afghan national soccer player is fighting to ensure that girls can also play sports. Madina Azizi’s work has attracted both praise and fame, as well as a lot of hostility. Not everyone welcomes her commitment to female self-determination.
November 9th, 1989, the day of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, was probably among the strangest in German history. No one had the intention, no one gave the order and no one was to blame - and yet, the day the Wall fell everyone was somehow involved.
"Unity and justice and freedom" are both the first words of the German national anthem and three core values that characterize our country. But how have they developed over the course of German post-war history?
This investigative documentary looks behind the shiny facade of luxury fashion. Shot with a hidden camera, it shows the brutal conditions in Chinese fur farms and how migrants are exploited in Italian tanneries.
What was life like in East Germany? How does the division of Germany still affect it even now? Thirty years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, there are still tangible differences between East and West. How do the younger generations see them?
A film about the eventful history of the New Synagogue in Berlin. It was damaged in the pogrom night of 1938 and by bombing during the war. Now animations and photographs make it possible to experience the building’s former beauty.
Berliners from both East and West tell us about the night of November 9th, 1989, and how they were drawn into the whirlpool of historical events without knowing whether this evening would end well or badly for them.
Mexico through the lens of photographers: a complex and diverse country full of tragedy and magic, defined by tensions between North and South, city and country, desert and jungle, Latin America and the USA.
For a long time it was believed that women were enslaved by the so-called "Islamic State." But that's only half the truth. Many women also voluntarily joined ISIS and tortured and killed without scruple - wives, mothers, sisters, daughters.
Carmaker Audi’s falsification of diesel emissions testing is one of the biggest economic scandals in German history. This film uses internal documents to show how the manipulations began and the role corporate culture played in them.
Man has a natural play instinct. Dogs and cats - even spiders -also play. Researchers have found that playing increases the chances of survival in animals. The more delicate the game, the better it is for our motor and mental skills.
In August 2019, both Russia and the United States declared they were pulling out of the treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles. The 1987 INF treaty has collapsed. Is a new nuclear arms race on the horizon?
The lives of Tibet's Dropka nomads revolve around their yaks, which provide them with of food, fuel and a livelihood for their families. But the breakneck pace of social and political change in China is threatening their traditional way of life with extinction.
Banks committed to sustainably investing every cent in ecological projects should be environmentally friendly and meet accepted social standards. But what exactly does "sustainability" actually mean? And can you make money with it?
Homelessness, hunger and shame: poverty is rampant in the richest country in the world. Over 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line, twice as many as it was fifty years ago. It can happen very quickly.
A generational change has taken place in the three most important monarchies along the Persian Gulf. The new rulers in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have dangerously shifted the political balance in this highly militarized Region.
Is Colombia really at peace? Even three years after the peace treaty, there is no clear answer. The documentary charts the ongoing conflict between the FARC guerillas and government, which is still fueled by war and social inequality.
A political activist forced to flee Ethiopia has built a new life for herself in northern Italy, where she’s founded a successful business producing and selling goat’s cheese. The move has helped increase numbers among an increasingly rare breed of the animals, which are allowed to graze on abandoned communal pastures.
Some say LSD produces hallucinations and lowers inhibitions. Others believe it makes people more capable, efficient and creative. In Silicon Valley, many even say LSD can be a tool for self-improvement.
Huge areas of tropical rainforest are being destroyed to make charcoal for barbecues. The global deforestation is leading to growing problems. Nigeria and the DRC Congo - two of Europe’s main charcoal suppliers - are also affected.
Thalidomide - known as Contergan in Germany - is still being used as a drug. This, even after the medication caused thousands of birth defects six decades ago.
Germany’s current coalition was born out of necessity and has been beset by crisis. In March 2018, the Social Democrats reluctantly agreed to govern again with Angela Merkel’s conservatives after Merkel’s other options evaporated.
This documentary looks at the rise of Vladimir Putin using video material never shown before. (93) The two-part film begins its examination with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the year 2000.
Caroling in the Hafenschuppen -- a port warehouse -- is a highlight of Advent in Hamburg. Around 450 signers meet there each year for a major concert of Christmas carols.
The Islamic State used children as soldiers and slaves willing to kill. Officially, the Islamic State is considered defeated, but its propaganda videos are still circulating on the Internet. They depict the merciless way the Islamic State treated children.
Restorers of modern artworks have to deal with the strangest materials.Christian Scheidemann has worked on everything from sculptures made from eggshells to a work made from elephant excrement at his studio in Los Angeles.
Asbestos is a known carcinogen. Nevertheless, industries in India and other developing countries continue to work with the deadly fibers.
Six weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Helmut Kohl went to Dresden. The enthusiastic reception he received there became a demonstration for a rapid German reunification. The speech Kohl gave there was the most difficult and probably most important speech of his life.
1979 was a year that still shapes our world even today. That was when three fundamental forces - the collapse of communism, neoliberalism, and politicized and radicalized religion, fused into a single potent force.
Neuschwanstein is an icon, a brand and ultimately a myth; its dreamlike image reproduced countless times. Romance for some, but big business for others. Neuschwanstein - blessing or curse?
Fifty years after the first Moon landing, researchers are working at full speed on the next lunar mission. Their aim is to build a habitable research station on the Moon. What is the current state of play in international lunar research?
Artificial intelligence and intelligent robots already exist. But what decisions can technology make on our behalf? How far can it go? AI is still in its infancy.
Josephine Baker, a fighter against racism, the first black superstar. The documentary shows Josephine Baker's path from vaudeville dancer to world-famous singer, actress and fighter against racial segregation.
What is love? Love is more than a feeling: it is a driving force that can influence both brain and body. Recent scientific studies show how much love can really change people's lives. Love is not only a topic in art, but also in science. Few other emotions can trump human reason like love. Love is an instinct like eating and drinking - primitive but vital. It is not romance but above all biology that brings two people together: we can identify the right partner for us by their scent, just as animals do. Recent research shows that the sense of smell, especially in women, has a significant influence on the choice of partner. Love can make wounds heal faster, lower your pulse rate and blood pressure and reduce anxiety and stress. But it can also make you sick and even kill you: "Broken Heart Syndrome” can be as dangerous as a heart attack. Love isn’t just about sex, but sex nurtures love between two people. Every touch causes the brain to release oxytocin, a hormone that triggers feelings of care and affection. And the love hormone isn’t just behind the passion of the newly smitten, but also behind the bond between parents and children and the affection for a pet. In fact, it makes social coexistence possible in the first place - for humans as well as for rats or ants. Love is above all a matter of biochemistry and scientists may one day even create a love pill in the laboratory. This science documentary shows in an entertaining way what love is, what it does to people - and how it stays alive.
The largest private yacht in the world is the 180 meter-long Azzam, owned by the Emir of Abu Dhabi. Arab sheikhs, Russian oligarchs and American billionaires are battling to own the most luxurious and most expensive ship.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah now controls broad areas of political and social life. It has become a state within a state. How can the "Party of God" be confronted?
As the cultural sector is becoming more diverse, all eyes are on African pop culture. Its stars are gaining international attention. But culture from Africa has long influenced artists in the West. A look at current trends and their historical roots.
People lie - usually several times a day. Lying is considered immoral, but we've been built for it. And we are not alone. Dishonesty is an integral part of the social world, and numerous animal species are also skilled deceivers.
What kind of agriculture do we really want? How sustainable, regional, animal-friendly and expensive can it be? These and other pressing issues are part of a debate about radical agricultural reform of policy currently going on in Brussels.
1979 was a year that shapes our world even today. That was when three fundamental forces - the collapse of communism, neoliberalism, and politicized and radicalized religion, fused into a single potent force.
A train journey through the Elbe Sandstone Mountains between Germany and the Czech Republic. Peculiar rock formations and the river Elbe shape this beautiful region. Since the mid 19th century, a railway line has been meandering through its valleys.
Social networks have become battlefields for truth and power. They provide their users with great freedom. But they are also being utilized to manipulate people, and sway public opinion by means of "fake news."
Musician, orchestra founder, artistic activist and intellectual: Violinist Gidon Kremer is one of the most exciting artists of our age. This film follows Kremer on tour around the world for a year and looks back on important stages in his life.
The first successful transatlantic flight in 1919 was a milestone for mankind. This film tells the stories of the people who dared to undertake the dangerous journey. Discover the records and setbacks in this exciting chapter of aviation history.
Venezuela is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Hunger is widespread and there is a severe shortage of medicines. The UN estimates that more than four million people have now fled what was once South America's richest nation.
Youth unemployment cuts deep in Sudan. But a hit TV show has inspired young entrepreneurs. Start-ups compete in the show - and the format has done more than achieve high ratings in the struggling country.
What do tomatoes have to do with mass migration? Tomatoes are a poker chip in global trade policies. Subsidized products from the EU, China and elsewhere are sold at dumping prices, destroying markets and livelihoods in Africa in the process.
Germany is the European champion when it comes to generating packaging waste - despite its longstanding system to separate trash. And the figures for plastic waste are nearly ach sotwice what they were 15 years ago.
Eva Mozes Kor was experimented on as one of Dr. Josef Mengele's twins at Auschwitz. After decades of anguish, she decided to forgive the Nazis - and came to be one of the best-known and most-active Holocaust survivors in the world.
Thirty million Europeans emigrated to the USA in the 19th Century to realize their American dream. But the continent was settled at the expense of its original inhabitants.
More people around the world are fleeing from climate change than from war. If human-induced climate change continues at the current rate, the World Bank warns that by 2050 there could be as many as 180 million climate refugees.
