♪ peter: hello, and a very warm welcome indeed to "fokus on europe," with me, peter craven. now, valletta, the capital of the tiny mediterranean island of malta, is currently making headlines. it's just been inaugurated as a european capital of culture. so, expect a dense year-long program of events to mark the island's colorful heritage, including parades and spectacular performances. but another, darker side to the island is also in the headlines. because malta is mired in corruption that it's believed could extend right up to the highest levels of government. there's been huge concern about last year's killing of a crusading journalist in a car bomb attack.

and now a former anti-corruption investigator -- who was dismissed from his post after speaking out -- says he's received death threats. our reporter has had the opportunity to meet with him. reporter: jonathan ferris is on his way to speak before a delegation of members of the european parliament. he wants to express his concern about what's happening in malta. jonathan: in malta nowadays, how it came to be is that there are two types of laws. like, laws for gods, and laws for the common mortals. reporter: until her murder, journalist daphne caruana galizia exposed organized crime and corruption in her popular blog. she accused konrad mizzi, a minister, and keith schembri, the chief of staff to the prime minister, of establishing offshore shell companies. she used information leaked in the panama papers. suspicious payments were made to both politicians -- allegedly, bribes. caruana galizia also claimed

that michelle muscat, wife of maltese prime minister joseph muscat, created an offshore company called "egrant." the journalist said that a payment of one million euros was made to the company using a secret bank account. the source of her information was a former bank employee. daphne: she had found documents in the safe. two documents, both of them declarations of trust by the individuals, the nominees, who held the shares in egrant inc. in the name of mrs. michelle muscat. reporter: five months later, daphne caruana galizia was killed by a car bomb. did she know too much? perhaps jonathan ferris does, too. the former police officer who is known as a tireless investigator had recently joined the maltese

government's anti-money-laundering agency. he was to lead an investigation of the allegations against the first lady. jonathan: in the eyes of the maltese people, the egrant story is a very big mountain. when in reality, it's a pile of hay. reporter: the maltese government has prohibited ferris from revealing anything else. he's convinced that corruption is pervasive in malta. jonathan: i've told them how i was going to go about it, or how i would be guiding my people -- my investigators -- going about it. the following day, by noon, i was out of my office. reporter: because his performance didn't meet expectations, says the agency. but ferris thinks he was fired for political reasons. and the prime minister? he simply dismissed the allegations as "fake news." he stopped the investigation, called fresh elections, and won. many people are fine with that, because malta's economy is

booming. but allegations of government corruption still loom large. half a year later, his two associates are still in office. prime minister muscat: please make your homework properly. don't rely on very biased information being given by people who have a partisan agenda. if there is any proof or even the slightest of ideas that the things that have been said in my regard are true, i will resign on the spot. and i have invited all those making similar allegations to make the same pledge that, if these prove to be untrue documents or untrue information, they resign. reporter: daphne caruana galizia never got that chance. and jonathan ferris was sacked before his findings could be verified. the maltese police has admitted it's not acting on his evidence, even though the section he led at the anti-money-laundering

agency submitted a report so the police could secure evidence and freeze bank accounts. jonathan: nothing happened to them. if my memory serves me right, the police commissioner, in the police economic crime unit, stated that they are not to be investigated. so how can you say that there is no crime when you have not yet investigated? it's exceptional, unheard of. reporter: jonathan ferris hopes the e.u. will put pressure on maltese authorities to respect the rule of law. a group of mep's has arrived in malta on a fact-finding mission. they want to know whether there was money laundering. will financial crimes be prosecuted? and does malta ensure due process for all? as an e.u. member state, it is obliged to. but doubts remain.

sven: i'm concerned about the rule of law in malta. jonathan ferris has provided important information. now, he's scared for his safety and that of his wife and children. we have demanded he be placed under permanent police protection. they have given him some, but we expect him to receive round-the-clock protection. he's in danger for making these things public. reporter: ferris is fighting his dismissal in court. he's consulting with his lawyer ahead of the next hearing. ferris says he intends to reveal everything in court. he says he owes that much to murdered joualist caruana galizia and the law-abiding people of malta. and he's made preparations should something happen to him. jonathan: so i've divided those notes into, if i'm not mistaken, six different envelopes with sheets of notes.

