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i discussed it on to say stonefly height unity justice and freedom of 3 words 3 pillars of our democracy. to democratic not all one for the rule of law with independent courts and an independent judiciary is indispensable for a democracy. citizens must also be able to assert their rights against the state not only against each other do it sits and couldn't. pick it up at all and that they are. in the us with us the law always has to be fought for it's never immutable or secured for all time.

the rule of law protects us from despotism but only when everyone is allowed the same rights equally. germany is a constitutional state that is the crucial basis for peaceful coexistence the german parliament the buddhists talk passes the laws but that's not enough to avoid conflict often different rights are in direct competition with one another. the g 20 summit in hamburg july 2017 even in the run up it was clear that the demands posed by the various actors involved would clash the heads of state and government who are under fire for their recent policy decisions all sources fear

the protests would escalate out of control not all the demonstrators were peaceful the police stepped in and both sides were heavy handed in their response parts of hamburg appear to be in civil war. who was on the right the police the protesters. assist and because it's a huge dilemma on the one hand there's this big event with state guests who require special protection and on the other hand you have the demonstrators some of them are peaceful some aren't they protect the nonviolent ones in the same time try to identify and isolate the violent ones and stop them from taking part in the protest at all. kind of actions that is no individual right overrides any others rather they must all be weighed against each other in each asserted as far as possible without ignoring the rights of the others it. christine fattah is

a professor at hamburg's police academy as a lawyer she teaches her students about the importance of basic rights they include the right to demonstrate guaranteed by article 8 of germany's constitution the basic law. you can't forbid demonstrations just because you're worried that some demonstrators might not be peaceful. and the police play a very special role in the rule of law only they have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force no citizen has that kind of right. to tell us what does it mean when citizens refrain from using force to assert their rights. what else do you have to do. you have to protect them to. 30000 police officers the largest deployment in germany's post-war history yet they couldn't help the escalation of violence in hamburg the amount of force they used

would remain a topic of investigation for years to come did officers cross the line. which the greatest asset in a constitutional state is citizens' trust in the state's monopoly on the use of force. but that also means the state must protect its citizens and for a while it was unable to do that the way to a promise to. a constitutional state does not abide by the rule of the strongest but by the rule of democratically established laws. we can't always agree on everything and it doesn't matter if a small percentage swims against the tide or isn't fully integrated. but the majority must stick to the rules of living together and recognize how important they are. they need to realize how badly they could be affected if these rules should one day be suspended after. the end of the 2nd world war

1945 left germany completely devastated 12 years of tyranny had left their mark every one had been forced to submit to a dictatorship that ultimately driven the country interviewing. in the 1949 foundations were laid for a new beginning. a year earlier the west german constituent assembly backed by the western allies had made in the alexander clinic a natural research museum in bonn to begin drafting a constitution. on may 23rd 949 the assemblies head conduct are now announced the results. are. they're all in the building all the laws are the follow follow the law. all the laws of the laws in all for. the basically was initially intended as

a temporary solution until east and west germany were reunified to school because it's just that which is historically speaking the basic law was a real stroke of luck the school the authors of the basic core achieve something quite astonishing the things they wrote about fundamental freedoms fundamental rights and the organization of the democratic states are almost unparalleled in how right they are stacked in the west it has served as well for 70 years and in our unified country it's been nearly 30 years. the basic premise from which all else arises is stated right at the beginning article one human dignity shall be inviolable above all this rejected the injustice of nazi rule. in little inflated if it with my head off in 1949 the mothers and fathers of the basic law at least there were 4 women i wanted to use paragraph one article one human

dignity shall be inviolable i to make a very clear statement can. arbitrary rule oppression and persecution for ethnic religious or political reasons were unacceptable. we even there was no negotiating it and then that yet you know where they are rich or poor german or from any other country catholic or muslim common everyone deserves the same dignity. and he the lord through. the 1950 s. saw that their chaffed formed the so-called economic miracle people were more preoccupied with consumption then the new legal system the basic law and human rights. left to the experts while the crimes of the nazi era were pushed out of the collective mind people wanted to be able to afford nice things and go dancing on saturday. meanwhile others were working to safeguard the new legal system the