Human blood plasma is an important raw material of the global pharmaceuticals industry. In recent years, it’s also become a global market worth billions, fed mostly by the US.
Xu Qing is training as a geriatric nurse in the Black Forest. The 23 year old Chinese woman encounters people in the last stages of their lives, a stern boss and endless sausage sandwiches. The film follows her through three eventful years.
The first successful transatlantic flight in 1919 was a milestone for mankind. This film tells the stories of the people who dared to undertake the dangerous journey. Discover the records and setbacks in this exciting chapter of aviation history. Ever since the invention of aircraft, pilots have dreamed of flying across the Atlantic non-stop. Daring men and women risked their lives in pursuit of this goal. Then, just 100 years ago, the first transatlantic flight succeeded. The story began in 1918. The British Newspaper ‘Daily Mail’ announced a 10,000 pound prize for the "aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the US, Canada or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland in 72 continuous hours." In 1919, four teams would attempt the crossing from Newfoundland. They were all unemployed fighter pilots. Only two succeeded — John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. On 15 June 1919, the two men wrote aviation history when they landed in Ireland in a modified bi-plane bomber. But their glory was short-lived. In the 1920s, several other attempts and records followed. Perhaps the most famous was made in 1928 by the two Germans Hermann Köhl and Ehrenfried Freiherr Günther von Hünefeld, and the Irishman James Fitzmaurice. The three men were scheduled to land in New York, and thousands gathered to watch their arrival. But flight conditions were treacherous. Köhl would later describe dramatic scenes when the engine stuttered, storms and fog, hunger and cold, and fear of being lost forever. In the end, the team missed their destination in New York. But they managed an emergency landing on Greenly Island. With that, they had successfully touched down on North American soil, making them the first to complete an east-west non-stop transatlantic flight. The film relays personal stories of courage and determination, from heroes and pioneers who changed the face of travel forever.
Muslim separatists in the Philippines took control of the city of Marawi and held it for five months in 2017. The army of the mainly Christian country fought hard to oust them. Now, former Islamic State fighters are recanting.
It's difficult to forecast avalanches and impossible to stop them. This documentary follows scientists, snow profilers and trainers as they assess the risk of avalanches in the Alps.
Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world. Still, many Ghanaians have yet to taste chocolate: The precious commodity is largely for export. The cocoa farmers in this resource-rich country also usually see little of the profit.
Hundreds of foreigners were involved in Mao's Cultural Revolution. Their children were raised as young communists. But as the class struggle in China escalated, the "Great Helmsman" started to question their unwavering loyalty to the "New China."
Two hundred years of the music of freedom, hope and protest: This two-part documentary tells the story of songs that have become iconic - from the "Marseillaise" to "Bella Ciao" and "I Will Survive."
Youth gangs are committing more and more brutal assaults in Italian cities. Known as "baby gangs,” the groups rob people on the streets, deal drugs, and beat up the homeless. Many end up in the Mafia.
The Nazis systematically plundered Jewish art collections in Germany. This documentary looks at selected cases to how art dealers profited from the persecution of Jewish collectors after 1933.
The world has become more insecure and a new arms race seems imminent. Disarmament treaties are lapsing and existing alliances crumbling. Will Germany be able to meet the challenges?
More than half-a-million people were killed in Allied air raids during the Second World War. The missions targeted more than 100 German cities - but none of them have achieved such tragic fame as Dresden.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a revolutionary and the founder of modern Turkey. A brilliant military strategist, a womanizer and a popular educator who changed the face of Turkey, he was one of the most fascinating personalities of his time.
Ekhlas is a Yazidi. She was once a prisoner of Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq. Today, she’s hitting back. This documentary tells the story of a young woman who managed to escape to Germany and is now fighting against terror.
Industrial agriculture is increasingly dominating the world market. It’s forcing small farmers to quit and taking over vast swathes of land. This documentary shows how destructive the lucrative agribusiness is.
Most northern Europeans like winter, even when the mercury falls below minus 40 degrees Celsius. But in the polar regions of Norway, Finland and Sweden even running daily errands in snow and storms can be quite an adventure.
Born a girl, René realized at puberty that he wanted to live as a boy. People who cannot identify with their innate gender are known as transgender. Our film follows René during his transition to his new self.
Huge quantities of raw materials are needed for mobile phones, copper pipes or wind turbines. Things that we Europeans naturally use are produced in South America under the harshest conditions. It's a filthy business.
Climate change in the Arctic is fueling not only fear, but also hope. Sea levels will rise and flood many regions. But the melting ice will also expose new land with reserves of oil, gas and minerals. New sea routes are also emerging.
Social media are influencing the way women feel about their own bodies. Young women in particular are constantly being confronted with pictures of beautiful female bodies online - images which have almost always been digitally enhanced.
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was ousted during a revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. The Shah’s fall marked the end of more than 2500 years of the monarchy in Iran and the formerly western-oriented state became an Islamic republic.
Are people in North Korea allowed to laugh, dance and marry? This documentary provides unique insights on everyday life in the East Asian country, which most people associate with dictatorship, military parades and nuclear missile testing.
Chocolate reduces stress. Fish stimulates the brain. Is there any truth to such popular beliefs? The findings of researchers around the world say yes: It appears we really are what we eat.
Swiss vet Marlene Zähner trains dogs to fight poaching in the Congo. The game population in the Virunga National Park has already been decimated by up to 95 percent. Gorillas in particular are facing extinction.
A father fights to save his daughter who has run off to join the terror organization Islamic State. For four long years Maik Messing doesn’t know if she will survive the ordeal. And for those same four years he was joined by a camera Team.
Many women make a conscious decision not to have children. What are the reasons behind their choice - and what reactions does it prompt? The film [m]otherhood investigates these questions and examines the maternal myth inherent in all cultures.
Today, Marvel is one of the world’s best-known players in the comic industry. Spider Man and X-Man are just two of its popular superheroes. Thirty years ago, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. How did Marvel make it back to the top?
"Emission free" electric cars are being vaunted as the solution to climate change. They have the potential to earn billions for German carmakers , yet are they really so environmentally-friendly?
For young people in Europe, the Second World War is safely in the past. But peace and the shared values of European unification are now under threat. Young Europeans are fighting to make sure that history does not repeat itself.
Islamic charities are highly committed to helping Muslims in need. Their missions aim to relieve the plight of victims of war, poverty and hunger around the world. But is there a political component to their work?
More well-preserved dinosaur fossils have been found in Thüringen than anywhere else in the world. Almost every skeleton find has become a global sensation. And the archaeologists keep digging. They may already have discovered a new species.
More than 700 thousand Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh. Their villages were torched, civilians attacked, raped and massacred. A pattern of systematic persecution that the UN says is genocide.
Spring 1945: The Second World War was in its final phase. The Nazis were still pursuing their delusional goal of ultimate victory, unscrupulously sending the youngest of conscripts to the front. But the end of the war was already in sight.
The growing scarcity of water and rain on earth is a grave danger to humans and nature. Climate change is altering the precipitation cycle. Groundwater levels are falling. If humans don’t change course, water shortage could end life as we know it.
It was one of the biggest white-collar scams in German history. In the 1990s, Manfred Schmider and his company FlowTex took investors for more than two billion euros. Today, the conman himself can’t believe how easy it was to get away with a major fraud.
Can a video trigger a war in Africa? This documentary investigates a controversial 2012 charity film that went viral, and asks whether the video and US-led hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony served as a cover for US military operations in Africa.
Russia – a global power, confident and strong. That’s the image projected by President Vladimir Putin. Decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse, Putin is relying on Russian traditions and values from the tsarist past to kindle patriotism.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was ousted in 2017. One of the most brutal dictatorships in modern times, its legacy was economic devastation, famine, corruption and mass murder.
The world’s worst industrial disaster continues to claim new generations of victims. The 1984 leak at a chemical plant in the Indian city of Bhopal released a cloud of deadly gas that killed thousands. The site remains toxic to this day.
Many Spaniards perceive the Catholic Church as old-fashioned. A priest in Madrid is trying to change that by leading a modern, inclusive congregation ready to receive anyone 24 hours a day.
Germans love coffee, and the country doesn't really wake up without it. But is it sustainably produced and fairly traded? Not really. This documentary investigates efforts to improve the situation.
Scientists are testing new technologies they hope could counteract the effects of climate change. But how could that work on a global scale? And - if it is possible at all - what are the dangers?
A land dispute between European immigrants and the indigenous people of Chile has turned deadly. Hardly a day passes in the Chilean province of Araucanía without an attack by indigenous people on settlers.
On orders from Heinrich Himmler, the Nazis abducted children from Poland for forced Germanization. Hermann Lüdeking, Jozef Sowa and Alodia Witaszek have never met, but they shared the same fate.
As the Red Army closed in on Berlin on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. But legends about the Nazi dictator's lived on. Was his body ever found? Did he manage to escape?
Thousands of soldiers were killed in the last battles of World War II. US troops who fought in the Hürtgen Forest nicknamed it the "Death Factory." This documentary features original film from US archives that bring the battle back to life.
Where are you from? Afro-German journalist Jana Pareigis has heard that question since her early childhood. In fact, black people have been living in Germany for 400 years. Pareigis travels through the country to speak with other black Germans.
The Nazis murdered 90 percent of Poland's Jews in the death camps. Seventy-five years after the end of World War Two, life is returning to the Jewish community in Poland.
Three-dimensional printing promises new opportunities for more sustainable and local production. But does 3D printing make everything better? This film shows how innovation can change the world of goods.
People from all over the world have been describing the drastic impact of the corona pandemic: The empty streets outside their homes, their fears and daily routines, the news, the regulations, the newly discovered sense of community as well as the small moments of hope.
