Semua Kabar

Third Division winners Bielefeld had their dreams dashed by Stuttgart, who lifted their fourth ever German Cup. The final proved one step too far for giant-killers Bielefeld, who beat Leverkusen en route to Berlin.

Stuttgart survived a late scare against underdogs Arminia Bielefeld to win theGerman Cupfinal 4-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday night.

The Bundesliga side had been cruising after going four goals up with over 20 minutes left to play.

But Stuttgart were made to hold off a late fightback from the Third Division champions, who scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

Nick Woltemade opened the scoring in the 15th minute to settle any nerves the Stuttgart fans might have been feeling against a Bielefeld side that had dumped out Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final.

Enzo Millot doubled Stuttgart's lead after 22 minutes, with Denis Undav underlining Stuttgart's superiority just six minutes later as he put the Bundesliga team 3-0 up with less than half an hour played.

Millot added his second and Stuttgart's fourth after 66 minutes.

Bielefeld did give their supporters something to cheer about, however, bagging two goals — a Julian Kania effort and an own goal from Josha Vagnoman — in the last 10 minutes to make the scoreline more respectable.Stuttgart clinched the trophy for the first time since 1997, as the Bundesliga club lifted their fourth German Cup title.

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Despite the result, Bielefeld had plenty to be proud of having never previously made the German Cup final and became just the fourth side from the third division to qualify for the occasion.

Since their firstBundesligaseason in 1970-71, the club have bounced between the first and third tiers of German football. Their last spell in the top-flight was followed by successive relegations in 2022 and 2023.

Bielefeld overcame four Bundesliga sides in their run to the final, beating Union Berlin in the second round,Freiburgin the Round of 16, Werder Bremen in the quarterfinals andLeverkusen in the semis.

Although Berlin's Olympic Stadium holds 74,000, around100,000Arminia fans, roughly a third of Bielefeld's population, descended on the German capital for the historic occasion.

Bielefeld won promotion to the second division earlier in May. They are just the fourth club in German Cup history to reach the final from the third division.

Even while their youth academy continued to churn out talent, Stuttgart had fallen away after winning their last Bundesliga title in 2007.

Stuttgart had sat dead last in the Bundesliga and were staring at a third relegation in a decade, when they appointed Sebastian Hoeness in April 2023.

Hoeness, the nephew of Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli, kept Stuttgart in the top-flight via a relegation playoff.

A season later, he guided the club to second place, 40 points better than the previous season, and back into the Champions League.

This season, Stuttgart finished in mid-table as they juggled European commitments and their German Cup run, but the future remains bright.

Schilinski's "Sound of Falling" tells the stories of four generations in a small village in northeastern Germany, weaving a sweeping depiction of a century.

"I was afraid I'd misheard," said the 41-year-old director and screenwriter Mascha Schilinski when her film was named Jury Prize winner at the Cannes International Film Festival. "It was kind of a surreal moment — simply wonderful."

Ahead of the festival, the filmmaker said that she was "insanely happy" to have her film "Sound of Falling" selected in the main competition lineup at the Cannes Film Festival. " It's a filmmaker's dream!"

This year, Germany was represented byFatih Akin, whose historical film "Amrum" screened out of competition, andChristian Petzold, whose feature "Mirrors No. 3" was selected for the Directors' Fortnight, an independent sidebar at the Cannes festival.

But Schilinski was the only German director with a film in the main competition, the first sinceMaren Adecaused a stir at the2016 festivalwith"Toni Erdmann."

"Sound of Falling" is set on a farm in a small village in northeastern Germany. It follows the lives of four generations of women living on the farm, interweaving their stories by jumping back and forth among the different timelines until the lines between them blur. What starts as a portrait of four generations becomes a sweeping depiction of a century.

"As we went through the rooms of the farmhouse, we could sense the centuries," said Schilinski. "It brought up a question I've had since childhood." She explained that as a little girl growing up in a prewar apartment building in Berlin, she often wondered, "What happened between these walls in the past? Who has sat right in the spot where I'm now sitting? What fates played out here? What did the people who lived here experience and feel?"

Her film is an attempt to imagine answers to those questions.

As with Schilinski's 2017 debut film, "Dark Blue Girl," a psychodrama about a complicated family dynamic, this latest work focuses on a female perspective, relating events from the points of view of women. Schilinski said the female gaze was very important to her and co-writer Louise Peter because it's so rare in films.

"The film is very much about gazes, the gazes that women have been exposed to over the course of a century, how it feels today and also how it's carried on and burned into the body," the director explained.

Schilinski's career path seems to have almost been predestined: Her mother is a filmmaker who took her along on film shoots, and she started acting for film and television while still at school. Then she did film business internships, worked as a casting agent, traveled through Europe and worked as a magician and fire dancer for a small traveling circus. After studying screenwriting at the Hamburg Film School, she settled in Berlin and began working as a freelance screenwriter for film and television.

