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The war in Europe is back and with it the fear in Germany. What impact does the Russian aggression against Ukraine have on the Germans and how do the Germans prepare for disasters?
Climate change, the Corona pandemic, and if that were not enough, Russian aggression against Ukraine has covered everything, bad news is on the rise. An atmosphere of crisis has spread in Germany. Empty shelves in supermarkets, pasta restrictions and yeast have been turned into gauges for a shy place.
In the coming weeks and months, “restrictions on commodity flows such as sunflower, flaxseed, and soybean oil from the conflict region are expected,” warns the Oil Refining Industry Association, OVID. Ukraine and Russia are the main exporters of sunflower oil. Germany covers 94% of the need for these products from imports. Out of concern that there may be a shortage of supply of these food items, stocks of flour and pasta are being accumulated. Although no alarm was given for these products.
According to a Forsa poll, 69% of respondents fear that NATO and thus the Bundeswehr may be involved in the war. According to the latest German Trend poll, many respondents are of the opinion that this conflict will leave its mark on Germany. 64% expect deterioration of the economic situation. Until now, German citizens were confident in the future, but the war, which can be partially followed live on social media and is geographically so close, has affected Germans emotionally.
On the phone to talk about fear
Much more often than not help is being sought on the psychological counseling hotline. “The demands have become very intense,” said Christina Zajackovski of central Cologne. Every fifth call is related to the fear of war that may extend to Germany, the fear that the house may be bombed or that something might happen to loved ones. For those who call, it is reassuring “to talk about their fears and utter the scariest fantasies associated with the war,” says Zajaskovski.
This generation “in time of peace has removed everything. “Now these have become current,” Thomas de Vachroi told DW. The charge d’affaires of the Evangelical Church for Poverty in Neukölln, Berlin runs the “Haus Britz”, an institution for facilitated housing for the elderly. “They are very afraid, that the red line is crossed and NATO intervenes and everyone sees only horror. I have to say openly that I also have this fear. “
“What is happening in the world?”
The elderly in “Haus Britz” are not afraid for themselves, but also for their children and grandchildren, says Vachroi. After the experience of the war in 1945-1955 they say that “my grandchildren can not cope with what we experienced after the war. To endure hunger, to seek food in the fields, to have no clothes. ” This worries them a lot, Vachroi confesses. “They sit across from each other and say, oh my god, what is going on in this world?”
Feedback that the head of the World Association of Tools, Frank Ulrich Montgomery takes seriously. “It is important that people who are afraid of war are taken seriously and that these emotions are not minimized,” he told media group Funke Mediengruppe.
Disaster preparation
Reasonable arguments certainly do not reach these times the so-called “preprer” those who for years prepare for disasters in detail, because they always think the worst. Backpacks with survival materials, iodine tablets against radioactivity, or power generators are introduced on the Internet. A user posted on youtube with the nickname “Prepper Norddeutschland” the video “Russia-Ukraine war-what should you do now?” Others publish videos on how to survive in the event of an atomic accident emergency.
Fear is good for business. The security branch is experiencing a real boom. In “Bunker Protection Space Systems for Germany, BSSD in Berlin the questions are multiplied. “So far the clicks on our website have reached 100 to 300 clicks per day, now they reach the figure of 10,000 clicks”, says the director of the center, Mark Schmiechen. Questions start from protected steel spaces and continue with bunkers to protect against atomic attacks. BSSD offered a hotline with 6 phones for this reason. “For each phone we had 10 calls per hour,” says Schmiechen.
IT institutions are afraid of cyber attacks
The fear of many Germans is linked to cyber attacks and the collapse of the power and water supply in the event of any Russian hacking. Defense Secretary Nancy Faser called for the risk to be taken seriously. The Federal Office for Information Technology Security is also on alert. The cyber-attacking authority said in a statement that the way in which Russian forces or intelligence services were detained “is associated with a significant risk of successful attacks on IT infrastructure”.
The Federal Office for Population Protection, BBK, told DW that it was “in principle possible” to cut off electricity supply in the event of a hacking attack. Two years ago there was ridicule when this office recommended that reservations be kept for 10 days. Now the requests to this institution have multiplied and he has offered on the website a special section after the war in Ukraine. “Many people have considered the current threatening situation impossible,” but not the Bundeswehr, and not us, also because of the task we have as an institution, “explains BBK. In this sense, nothing changes from the preparation scenarios, but “only the intensity of the preparations” ./ DW
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