Everyone is lonely at times. But now we know chronic loneliness can make you sick. Not only adults are affected, but increasingly young people as well. The reasons for loneliness are as diverse as the feeling itself.
Is the so-called "Islamic State" aiming to use the Philippines as its bridgehead in Asia? IS took control of the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi in 2017, and it took the Filipino army five months to take it back.
For a long time Indonesia was considered a model state for diversity and tolerance. There have been increasing indications that radical Muslims are gaining more influence in the most populous Muslim country in the world.
"People like to have a lot of stuff because it gives them the feeling of living forever," says social psychologist Sheldon Solomon, who believes today's materialism and consumerism will have disastrous consequences. How much is enough?
There are more and more cars and trucks on German streets. Cars are used for most journeys people take. But there are also ways to cut traffic - such as by changing the way you get around
After nine months of battle, Mosul was liberated from the so-called Islamic State in July 2017. It was here in Iraq’s second largest city that the militant group proclaimed its caliphate in 2014.
2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. Symphony No. 6 saw the composer set his romantic perception of nature to music. The ‘Pastorale’ is the starting point for the worldwide Beethoven Pastoral Project.
How high will the oceans rise due to climate change? The projections are the subject of dispute, with scientists continually correcting their estimates upward. Is this just panic-mongering or are these scenarios within the realm of possibility?
The GSG 9 is the German police’s elite tactical unit. It’s their job to take on dangerous terrorists and criminal mafias in the country. But who are the officers who make up the force? An exclusive look behind the scenes of Germany’s top police squad.
The Barenboim-Said Academy brings together young musicians from around the Middle East. Daniel Barenboim wants the experiment to be a protected place for intercultural dialogue between Jews, Muslims and Christians, away from war and daily hardship.
Manila is home to a gigantic shadow industry of digital cleaning. It employs tens of thousands of people working 10-hour shifts for the big Silicon Valley corporations, deleting offensive photos and videos from social media sites.
Sexual violence and mass rape have long been used as a weapon of war. It is not only the victims and survivors who suffer trauma - an entire generation of men, women and children are affected. All too often, the perpetrators remain unpunished.
A very private trip through Russia - a world power with a shrinking population, a myriad of ethnic minorities, and vast distances.
Like the Amish in the US, the Mennonite Christian community shuns the modern world. Most Mennonites live in secluded, self-sufficient colonies. We get a rare glimpse into the life of a devout and isolated community.
Climate change is leaving its mark on Morocco’s oases, too. Sandstorms are becoming more and more frequent, groundwater levels are sinking and palm trees are shrivelling up and dying. An age-old way of life is in danger.
Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is probably the world’s most famous painting. But whose portrait actually is it? There are two clues to the identity of the mysterious young woman, but they are mutually exclusive. Can the riddle ever be solved?
People lie - usually several times a day. Lying is considered immoral, but we've been built for it. And we are not alone. Dishonesty is an integral part of the social world, and numerous animal species are also skilled deceivers.
Around 50 thousand people live on the Faroe Islands. But too many of them are men. Faroese women go abroad to study. Many don’t return. Men stay behind to live off the sea. Now the islands are enjoying a growing influx of women from the Philippines.
The Vatican opened once-secret records on Pope Pius XII on March 2020. This gave researchers a brand new insight into the Catholic Church during the Nazi era. What did the Pope know about the Holocaust?
The Nuremberg trials started 75 years ago and marked a milestone in the establishment of international law. The images of high-ranking Nazis in the dock are seared into our collective memory. The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals staged by the Allies after World War Two. The first and best-known trial ended in October 1946 with the sentencing to death of 12 high-ranking Nazis. Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, Hermann Göring, Germany’s foreign minister during the Nazi regime, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Armaments Minister and chief architect Albert Speer, anti-Semitic demagogue Julius Streicher and high-ranking SS officer Ernst Kaltenbrunner were among those in the dock. The court met for the first time in Nuremberg in November 1945 and was in session for 218 days. Flash-Galerie Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse By making the Nazi elite answer for their crimes in this hugely complex trial, the Allies ushered in the era of modern international law. Using photos and archive film material, the documentary reconstructs what went on in the court room, as well as revealing what went on behind the scenes.
US student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp in 2016. Warmbier was released the following year, but he died of brain damage shortly after his return to the United States. Was he really the victim of torture?
COVID-19 is far from the first pandemic to wreak havoc in the world. A long line of infectious diseases have devastated and in some cases destroyed entire societies. Almost all of them started in animals and made the jump to humans.
The world's major powers agree: the resources of Antarctica should be exploited peacefully. They have promised to promote peace and scientific research in Antarctica, and to protect its environment. But is this spirit real, or just a lot of talk?
Peng Megut is one of the last forest nomads who still carry a blowgun as they roam the jungle. Peng and a number of men from his tribe are defending their community against a palm-oil plantation that they believe has trespassed on their land. Until just a few years ago, this region was home to one of the oldest primeval forests in the world. It covered an area that was half the size of Germany. Then timber companies started clear-cutting trees, and destroyed 90-percent of the forest. Forty tribes and ethnic groups, including the Penan, live in what's left. The Penan have resisted adopting a "modern" lifestyle longer than any other indigenous tribe in Borneo. They call their home "Tong Tana" -- which means both "forest" and "world." The woodland is a central component of the Penan's identity. It is the final resting place of their ancestors, and represents the heart of their spirituality, culture, and history. The tribe's existence is sustainable, and the people live in harmony with nature. They hunt for food -- and the forest supplies all their other needs, as well. But since the mid-20th century, the lives of the Penan have changed radically. They still live in the jungle, but most of them have now moved into villages.
A milestone in physics: In 2015, scientists proved the existence of gravitational waves. These waves travel billions of light-years through space, eventually reaching Earth and bringing us insights that were previously unattainable.
Two-and-a-half centuries ago, most of Europe's woodlands were healthy. But those days are long gone. Across the continent, this habitat that stores water, restores the atmosphere, and hosts countless species of flora and fauna is now threatened. The documentary tells the story of people committed to preserving the last pockets of primeval forest and woodland in Europe. It follows a group that tends Lübeck's city forest and works with researchers to examine how woods fare when left to themselves. The journey moves on to Lapland, where the indigenous Sami people are fighting to stop the paper industry from clear-cutting. The reindeer herders need the forest because their livestock eat the lichen that grows on the trees. The challenge they face is great, as the booming mail-order business drives up demand for wood used to make cardboard packaging. From there it's off to the Massif Central, where a German-French couple is fighting to improve a forest economy plagued by clear-cutting and monoculture. Together with 130 others they have bought up woodlands and are managing them ecologically. Yet wood is valuable and often prompts greed. In Eastern Europe, corruption and violence have led to the murder of six foresters in Romania in the last year alone. What is being done to stop such crime?
Long before Homo sapiens populated the earth, the Neanderthals lived in Eurasia. Now, paleoanthropologists in England and France are using new archeological methods to shed light on some previously unexplained Neanderthal mysteries. In an age clouded by the mists of time, the first early humans colonized the Eurasian continent. They settled on land that had only recently been covered by glaciers. This species, called Neanderthals, died out about 30,000 years ago -- but at one time, they formed the largest group in an area that stretched from northern France to the Belgian coast and from the Channel Islands to southern England. During the last Ice Age, the North Sea was frozen over -- and the English Channel was a small river that could easily be crossed on foot. The Neanderthals lived in close harmony with their perpetually changing environment. They had everything they needed to survive: the meat of prey animals, edible wild plants, water and wood for cooking and heating. How did these early humans develop over almost 300,000 years? What were their lives like before they became extinct? Our documentary is based on the latest research. We investigate various populations of Neanderthals, and visit archaeological sites in northern France, southern England, and on the island of Jersey. Renowned researchers such as the British paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer and his French colleague Ludovic Slimak describe how the Neanderthals lived, and discuss their cognitive abilities. Was this species capable of structured thinking? Did they have cultures, languages, and societies? How intelligent were they, and what sort of adaptive strategies kept them alive for 300,000 years? How similar were they to modern-day humans?
Even before COVID-19, New York was already defined by a gap between the rich and poor. Yet during the pandemic, wealth has become a determinant of survival.
What do tomatoes have to do with mass migration? Tomatoes are a poker chip in global trade policies. Subsidized products from the EU, China and elsewhere are sold at dumping prices, destroying markets and livelihoods in Africa in the process.
The Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has become a symbol of the failure of EU Policy. Dramatic images of a fire at the camp in September 2020 have put pressure on the EU Commission to draft a new refugee agreement.
How much is a human life worth? An innovative cancer therapy promises to save lives. But it is extremely expensive. Will the insurance companies pay for it? What is the manufacturer's return on investment? And do lobbyists drive up prices?
The massive disappearance of plant and animal species is a worldwide problem. In the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia, scientists are fighting for the survival of a unique ecosystem with incredible biodiversity.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been described as the ‘rape capital of the world.’ Gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege has been fighting for years to help rape survivors. German doctor Gisela Schneider goes to visit him.
Around the world, pandemic-related lockdowns have hit our globalized economy hard. Supply-chains have been disrupted, industries crippled. The Coronavirus has laid bare the risks of global interconnectedness. Is the crisis the beginning of the end of globalization?
Structural injustice creates division and threatens peace. But how do we know whether our social order is just? Challenging such notions is the key to social mobility.
Thilafushi, an island of floating rubbish island in the Maldives, grows by a square meter a day. But diving instructor Shaahina Ali is trying to slow that growth by recycling and using floating barriers to hold back the rising seas.