Schilinski attracted some attention when "Dark Blue Girl" was screened at the 2017Berlin International Film Festival, and her career is likely to get a further boost with the Jury Prize for her latest film in Cannes.

"Sound of Falling" is due for release in German cinemas on September 11.

This article was originally written in German. It was updated on May 26 to reflect Mascha Schilinski's win of the Jury Prize.

For months, there has been speculation that the US and Russia want to repair the Nord Stream gas pipelines running through the Baltic Sea and bring them back online. The question remains whether Germany might agree.

Asthe war in Ukrainegrinds into its fourth year, the idea thatRussiacould once again pump gas to the European Union via Germany is not as outlandish as it might have been just a few months ago.

With efforts ongoing to end the war, speculation continues over the possible reintegration of Russian gas into the EU's energy mix.

For months, some members of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which leads the government,have been hinting strongly at support for such a proposal, particularly with regard to the Nord Stream pipelines. The latest came from Saxony's CDU state premier, Michael Kretschmer.

In an interview with German newspaperDie Zeit, he described the Nord Stream pipelines as a possible "opening for talks with Russia." He even specified how much of Germany's gas supply should come from Russia — 20%.

In March, some of his colleagues welcomed the ideaof repairing both pipelines of the damagedNord Stream 1 and the single damaged pipeline on Nord Stream 2. The three weredamaged after an act of sabotagein September 2022.

Nord Stream 1 brought gas to Germany before the start of the Ukraine war in early 2022, while Nord Stream 2 was finished in September 2021 but never actually entered service.

However, even if some in the German government are keen, many are not. Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor and CDU leader, has made it clear that he supports EU plansto prevent the reactivation of the pipelines as part of the next sanctions package against Russia. Amid the rumors about the possible repair of the pipelines, the European Commission is currently consulting member states about permanently banning the use of Nord Stream.

However, both Russia and theUnited Statesare reportedly eager to agree on a deal to get gasflowing through the pipelines again.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said recently that discussions with the US have included Nord Stream. Meanwhile, according to several reports, US investors are interested in buying Nord Stream 2 AG — the Swiss-based subsidiary of the Russian state-owned energy giantGazpromwhich owns the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

In January, bankruptcy proceedings against Nord Stream 2 AG were delayed until May, with a redacted court document showing that Gazprom argued that the Trump administration could "have significant consequences on the circumstances of Nord Stream 2."

Chris Weafer, an investment adviser who has worked in Russia for more than 25 years, told DW that there are serious discussions taking place regarding a US purchase of the company.

"There are proposals on the table from US buyers that want to buy the infrastructure, where they could act as a cut out between the source of gas, which is Gazprom, and the buyers of gas, which would be German utilities," he said.

However, Ben Hilgenstock from the Kyiv School of Economics said it's notthe place of the US or Russia to decide what energy Europe buys.

"Whatever Russia and the United States negotiate with regards to Nord Stream 2 or 1 is entirely meaningless," he told DW. "It is Europe's decision in specific countries, to be fair, whether they want to purchase Russian pipeline gas through Nord Stream 1 and 2 again."

So, is there any way Europe would want to buy Russian pipeline gas again?

Europe's diversification away from Russian gas and oil after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion was the main factor that led to a surge in energy costs throughout 2022 and 2023. Although prices have come down significantly from those highs, the reemergence of Russian energy into the mix would likely push costs down further.

German companies such as the chemical giantBASFbore the brunt ofsoaring energy costs in recent years. A spokesperson for the company told DW it would not speculate on any possible deals regarding Russian energy, but it did emphasize it was not the only factor affecting its business.

"The increased gas price is only one factor affecting BASF's competitiveness," the spokesperson said. "Other important reasons are the current weak demand and increasing import volumes."

Wolfgang Grosse Entrup, managing director of Germany's Chemical Industry Association, told DW that his members "welcome measures that reduce excessively high energy prices," but he emphasized the importance of "reliable partners."

"Supplies via Nord Stream 1 were unilaterally suspended by Russia in August 2022," he said. "With a major effort, it has been possible to ensure security of supply even without Russian oil and gas. We should not fall back into old, supposedly comfortable, habits and avoid excessive dependence on individual countries in the future."

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However, Hilgenstock cautioned that the lure of cheaper energy will always be capable of directing the discussion in some quarters.

"There is this vision out there of cheap Russian gas that can propel us back wherever," he said. "That's where the political pressure is coming from."

Yet political opposition to a restoration of supply remains fierce in Europe. The EU Commission has repeatedly reiterated its strong stance against, in keeping with its current sanctions plans.

"Nord Stream 2 is not a project of common interest, it does not diversify the EU's energy sources," an EU Commission spokesperson said at a press briefing on March 3.

Project of Common Interest (PCI) status is given to energy infrastructure projects, allowing them to benefit from an accelerated approval process and more flexible regulation.