federal constitutional court was set up in and even granted the power to repeal laws if they violate the basic law that makes it independent from both parliament as well as the federal council. because of the constitutional court quickly became an opponent of the ministries and art in our government led to some fierce conflicts or rather constitutional court was also a decisive motor of democratization read consisted of considerably fewer national socialists and the ministries. germany's ministry of justice has been in bonds halls and book districts since 950 many enjoyers who had started their careers under nazi rule were taken over by the new administration over half of its senior officials were former any members this was a major obstacle to the prosecution of nazi crimes. us from hamburg force against this ill conceived beginning for german rule of law for 17 years she reported on

proceedings in the young republic's courts in 2008 she was awarded germany's order of merit for his extraordinary work as a court reporter she pitched herself against the old boys club of nazis still ruling in each other's favor aside from pursuing true justice she was also driven by her own family history nearly $100.00 of her relatives died in the holocaust her parents were murdered in the tripling extermination camp. there were plenty of nazis plenty of criminals but hardly any charges were brought very few stood trial. in 1972 she got involved in the trial of dr ludwig hahn. as a high ranking s.s. officer and poland he'd been jointly responsible for the deportation of over 200000 jews yet the judge treated him with kid gloves your 1st as an issue they were also differential not just the judges but the prosecutors and defenders to the court

ushers would bow so low because they only addressed him as doctor served dr serve please forgive me i am unfortunately obliged to ask you forgive me dr sir. she also reported on the might done it trial at the district court in disorder often 975 years after the end of the war gods were accused of murdering at least 250000 jews at the extermination camp in poland it was the biggest trial of nazi perpetrators in the history of the young republic emotions at the trial ran high. but the flower doesn't offer its decision to let it be we are still in issue locking all of. then the sentences were handed down 8 prison sentences one acquittal. and some although half a 1000000 germans were involved in murders under the nazi regime less than $900.00

not even one percent were convicted. and. the issue still divides german society. part of. it wasn't just the judges the whole of the federal republic just carried on as if nothing had ever happened and excuses for us to go. ahead is reports have had an effect and she won't stop fighting against the hotshots the cover ups and the over all eagerness to forget the nazis crimes. by the right to eat with the exception of the well known nuremberg trial. the reappraisal of dirty crimes as far as that's even possible that has taken place only sporadically but a few were convicted but it was only decades later that we really started to take

a closer look into being. and that's how it is to this day. and the for what we thought. in the 1949 shortly after the federal republic was established in western germany the german democratic republic was founded in east germany it considered itself anti fascist and drew its raison d'être from its renunciation of its nazi past. we are starting over from scratch was the founding myth that was supposed to underpin support for the communist state. is germany demonstrated its hardline towards nazi crimes in 1950 when it brought more than $3400.00 cases to court some of the defendants were indeed nazi criminals but many were innocent people caught in show trials. the accused were held in

inhumane conditions and often refused defense lawyers the evidence brought against them was flimsy at best and the sentences were decided on in advance. 24 defendants were sentenced to death and over 2000 sent to prison. even years later critics of the trial was signed and as nazis loyal to the ruling communist party would let off the hook. and. the ruling party dominated all. decisions in east germany on the same went for the judiciary the judges were of course all part of the s.c.d. and as such they applied the l.c.d.'s guidelines to each of their cases. for game hard. hitting stuff on the island of luzon

today it is still a popular seaside resort on the baltic sea. seaside holidays were very popular in the young east germany everyone should be able to enjoy them. but the citizens right to a holiday was supplanted by the socialist concept of holidays for all. the free german trade union federation f.t.g. be took over organizing them. whereas the federation could supply the holiday fund it didn't have its own hotels instead it had to pay privately owned hotels and guesthouses for seaside accommodation. for many years that was a thorn in the side of east germany's leadership until 953 when it launched operation. police stormed over