Agriculture will have to change drastically in the future if it is to meet global demand. Food production will become increasingly difficult in the face of growing challenges like rapid population growth, climate change and soil exhaustion.
Engineers and scientists are trying to intervene in the Earth’s geochemical cycles. Because it appears efforts to cut CO2 won’t suffice to avoid irreversible climate change. But does geoengineering offer a real solution? Or is it just human hubris?
Everyone needs portable power for smart phones, robot lawnmowers, kitchen scales and e-bikes. So it's no wonder that the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry went to the inventor of rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries.
The entire globe can be provided with affordable high-speed Internet from satellites in space. These newly developed mini-satellites in a low-earth orbit as well as powerful antennas and signal processing chips make this possible.
After World War I, relationships between French occupation troops and German women were banned. But they happened anyway, and liaisons involving black soldiers produced a number of mixed-race children. Many were later persecuted by the Nazis.
The German automotive industry has long played a key role in the country's prosperity. It employs hundreds of thousands and enjoys cozy relationships with politicians. But the COVID-19 crisis threw a wrench in the works. What’s next?
A new generation of investors wants to force businesses to become environmentally-friendly. Even climate conservationists know that money talks, but can green investments really save the world?
It’s a horrifying scenario: Being operated on under general anesthesia - and you are still awake! Around ten million operations are performed under general anesthesia in Germany each year. But what exactly happens in the brain is still a mystery.
Every year, thousands of cattle are exported to countries outside the EU. It’s often a harrowing ordeal. Activists from the Animal Welfare Foundation argue that conditions in these transports breach European law.
Violent, antisemitic and pornographic content is being increasingly shared by children. It’s a growing problem in schools, but hardly anyone is willing to talk openly about it. What can be done to protect children and teenagers?
Countless music stars have used Martin guitars to play their way to fame. These legendary instruments originated in the town of Markneukirchen in Germany's Vogtland region in the early 1800s, and they are still enormously popular today.
Tabun, sarin, phosgene and mustard gas are chemical warfare agents invented to kill. They were carelessly disposed of after Germany lost two world wars. Still buried or underwater in many places, they have become a public-health time bomb.
When it comes to water, it’s hard not to think of catastrophes: drought, overfishing, water wars. But on closer examination, there’s some surprisingly good news out there in the world of water.
On October 9, 2019, neo-Nazi Stephan Balliet set out on a killing spree. His target was the Jewish community in Halle in eastern Germany. A well-locked synagogue door prevented dozens of murders on the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur.
Kyushu is said to be the wellspring of Japanese civilization. Yet few tourists visit the southernmost of Japan's main islands. This documentary contrasts modern Japanese cities with traditional customs in the countryside.
The world is entering a new era of warfare, with cyber and autonomous weapons taking center stage. These technologies are making militaries faster, smarter, more efficient. But if unchecked, they threaten to destabilize the world.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. Among the causes are industrial livestock farming, poor hygiene in hospitals, and the misuse of antibiotics.
Heat waves are hitting the world’s cities harder and harder. Concrete-lined, narrow streets turn the urban jungle into a bake oven. This documentary visits those trying to cool cities down as global warming intensifies.
Najlaa Matto is a Yazidi. As a young woman living in Iraq, she was abducted and enslaved by IS fighters. After she was freed, Najlaa went back to her home village and met other former slaves who told her about the ordeals they’d suffered.
More Italians are migrating to big cities, and every year around 200,000 leave to go abroad. Entire villages now stand empty. So small towns are providing incentives for incomers - like rent-free homes in Campania or one euro house prices in Sicily.
A very German story has ended with the completion of the Humboldt Forum in a replica of Berlin’s former Royal Palace. The site - where the Kaiser once resided and the Palace of the Republic of Communist East Germany once stood - sparked controversy from the start.
The "New Silk Road" is an enormous Chinese international development project. It's a trade network that involves Asia, Africa, and Europe -- and more than 70 countries are already involved. It may turn the old world order upside down.
What is life like for Jews in Europe today? What are their stories? How do they combine traditional and modern life? And how do they deal with marginalization and threats?
Antiquities stolen in the Middle East have resurfaced in art markets all over the world. Police have joined archaeologists in a global effort to stop criminals trafficking these priceless artefacts.
Italy’s Carrara marble quarries are a source of controversy, pitting nature against economic gain. Environmentalists warn of overexploitation, while others defend the jobs these Tuscan quarries provide.
Postponed by a year. Plagued by existential rumors. The Tokyo Olympics have had a rocky road, thus far. But what’s it like for the athletes? This film looks at how Olympic hopefuls experience Olympic-sized uncertainties, under the already strained circumstances of a global pandemic.
Arbër Hajdari has helped thousands of Albanian families escape poverty. Five years ago he set up the humanitarian organization Fundjavë Ndryshe to fight hardship in Albania. Now, around 12,000 volunteers work for the group.
A French manufacturer of weapons components has been charged with complicity in war crimes. It is a trial that could set an important precedent, and might change the way arms manufacturers do business.
Viruses can be fatal, but some viruses can in fact be life-sustaining. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has killed large numbers of people during the current pandemic. But humans wouldn’t exist without viruses. How can they benefit us?
Part of the main artery of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, this bridge is many things to many people. Vegetables, a new bed, a plate of cheap soup - even a new hairstyle: You can get all that, and more, on the bridge. But now, it is slated for demolition.
TV crews were quick to visit the areas in western Europe devastated by flooding in July. As they talked to victims and helpers, the shocking scale of the tragedy became clear to viewers. At least 170 people lost their lives.
Like all Israeli youth, Atalya was expected to become a soldier. Unlike most, she questioned the practices of her country's military, and was determined to challenge this rite of passage. She refused to do military duty and was imprisoned.
For one group, at least, the erection of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 was a stroke of luck. Over the following decades, the Wall would be the lifeblood of the East German secret police, known as the Stasi. By the time the Wall fell, in 1989, thousands of Stasi agents were employed with a single goal.
Sand is overrunning Oltenia, a historical region in southern Romania. It’s getting hotter and drier, with sandstorms now reaching all the way to Bucharest. As they try to prevent the worst, environmentalists are turning to reforestation.
For centuries, Europe lusted after exotic treasures from all over the world. Millions of objects were stored away by German museums during the colonial era. That’s left a cultural vacuum in former colonial countries.
For years, Vietnamese children and teenagers have been disappearing in Germany. Those responsible are unscrupulous human traffickers whose networks span continents.
Some call it a useful dowry of evolution, others a fault in the human genetic make-up: The old mortal sin Greed seems to be more ubiquitous than ever. Why cannot people ever get enough, where is this self-indulgence leading - and are there any ways out of this vicious circle of gratification?
More and more entrepreneurs are thinking beyond their own personal wealth. In what is known as the "Purpose Movement," company bosses aim to put profits to good use, while rethinking the idea of corporate ownership.
A Polish businessman risked his life to film everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto. These harrowing 8 mm movies were stored for decades in archives, and are shown publicly for the first time in this documentary.
The battle line in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict runs between the border towns of Sderot and Gaza. Nothing but a wall and a few hundred meters separate these neighboring communities, yet their residents almost never meet.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 sent the world into a state of shock. Yet some had been loudly and publicly warning of the dangers posed by terrorism. Ahmad Shah Massoud, an Afghan Mujahideen commander, was among them.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, changed the lives of many children and young people dramatically. But they are committed to overcoming their harrowing experiences -- despite the shadow the Twin Towers cast over their lives.
In the fight to save their homeland, three brave Ecuadorian women are taking to the airwaves. Their small radio station has become a bastion in the struggle against exploitation of the rainforest.
After 16 years of Angela Merkel's leadership, the country feels tired. Many believe the grand coalition dragged its feet on reforms and failed to resolve social conflicts. Fears of a schism in society are growing.
Child labor is common in Myanmar. Impoverished families are often faced with the hard choice of exploiting or abandoning their children. Some underage workers are even adopted by their employers, leaving them exposed to physical and emotional abuse.
Angela Merkel has been Germany’s Chancellor for 16 years. In that time, she has steered the country through countless international crises, frequently crossing swords with other world leaders.
Who owns the land of the reindeer? The indigenous Sámi people, or all Swedes? The country’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Sámi have sole rights to fish and hunt small game. Now, a long-smoldering conflict is threatening to escalate.
Smartphones, computers, gaming consoles or digital tablets are now givens in our daily lives. The electronic intrusion is causing controversy and collective hysteria. Are we damaging our brains with all these screens?
Just how unscrupulous are international PR agencies that work on election campaigns? Using a fake identity, investigative journalist Peter Kreysler infiltrates their inner workings.
In the mines of Paracale, workers search for gold using the world's most dangerous methods. Diving into flooded underground caves, they constantly risk their lives. The business is illegal. But for many, it is the only way they can earn money.
Around the world, more and more people are developing Parkinson's disease. Many of those affected have chosen a supposedly healthy life among orchards or vineyards in the countryside. Is the disease related to the use of pesticides?
One in three women in Germany has experienced violence in the form of rage, threats or blows. Yet few talk about it, even though cases of domestic violence have increased during the coronavirus pandemic.
When oil was discovered in Ghana in 2007, the country began to dream big. It dreamed that the ‘black gold’ would bring economic upswing and long-awaited prosperity to its nation. But what happens when dreams and globalization meet?
More than just a landmark in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate is a national symbol. Like no other building, it stands for Germany’s division and reunification. But while everyone recognizes the Brandenburg Gate, hardly anyone knows much about it.
What can animals’ emotions tell us about ourselves? This documentary takes us on a fascinating journey into the lives of the great apes.