The EU has pledged to quit all Russian fossil fuels by 2027, and the European Commissionreleased a detailed strategy and road map on May 6 as to how it plans to achieve this goal. The strategy mentions the end of all imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027, and says new contracts to supply any kind of Russian gas will be stopped by the end of 2025.

In this context, Hilgenstock thinks supporting the restoration of Nord Stream would be "absolutely bizarre and grotesque."

"I think we would demonstrate that we're fundamentally not serious about Russian sanctions. Turning around on this, specifically, means we are absolutely not serious about restraining Vladimir Putin's ability to continue his war in Ukraine and threaten peace and prosperity in Europe. It would be an absurd development," he said.

Even if some in the German and European political establishment were in favor of restoring one or both Nord Stream pipelines, argued Hilgenstock, there are "multiple technical obstacles."

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never been legally certified by Germany, for one, and Hilgenstock said he doesn't see the new German government doing that.

Then there's the significant repair work, which Chris Weaver believes could start relatively quickly if the US were able to convince the EU of the merits of a deal.

"Those discussions are definitely taking place, and they are credible," he said. He added that he expects some Russian gas going back to Europe, "but probably no more than 50% of the volume that was sold before the invasion" in February 2022.

However, Hilgenstock believes it's vital that the EU makes it clear to the US that the reopening of the Nord Stream pipelines is not up for discussion.

"We just have to say, this is not happening. And whatever bullying you're attempting, we are not undermining a fundamental element of our policy to constrain Russia," he said.

Editor's note: The article, which was originally published on April 25, has been updated to include recent developments in the Nord Stream debate.

What roles do our pensions, investments and banking decisions play in supporting fossil fuel projects? And how green are the sustainable alternatives?

Personal finance is a climate blind spot for many — lagging behind decisions on things like diet, travel or shopping when it comes to individual action.

Yet when it comes tolowering a personal carbon footprint, moving to a sustainable pension provider can be 20 times more effective than the combined impact of giving up flying, going vegetarian or switching energy provider, accordingto analysisfrom UK campaign group Make My Money Matter.

The world's60 biggest banks are estimatedto have committed $705 billion (€619 billion) to thefossil fuel industryin 2023, and $6.9 trillion since theParis Agreement was reached in 2015.

Much ofthis is funding expansion plansthat fly in the face of science's unequivocal climate warnings.

"We all have pots of money that are contributing to this in various ways without our knowledge a lot of the time," said Adam McGibbon, campaign strategist at US-based research and advocacy organization Oil Change International, adding that it could be in the form of current accounts, pensions or insurance policies that are reinvested into the fossil fuel industry.

Yet experts note the difficulty in precisely quantifying personal finance's contribution to fossil fuel funding due to complex financial systems and individual circumstances.

This is largely because it is through the corporate rather than retail side of a bank's operations — where individual customers' money is held — that they usually lend money or underwrite bonds for companies developing fossil fuel projects, explained Quentin Aubineau, policy analyst at BankTrack, an international NGO documenting the financial activities of commercial banks.

However, McGibbon added that banks are still using our money to grow their business, create more revenue and attract investors. He said our savings might at the very least be "used to inflate the balance sheet of a bank, which will then allow them to service corporate clients" with links to fossil fuels.

When it comes to investments, some personal finances go directly into the fossil fuel industry via stocks or bonds, said Carmen Nuzzo, executive director of the Transition Pathway Initiative Centre in the UK, which researches progress made by the financial and corporate world to low-carbon economy.

"This includes investment in oil and gas companies, which have been very attractive and profitable in recent years … as well as investment in other companies that rely heavily on fossil fuel for their production or service provision, such as steel or aviation," said Nuzzo.

Many people will also be funding fossil fuels through savings going intopension fundsthat invest in "brown" companies — those within the highest greenhouse gas and carbon-emitting industries. Pensions are usually held and controlled by either the state, employers or private companies.

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"You pay into a pension pot, that money is invested on your behalf and some of that may end up being invested in companies that make sure that your retirement will be one where you live in an unstable, difficult world," said McGibbon.

Recent studies have estimatedthat in a world of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warming, an average person will be 40% poorer and that pension fund returns in the US and Canada could fall up to 50% by 2040, due to the exposure of assets to extreme climate events.

Pension funds are among the world's largest investors in fossil fuels, with an estimated $46 trillion plowed into the industry and holding 30% of its shares, according to Climate Safe Pensions, a divestment campaign based in the US and Canada. They were also found to be among the leading funders of fossil fuel expansion across Africa.

In 2023, the German investigative platform Correctiv revealed that 10 out of 16 German federal states invested pension funds in fossil fuel activities.

While green banks don't always have the most favorable conditions, among climate-conscious people there is a growing appetite for sustainable financial alternatives, said Katrin Ganswindt, a finance researcher at the German NGO Urgewald.

Among the growing pool of green banks are those that pledge to stop lending to fossil fuel companies and invest in climate-friendly activities.

Online tools such asbank.greenhave also emerged to help consumers compare the environmental credentials of different banks.

