a very warm welcome to focus on europe this week with me, liz shoo. it's campaign season in poland, and the ruling national-conservative party could lose its majority. so part of its strategy to attract voters has been to spread fear about refugees. the ones they are targeting are those trying to cross the border from belarus into poland, and therefore into eu territory. despite beefed up security, the number of illegal border crossings is on the rise.

the wall runs along the border between the polish region of podlaskie, and belarus. but refugees are not what worries residents like maria pshtshkhovska. she's more concerned about the divisive tone of the election campaign: the stirring up of nationalism and xenophobia. all this could hurt her business, she says. and give her homecountry poland a bad reputation. it may look a bit like the end of the world, but it's only the border of the european union. this is podlachia, poland, on the border with belarus. there is not much here apart from forest, fields and a few houses, and that's exactly why maria przyszychowska moved here six years ago. she built a holiday house for people looking for some peace and quiet. but this year, business has been pretty slow. i spoke to some friends who told me that they wanted to ride their bikes here. but they don't want to meet soldiers around every corner

asking them where they're going and why. i can understand that. this border area between poland and belarus has been under particular observation since russia's invasion. a modern fence has been built and soldiers are on patrol. they are looking for human smugglers and people who have crossed the border into poland illegally. poland has accused belarus of orchestrating a migration influx into the eu via poland to destabilize the region. there are some 10 thousand soldiers stationed here because of illegal migration and the presence of the russian wagner mercenary group in belarus. there is no doubt that the belarusian regime is cooperating with the kremlin and the attacks on the polish border are intended to destabilize our country. but i am convinced that this action will not succeed due to the polish military and the strengthened border. the region has been changed by a military presence and the

fence, which is over 180 kilometers long. it's for the better, says goat farmer stanislaw nicewicz, who lives just four kilometers away. it's much calmer now. there used to be only barbed wire. people were able to cross quickly. now they have to cut the fence or dig under it. so, it's safer for us. but he says nothing ever happened to him. most people close to the border have seen migrants trying to get to the european union. i didn't dare open the window because they were shouting and crying. and there were little children. maria przyszychowska does not share the fears. we don't feel threatened here, neither by refugees nor by the wagner group. i have the impression people are stoking fear to reach

a certain political goal. the ruling law and justice party has focused its election campaign on security with its slogan a secure future for the polish people. and it has pinpointed one threat: immigration. illegal immigration. large numbers of people are coming here not to work, but to benefit from social welfare, and also to undermine our security. some are doing it in an organized way, others simply because it is their disposition. the constant warnings about illegal migration and high-profile appearances of politicians with military representatives are not good for local tourism. slawomir dron says there's been a 70 to 80 percent drop in reservations at his hotel. and the restaurant is often empty.

it's not only an election campaign, it's a long-term campaign. to make people constantly afraid. to make them afraid so that the government can give them security. the law and justice party has also decided to hold a referendum on election day and ask voters what they think about the eu's asylum policy. the promotional video and the phrasing of the questions are more suggestive than serious. are you in favor of thousands of illegal migrants from the middle east and africa having to be taken in via the eu's coercive mechanism? we say no to illegal migration. maria przyszychowska is trying not to be discouraged by the political mood. she does not want to give up her business, in which she has invested so much money and passion. she thinks that people should not be scared of coming. it would be good for them to come and to support local businesses and people like us.

but also to see for themselves what's really going on here, what it looks like up close. she hopes that some normality will return to podlachia after the election on october 15th. february 24th, 2022. it's a date that will be forever etched in the memories of ukrainians, because that is the day the russian full-scale invasion of the country began. but this date is also special for evnika because it's her birthday. so what is life like, for a child who has only experienced her country at war? our reporter visited evnika and her family in the suburbs of kiev, to find out. evnika spends her days like any 20-month-old girl. going to the park and feeding the pigeons.

but this little girl's growing up in ukraine. she was born on february 24th, 20-22, the day of russia's full-scale invasion. she's never known a single day of peace. when the air-raid alarm goes off, she senses it immediately. if we're outside when the alarm sounds, i get anxious. i don't panic, but i get anxious. and she senses that. she clings to me really tightly and gets quiet. it's been like that from the start. when we brought her home from the hospital, we were in the car for a long time. she didn't even cry. but there are children who get nervous and demand attention when they sense anxiety. the family lives in a suburb of kyiv. anita alesandrova was already in the hospital, being prepared for a caesarean, when russia invaded.

we heard explosions and, at first, we didn't understand what it was. about five or ten minutes later, a doctor and a nurse came in. they said russia was attacking us, and we had to pack our things and move to the basement. she had her c-section the same day and was moved to the basement, which had been converted to an emergency bunker. so evnika spent the first seven days of her life underground. as fighting just outside kyiv intensified, the family found shelter with relatives in the countryside. not until the russian troops withdrew from around kyiv did they return home.