More than just pastimes, games have long played a role in shaping the world. Today, "gamification" is more prominent than ever, as creative people develop games to help heal the sick, prevent industrial accidents and enable kids to do well in school.
In many places, menstruation is still taboo, and attitudes towards it have a social and political impact on gender equality. Pandora's Box is produced and directed by a primarily female crew. It takes us on a global journey, including India, Kenya, the UK and North America, to explore the subjugation of people who menstruate.
"Syndrome K" might be the only deadly disease that ever saved lives. Despite the fact that it never really existed. This film tells the story of three courageous Roman Catholic doctors who saved Jewish lives at a hospital in Rome by means of a convincing lie.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former East opened up - and the Italian Mafia moved in. In the decades since, they have built up a criminal network in the former East Germany. This investigative documentary traces their origins back 30 years.
The first five years of a child’s life are crucial. If early childhood education is neglected, problems can arise that may never be overcome, leading to consequences for the individual and society as a whole.
Why are anxiety disorders on the rise? Is there a pill for fear? Fear can cause trembling, a racing heart, sweating, and stress. It's essential for our survival, but it can also make us sick.
Niniola, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido: In dance clubs around the world, musicians from Africa are stars. And no wonder - Afrobeats, which pairs West African musical elements with hip-hop, dancehall or house music, is great to dance to.
China is building a huge digital surveillance system. The state collects massive amounts of data from willing citizens: the benefits are practical, and people who play by the rules are rewarded.
"They said they would shoot me in the leg so I couldn’t dance anymore." The brutal threat Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh received from the terrorist organization "Islamic State" forced him to flee his home in Damascus.
For 500 years, Transylvania’s Gábor people have held onto their values and rituals. This film explores the insular world of the Gábor Roma, and asks whether they can maintain their traditional lives in a globalized world.
Insiders say it’s like something out of a thriller movie. The players in the "Cum-Ex" tax scandal are powerful bankers, executives, top-tier lawyers, and even, perhaps, German politicians...along with the state prosecutor who’s on their trail.
It’s a remote paradise between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Only a few thousand people live on the islands in the Torres Strait. They depend on a supply ship that sails to their isolated archipelago once a week.
Ice is melting around the world, with drastic consequences for humanity. One way scientists can work out just how fast it’s melting is by listening. The disappearing ice has its own sound.
The Gadia Lohar were once the respected blacksmiths who forged weapons for India's kings. Despite their former fame, today the nomads are among the poorest of the country's poor and ostracized by much of Indian society.
'Girls for Future' follows four girls as they fight for a better future. Aged between 11 and 14 years, they are all directly affected by environmental destruction - from air pollution to water shortage - and its consequences.
A wave of authoritarianism is churning from East to West and assailing civil society. Autocrats are threatening democracy, while their regimes portray NGOs as Trojan horses for foreign interference.
‘Girls for Future’ follows four girls as they fight for a better future. Aged between 11 and 14 years, they are all directly affected by environmental destruction - from air pollution to water shortage - and its consequences.
In many parts of the world, questions surrounding virginity have seemed to be on the verge of disappearing. But despite the sexual revolution, the idea of preserving virginity has seen a resurgence of late.
South Africa’s former president Frederik Willem de Klerk has died at the age of 85. As it’s last white minority leader he steered his country towards the end of apartheid - for which De Klerk and Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1945, Stuart and Budd Schulberg were sent to Europe to gather film evidence of Nazi crimes. The two brothers were part of a special OSS unit. The material they gathered was eventually put to use prosecuting top Nazi officials at Nuremberg.
The Arabian oryx is a beautiful, almost luminously white antelope. But, after being over-hunted by humans in the 20th century, it only narrowly escaped extinction. Today, on the desert island of Sir Bani Yas, the endangered animals find refuge.
The Khasis are one of the few matrilineal societies in the world. Children receive their mother’s name, and husbands move into their wife’s home. But what is the Khasis’ stance towards gender equality?
Back then it was called assimilation. Now, it's recognized as cultural genocide. For generations, Indigenous families in Canada were forced to send their children to residential schools where their culture and language were eroded.
After ten years away from their families, three Nepalese teenagers return to their mountain village. They were sent to a boarding school in Kathmandu at the age of four. Now they must learn to reconnect with their families and tradition.
Zenith Irfan doesn’t think twice about cruising through her homeland of Pakistan on her motorcycle. But is Pakistani society at large willing to grant women that kind of freedom?
Airbus has been plunged into crisis by the COVID pandemic. Last year, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said that the company was in danger of collapse.
Modern agriculture is designed to produce high yields. But it also depletes the soil. How do over-fertilization and pesticides impact the environment and humans? Are we poisoning our world and driving species to extinction?
This film documents the lives of young Palestinian women in Palestine and Israel. They live in contexts dominated by men, surrounded by outdated gender roles. But step-by-step, these young women are shaping their own paths through life.
In cities around the world, housing prices are skyrocketing while incomes aren’t keeping pace. Housing is a human right that is becoming increasingly evasive. A market gone wild is putting the squeeze on tenants.
High in the Andes mountains, mining companies are gearing up for the massive extraction of lithium -- the raw material of the future. Lithium batteries are used to power the electric vehicles that will play a key role in the new energy revolution.
New hydropower dams on the Mekong River are leaving fishing and farming communities high and dry. The dams provide clean electricity, but they also cause massive damage to Cambodia's plant and animal worlds. Will climate change make matters worse?
Mining on asteroids sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it could soon become a reality. Nations and powerful corporations already have plans for such ventures and are hard at work staking their claim to resources from space.
They are top athletes. But a single flight of stairs can be a challenge. This documentary follows two elite competitors as they embark on a journey to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
This documentary follows a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay as he searches for his tormentors. Once charged as a terrorist and twice exonerated, he seeks revenge in the most unexpected way: through forgiveness.
Death and the devil. Nudity and eroticism. Horror. With its daring subjects and blazing colors, the art of the Gothic period captivated viewers some 500 years ago, and still affects us deeply, today.
Berlin’s Hotel Adlon has been one of Germany’s most renowned hotels for more than 100 years. It’s seen many a famous face walk through its doors, including Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin and Marlene Dietrich. It’s a hotel steeped in German history.
After the end of World War Two, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann lived a quiet life in Argentina. Until May of 1960, when the Israeli secret service Mossad abducted him and brought him to Israel, to stand trial. Known as the trial of the century, the case against the the former SS man was brought to court on April 11th, 1961. It attracted international attention: Adolf Eichmann was one of the people responsible for the murder of an estimated six million Jews and Sinti and Roma in Europe. As court witnesses, Holocaust survivors described the horrific crimes committed during the Nazi era. For most of the survivors who testified, this was the first time they had spoken out about what had happened to them. Their accounts of murder, torture and manslaughter were devastating. What impact did the trial have on the young state of Israel, and on the Federal Republic of Germany? How did the public disclosure of Nazi crimes change the relationship between the two states?
With its stunning view of Lake Geneva, the hotel has attracted actors from Roger Moore to Angelina Jolie, and played host to political luminaries like Kofi Annan, Charles de Gaulle and the Dalai Lama. Political history has been made here, too: In 1898, the Empress "Sisi" of Austria was stabbed to death by an anarchist at the Beau-Rivage. Nearly a hundred years later, in 1987, the German politician Uwe Barschel was discovered dead here, in a bathtub. Family-run for generations, the hotel is impressive not just for its size, but also for its discretion. Now, director Jacques Mayer uses interviews, archival film and rarely seen photographs to vividly chronicle some of the most fateful years of the Beau-Rivage.
Thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, the martial rhetoric and other trappings of the "strong men" of the totalitarian era are making a comeback. Why?
A timeless treasure, nearly lost forever. Without the UNESCO‘s unprecedented rescue operation, future generations might have only seen the stunning temples of Ramses II and Cleopatra in the pages of history books.
Santa Claus is a global icon. But where did this friendly old man in a red suit who brings gifts for children actually come from? How could Santa become a central figure of our consumer society? Everyone knows Santa Claus, but few know much about his origins. This film changes that, by taking us back to the legend of Saint Nicholas of Myra, born ca. 270 AD in Lycia, in what is now Turkey. Said to be a miracle worker, after his death Saint Nicholas of Myra’s remains made their way to Italy and France. He became the patron saint of various European cities, as well as the protector of children. Legend has it that every year, on December 6, he paraded through the streets handing out candy and gifts to good children. In the Netherlands, he was called Sinter Klaas. Dutch immigrants eventually brought him with them, to America. In the 19th century, two poets and a cartoonist in New Amsterdam (later known as New York City) created the modern Santa Claus. These days, Santa Claus has made his wa
Deep in the jungle of Cambodia lies a jewel from the Khmer Empire: the temple of Banteay Chhmar. Half devoured by plants and long forgotten by most people, the 800-year-old complex is being rediscovered, slowly.
Grand hotels are places full of history, triumph and tragedy. During the World War II, "Le Bristol" was one of the few Paris hotels the Nazis did not take over during the occupation. That saved the life of a Jewish architect who found refuge there.
For China, it's a renegade province that must be brought into line. The Taiwanese, on the other hand, see themselves as a legitimate, independent, democratic state. For Taiwan, the stakes are high. After watching how Hong Kong was "brought into line" by China, Taiwan has been all the more determined to assert itself as a democracy. But it's not an easy path. As part of the Sunflower Movement in 2014, Taiwanese youth took to the streets to protest increased economic ties with China. Citizens have also been fighting for political transparency and more participation. Audrey Tang, Minister of State for Digital Affairs, wants to involve citizens as much as possible in the government's political decision-making. Meanwhile, the country is fighting fierce cyberattacks aimed at weakening its political institutions.