$700.00 private hotels and guesthouses arresting the owners and seizing their property under spears claims. of from. the still in east germany there were several waves of dispossession destroying the middle class and clearing away the remains of what they called capitalism and they always found an ideological excuse claiming the people targeted had been nazis or opposed to socialism for this and so this more so than. and they did the same thing to workers tradesmen. small business owners hotel owners it was simply roughly blancas. over their money and his wife the bill are still living with the fallout this dark chapter in the history of the east german legal system change their lives for ever.

these are almost something up with your own 2 hands and suddenly it's gone the property the land the building and everything that went into it was gone from it was a polaroid. here tell us used to belong to his grandparents the raids on it was a dom and the other seaside resort started at dawn the people's police searched houses and interrogated their owners before charging them as criminal suspects so to elizabeth and quit them and. there's wood for the verdict was set before the trial even began my grandparents were sent to prison as white collar criminals my grandmother got 3 years my grandfather got 5. years because of the expropriation. after his release over their grandfather returned to hearing staff and worked in a shop selling gross chicken.

later both grandparents fled to the west. my grandfather never understood what he possibly could have done wrong he had employed about 20 people. he never really got over it and died a broken man because he just couldn't comprehend it. had been a passion of coke and had never taken much interest in politics his kitchen had been his living room. and you could never grasp why anyone would live in a system that claim to make everything better. over there man had only known it was a dumb from the tales his now deceased grandparents would tell but then in 1990 they reunification treaty stated that all expropriated property should be returned to its rightful owners. through many tears have been shed that's why it became so important to me and my wife we were determined to rebuild it and if there is such

a thing as an afterlife maybe someone out there is watching us. i took the reunification of east and west to write so many wrongs in east germany citizens couldn't just sue the state the party had declared that it was above the law. did that make east germany and unjust state. as more of a dog the term unjust state isn't quite precise east germany wasn't just a state in the sense of being constitutional there was no independent judiciary when it was no equality before the law so to that extent it had no constitutional foundation. of course or at least germany had laws that it applied in its rulings by the s.c. d.'s dominant role was stipulated by the constitution which undermined any freedoms laid down. the federal republic in west germany was a constitutional state with basic rules that apply to all citizens this also

included article 3 of the basic law all persons shall be equal before the law and paragraph 2 specifies men and women shall have equal rights. the main force behind democracy in this country is article 3 the promise of equality and this promise of equality is based on the idea that men and women have equal rights . this driving principle comes with the promise that social inequality will be addressed in a democratic and political fashion and possibly even redressed politician i'm guy from what i have as of the reason that i want a free vote should be to go back. in the 1950s be quality for women in the west was still only an article in the basic law its implementation in concrete laws was still a long way off women were still subordinate to their husbands they needed his permission to work or to open an account he also had the final say in education and schooling

. from $950.00 on women in east germany were better off they were expected to work and were less dependent on their husbands they had more rights under family law and better access to child care for only in the portal to either of these if all don't at least i imagine devising this may give them gifts of these abilities the kind that is about this money as in all to me yet they can if it's like that in order constructive and get involved and. begin to be the. kind of time one kind of interesting by even living in fresh they're going on this morning on a list to be a season like. it's been invested. i was born in west germany. this fall i've noticed that the women i know who grew up living in east germany are in many ways in shall we say less sensitive and us gun sentai has

a lot to do with the fact that social reality in east germany was so different i phone how it was normal for women to work abide they were a natural part of the labor force out of the public sphere tired of and he does that wasn't at all the case in west germany i hope mr 5. bunch school in northern germany so they clear. lived here for over 50 years a form of. she was long seen as a paragon of east germany's state sponsored emancipation. of his equal rights for women in east germany's social political aspirations. rivonia born here we were so involved in day to day business that we didn't have much time to think about what west german women were doing. i just always felt sorry for them. from what we learned from