But overcoming a lack of financial knowledge is still one of the key challenges, explained Nuzzo.

"In the countries where most people have a pension, individuals do not keep track of where their pension assets are being invested …. or they might not review their options regularly."

Things such as pensions that invest in the long-term are effective places to make a change, said Ganswindt. "Pension funds have a big effect because they invest large sums."

Make My Money Matter estimated that the UK's pension industry could invest €1.2 trillion into renewable energy and climate solutions by 2035.

The green pension landscape is, however, evolving.

In the Netherlands, pension funds for civil servants and teachers as well as health care workers have divested from fossil fuel companies, and in the UK, large pension schemes are also now required to report their climate risks.

Yet despite growing awareness and green finance options, there is still a lack of standards and regulation in this space, said Franziska Mager, senior researcher at Tax Justice Network, a UK advocacy group working against tax avoidance.

"Even if you're banking with a 'green' bank, you might be surprised to find out where your money is invested — if you're able to find out, that is. Let alone what the big players define as sustainable," she said.

A recent paper she co-authored on "greenlaundering"in the banking industry said the existence of opaque financial practices — including the use of secrecy jurisdictions, a type of tax haven — obscure the true scale of fossil fuel financing.

When it comes toETFs— a type of investment fund traded on the stock market — you have been able to say it is "green" and it can mean nothing," said Ganswindt.

There has, however, been recent progress when it comes to transparency, she added, pointing to new EU guidelines that will regulate which companies are allowed into funds that are labeled green or sustainable.

Ultimately, personal finances likely make up a small fraction of the enormous sums of funding fossil fuels — but that is not the point of actions like switching your bank to a greener provider, explained Ganswindt. It's about sending a message.

"Certainly, there's some power as customers, but we have way more power as citizens," said McGibbon. "So great to move to a greener bank, great to move to a greener pension scheme. But ultimately, we could have much more power as citizens, changing the way we vote, demanding the politicians regulate the financial sector."

Sexuality is diverse. The gender you're attracted to is decided during puberty through an interplay of biological and psychosocial factors.

Thirty-five years ago, millions of people around the world suddenly became "healthy." It was on that day — May 17, 1990 — that theWorld Health Organization(WHO) removed homosexuality from a list of human diseases.

Until then, same-sex love was considered as a kind of mental illness. Those affected were often locked up in sanatoriums or prisons and "treated" with electric shock therapy and other questionable psychotherapies.

Buthomosexual, bisexual and transsexualpeople are not — and never were — sick, said Klaus M. Beier, the director of the Institute for Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the Berlin Charité hospital.

Human sexuality is characterized by itsdiversity, Beier said.

"These days it's clear that no one chooses their sexual orientation. It's a matter of fate, not choice. Sexual orientation — or what experts call a 'sexual preference structure' — develops during puberty, influenced by a person's sex hormones. Their sexuality is determined in adolescence — what they find physically attractive and the kind of sexual interactions they desire."

After this developmental phase in adolescence, the respective sexual preference remains stable, according to Beier.

"It arises in adolescence and is then stable for life, despite the desire in some people for sexual orientation to change, for example, if there's social pressure to be like everyone else," said Beier.

Universal human rights include the right to free sexual orientation. Sexuality is, and has always been, diverse. It is neither a fad, nor is it limited to particularly liberal societies.

"According to the data we have, same-sex orientation accounts for about 3-5% of a population, and that applies across cultures. Human sexuality […] is characterized by this diversity — and cannot be had any other way," said Beier.

It follows that it's wrong to judge or even condemn someone because of their sexual orientation.

Nevertheless, the sexual orientation of individuals polarizes entire societies. In some cases, this leads to their exclusion, discrimination and persecution. Homosexuality, for example, is punishable in at least 67 countries, and in seven countries there is even a threat of death for same-sex sexual acts.

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How sexual orientation develops is a simple question to which there is no simple or conclusive answer. There is no one cause for sexual orientation. But researchers have attempted to understand how sexual orientation develops through analyses of genes,hormonesand sociocultural factors.

"The current thinking is that there are a number of factors. So far, no one has been able to find any single factor that could be named as the cause of one person being same-sex oriented and another being opposite-sex oriented," said Beier.

It can be assumed that a complex interplay of biological and social factors is responsible for the development of sexual orientation.

The biological factors influencing the development of sexual orientation include a person'sgenetic makeup, as well as (prenatal) hormones and chemical substances.

But sexual orientation is not hereditary. Family and so-called twin studies suggest homosexuality can be common in any one family. However, the genetic markers found in these studies were not deemed to be significant enough for researchers to conclude there was "homosexuality gene."

Hormones, such as testosterone, and chemicals in the body, such as pheromones, may also be partly responsible for the development of sexual orientation. Pheromones are chemical secretions that influence sexual behavior.

