german chancellor angela merkel and french president among all micron say they hope to sign a new treaty of friendship and cooperation between their countries in january it comes after micron call for closer ties in a ceremony marking germany's day of remembrance. you're watching d.w. news from berlin more at the top of the hour omarion edelstein thanks for watching . and. they make a commitment. they find. they inspire. africa. stories of both people in many different shaping their nation. and their continent of africa. stories about

motivational change makers taking their destinies into their homes are going to be double using a series from for a couple. same . and andrea scott is one of the world's leading contemporary historians and today we want to discuss a potential new fear of germany with him mr herder during a recent speech in brussels a polish politician said he fears a germany that doesn't lead more than one that does is there a new fear of germany. is annoying angst and. is keep the lawyer there is a new fear of germany which is also an old fear of germany where the new demands

are being made of the country and these demands of pushing germany into dire lemme that's the quote by poland's foreign minister you just mentioned you would never have heard anybody particularly not somebody from poland say that before nine hundred ninety. there's this new demand for germany to lead within europe but that puts germany in a dilemma because if it assumes a position of power old fears about germany wanting supremacies and europe will rise again this is the new fear which is actually a fear dating back to the nineteenth century or before. and which germany's european neighbors have felt for at least two hundred years or. so i mean distance five hundred beneath the healing of quaked the can how can germany resolve this tense relationship with germany must take other european countries position into account and also take their perception of germany and to account germany must

also not look like the power politics necessary for europe to be a powerful global player. and try to mend darfur automatically this is a necessary balancing act and one of the greatest challenges for political leaders but also. the in trying to hold forth all political furor. minister had another minister speaking in brussels actually addressed precisely that challenge and said germany will have to lead from the center how could that work because that by the to be honest i'm not quite sure what this leadership from the center maynard's germany has to learn to be respectful of its neighbors while at the same time carrying out the necessary leadership duties. i'm not sure where the center comes in. design but and also you say germany must carry out its leadership duties but also that it would be problematic. if it did so to assertively almost all top level officials and brussels pulling the strings

a german that greatly upset some member states. is that what germany wants to be a sort of behind the scenes puppet master inquisitor defensive team you should have thought they flee the inch i would absolutely say that the most important level at which germany is showing political leadership lies beyond national interests in fact it even extends beyond the european union. because the big question is how will europe treat the u.k. after banks it would be for this isn't an e.u. issue we need to see germany as a nation probably together with france negotiating with the u.k. you fucked off the far end of the crudely because the u.k. is not going to disappear from europe. rather europe can only be a strong global player if it has a constructive relationship with the u.k. constructive with her hope so cause papunya who won that fight back when germany

was politically more peripheral that it tried to convince the benelux countries of its interests so that they would push them on the agenda of that strategy worked back then is that the right concept for the future or is germany allowed to be self-confident in expressing its wishes and setting its agenda as the time that i get into setting total and that of germany is not only allowed to be confident it has to be confident. but you can be confident without being inconsiderate towards this notion that germany must always be subtle and can't just be forthright in its demands no one in europe still thinks that the use of force to the globe to anybody in the whole part about death that it leads to trouble take the two recent examples when germany su in political leadership with the new europe and the eurozone crisis and the refugee crisis in the summer of two thousand and fifteen both times. little course was taken that was set by germany and both times that caused big big trouble

and massive anti german sentiment quickly flared up so how can this work. in there well germany made a grave mistake during the refugee crisis and that was to vote by majority in the european council to force countries to accept a quota of refugees against their will i don't think. that was seen as dictatorial . for the european debt crisis situation is more complicated. there are two very different versions of what happened exist within europe which are both logical but to contradict each other. but on the one side there is the story told by mostly but not exclusively southern countries which says that germany reacted far too late already. it's the speed that it didn't want to risk it straight some place and the germans are geopolitical nationalists. who were on the other side we have the german version of exactly the same political decision is to go. to your door german say that they were not liable for other countries debts

but that they help greece anyway because they're such a good european you have. it might help them down but to add to what you said we also very quickly began seeing pictures of angela merkel with a hit the mustache coming from greece how big must the fear of germany be and what does it feed on for such a poignant images to be produced that are of a patient the whole of germany's neighboring countries or almost all have had some form of military conflict with germany far with dogs for greece that conflict was the world war two occupation by germany the. that was when those stereotypes started over violent germans with their people held by helmets or thora tarion and militaristic his face and the odd thing about stereotypes is that they can resurgent any time like a volcano you thought was dormant which erupts again you go and work hard for the