newspapers or television they didn't have the same opportunities that we did as women. in fact here in east germany women who didn't work were actually a bit of an oddity. and she thought. it was completely normal for women to go to work the phones were. the agricultural production cough which if l.p.g. kept assigning him one more time until she ended up in charge of the livestock breeding unit. and then the chairman of the time said the time had come for me to take over as chair. i was still a young woman. on the one hand i was happy proud to be entrusted with something so big. on the other hand i was quite dotted by the task and to make matters worse i was pregnant when he asked me. so i said no no i can't i'm pregnant

but it's wrong he said why can't you other women get pregnant too and they do just fine and i thought to myself i think come to think of it he's right. but even people in east germany had their doubts about full equality at the election 3 men voted against men who thought a woman wouldn't be up to the time after all she was also supposed to be a good homemaker and mother the typical double but in. 1969 she received the hero of labor what. you would be gruesome in. that would be keep was it something that much in the market there's no big very good mom. i always have money for me. i don't think i indulged my family too much i think it was all fine but obviously i didn't pamper them or make a huge fuss over them has. absolutely. together

ideology and economic necessity promoted equality in east germany as labor shortages forced the state to mobilize all its reserves. in the west on the other hand it was the women's desire for personal freedom that drove their struggle for equal rights. if it 1st up for example escaped the confines of the small town of mindon in north germany in 1965 she moved to berlin to study theology. on the whole was right after i had finally gotten away from home and thought no i'm free here in west berlin but society was still very controlling . old women and pensioners would keep an eye out for any male visitors. and expect to be home by 10 even monitor the way we dressed and were shocked if we were pants i know all. this stuff was fascinated by the rebellious student

movement back then but her main priority was equal rights for women she became a pioneer in germany's new women's and peace movement. the private is political they said if a stop experienced 1st hand what that meant. for the sexual revolution had begun. so we tried out having sex before marriage the consequence was some women became pregnant by accident. really suddenly all these questions arise do i want to keep the child can i study with a child will it ruin my career can i rely on the man i slept with will he be a good father. i went through the same thing. i had to have an abortion once that was in 1969 when it was still illegal. that was soon to change.

in the early 970 s. the campaign against paragraph 218 that banned abortion started to take shape. and that it happens has. by and. if not at all what that. more and more women demanded the abortion laws which were already 100 years old at the time be reformed with that they sparked a social debate that would continue for decades to come but the social upheaval ran deeper they have questioned criminal law broken and to build. for women like this talk it was a measure of self determination. this country. i can still remember how scared i was it's taken years to shake off that fear. and to fully accept and stand by the fact that we do indeed have the right to choose for ourselves. in east germany

abortion was also to be until $972.00 then following an emotional debate the fox comma the people's chamber passed a law allowing abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy it was the only decision in the chambers history that wasn't passed unanimously. i believe this law clears the final obstacle to full equality for women. even here but german reunification meant east and west germany laws had to be harmonized it was to take another 5 years to reach a compromise. now all german women have equal. access to abortion under certain conditions. was. my mom going to garnish club view it's easy to forget just how young our current legal situation actually is yeah and i answered. until

997 rape in marriage was not a criminal offense this is. the abortion regulations we have today didn't exist until the 1970 s. highs that means the women's movement of the sixty's and seventy's and even the eighty's really laid the foundation for how we live today gone daffy good leaked review heartily and can. events in 1977 posed a fundamental question how far can a state under the rule of law go to defend itself the red army faction terrorist group had declared war on the german state in april they assassinated chief federal prosecutors in his driver and his bodyguard. it was a very dangerous situation. the state's ability to act and its ability to defend itself against attacks from within were at stake. if terrorists kill

or kidnap the country's top representatives and other officials and the state can't gain control of the situation when it puts the trust placed in a state in question and that can be dangerous to democracy you can do this. on the 30th of july $977.00 the bank a year than punter was shot dead in his own house it was a failed kidnapping attempt and at securing the release of 3 r.a.f. terrorists good of an insulin under the ass bada and young casper all 3 had been imprisoned in a high security jail and stood guard in southwest germany since 974. yet they still managed to direct the. sins of other terrorists fighting on their behalf on the outside the state's reaction was uncompromising and free from this roadblocks and i do checks by heavily armed police officers became part of everyday life. real thor's has launched