Studies show that male pheromones stimulate hypothalamus activity in both heterosexual women and homosexual men — but not in heterosexual men. The hypothalamus is a gland in the diencephalon that influences our instinctive behavior and sexual functions.

Dolls and clothes for girls? Tools and cars for boys? Toys that are typically seen as being for females or males have no influence on sexual orientation. The same applies to education.

It's true that some people do not live out their actual sexual orientation until later in life. That said, our sexual preference does not change as we age.

"We have very strong indications that this is not possible," said Beier. "There are followup studies on sexual orientation. There were these regrettable 'conversion attempts' in same-sex oriented men. This was attempted in a larger study in the United States in the 1970s, without any success. It's strong evidence that sexual orientation is very stable."

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While sexual orientation develops during puberty, the development of gender identity begins in childhood and is completed in most people by the age of 5 to 6 years, said Beier. From this age on, children can "see themselves in their sexuality in the future and thus make assumptions about their future as a man or woman," he said.

Once sexual orientation has been established, it never changes. Not even through "seduction" or through early sexual contacts. "There is nothing to it," said Beier. "An important proof of this: There are many people who have had same-sex sexual contacts in their youth, but who are not same-sex oriented."

The decisive factor for identity development is whether children receive support or rejection from their parents. If children and adolescents encounter strong rejection, they often develop weaker self-esteem by comparison. If parental rejection is associated with a child's sexual identity or orientation, it can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Especially in societies where sexual minorities are excluded and persecuted, an unprejudiced debate about sexual diversity is very important, said Beier.

From a scientific point of view, no sexual orientation is a disease or "unnatural." What is tolerated, or what is considered "normal" or "unnatural," is determined by social norms. These norms can change greatly depending on time and context. But human nature does not change.

This article was originally written in German.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Sharia law mandated the death penalty in Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. Sharia law is only applied in 14 of Nigeria's northern states, not the whole country. South Sudan is a secular state and does not practise Sharia law. While homosexuality is banned, the punishment is not death, but up to 14 years in prison. (27.05.25)

Bayer Leverkusen have named a replacement for the man who led them to their only Bundesliga title. Dutchman Erik ten Hag is promising to deliver "dominant, attractive football" to the fans.

Just hours after Real Madrid confirmed that they had signed formerBayer LeverkusenbossXavi Alonsoto take their club forward, theWerkelfpresented their new boss.

"Bayer 04 are one of the best clubs in Germany and also among the top clubs in Europe. The club offers outstanding conditions, I've been very impressed with the discussions of the management," Erik ten Hag said in a statement on the club's website.

"I've come to Leverkusen to continue with the ambition shown in recent years. It's an attractive challenge to set up something together in this period of change and develop an ambitious team."

Sporting director Simon Rolfes described the 55-year-old Dutchman as "an experienced coach with an impressive track record," pointing to the six titles he won at Ajax.

At the press conference to unveil the new manager, ten Hag resisted speaking about his time at Manchester United, who sacked him last October, simply saying that was "the past."

Ten Hag, who has signed a contract that would keep him at Leverkusen until the end of the 2026-27 season, said he wanted to play "dominant, attractive football" at the club.

He replaces Alonso, after the Spaniard last season failed to duplicate his double-winning campaign, as Leverkusen finished second toBayern Munichin theBundesliga. Leverkusen had goneundefeated in the previous campaign, in which Alonso made history by leading them to theirfirst league title.

Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini's "The Tasters" is a fictional version of the story of a woman who worked as Hitler's food taster. But how much of it is true?

The first scene of the film "The Tasters" is set inNovember 1943, in the East Prussian village of Gross-Partsch (present-day Parcz, Poland). A young woman called Rosa Sauer (played by Elisa Schlott) is fleeing her bombed-out apartment in Berlin and moving in with her in-laws, who live in the village. Her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine.

Just a couple of kilometers away from the village, hiding in a thick forest surrounded by barbed wire, is the "Wolf's Lair" — the Eastern Front military headquarters ofAdolf Hitler.

Shortly after her arrival, Rosa lands among a group of women who are forcibly recruited by the SS. The women are driven every day to Hitler's secret complex to serve as his food tasters.

Without ever seeing him, the women know that the Nazi "Führer" has many enemies and that his meals — and thereby theirs — could be poisoned. Even though so many Europeans at the time are desperate for food amid the war, the elaborate meals are a source of terror for the women.

Amid the tension, Rosa develops a secret relationship with SS lieutenant Ziegler (played by Max Riemelt) and becomes friends with a shy woman in the group, Elfriede (Alma Hasun), who has good reasons to be discrete.

The German-language film, directed by Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini ("Breads and Tulips," 2000), is based on Rosella Postorino's bestselling novel, "Le assaggiatrici" (2018), which was translated into more than 30 languages, including in English as "At the Wolf's Table."

The filmmaker, who worked with German actors without speaking the language himself, had previously avoided directing period pieces. But one of the reasons that motivated him to adapt the novel was that it focuses on women, which is unusual for a World War II story.