so should something happen to me, everything will go public and everyone will know the truth. that's my vengeance in the case. reporter: ferris always parks his car within sight of a security camera. ever since the car bomb that ew up daphne carna galizia, fear has been his constant companion. peter: more corruption now -- this time, romanian-style. and tens of thousands of people have again been protesting against planned new laws introduced in romania by the country's governing social democrats. critics say the legislation will shield the party's influential leader, liviu dragnea, from charges of embezzlement and abuse of office. as we see now, some of the people who are protesting against these measures have come a very long way to express their anger.

reporter: these people have been on the road for 10 days, walking hundreds of kilometers. they've come from cluj, in the transylvania region, and are heading to bucharest in a march against government corruption. >> bucharest, we're coming. we stand together. reporter: another 30 kilometers to their destination -- a huge rally in the romanian capital. one of the protesters is george bratu. he has walked 450 kilometers guided by a companion, because he is blind. he is incensed at planned new laws that could shield politicians and civil servants from prosecution for corruption. george: we have to eliminate this problem of corruption, it's eating us up alive. our future, our children's future is at stake. what should i do? leave the country? our ancestors fought, hungry and barefoot -- they gave their lives for freedom. now we have freedom, but what do we do with it? spit on it.

maria: we are sick and tired of the appalling crassness and incompetence of this government. it's time we had officials who want to do something for the country -- for us, not just for themselves. reporter: the white-haired man here is the focus of the protesters' anger -- liviu dragnea, chairman of romania's social democrats, here on his way to be questioned by anti-graft prosecutors. dragnea was ineligible to become prime minister because he was convicted of election fraud and is accused of misusing european union funds. but he is viewed as the mastermind of the proposed "reform" of the justice system that would weaken romania's public prosecutors and rewrite the penal code. dragnea seems unfazed by criticism from the european commission. liviu: with all due respect, you should inform yourselves better. reporter: judge horatiu dumbrava

is flabbergasted by the new draft for the penal code. it would ban police and public prosecutors from using video or audio recordings as evidence. he shows us examples on his computer -- in one case, the camera documents corrupt politicians taking bribes. another catches a pedophile molesting children in an elevator. dumbrava says the justice reform would mean such footage could no longer be used. horatiu: this kind of technical forensic evidence is very important in prosecuting crimes of violence. but in the future, the use of such evidence will be illegal. this is the height of irresponsibility. reporter: george bratu and his fellow marchers have arrived in

bucharest after 11 days on the road. soaking wet but with unbroken spirits, they stand in front of the social democratic party 's headquarters. they are demonstrating against the arbitrary justice reform and for a more democratic romania. george: we're sending a signal agnst their miliating dirty politics. reporter: by evening, 60,000 people have gathered in central bucharest. george bratu feels proud that so many have responded to the call issued by the marchers from cluj. george: we hope that our gesture and this gathering functions as an alarm signal and everyone understands that what the political class is doing will no longer be tolerated. reporter: romania overcame communism. now, people here say it's time to overcome corruption and strengthen democracy. peter: it was the notorious motto above the gate at the

auschwitz concentration camp -- "arbeit macht frei," it read -- "work sets you free." and the 27th of january is holocaust memorial day, which each year marks the anniversary of the liberation of the death camp. around six million jews were killed under hitler's germany. but some fled to albania, and what is today's kosovo, where they were saved by ordinary men and women, many motivated by a traditional albanian code of honor, known as "besa." our report begins with a moving encounter. reporter: prizren, a town in the south of kosovo. votim demiri, who is jewish, and genci rezniqi, a muslim, are meeting with us today to show us how different religious communities once lived side by side in relative peace -- a fact that is largely forgotten today. votim: there's the catholic church, there's a jewish building, the orthodox church,

and a little further on, the mosque. reporter: the two are here to recall the cruel past that brought their families together more than 70 years ago. german forces took control of kosovo and albania in september, 1943. a puppet government was installed and a special ss division was set up to help the nazis round up the jewish population. but there was resistance among local albanians, many of whom refused to look on passively. votim: people in prizren always had great sympathy and tolerance. they not only talked, but they really helped each other.