a dragnet search crunching huge amounts of data to try and identify the terrorists anyone could end up in the investigators crosshairs the presumption of innocence a cornerstone of the rule of law was that risk. last few go was the young public prosecutor in stuttgart at the time he was shocked by the way the state was proceeding. to pollute so even chief control of the police carried out intensive checks with submachine guns at the ready you would fear for your life when you got into those situations and it's worth noting that 2 incidents occurred in the wider stuttgart area where police officers mistook young people for terrorists and shot them dead. only later did they realize they were wrong you are boycotting of all of your choice for

the courts and the district attorney's offices were out of their depth the bundestag hastily changed the code of criminal procedure 4 times restricting fundamental rights to defense and court the authorities even eavesdropped on conversations between the ari of prisoners and the lawyers the state justified everything by saying it was in a state of emergency. this is. in my opinion intercepting talks with the defense counsel in the prison was completely out of line from a legal standpoint the state is not allowed to invoke a supra legal state of emergency if it thinks it lacks the relevant laws that it must enact. laws. nevertheless the situation escalated once more on september. if the terrorists kidnapped the president of the employers' association hunts martin flyer and issued an ultimatum his life in exchange for the release of 11 r.a.f. terrorists currently behind bars 5 weeks later for members of an allied palestinian

group high-tech the lufthansa commercial flight land so it and threatened to kill all $86.00 passengers meanwhile slyer son applied to the federal constitutional court for a temporary injunction that would force the government to give in to the terrorists demands. i based my case on the fact that our constitution says the state must be primarily concerned with the lives of its citizens in this particular case it meant that the state had to do everything humanly possible to protect the life of my father who was in immediate danger. to. the constitutional judges in cars who are under massive time pressure to reach a decision they dismissed claim. this sole responsibility now lay with the government of which smit it was a serious dilemma. that. he's being a constitutional state also means not giving up in difficult situations but also

not overreacting or betraying fundamental values. of course it was incredibly difficult in the face of the extremely tense situation in germany at the time and france really on the 18th of october 1977 german special forces stormed the lancet on the tarmac of mogadishu in somalia 3 of the 4 hijackers were killed all the hostages were set free. that same night in the stuttgart prison until young and goodwin enslin committed suicide in their cells. martin schneier was murdered by his captors the police found his body 2 days later in the trunk of a car in the french city of new use. since then the german government has refused to release terrorists paid a high price. because of

our states must be able to withstand many things no matter how bad they may be up. for example the terrible gamble of whether or not to sacrifice hands martin china in order to avoid making it appear susceptible to blackmail in my eyes there was clearly no other alternative but it shows us our limits. in $989.00 the iron curtain fell it quickly became clear that they would be only a single united german state in the future but which constitution would it have. the basic lawful saw 2 possibilities for this case by the east germany would adopt the basically or itself all the new real unified nation would create a new constitution. for months it was hotly debated then on august the 23rd $990.00 east germany's people's chamber in berlin finally

decided on the 1st option. then head of the s.c.d. successor party p.d.s. was unable to. his position as far. as. you want to thank . him and. article $146.00 force or referendum to adopt a new constitution to replace the basic nor should germany be reunited. if we had opted for that then there would have been a debate and it might have been decided to adopt all essentials of the basic law and then supplement them as you're from about against us. but facing imminent economic collapse the majority of the only democratically elected peoples chamber in east germany's history did not want to wait. but i'm sure things

being as they were article 23 the decision to adopt this wonderful basic law was ultimately the only realistic course of action anything else was a lovely dream but it wasn't realistic because we were being rushed there was no time to hold a calm and wide ranging constitutional debate the vast majority of these germany citizens wanted to return to the fold as soon as possible they didn't want a new constitution for fossil. many former g.d.r. citizens were now also demanding access to the files of the ministry of state security. surveillance subversion and harassment had been their methods of choice meticulously recorded in mountains of files. the shootings along germany's border were particularly difficult issue east germany had chosen to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the west by any means possible