Soldini told DW that he also liked the fact that the story isn't judgmental about the two main characters, Rosa Sauer and Albert Ziegler, who are "simply human, despite being caught in the gears of a horrific system."

Postorino's novel was inspired by the testimony of a woman called Margot Wölk. She had never talked about her World War II experiences, but at the age of 95 in December 2012, she started giving interviews to the press.

Wölk recalled how, for about two and half years starting in 1942, she was among the 15 young women who were required to taste food prepared for the Wolf's Lair.

The film's portrayal reflects the tasters' recruitment and the daily schedule, as described by Wölk.

Wölk also said she survived thanks to a lieutenant who put her on a train to Berlin in 1944; he knew that the Soviet army was just a few kilometers away from reaching the Wolf's Lair. After the war, she met the lieutenant again, and he told her that all the other food tasters in her group had been shot by Soviet soldiers.

Wölk's escape inspired Postorino to include the love affair in her novel; the author speculated that Wölk was saved because she had developed a privileged relationship with one of the SS guards.

If anything did ever happen between the taster and the lieutenant, Wölk didn't mention it in her interviews.

In an interview withDer Spiegelin 2013, she did however mention being raped by one of the SS officers while she was working as a taster. She was also raped repeatedly by Soviet soldiers after she returned to Berlin. More than a year after the end of the war, she was reunited with her husband, who was also traumatized by his wartime experiences.

Postorino tried to reach Wölk to interview her for the novel, but the elderly woman died in 2014 before they could talk.

After a documentary featuring Wölk came out in 2014, German historian Sven-Felix Kellerhoff pointed out that the story was unlikely to be true.

In his piece for the dailyWelt, he pointed out that Hitler had digestive problems in the final years of his life, and that instead of eating the meals prepared for his inner circle, he hired a dietitian who prepared special meals for him in a separate kitchen close to his bunker, within "Sperrkreis 1" (Security Zone 1). It therefore wouldn't have made much sense to have had the food transported outside of this highly restricted area to have it tasted by a group of women before Hitler's meals.

According to Felix Bohr in his new book "Before the Downfall: Hitler's Years in the 'Wolf's Lair'," the first dietitian to cook separately for Hitler, Helene von Exner, was hired in July 1943. Before that, a cook called Otto Günther prepared meals in large pots for the Nazi leaders based at the Wolf's Lair.

Beyond Hitler's inner circle, up to 2,000 people were working in the Wolf's Lair.

Were the women perhaps required to taste other food, being told it was Hitler's meals?

In his book detailing the organization of daily life at the Wolf's Lair, Bohr only mentions Wölk's testimony in a footnote, noting that no other historical sources back her claims. As he confirmed to DW, throughout his intensive research into the Wolf's Lair structures, he "found no sources that confirm Margot Wölk's story," but, he adds, "neither did I find any documents that prove the opposite."

Soldini is unfazed by any potential historical inaccuracies. After all, he pointed out, "the film is based on the novel, it's not from the true story."

The story that is told remains relevant, he added, because the movie portrays parallels with current developments in the world. Like the tasters, we can all feel today's political violence — even if we have the privilege of eating good meals.

One thing that historians have definitely well documented are the various attempts to kill Hitler. At least 42 plots have been uncovered.

The best-known one isOperation Valkyrie, in which Wehrmacht officers, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, tried to kill Hitler at the Wolf's Lair by detonating an explosive hidden in a briefcase.

This failed assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 is also referred to in the film through Hitler's actual radio broadcast, in which he describes the attack that killed four people and injured 20 more.

"I myself am completely unhurt except for very small skin abrasions, bruises or burns," stated the leader of Nazi Germany at the time.

Like Donald Trump following the attempt on his life in July 2024, Hitler saw the fact that he survived the attack practically unharmed as a sign of destiny: "I take it as a confirmation of the mission of providence to continue to pursue my life purpose, as I have done so far."

Due to Trump's policy, many US corporations have scaled back or even ended their anti-discrimination programs. Now European corporations are also feeling the pressure. Is workplace diversity a thing of the past?

Is the push fordiversity, equity andinclusion(DEI) coming to an end simply becauseDonald Trumpwants it that way? Some major US corporations, includingFacebook'sparent company Meta,Google'sAlphabet, carmaker Ford and coffee giant Starbucks,have already scaled back their diversity programs.

Several European companies that do business with the United States have also been asked to confirm on questionnaires that they no longer support or engage in DEI programs.

In Germany, the first companies are starting to fold, with carmakerVolkswagen (VW)and telecom giantDeutsche Telekomannouncing plans to either scale back or end their diversity initiatives in the US.

Software makerSAPhas walked away from gender quotas in Germany.

Are these isolated cases? A flash survey conducted at the end of April by Germany's largest employer initiative committed to DEI goals, Charta der Vielfalt(Charter of Diversity), offered some hope. More than 6,000 companies and institutions have so far signed the charter, of which 100 were polled. About 90% of them said they intended to continue their DEI programs unchanged.