Only 0.3 percent of the Earth's total water supply is suitable for human consumption. Ominously, this precious resource is beginning to shrink. Natural water reservoirs are drying up due to climate change. Glaciologist Daniel Farinotti surveys melting glaciers in the Swiss Alps. If glaciers continue to melt at the current rate, he says, there will be no ice left by the end of the century. The disappearance of glacial meltwater would have fatal consequences. From the heights of the Swiss Alpine glaciers, the documentary travels down to the seafloor, off the coast of Malta. Here, the crew of the German expedition ship "Sonne" wants to track down mysterious freshwater deposits in the Mediterranean. Next up is Peru where, in a bid to counteract the threat of water shortages, work is underway on projects that use ancient Incan methods.
Organized crime in The Netherlands is flourishing in tandem with the cocaine trade. A key witness is shot dead, along with his lawyer. A journalist is murdered in downtown Amsterdam. The drugs mafia earns billions and deploys increasingly brutal tactics. The biggest trial in the history of The Netherlands has been going on since March 2021. In the dock at the Marengo trial: several leading members of the Mocro Mafia accused of murder. The cases highlight the extreme brutality of a criminal network that’s pushing the state to its limits. The reportage accompanies investigators going about their work at the port of Rotterdam, talks to defendants’ lawyers, meets former drugs couriers as well as the journalist Peter R. de Vries, who was later murdered. The story is one of corruption and violence.
After water, tea is the most-consumed beverage in the world. The latest trend for this traditional drink? Sustainable tea, produced affordably and without the use of pesticides, in a climate-neutral way, under fair working conditions. What happened to the tea of our childhood? That’s the question Balts Tomas Kaziliunas and Hannes Saarpuu asked themselves four years ago. Before the fall of the Iron Curtain, Georgia supplied all of Eastern Europe with tea. And no wonder: the climate in that country is ideal for tea cultivation. Tomas and Hannes traveled to Georgia — and stayed. They leased an overgrown tea plantation. It had lain fallow for 30 years, because Georgian tea production collapsed along with the Soviet Union. Now, the two adventurers are building an ecological tea plantation. And anyone can become a "co-farmer" online. Aron Murro, Sven Bock and Leon Franken are also tea lovers. They’ve christened their start-up "KarmaKollektiv." The young founders want to produce tea and t
There are tens of thousands of "children of IS”, whose families pledged allegiance to the self-proclaimed caliphate. They’re now stigmatized, and their existence is not legally recognized in "Post-IS” Iraq. Without identification documents, they have no access to medical care, food aid, or education. This unprecedented investigation gives a voice to these children, the social outcasts of a new Iraq, whom only a handful of NGOs are trying to help. The filmmakers journey to war-torn areas around the Mosul area, Iraqi Kurdistan and Northeastern Syria, to meet a generation who endured the reign of the "Islamic State” and a violent war for liberation, and are now seeking a future as they balance resilience with a desire for revenge.
Organized crime can hold sway over political and economic institutions. Illegal business is growing more profitable every day. Can something be done to take down this global criminal network?
In 2018, filmmaker Andreas Orth interviewed military experts from France, Germany, Russia and the US. He looked at images of a new generation of nuclear weapons, and even filmed in once top-secret former nuclear missile installations. Four years on, in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, how do experts assess the situation? How great is the danger of nuclear weapons being used in the war against Ukraine? "The New Cold War – More Nuclear Weapons in Europe?" is a critical look at current nuclear armament and what it means for Europe.
Intelligence agencies are influencing governments and spying on countries with no regard for the law. And they are able to remain nearly invisible, in the process. Are they the new superpowers? The last time intelligence agencies commanded as much power as they do today was during the Cold War. Technological innovations mean that more sophisticated warfare is now a reality. It is not just about Russia and the USA anymore. We may be entering a new era of unrest.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was founded in 1979, there has been a war between Iran, Israel and the US. The war has never been officially declared, and there has been no real reconciliation. Part One of this two-part documentary focuses on the origins of the conflict between Iran and Israel. It began when the Israelis invaded Lebanon to confront a new Lebanese Shiite force backed by Iran: Hezbollah.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was founded in 1979, there has been a war between Iran, Israel and the US. The war has never been officially declared, and there has been no real reconciliation. Part Two of this two-part documentary focuses on the period after the first Gulf War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. With US influence dominant in the Middle East, there was an opportunity to settle the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin entered into dialogue with the Palestinians, one motive for the rapprochement was to neutralize Iran's influence. The Islamic Republic’s leaders found themselves threatened, and responded by confronting Israel and the US, while secretly making preparations for the development of nuclear weapons.
Not until 1982 was the Nazi mass-murder of the Sinti and Roma people recognized as genocide. Using personal life stories, this film traces the history of Germany's largest national minority.
April 1918. As Europe plunged into WWI, an extremely virulent flu swept across every continent. Wrongly called ‘Spanish Flu,’ it raged for two years, causing the deaths of more than 50 million people before disappearing into oblivion.
The personal data of Internet users is the new gold. Whether it’s cybercriminals, online giants or intelligence agencies - they all want to get their hands on it. That’s because control over this kind of information means power. But how can the private sphere be protected?
Amid outrage at Putin’s war in Ukraine, memorials commemorating the Red Army’s victory over fascism are being torn down across Eastern Europe. But don’t Soviet troops who helped defeat the Nazis in World War II deserve to be remembered?
Part of the great river Brahmaputra, the Jamuna river sees the emergence and disappearance of these ‘chars’ every year. The people who live here are known as the Chauras, and they have organized their lives around rise and fall of the waters.
The bust of Queen Nefertiti is a big attraction in Berlin. But on the Nile, she’s sorely missed. The matter of ownership seems to be clear, formally at least. But since 1924, both Egypt and France have been demanding the return of the artwork.
Attempts are being made to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere with technical solutions. For example, new carbon capture technology that can extract CO2 from air and water, even if the amount currently captured is minimal and not enough to prevent the climate crisis and its consequences. Still, there is no shortage of ideas. Adding basalt rock dust to agricultural fields not only binds carbon dioxide but keeps the soil fertile. Biochar, made from organic waste, has a similar effect. Some ideas are bolder: A protective screen of particles in the upper layers of the atmosphere could filter sunlight, as seen with the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in 1991. The millions of tons of sulfur dioxide spewed into the stratosphere cooled the earth significantly. Theoretically, aircraft could be used to deliver the particles. But experts warn that the consequences for humans and the weather would be felt worldwide and could never be fully controlled.
When he was 18 years old, Ike Nnaebue left his home nation Nigeria for Europe. But the dangers forced him to give up in Mauretania. Now, he’s now back on the same migration route. This time, as a filmmaker.
Sex work is a way of life for thousands of women in marginalized communities in certain parts of rural India. For many, it is the only way to make money - also due to the Indian caste system and centuries-old prejudices which make it difficult for the families to escape poverty. But winds of change are blowing.
One way to tackle e-waste is to repair devices rather than throw them out. More companies are doing just that, from recycling solar modules to renting out second-hand smartphones. Their goal is to reduce e-waste and protect the environment.
Billionaires are setting their sights on outer space. Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are all sending rockets, people and technology to the stars. Other entrepreneurs around the world also want to join this new contest. Who’ll win the race?
Johanna Klug, 27, works as a companion for the dying. Dealing with death has had a positive influence on her life. The film accompanies her as she moves between her work and her everyday life as a fun-loving young adult in Berlin. Johanna Klug is in the middle of her doctoral thesis on "Patient autonomy in terminally ill children" and has just published her second non-fiction book. At the age of 20, she began spending time with people in the final months of their lives. "Since then, the topics of dying, death and mourning have never left me," says Johanna. "It was the need for direct, sincere and genuine encounters with people." She finds this intensity in her hospice work, where she spends time with, among others, an old woman and a young woman with a heart condition. She also finds it during outings with a girl who is mourning her deceased sister, as well as when she goes out partying with her friends.
What does it mean to live as a Rohingya woman in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh? In a country that doesn't want you. In a community that oppresses you. In a camp where abductions are commonplace. They are stateless, forbidden to work. They do not attend regular schools and may only leave the camp with special permission. Frustration, unaddressed trauma and the steadily increasing threat from militant groups are making the situation of Rohingya women in refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, almost unbearable. In contrast to the men, they have few opportunities. Getting an education, moving around the camp and even going to the toilets pose a safety risk. But some women are still seizing the opportunity for education that is offered to them in the camp — despite the resistance they face in this male-dominated society. A report by Birgitta Schülke, Naomi Conrad and Arafatul Islam.
Mozambique could be one of the world’s largest energy suppliers. Huge natural gas reserves are located off the country’s northern coast. But they are not being exploited because of a brutal insurgency involving Islamist militants. When giant natural gas fields were discovered off Mozambique’s coast, Western investors came in droves. French company TotalEnergies was among those to secure a lucrative license. In 2019, it pledged to invest 20 billion US dollars by 2024. The first gas deliveries were to begin in 2024. But the French energy giant later suspended work on the project and withdrew all its workers. Because since 2021, jihadist militants have wielded control over large parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. They call themselves Ahlu Sunna Wal Jammah after the main Sunni branch of Islam. More than a million people have fled their homes.
He’s a key figure in the clandestine wranglings of two superpowers: the United States and China. The FBI announced a five-million-dollar bounty for information leading to his arrest. Intelligence agencies and investigators have been trying for decades to stop him in his tracks: the arms dealer Karl Lee. The documentary follows Karl Lee’s trail across four continents, from Washington and New York to Tel Aviv, from Europe to Teheran, Beijing and Karl Lee’s factory in northeastern China. The prize-winning investigative journalists Philipp Grüll, Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer provide unique insights into the world of spy agencies and diplomacy. At the same time, the film is a lesson in the powerlessness of the West and the rise of China - as well as an unflinching appraisal of the new world order.