we were there, but our hearts were here. so, we decided to come back. there, we recovered from the constant air-raid sirens and caught up on our sleep. since then, their neighborhood has come back to life. cafes and businesses have re-opened, and more and more neighbors are returning. now, it almost looks like it did before the russian invasion. but the young family's daily lives are still overshadowed

by the war. they've found an apartment on the ground floor where they feel safer. oleksandr aleksandrov works for a company essential to the war effort - he can't reveal anything more. i'd been waiting for this child. we'd had a miscarriage before this. we lost the baby in the third month. so, we were already pretty anxious. and then, at last, evnika was here, and a war was on. but we'll hang on. when the alarm goes off, evnika and her parents take shelter in the storeroom. and they do what they can to make life for their daughter as light and airy as possible. in the eu, physical national borders have all but disappeared.

at least for those people who hold the right type of passport. in breil-sur-roya along the french-italian border for example, both countries are working together to create one common attractive tourist region. but just a few kilometers away, at the points where migrants want to cross over from italy to france, the border is protected like few others within the eu. it's a paradox of the open yet closed border - which leaves thousands of migrants in limbo. i want to go to france. france should be ashamed! that's inhuman!

sebastien olharan, the mayor of breil-sur-roya in southeast france, wishes visitors outside his community's tourist office all the best. the town of over two thousand overlooks the mediterranean sea in the border region between france and italy. i'm looking for the brochures, maps and travel guide for our alcotra eu project. alcotra stands for the southern alps - côte d'azur region. this european union project subsidizes cross-border cooperation between french and italian municipalities, dismantling the borders yet further. we rely on close connections with italy. the beach closest to breil is in ventimiglia - in italy. for skiing we go to limone - in italy. we cannot get by without cross-border relations.

the border region combines spectacular mountain scenery with plenty of french-italian history. until the 19th century, this was the most important trade route from piedmont to the mediterranean. the northern roya valley was part of italy during world war ii, and the border was disputed until 1947. today, the italian fortresses are decaying. more than 70 years after the war, there's nothing to suggest that the french-italian border runs here. it's a border-free europe. southward, toward the mediterranean, the route leads past old customs and border crossings. french and italian, both are crumbling. first the customs officers, and then the border police, too, disappeared from the european union's internal borders. no passports are checked here anymore. or so it seems.

but in the eu, the situation an hour's drive south at the mediterranean is only allowed in exceptional cases. for years, france has been guarding its border between ventimiglia in italy and menton on the côte d'azur. the french border police are working at an internal european union border crossing. some time ago, the border post was even expanded, with a container where france can detain illegal migrants for 24 hours. refugees and migrants, mainly from african countries, are the reason. most reach ventimiglia via the mediterranean and southern italy. it's inhuman. really inhuman. the french don't want them. nobody does. they send them back to the border.

not people like us, but people who have fled their countries and come here. homeless people have been on the streets of ventimiglia for years now, many of them young people. they keep hoping to find a way through the border. i want to go to france. did you try to cross the border? not tried, not tried. the police drive them out of the city center. the italian government in rome has refused to provide state support for the people here and blames france for the misery. many in ventimiglia agree. france should be ashamed. it's not fair, it's not right that we italians have to take in all these masses. the authorities closed the only reception center three years ago during the covid pandemic for fear of infection. it was never reopened.

only the catholic caritas charity hands out food for two hours in the morning. in the early evening volunteers cook for the homeless. one of them is building contractor filippo lombardo. he's agreed to help for a year. on average, 100 to 150 more come to ventimiglia every day. ventimiglia is a stop on the way. despite the guarded border, migrants manage to cross into france again and again. the roya river flows into the mediterranean here. in the southern alps, the river draws tourists and summer hikers - as does the french town of breil-sur-roya. since 2014, the european union has subsidized the border region with more than 200 million euros for tourism, joint nature conservation and cross-border cooperation among mountain communities.

we've created tourist brochures, information plaques and this website, which highlights the different communities throughout the roya and vermenagna territory, and their various monuments. one such monument, in breil's italian twin town of borgo san dalmazzo commemorates over 300 jewish people from all over europe who were deported from here to auschwitz. italians, french, germans, dutch - most had fled the nazis first to the south of france and then to the mountains on the italian side. and they ended up imprisoned here in a concentration camp. the companion exhibition is designed to inspire reflection - beyond the deportations. this panel is titled the desperate escape through the mountains. many of the locals here had hidden fleeing jews. exhibition director roberto bianco draws a parallel to

the present day. we forget what we should have learned from history: the set of values upon which our europe was founded, and that is our humanity when we are confronted with issues of migration. on thursday filippo lombardo cooks dinner for the migrants in the parking lot in ventimiglia. he, his wife dana and their friends have been helping once a week for over half a year. the volunteers exchange the latest information via text messages. right now, many from eritrea, somalia and especially sudan are in the city. with all these wars on around the world now, the families who can afford it take their children and go.