anyone violating the border was to be arrested or exterminated at least 140 p. . were killed along the berlin wall 11 how was the nearly reunited german state to deal with the border guards who had fired the fatal shots. they have been acting on orders and yet the court saw the killings of those trying to escape as a violation of elementary justice had the actions of the border guards also been punishable and the east german law germany's rule of law was reaching its limits the 1st trial began in 991. i had some problems with the way this decision was reached so as terrible as i found the border in the killings there to be found you can only be punished for offenses that were punishable at the time they were committed. but.

then the attacks on september 11th 2001 suddenly presented a whole new threat was germany prepared well enough to protect its citizens from all threats what was the state do if an aircraft were hijacked and steered say into a crowded stadium in january 2005 the going to start responded to these concerns by passing an aviation security law. this protect against attacks on the safety of air traffic in particular hijackings acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks. if but on friday i had a high in this case the air security act resolve this tension between freedom and security by stating that if a hijacked aircraft carrying passengers should fall into the hands of terrorists it may be shot down on. under very specific conditions of course. to save

human lives on the ground i mean. who would think that. but can a law actually make that choice. can legislators sacrifice a large number of people to save the lives of an unknown number appointed debates broke out over the limits of the law. hunts other place became the chairman of the professional pilots association cockpit in 2005 as the pilot's elected representative he fought for the controversial law to be overturned . we found the idea incomprehensible that a state would claim the right to take the lives of innocent people it meant we needn't only be afraid of the kidnapper but also of the state itself even though it was supposed to protect our lives. other they'd also said shooting down an aircraft would not be an appropriate response and is unlawful according to the principle of

proportionality. ground force we couldn't even imagine how that would work so germany isn't very big so how would the fighters scramble in such a brief period before the plane arrived but even if you shoot it down there was still the question as to where the debris would fall over a densely populated country. in the. hands are placed and members of the bundestag made their case before the constitutional court he referred to the basic law article one paragraph to the inviolable and inalienable human rights that apply equally to all the constitutional court declared the aviation security law unconstitutional. did it but the federal constitutional court's decision and the debate over the aviation security act show another strength that the rule of law possesses guns i.

infer there can be no simple solutions when human lives are at stake what we need to give. the fact that this is what distinguishes a constitutional state. but then some people feel left in the lurch and say they need clear guidelines on how to act it's kind of heat out of the limousine it's a dilemma there can't be one solution to every problem and at the same time nobody can say that some people's lives are worth more than other people's. legislators also have to respect the principles laid down in the constitution the law protects against despotism nobody is above it in a rapidly changing world laws and even the constitution itself have to be adapted constantly the ongoing struggle over help best to protect the freedoms of all the country's citizens is likely to continue for a long time to come. to

go in the. front plastic waste. to include all it all. to you indian entrepreneurs have turned their countries face problem into lucrative businesses to their finances transformed into high cliffs and friendly feel. to the folks. next d.w. . in good shape if you're chronically ill you shouldn't work

out but you should work on sundays hard problems. back pain joint pain yes one treatment the word spread out and any medication the sex is us. but more of the town is the right to take can. tune in and we'll tell you. the good shiny new 30 minutes on w. y subscribe to v.w. books you meet your favorite writer write. to but i write is to share where to find beautiful. debris books on you to take a trip on us go christmas market hopping with v.w. and cologne and a wooden board autobahn airfare and hotel are included for you and

a guest. just tell us which german street is your favorite. what's the most beautiful place in germany. what would you like to explore most to enter check in at g.w. dot com slash travel good luck and enjoy some mind. this is day to news days around top stories preliminary results are in the east in german state of to ring is show the far right alternative to germany finishing 2nd behind the left wing left party chancellor angela merkel's conservative c.d.u. has suffered heavy losses coming in 3rd place the current coalition of left.