40% of the global population is overweight or obese. Highly processed industrial foodstuffs are largely to blame. But food companies continue to focus on products that are addictive. Sugar is one of the strongest "drugs” and can get consumers really hooked. Food giants know this only too well. That’s why they use sugar, fats and flavor enhancers to encourage people to buy their products and boost their profits. The result: more and more people around the world are overweight or obese. Illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are becoming more prevalent. What can be done to change or even put a stop to the food industry’s strategies?
Russian mercenaries are fighting worldwide in crisis-torn regions like Syria, Ukraine and Libya. They’re part of the private military company known as the "Wagner Group". But what is the Wagner Group - and who is pulling the strings? In Libya, it’s thought that Wagner mercenaries have been actively involved in armed engagements since 2019, in the service of General Khalifa Haftar. Wagner operatives are also blamed for numerous war crimes. But often, there are no witnesses to their activities. UN observers say thousands of Wagner fighters are currently deployed to conflict zones outside Russia. Two BBC journalists established contact with two former operatives and interviewed them about their time with the paramilitary organization. In the documentary, they report on the mercenary group’s operations and what motivates members to join in the first place.
The wildfires that scorched Europe in 2022 burned more land area than since records began. Many fire brigades and fire protection services are fine-tuning their responses in line with the new threat. Tobias Hallas is an experienced paramedic from the German city of Karlsruhe, currently serving as a volunteer forest firefighter. He’s a member of @fire, a German NGO specializing in disaster management. The association was originally founded to support deployments in southern Europe during the hot summer months. But now, its knowhow is also coming in useful in Germany.
There is evidence that dual-use items that can also be used for military purposes are reaching Russia – from microelectronics, to replacement parts for related industries, to cars and weapons. How can this be happening in spite of sanctions? Where are the loopholes? To find out, DW reporter Miodrag Soric went to Georgia, a Western-oriented country that officially supports the imposed sanctions. Georgia is also a close neighbor of Russia, with all the economic ties and geopolitical dependencies that that implies. Allegedly, large amounts of exports continue to go to Russia via countries such as Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. How do they get there? How can this be stopped? Miodrag Soric searches for clues.
When it comes to the chasm between rich and poor, few nations on Earth can compare with Namibia. Seventy percent of the country’s territory is owned by just six percent of the population. The wounds inflicted during the German colonial era still run deep.
Boubé is a nomad. He belongs to a Beninese pastoralist tribe called the Fulani. Due to climate change, there is a great shortage of water on their seasonal migration through West Africa. As a result, conflicts with the local farmers occur again and again. In the hills of central Benin, the dry season is getting tougher every year. The Fulani herders living there have to travel further and further, in ever-larger groups in order to be able to provide for their cattle herds. Boubé, a young man in his 30s who comes from a long line of Fulani herders accustomed to migratory herding, knows that with each season that passes, tensions between local farmers and nomadic herders run increasingly high. After all, water shortages caused global warming are also impacting farmers. They’re reluctant to share their water sources with the Fulani herdsmen. But this year, Boubé doesn't want to stand idly by and aims to mediate between the parties. He’s well aware that the conflict between herders and fa
Many Catalans have long called for an independent Catalonia. The dispute over the region’s future divides not only Spanish but also Catalan society. In October 2017, the Catalan regional government called a referendum on an independent Catalonia. Spanish authorities deployed police in a bid to stop the vote. In the end, the result was unrepresentative, and Catalan politicians and activists were tried in court or fled abroad.
Comedy in Pakistan has always been a male-dominated space. Men are allowed to crack jokes, show off, or be crude. Enter female comedians. They get cast as mothers, daughters or mothers-in-law – rather than playing individuals, women are limited to caricatures. Amtul wants to change this, which is why she has joined the Khawatoons group. “Khawatoons” is a play on the Urdu word for women, “khawateen”, and “cartoons”. In the group, all the roles are played by women, who carefully test the boundaries of what can be said in Pakistan’s comedy clubs. The performers feel that challenging topics, including sexual violence, abortion and gender relations, have their place in comedy. A report by Vanessa Juercke.
In the last 30 years, CO2 emissions have increased by 60 percent worldwide. The most pressing problem facing our civilization is global warming. What solutions could there be? This documentary accompanies activists in their efforts to combat climate change.
The Mashco Piro people live in near-total isolation in a reserve in the Peruvian Amazon. A river separates these indigenous people from the outside world. Now, a team of anthropologists and members of other native groups are working protect to Mashco Piro from gold miners and the drug mafia.
"At last I feel at home in my body!" These are Robin’s first words after the mastectomy, a complex operation to remove female breasts. "A total liberation," says Robin, who is clearly over the moon. Not that the flat chest now means Robin is a man, for Robin is "agender”. "I’ve decided I’d rather be seen as a man instead of a woman, but I don’t have a gender, there’s no neutral, no third, I simply have no gender,” says Robin. That’s why Robin is choosing not to use pronouns: "he”, "his” or "him” are all out of the question. Robin’s childhood and youth was punctuated with the realization: I’m not like the others. But for a long time, Robin didn’t know what to do. The breakthrough came at the age of 22. For the first time, Robin met young people identifying as trans or non-binary at a queer gathering. And Robin knew straightaway: I’m like them.
Joseph Alexander was the only person in his family to survive the Holocaust. His parents and siblings were murdered by the Nazis. At the age of 100, Joe works tirelessly to keep their memory alive and ensure the atrocities are not forgotten.
Colonial looted art is finally being returned to its countries of origin. But new problems lie ahead, as former colonies now fear the return of looted art may take the place of a comprehensive reparation for colonial crimes.
Britain has a historically low unemployment rate of 3.6%. Yet poverty levels are breaking all records. It’s a paradoxical situation: almost 15 million Britons are considered poor these days, although there’s almost full employment. The reason: inflation and high energy costs. Galloping inflation and a dramatic spike in energy costs in recent months are forcing millions of Britons into poverty. Wages fluctuate in an "uberized” working world of precarious employment conditions. Over the past 10 years, beginning with David Cameron, the government has scaled back its support to vulnerable members of society. The result: reduced life expectancy. Disadvantaged Britons are dying 10 years sooner than their wealthier compatriots - victims of what’s become known as the "shit life syndrome” - a life marked by poor living conditions, disease and addiction.
On 19 September 2021, the earth opened up on the Atlantic island of La Palma. What followed was the longest volcanic eruption in the island’s history - and an impressive demonstration of Nature’s destructive power. Spawned by fire: On 19 September 2021, the earth opened up on the Atlantic island of La Palma. What followed was the longest volcanic eruption in the island’s history - and a rare opportunity for scientists to watch evolution at work. For almost three months, the volcano high on the island’s Cumbre Vieja ridge gushed gigantic chunks of pyroclastic material, lava and ash. At times, several lava flows moved downslope at a speed of 120 meters per hour. Anything in their way was destroyed and buried under a layer of lava up to 60 meters thick. The documentary charts the scientific work carried out on the volcano from the first day of the eruption.
Most investing is aimed at generating as much profit as possible. But that’s slowly changing. Some people are now working on a new definition of wealth. The idea: earn money and put it to good use. But how? The Kenyan company BURN is developing a resource-friendly oven for the country’s rural populace. Large areas of forest are often cut down to meet the huge demand for firewood. The new oven aims to change that. The company needs capital if it is to expand. This capital is organized by Olga Dickmann, through what’s known as crowdinvesting: instead of putting their money into anonymous funds, investors can choose this model to specifically promote sustainable, environmentally-friendly projects. And those investments don’t necessarily have to be big. Small sums from many backers facilitate larger investments. Funders receive their investment back at a later date with interest.
Still a teen but already a mom to several kids: Every year in Brazil, almost 500,000 girls under 20 give birth – more than in most other countries. Vitória became a mother at the age of 15. Now at 17, she’s pregnant with her second child. She lives with her boyfriend Eduardo in a favela in the north of Rio de Janeiro. Money is tight and their apartment is small. There are drug deals happening right outside their front door. Heavily armed dealers stand on every corner. It's a very different world from the Rio of Sugarloaf Mountain and picturesque beaches. But Vitória and Eduardo want to make it work. Social workers and doctors at the Dara Institute are helping guide them along the difficult path. A report by Bianca Kopsch.
The state of Israel is in political turmoil as it marks its 75th anniversary. While there is still no end in sight to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Israeli society itself is more divided than ever before.
DW's investigative team and the German investigative newsroom CORRECTIV have delved into the history of a remarkable scientific partnership that has spanned two decades. This partnership revolves around the fascinating field of quantum physics, which has the potential to impact human rights and alter the balance of power between China and the US. At the center of this collaboration is the venerable Heidelberg University, along with its honorary professor Pan Jian-Wei, who was recognized as one of the world's 100 most influential people by the renowned US news magazine, Time, in 2018. Since 2003, there has been a continuous exchange of knowledge between Germany's oldest university and Professor Pan in the field of quantum research. However, experts have cautioned about the potential military applications of quantum technology. Our research has led us deep into the realm where academic freedom collides with national security interests.