reporter: votim's mother's life was saved by the great grandfather of genci rezniqi. his proud descendents show us pictures of the successful tradesman. the devout muslim had businesses throughout the region and used his contacts to help jews who were seeking refuge. agron: in this car, he and his friends drove many jews who came to kosovo and had to get to albania or other countries. they had to find false papers. jewish names were often changed into muslim names. reporter: genci takes us to decan, a town in northern kosovo, where his great grandfather owned several businesses and was able to help many people.

he and another relative take us around the streets and show us where jews were hidden from the ss and their henchmen. many of the buildings were destroyed during the kosovo war almost 20 years ago -- little has been done to rebuild them. bajram: he and his helpers smuggled many jews through this street, bringing them to the village where our ancestors lived. he then smuggled them to albania and hid them from the occupiers. reporter: the ruins are mute witnesses to these heroic acts. over 2000 jews were saved from nazi persecution. they were taken in as part of the family, according to the traditional albanian honor code, besa, which obliges people to care for those in need. genci: we have this tradition here in this region.

we're even bound to risk our own lives to save the lives of others. reporter: the two families never lost contact after genci's great grandfather saved votim's mother. back in prizren, votim shows us pictures that bear witness to the vibrancy of jewish life before the war. votim: the last yeshiva, jewish school. reporter: despite besa, many jews were deported, including members of his family. this is the list of those who were killed. but his mother survived thanks to genci's great grandfather. votim: without this help, hitler's plan would have succeeded. nobody would have survived if albanians hadn't fought against the so-called final solution.

reporter: genci resniqi inherited his great grandfather's prayer beads -- not only a remembrance, but the symbol of a promise. peter: and it is said that albania was the only country in europe to emerge from world war ii with a larger jewish population than before. it shows the importance of not looking away. and one country where too many people are these days looking away is france, which has the largest jewish community in europe, totaling half a million people. in recent years though, thousands have been leaving for israel. many others say they're thinking of joining the exodus. why? well, because of the growing climate of anti-semitic violence, much of it coming from france's muslim population. "fokus on europe"'s susanna dorhage has the story. susanna: until a few days ago, aziz sold kosher groceries to the jewish community in the paris suburb of creteil.

now nothing is left of the shelves. an arsonist destroyed the shop aziz spent years building up. aziz: this was my baby. i worked hard here in this store, 12 to 15 hours a day to build it up. and now it's been reduced to nothing. susanna: aziz doesn't want to show his face because he's afraid of further attacks. for weeks, unknown vandals have been smearing swastikas on jewish shops, including the one aziz ran. but aziz himself is not jewish -- he's a muslim berber originally from algeria. aziz: i felt as if someone had painted a swastika on my back. it's not just the property damage -- i feel threatened personally. now i have a better idea of how

the jews feel. susanna: about 15,000 jews live here in creteil, together with a much larger muslim community. in recent years, there have been repeated attacks on jews, mainly by young muslims. but hardly anyone wants to talk openly about this development. not even this jewish grocer who is friends with aziz. ilan: i don't want to accuse anyone. i have good relations with people from north africa and other parts of africa. what i'm against is the idea that the conflict between israelis and palestinians can be moved here to french soil. susanna: but the situation is growing ever more difficult in france, where increasingly vicious anti-jewish propaganda is spreading. new rumors pop up almost every

day, says rudy reichstadt, a member of the organization conspiracy watch. rudy: everything bad that happens in the world gets attributed to a jewish conspiracy. for example, the attacks in france and elsewhere in europe, but also economic crises or popular uprisings. even when renowned people die, people will insinuate a jewish plot. the jews, or "the zionists," are suspected of pulling all the threads. susanna: reichstadt says one of the most vocal anti-semites in france is this man -- alain soral, a journalist and publisher who calls himself a national socialist and has just published a new edition of hitler's "mein kampf." soral's internet pages get five million visitors each month. soral openly tries to stir up young muslims.