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Cawa Younosi, managing director of the initiative, said more than 800 companies have signaled their intention to also sign the charter, which was a "record."

On the occasion of Germany's Diversity Day, held this year on May 27, a similar number of companies had preregistered for participation on the group's LinkedIn page, Younosi told DW.

"So if you look beyond the big names, you can really feel a 'now more than ever' attitude in Germany," he said.

According to German news agency dpa, several major companies like carmakerBMWand Henkel have said they are closely monitoring the situation.

Engineering conglomerateSiemens, for example, stated there is currently "no need to change our efforts toward diverse teams and an inclusive work environment due to recent developments."

Others, such as UK-based cosmetics retailer Lush, are taking an openly defiant stance. "Lush is not bowing to this pressure — in fact, the opposite. We see it as motivation to make our position even more visible," the company said when asked by DW for comment. "DEI is at the core of our corporate identity."

Younosi added that several board members told him they're more concerned that their US business might suffer because their companies are European, rather than because they support DEI programs.

Despite the backlash, some US companies remain committed to DEI. Iphone makerApple, for example, continues to promote a diverse corporate culture.

"Because we're not all the same. And that remains one of our greatest strengths,"Apple's websitesays — a message that nearly all shareholders supported at the company's annual meeting.

Software giant Microsoft and US membership-based warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale have also reaffirmed their support for DEI.

Younosi added that there are more companies like these than many assume. "Roughly 75% of companies in the US have not changed their diversity efforts," he said.

Still, the picture looks less optimistic when focusing on the biggest corporations. According to aFinancial Timesreport from March, some 90% of the 400 largest companies in the S&P 500 stock market index that filed annual reports removed at least some references to DEI following Trump's election. Many omitted the term entirely, replacing it with language about "inclusion," "belonging" or a workplace where "all employees" feel comfortable.

Does this mean efforts to support marginalized groups are at a dead end? Since 1964, US law has prohibited workplace discrimination based on race, religion, sex, color or national origin. Since then, companies have been working to promote diversity and combat discrimination.

But the US president has argued that "woke" policies like DEI discriminate against white, middle-aged men. In the early days of his second term, he issued an executive order ending DEI programs in federal institutions. Another order labels private-sector DEI initiatives as unconstitutional and discriminatory.

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Meanwhile, fear of Trump's policy extends beyond US borders, as foreign companies are worrying about losing US government contracts if they don't distance themselves from DEI. Even merger approvals may be affected.

T-Mobile US' acquisition of cable operator Lumos, for instance, was approved the day after the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary largely eliminated its diversity programs.

SAP CEO Christian Klein said he still plans to pursue and expand diversity initiatives within the company, even though it has abandonedgender quotas. "What ultimately matters is what we actually do to promote diversity," he told DW. The question, however, remains how much progress is really possible without dedicated programs?

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Siri Chilazi, a gender equity researcher at Harvard University, told the BBC recently that there was "no historical precedent to suggest that racial and gender imbalances will correct themselves."

Germany offers a parallel example. Laws alone haven't guaranteed workplace inclusion for people with disabilities.

In 2024, a so-called Workplace Inclusion Barometer, compiled by German charity Aktion Mensch in collaboration with the research institute of business dailyHandelsblatt, found that one in four German companies employs not a single disabled worker.

German law, however, requires companies with 20 or more employees to fill at least 5% of jobs with people who have disabilities. Companies can avoid this obligation by paying a so-called compensation levy, which may bring additional revenue for the state, but doesn't create jobs for those affected.

But DEI programs in the US may not be truly gone. According to Michelle Jolivet, companies that appear to have canceled their DEI programs are not really eliminating them.

"Instead, they are just rebranding and reorganizing to escape potential lawsuits," Joliviet, the author of the book "Is DEI dead?," told the BBC.

Germany's Charta der Vielfalt also said that around 75% of US businesses have not actually changed their DEI policies.

Michael Eger, a partner at German consultancy Mercer Deutschland, has observed that while companies may change how they communicate, "their core attitudes and actions largely remain the same."

Even in industries facing labor shortages, more initiatives are being launched to attract women, people with migrant backgrounds and older workers, Eger told DW.

This article was originally written in German.

The EU and UK are keen to lower the price Russia gets for its legally sold seaborne oil. However, there appears to be reluctance from the Trump administration.

TheEuropean Unionandthe UKare pushing for alowering of the oil price cap— a keyeconomic sanction against Russia.

The price cap is currently set at $60 (€52.7) per barrel ofoiland has been in place since December 2022. Its provisions mean shipping and insurances services fromG7group of advanced economies and EU nations, which dominate global shipping, are not provided for the transit of Russian oil unless the oil is being sold at or below the level of the cap.

The EU is currently working on an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, having released its 17th package earlier this week. European Commission PresidentUrsula von der Leyenhas confirmed that the EU and Britain werehoping to convince its G7 partnersto lower the oil price cap for the next package.

