the selling out of a country dead donkey. does start september 18th on d w. u n f 2 knocks odyssey has brought him here a police station in tokyo he's hoping to file a missing persons report for his children the police aren't keen on reporters. who could use the recording please here in this field. beyond the wife abducted their 2 sons. but 3 hours later nothing's happened it's in its head we haven't filled out any forms or reports. they just gathered information and called their boss to ask what to do. with music and so on.

this was once home but no longer. your own economic has since moved to berlin. with the family lives here. now the house holds nothing but memories. his wife went back to japan taking their children with her. john has just returned from tokyo he's been there several times before but still hasn't managed to find his children the syndicate saying these are the presents i took with me to japan but it can then up on the table if i bring them every time so the packaging is a bit worse for wear to me every time i hope i'll be able to give them to karl and johan. but i haven't found my children and then on to. them.

2 years ago his marriage collapsed his wife vanished with their 2 children. beyond his had no contact with his sons ever since to says the skin that some insist collin johan's bedroom went and of course it's where they used to play. here most of their feelings are still here close and that's all it's i haven't been able to bring myself to clean out the rooms. beyond has legal custody of his children he won 4 court cases in all in germany and japan but your pan has done nothing to enforce them. his wife has broken off all contact and refuses to turn over custody . there used to be pictures on this wall of the children playing she tore them all down. but it's when the police saw that they said it was pretty

clear. when someone takes personal items like pictures with them they know it's not likely to be just a quick trip somewhere. this. one week earlier the urine wasn't good tsunami and japan about a 90 minute drive north of tokyo. is sitting in a smoky hotel lobby. girding himself for what he knows will be an emotional ordeal the gifts he's brought along still look new he hopes will soon be able to see is abducted children it's a fate that he shares with many other fathers around the world in other countries the police will pursue the case but in japan the authorities are uncooperative. in japan you have to go there with a court bailiff. to keep the children have to go with you willingly.

and the parent who has ducted the children has to agree and in the 5 years since japan ratified the hague convention that hasn't happened and it's not even once and that 6 months from to get. and johan are meanwhile 4 and 6 years old. the legal situation is clear under the hague convention japan must repatriate children within 6 weeks of the filing of the petition for their return. japan ratified the convention. it went into force 5 years ago but chapin hasn't been complying with it. zushi of the ministry of foreign affairs says they have good reason. mussel. goal is to have the parent with whom the child is living and comply with the court ruling voluntarily.

this is also a matter of the child's welfare. voluntary compliance that's a little bit wishful thinking here and could hardly be blamed for feeling angry. thus with a spring in anger would get me nowhere so i feel helpless helpless because of my children or even my own account on. his children have vanished and has no idea if they're well or happy. brought reams of documents with him including the verdict granting him sole custody. by directing foresman to a compulsory return of the children is supposed to take place the following day. and has a meeting with the bailiff and his lawyer were not permitted to accompany him. he returns 2 and a half hours later. my impression was that the main topic today was japan's image not returning my children to me or maybe improving this process so that

children can be returned more quickly. than in the main topic was japan's image abroad its. cultural norms are also a factor japan often lags behind when it comes to enforcing global legal agreements . we go to a press conference being held by fathers from italy and france their children were also abducted and brought to japan and they've also hit a brick wall with minimal in japan fear of conflict is more powerful than the law says lawyer a cure or a know. it will in japan we say the law doesn't have anything to do with families or when it comes to marital disputes even the dog won't eat it you know people don't care about anyone else's marital problems today don't. care about what happens to the children muscle not on all kinds of items some good in japan as a black hole when it comes to child abductions says tomato purina of italy with his

japanese wife abducted his son and daughter in late 2016 since then he's only seen his children for a total of 5 hours in a locked room at a lawyers office. and that was years ago he has legal custody but the authorities are stonewalling for me not being able to see them see saw an august 2017 is every day is a nightmare. and of course you see you improve you know you learn how to deal with these spain but it's not because i had 3 years a past them i'm better. the following day we were at a new hotel it's closer to where the children are supposedly living here in afton i will spend the night here a lawyer and translator from tokyo are also here he hopes will soon have his children but he's worried. naman. if the mother isn't there with the children it just won't work on some site and or say the children are there without the parent