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been fighting for children, women and the persecuted in Iran for nearly four decades. The lawyer and human rights activist risks her freedom again and again. Her commitment has made her a symbol of resistance and hope. 38 years and 148 lashes. Even in the face of barbaric punishments, Nasrin Sotoudeh continues her peaceful struggle. A covert camera accompanies her on her mission, showing viewers new sides of Iran. Nasrin has long been compared to other great human rights activists such as Nelson Mandela. Nasrin's 21-year-old daughter Mehraveh has also joined her mother's fight. With Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, Nasrin founded the Center for the Protection of Human Rights in Iran in 2006. In 2010, she was arrested for defending demonstrators from an opposition movement. A year later, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison. After worldwide protests and appeals to the Iranian government, she was released early in 2013. But since 2018, the winner of the Sakh.
Songs are integral to Latvian identity. They helped preserve Latvian heritage during Soviet times. Every five years, there is a big choir festival. There's no chance Armands Priedols and Alina Igosheva will miss the festival this time. Armands is a lifelong dancer and farmer and Alina Igosheva is a passionate singer and teacher. But with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the mood in Latvia is tense. The Latvians have only been independent since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now they once again fear their big neighbor to the east. What does Armands think of the situation – or Alina, who once lived in Russia before immigrating to Latvia years ago? Juri Rescheto went on the road with them both.
People and countries worldwide are facing more droughts, more heat and growing water shortages. Even in Germany a sufficient supply of water cannot be taken for granted everywhere. The hope now is to secure that supply with new - and old - ideas. The situation in Germany is not comparable to that in many hotter countries, but even here the search for clean water is becoming a growing challenge. Some regions have had an acutely dry last few years, and groundwater levels have plummeted. The causes are not just more drought periods but also soil sealing - and higher pollutant levels in the water have also become a problem. The search for solutions has many facets. Günther Westenhoff has spent years using his divining rod to track down water sources for drilling companies. Increasing aridity means they have to bore deeper and deeper. While he cannot explain how his divining rod works, he shows us that it produces results.
Romania's struggle with bad waste management and illegal dumps has been a long-standing issue. Cluj County, once home to the notorious illegal garbage dump, Pata Rât, became a focal point of the waste crisis. With investments of hundreds of millions of Euros, the European Union sought to tackle the issue by mandating the closure of harmful landfills and the introduction of European waste standards. It took authorities 12 years to close and rehabilitate the old landfill in Pata Rât and to open a new waste management center. But how much has really changed? DW reporter Gönna Ketels delves deep into the details of EU-funded projects, as she confronts the grim realities of waste management in Romania and an intricate web of responsibilities. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Niger is a principal transit country for migrants. Now, the journey has become harder. That has less to do with the recent military putsch and more with laws enacted some years ago. A report completed before the military coup. In the desert of northern Niger, thousands of people are struggling to survive. They’ve been deported from Algeria, some even tortured there. Now, they’re trying to make their way to the larger oasis town of Agadez, which has been turned into a bottleneck on the road to Europe.
After the military coup in Myanmar in 2021, the Chin ethnic minority took up arms. The Chin people are fighting to defend their territory, their identity, and their democratic principles against the junta. In the mountains in the remote west of Myanmar, a bitter war is raging. The Chin, a primarily Christian minority, still control most of the area after putting up a fierce resistance against the Myanmar military. The resistance fighters train in the mountains along the Indian border. Hundreds of young people gave up their jobs or studies to join the battle. Although they’re equipped with little more than light weapons, they’re determined to stand their ground. But the civilian population is paying a high price for the war. Thousands of villagers have been bombed by the junta, their homes destroyed. Many have been forced to flee. Nevertheless, the Chin remain committed to the fight to overthrow the military regime.
Artificial Intelligence makes art, knows more than many humans and works faster than they do. But will people accept AI-controlled social robots working in the service industry or entertaining those in need of care? What does a robot need to have to be accepted as a social partner by a human being? Does it need a face? Should the machine understand -- or even show -- emotions? The psychologist, neurologist and philosopher Agnieszka Wykowska, currently researching at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, says: "We tend to humanize everything. We even see faces in car hoods. This is further reinforced whenever a robot demonstrates humanlike behavior.”
Taiwan is a place of incredible variety. The tiny island’s natural beauty is a concentration of some of Asia’s most spectacular features. To the east, there are sheer cliffs with mountain peaks, plateaus and hot springs. To the south, you’ll find sandy beaches, coral reefs and lagoons. Although the Taiwanese live in a high-tech world, they are still firmly anchored by ancient traditions. During the course of his life, Lin Liang-tai has created many elaborately adorned wooden boats. But they’re not built to last, as they’re destined for Taiwan’s legendary Wang Ye Festival. As part of the temple ceremony to honor the goddess of the sea, a 10-meter boat is blessed, loaded with offerings and pulled through the village down to the beach. There, it’s set alight, burning any evil spirits that might be lurking about the place.
Peatlands are very often the setting for chilling folklore. But they serve an important function - for the climate and biodiversity. They’re capable of absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide, thereby helping to mitigate the climate crisis. Nevertheless, bogs are still being destroyed all over the world. In Finland, peatlands are being drained to extract peat and generate energy. With dramatic consequences: less than half of all the country’s bogs are still intact. Tero Mustonen is a climatologist. He founded the organization Snowchange, to protect and save peatlands. Together with members of his village, Snowchange sued the energy company responsible for the destruction of the Linnunsuo wetland. Mustonen’s organization is now engaged in the worldwide fight to salvage and rewild biotopes.
Yehor Oliynik is one of many Ukrainian soldiers defending Ukraine from Russian attacks. But his story is different – despite having lost a leg while fighting, he wants to go back to war using a prosthesis. Not everyone agrees. Yehor Oliynik and his comrades are checking a Russian position they have just taken. Yehor steps on a mine which explodes and then rips off his leg. He is treated for months and even receives an unusual offer from a foundation which guarantees that he receives a high-quality prosthesis in Norway. There, he has time for a few weeks to look back on his life as a soldier. Despite his closest relatives asking him to stop fighting, Yehor is determined to return to the front as soon as possible. A report by Max Zander.
In some religions and cultures, young women playing football is practically unthinkable. The Scoring Girls project shows how the sport is helping young women in Germany and Iraq to overcome anxieties. Hanover-born Tuğba Tekkal, daughter of Kurdish-Yazidi immigrants, defied all the odds to become a professional footballer in the Bundesliga. Now a coach, she founded the Scoring Girls project to offer girls and young women the opportunity to boost their self-esteem. The sport and its team-oriented nature can have therapeutic benefits for the budding sportswomen - many of whom have experienced racism in their everyday lives or faced the trauma of being a refugee. Maisa and Maisun had to flee Iraq with their parents to escape the horrors of Islamic State rule. In Germany, the Scoring Girls project gave the two sisters a long-forgotten feeling of freedom. Fears of discrimination and losing their culture prompt some parents to ban football for their daughters - but a growing number of young
Kids or a career - these days, mothers shouldn’t have to choose between the two. For women living in countries with access to education and training, combining both is a completely natural thing. But working mothers are still coming up against obstacles. In this film, 10 women provide insights into their lives as company bosses - and mothers. They’re CEOs, heads of department, founders - all in senior positions. Not that this makes it easy for them to take maternity leave or decide to have a child in a world still dominated by men. There’s always the risk that they will lose their position, and finding a temporary replacement isn’t always straightforward. But anyone who can take care of 150 employees and two to five children can surely rise to the challenge - right?
The people of Moldova have been living in fear since the Russian attack on the Ukraine. Their nation could be next on Moscow’s list. Russian politicians and propagandists issue outright threats, even including the prospect of an invasion. It’s a danger also recognized by Maia Sandu, the country’s pro-European President: "We’re seeing military activities close to the borders of the Republic of Moldova. This is a dramatic situation for our neighbors. For us, it’s extremely threatening." The concern is justified. Since 1992, Moscow has controlled the breakaway region of Transnistria in eastern Moldova and stationed troops there. The situation in Moldova was recently exacerbated when Vladimir Putin revoked a decree guaranteeing the nation’s sovereignty. The Moldovan government stepped down on 10 February; three days later, Maia Sandu announced the emergence of specific Russian plans to destabilize Moldova, including acts of sabotage and violence including attacks on government offices a
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries and society - and a global race has taken off for who will create the most cutting-edge technology. The outcome could reshape the global balance of powers. At the moment, the United States and China stand as the leading contenders. Europe, meanwhile, finds itself lagging behind. But the continent is eager to catch up, and it has a plan: Officials hope that a strong emphasis on transparency and fairness in AI development will set European AI apart and provide an edge in the years to come. However, the question remains: Can these European initiatives compete with the vast resources that Big Tech companies pour into AI research? And will the EU's ethics-first approach to AI become a competitive advantage in the global race for AI - or will it set Europe even further
The systematic looting of art owned by Jewish families has never been fully investigated. Descendants of families forced to leave Nazi Germany are still searching for their property - often in vain.
When a long-lost bronze of Alexander the Great suddenly turns up in Greece, experts are suspicious. This DW documentary follows archaeologist Stephan Lehmann as he follows the trail of the art forgers.
The town of Kupyansk was one of the first places in Ukraine to fall to Russian invaders. Six months later it was recaptured by Ukraine. Left in the ruins of the town, residents are now grappling with questions of guilt and complicity.
Rescue mission on the Mediterranean: Every year, thousands of people fleeing violence and hunger leave their homelands, only to perish in the Mediterranean. The crew of the rescue ship ‘Humanity 1’ is saving as many as they can.
Children subjected to bullying often carry lifelong scars. Many go on to suffer from mental illness, and some are even driven to contemplate suicide. In Spain, the tragic case of Kira López has triggered a nationwide debate on bullying.
In the Chinese city of Chongqing, the Shibati district is the only neighborhood to have survived the government’s drive to demolish and rebuild.