they say traffickers are already waiting for the refugees at the ventimiglia train station. the volunteer cooks try to warn the migrants about the criminals. often they've already heard from lampedusa who will arrive here and when. they know their surnames and whether they have money. the traffickers only need one try to get the migrants across the border, using a path off the main road to france that everyone in ventimiglia knows about. the route is easily reached but dangerous - it leads straight across the highway. before setting out, they leave behind their last belongings, hoping that, if they're caught, the french border patrol won't find anything to prove that they had just come from italy. now, the volunteers have spent three hours cooking with

the migrants - counting the shopping and preparation time. it's very spicy. nice and hot. many people like that: salty and spicy. time is fleeting. down in the parking lot in town, other volunteers are getting ready to provide meals. the various helpers depend on one another. i always say, as people, we are already born into problems. i'm a migrant, too - an italian, but still a migrant. my mother left calabria in southern italy in 1956 and came here. she taught me that, if three people can eat at one table, five or six can, too. dinner is provided every weekday at seven p.m.

we try to strike up a conversation, but hardly any of the migrants are willing to speak on camera, mainly for fear of being deported. the eu still applies the rule that refugees and migrants who enter have to remain in the country where they first arrived. so, many here get very cautious when asked if they're headed for france. no, i don't have the intention to go to france. no, i want to stay here - definitely, if i get accommodation here. and you're also from sudan? yeah, i'm from sudan. that's why we are coming here. i wouldn't say that we are here for the intention of maybe getting something but because of the security we have faced in sudan and the killing. that's why we came here.

usually, the italian authorities grant the migrants a suspension of deportation, amounting to permission to remain in italy temporarily for humanitarian reasons. current eu law won't allow them to travel to other eu countries. that makes this a hard border for the migrants. but the volunteers themselves are not prepared to accept that. the problem is not europe - it's the europeans who cannot comprehend that it's better to give these people something to get by on than to put up with the ones who steal - the traffickers. they're the ones who cause strife. the migrants have a right to come here. lots of eu funding goes to help breaking down the borders in the french-italian alps. exhibition director roberto bianco invokes human rights and the lessons and legacy of the 20th century's wars and mass expulsions. at one time, when people saw a stranger here, they'd open

the doors to their homes to help and hide and protect them. through their example, these people showed how we could restore some kind of balance after such a complicated history. a rumor is going around among the migrants in ventimiglia about local people somewhere up in the mountains who know all the secret routes, and sometimes show travelers the way. we live in an age where more and more people order books online or read digital copies. but surprisingly, in the uk, the number of independent book stores has increased. in the british capital london, some creative minds got together and opened a book store on a boat. it's a popular destination for bookworms and a viral sensation on social media! hi, i'm paddy screech, one of the three founders of book on the water, the london book barge, which is a bookshop on

a 1920s dutch barge parked in kings cross in the middle of london. and in the middle of construction sites and office buildings. paddy screech and his partner came up with the idea to provide a refuge to bookworms on the water in 2011. but the problem at first was that the barge had to move its position every two weeks. we were doing it almost for love for the first seven years. shall we have cigarettes or coffee, we can't afford both today, sort of story. and we rather theatrically announced that we were going to have to close. and all the people who'd been forced to follow us on social media because we were constantly on the move suddenly came out of the woodwork, and in effect saved us. they did so by helping word on the water get a permanent berth. with its living room look, the bookshop gets good press on social media platforms and in the analog world too.

it's just so different. you can have bookstores anywhere i guess but i've never seen one on a boat. it's lovely. the atmosphere and the music, and when you go onto the barge, it wobbles a bit because of the river. it's just really nice and idyllic. once there was a leak and some of the books were damaged. but otherwise, business is good and actually better now than ever expected. we used to joke that people would come and hold up a book, photograph themselves with a nietzsche and then put it down and walk away but that's not what happens actually. and people come not only to buy books but to attend performances and concerts on a very special barge in london. and that's it for this week's focus on europe. thanks for watching. you can find more content on our social media channels.

take caranbye d e bye!

♪ anchor: this "dw news." tonight in ukraine, one of the deadliest attacks since the start of the russian invasion, civilians, children, killed today on the attack in eastern ukraine. coming up, a policy reversal from president biden who says he will allow the construction of barriers along the u.s. southern border to reduce the number of people crossing from mexico.

and