who abducted them and filmed it on tide she has to be there for this to go forward on on and on and there's always the risk that she'll have gone underground with the children somewhere in japan. the next day we order a taxi it's another half hour to our destination. 7 in the morning the plan is that the children will be handed over just down the street the authorities don't want reporters there. we arranged to hold a skype call with biarne after the direction foresman it's bad news. his wife and children aren't there. only her father was there i didn't even see her sister another woman i've never seen before was there i couldn't even set foot on the property i spent almost 2 hours at the fans watching them debate the situation. do you know where your children are.

nothing really except that her family admitted that she keeps moving and going underground here in japan. we also contacted the children's mother and asked for a statement she didn't reply another direct enforcement is scheduled for later that day at the court meeting it's all talk and no action. bjarne has asked if he could visit japan more often in frustration he calls the german embassy this in the to the south i told them i have to work i have to pay for all this this situation is just crazy for me. the embassy advises him to file a missing persons report after all his children have now been abducted for a 2nd time this time in japan. we decided to pay a visit to the house no one's there. father in law's wealthy so is he financing his daughter's undercover life and that of his abducted grandchildren

a neighbor says he's never seen the children. and i know we don't know the family very well have you ever heard the children with. yes but that was a long time ago maybe the end of last year that little. later that day the 2nd direct enforcement gets underway everyone knows the children are there but appearances must be maintained the young sister in law makes a brief appearance she says she has to leave for a moment but she'll be back in 2 hours no one asks her where she's going. have to pay the bailiff then we're told nothing will happen as long as we're filming we leave. again it comes to nothing. nearby playground he's deeply worried about his children.

so disappointed at what happened. crying in japan is a sign of weakness. it's humiliating to have the law on my side but i have to keep apologizing to everyone. he returns to tokyo. the next day what he's been doing for years he's become an activist on behalf of himself and other victims of child abduction so he informs the german embassy and the european union delegation and discusses how to proceed. most every documented case in japan later that evening he meets with other fathers . and so is another father from germany who prefers to remain off camera. they all agree what needs to be done us that's why the off mic some kind we have to

raise awareness of the situation and to eat off every so often people say let's do something it let's write a letter to the japanese authorities that's very important and we have to keep at it keep raising the issue. but his children are still missing. the japanese police aren't making much of an effort to find them. after not will return to japan a country that has signed a treaty that it's not enforcing. as a father he has no other choice.

this is d. w. news live from berlin and welcome to our special coverage of the commemoration of the start of world war 2 when hitler's germany invaded its neighbor poland a ceremony is set to get underway shortly in the polish town to be a 180 years ago today or early hours of the 1st of september 939 to be a lunatic was bombed by the germans most truckstop 1200 civilians were killed and it was the start of the 2nd world war.

or thank you for joining us 80 years ago today on the 1st of september 1939 germany invaded poland the date is regarded as the beginning of the 2nd world war in the early hours of the morning a german warship opened fire on the polish garrison in the vesta thought a district of what was then the free city of don sick at the same time bombs rained down on the small polish town of via the one killing 1200 civilians it was the german left office 1st air raid on poland and the 1st of many war crimes to come. in a few minutes from now a special ceremony will begin in via loon to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of world war 2 the polish president. will be joined by his german counterpart from my own as we wait for the ceremony to begin i'm joined in the studio by g.w.

political correspondent emmanuel shah's so many well let's talk about the significance of where we're going to be now why via lou and why this year well highly significance because you learn it was the 1st city to be attacked by the nazi germany in 1939 beginning world war 2 the attack took place in the very early hours in the morning between $435.00 to be precise and it lasted until 2 pm you say a lot of civilians were killed the 70 percent of the town was destroyed and that attack was actually led by a demand who had office treated the bombing of spain 2 years prior to the beginning of world war 2 so did the 1st significant battle of the batter that started world war 2 and we have live pictures that we're looking at right now in a violent poland of the when there were terrorists every morning getting underway.