alain: you have to abandon your "loser" role. it's as if you were playing poker with just deuces, while the others have aces up their sleeves. you have to be clever and strategic, or you'll keep losing. susanna: and soral's ideas find listeners. >> the jews are the secret rulers of the world. they sit way at the top and we're at the bottom. it's like a sect. they're only interested in advancing their own community. susanna: anti-semitic cliches that can have fatal consequences. in april, 2017, in this paris street, a young muslim man, high on drugs, broke into the apartment of the jewish physician sarah halimi. he beat her, reviled her as satan, and threw her out the window to her death. the attorney for sarah halimi's family has done everything he

could to have the deed categorized as an anti-semitic crime. jean-alex: if i hadn't launched a campaign in the press two months after the crime, there might not even have been a trial. they would have said, "the guy was crazy, you can't judge him," and no one would have talked about it anymore. susanna: back in creteil, aziz and his jewish friend agree -- ignoring the problem is no solution. they say all of france must finally face and fight the bigotry together. peter: and that is surely an appeal not just to the people of france, but to all of us. now, on a lighter note, let's go now to the far north of europe to finland, which is said to have the most passionate karaoke singers in the world, with the possible exception, of course, of the inventors of this weird

and wonderful pastime, the japanese. and as our reporter has been finding out, the finns can and do sing in some very unexpected places. reporter: if you can't make it big on the big stage, then maybe it's time to try the karaoke bar. and here in the finnish capital helsinki, there are plenty of places for wannabe singers to shine. and even in supposedly quiet places like this one. in finland, libraries are often seen as cultural centers -- and some are trying something different. ♪ ville: it's very popular. i think it was an instant success. the room is booked about one month in advance, so you have to book very early.

we have a room that is soundproof so it doesn't really bother other customers. reporter: this library near helsinki is the only one of its kind to date. for the singers here, karaoke is more than just a way to pass the time. tuomi: in my youth, you never showed too much emotion. so singing was always good for being able to express your feelings. hannele: i love singing. and it's a great opportunity to meet your good friends here. reporter: in some places, there's even karaoke in the bathroom. tapio: maybe we're so grim all the time, so we want to be in the spotlight that one time. and it's dark here all the time,

you have to refresh yourself somehow. reporter: so who minds a little dissonance when, on a dark winter's night, a stage like this can bring such joy. peter: i should, i suppose, sing and dance as i leave the studio -- but i'm not going to. i would like to say though, thanks very much for joining us here on "fokus on europe." if you want to see any of our reports again, just go to our homepage on dw.com or visit our facebook page, dw stories. and do come back next time round. until then from me, bye-bye, and tschuss. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

steves: from the destruction of world war ii, europe has steadily rebuilt itself into a forward-looking and united continent. with the creation of the european union, economic integration has made another devastating war unthinkable.

there has been a massive investment in cuttingdge inastrturerojes. efficient high-speed rail systems tie europe together. superhighways and stunning bridges further enhance the continent-wide transportation system. within cities, sleek subways move millions underground. on the streets above, public transit reduces traffic congestion. and nearly every city is creating traffic-free pedestrian zones, making urban life even more people-friendly. as the world grapples with climate change, europe is taking a leading role in developing alternative energy sources.

and while still prerving the historic character of its cities, europe has found a way to integrate innovative architecture into the landscape, giving the old world a modern face. and the human face of contemporary europe is more diverse and vibrant than ever. even as this continent of 500 million people unites, it's finding ways to allow its rich mix of cultures to celebrate their unique identities. from norway to greece and from portugal to bulgaria, people are proud to preserve their distinct languages, foods, and traditions.