market that's how stereotypes generally work and it's exactly what we've seen happen these last years you know on in the house that's obviously that's neon ali. it seems as if other european countries are no longer used to a germany that shows the same self-assurance as say france or britain or is this a test for europe often that i know but. feel if club an if that's the stomach that would have to i don't think that this has anything to do with cold war experiences manifesting themselves in the present day and i thought of it with all that noise so where does the fear come from well in france and france is the key partner in this context that fear dates at least as far back as the eight hundred seventy seventy one war. when france became painfully aware of the fact that it's not eastern neighbor germany or was structurally stronger. that he's talked to and then france had to experience that bitter truth again in both world wars. because

although france was on the winning side the french knew that if they had to face germany alone they would have lost that's the line you can dodge like just regular give you what was it their child a goal said in one thousand nine hundred forty six towards germany stays germany or more recently in the eighties francois mitterrand spoke about the german nuclear bomb but he was referring to the don't mark in the german central bank which shows that other countries are no longer worried about germany's military strength but about its economic power. as it does that mean that your many a scary because that's who functions too well for you here. east germany is and will stay europe's strongest economy in a time when economic strength is more important than military strength. so germany is the strongest party and it can't shake that role which is why it has to find a way to use its strength constructively and strategically within europe. or

next world and national recent study asked europeans whether they find their country's culture superior to their neighboring countries cultures forty five percent of germans said they find their culture to be better than other europeans are we seeing a rising feeling of german superiority. yeah that's yes we are and that's a german trait that dates back to the romantic era. in the early nineteenth century when europeans began to see themselves as nationals the french state already existed so the french could perceive themselves as a nation state. however there was no unified germany at that time meaning germans initially had little choice but to find unity through culture. they saw yourselves as a cultural nation if you will first and this self image has always brought with it a tendency among germans to view themselves as culturally and morally superior league for that tendency can be traced throughout the nineteenth century right up

to the end of the first half of the twentieth century. in the hope that and although the content of the old self image has changed the mechanism of perceiving oneself as culturally and morally superior remains. a good example is germany's welcome culture in autumn two thousand and fifteen that sense of being morally correct was so strong you can almost touch it but it's harder of the best one side to side with him and for that account we recently had the chancellor announced that she's begun what could be called a step by step political withdrawal what political legacy will under medical leave for europe. i'm glad merkel has hopefully on a european level angela merkel's main political activity has been crisis management from cleveland she has also always tried to unite the european institutions with varying degrees of success about her efforts were constant or patient institutes

all about a number how did she divide all unite europe and. the other off the islands she's been able to unite at least in part she managed to avoid the european institutions dismantling and separating particularly during the euro zone crises the whole party in part she has also caused european division with regard to the refugee crises but i guess we'll never know the extent but several people in the u.k. said that the political decisions about refugees made in twenty fifteen helped the banks it's part that's the part that's just for to see in this brics it is now that i've become mr heard and i as always i'd like to end our interview by asking you to complete three sentences germany yes i've got a large and important power within europe which needs to lead constructively and with empathy part of. europe is is. more than the european

union all it is shaped by the you but also by the great diversity and it goes beyond it the other way now let's get on and history is. there's spiegel in the eye marrow we look at without saying our own reflection clearly but that shows as backgrounds which help us to better understand our present selves have it mr herder thanks for speaking with us thank you. be in good shape. to tangle anti-church can be good for people with parkinson's disease. dancing can help improve balance and coordination. while tight she is great for staying flexible. and that physical exercise and gets our grade matter buzzing. in good shape next on d w.

this is not. one thousand eight hundred and the first world war is over but the worst is yet to come. in years to follow roger chaos poverty and instability. fertile ground for fresh eyes and dictatorship. apocalypse never ending war. in forty five minutes. sometimes books are more exciting than real life. raring to breathe. what if there is no escape. list. german must treat. every journey begins with the first step and every language with the

first word published in the book. rico is in germany to learn german why not come with ellis simple online on your mobile and free to south d w z e learning course nikos fake german made easy. hello welcome to are in good shape coming up. what makes this auto immune disorder so difficult to diagnose chronic constipation why it's so important to figure out the cause. and parkinson's disease why exercise can help. and peugeot host dr cost and make.