European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told DW that discussions on the price cap were ongoing with G7 partners and confirmed that any lowering of the cap would require unanimity among EU member states. The EU has not publicly revealed what level it believes the cap should be changed to, but various reports have suggested $50.

Brent crude, a global benchmark, has been trading at close to $65 per barrel recently, while Russian oil has traded between $55 and $59 in April and May, just below the cap.

The idea behind lowering the cap is to reduce the amount of money Moscow makes from its legitimate sales of seaborne crude oil.The oil price has fallen sharply throughout 2025, and Brent crude itself is now only a few dollars above the price cap of $60.

G7 finance ministers met in Canada last week (May 20-22), where discussions on the lowering of the cap took place. They released astatementcondemningRussia's "continued brutal war"and said if efforts to achieve a ceasefire failed, they would explore "further ramping up sanctions."

However, news agency Reuters quoted an unnamed European official at the talks as saying the US is "not convinced" about lowering the price cap and that falling oil prices are already hurting Russia.

Since the start of the war in 2022, there has been uncertainty over oil sanctions in both the EU and US over the prospect of disrupting supply and driving up energy prices for their own consumers.

Yuliia Pavytska, manager of the sanctions program at the Kyiv School of Economics, told DW that ongoing hesitation on sanctions from the Trump administration was "frustrating," But she commended both the EU and UK for continuing to take action.

She believes the Russian economy is especially vulnerable at present, and that now is the time for more decisive action.

"The cumulative imbalances caused by sanctions and the war, coupled with falling oil prices, are now reaching a critical point," she said. "This is why we believe our partners should seize the moment and intensify sanctions efforts to exploit Russia's growing vulnerabilities."

A major focus of recent sanctions packages has been on dealing with Russia'sso-called shadow fleet— hundreds of aging tankers bought by Moscow to evade the price cap. The ships are typically bought through third parties and then transport oil around the world using opaque or illegitimate insurance schemes.

The Biden administration began sanctioning individual tankers, with the EU and UK joining. Now, more than 700 tankers have been sanctioned, but the US has not sanctioned any sinceDonald Trumpreturned as US president.

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Recent data shows the sanctioning of tankers has forced Russia to use its mainstream fleet more and more, which means legal obligations to comply with the price cap. Experts have said that increases the urgency of the need to lower it.

"A lot more Russian oil is being transported on G7 insurance," Vaibhav Raghunandan from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air told DW. "So it does seem like the correct time to react to that by lowering the cap."

However, he and others who have been monitoring the sanctions picture closely over the past few years have said the biggest issue with the price cap is not the price itself but rather enforcement.

"Current enforcement measures are not up to the mark," said Raghunandan, adding that measures for checking compliance are "very lax."

There has been extensive "attestation fraud" in relation to the cap, namely tankers with falsified paperwork, suggesting the oil has been sold in compliance with the cap when it has been sold above the rate.

"Attestation documents have to basically be filled by the traders themselves, but there is no bank statement verification," Raghunandan explained. "All of this needs to change for better enforcement of the price cap itself. You can put the price cap at a dollar a barrel if you want, but if you can't enforce it, it makes no sense."

Pavytska agrees, saying that lowering the cap alone will "not reduce Russia's revenues unless we ensure that the trade is actually conducted in compliance with it."

Both Pavytska and Raghunandan agree that responsibility for providing credible pricing data should fall to the buyers of Russian oil, rather than those transporting it, as is currently the case.

Pavytska underlined that the whole point is to reduce the amount of revenue Moscow gets from its oil, to "reduce its capacity to finance the war in Ukraine." She firmly believes that the falling oil price, which represents a big change from the strong prices which prevailed in 2023 and for much of 2024, gives Ukraine's allies a clear opportunityto seriously dent Russia's economy.

In her opinion, lowering of the price cap as well as options to restrict the export of Russian oil altogether must be considered. With the global market now on a "strong downward trend," the sanctions coalition would have an "opportunity to take more decisive steps," including measures that would restrict the supply of Russian oil.

"This could finally push Russia's energy revenues to a critically painful level," she said.

Fewer films are being made in the US. But will tariffs alone bring back productions to LA in the face of a more globalized industry?

When Donald Trump announced plans toimpose a 100% tariffon any film "produced in foreign lands," a globalized US film industry began to panic.

Shares in major production companies likeNetflixandDisneyimmediately fell due to an assumed rise in costs when productions can no longer profit from cheaper overseas locations.

In recent decades, American films and TV series have benefited from generous tax incentives for shooting in Europe, Canada or Australia, making Hollywood locations comparatively expensive.

At the same time, the film and content industry has become highly decentralized, with international co-productions able to share resources and access funding across multiple countries.

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While lacking detail about whether the tariffs will only apply to "movies" or also TV series, Trump's threat to heavily tax foreign content within the massive US market was widely criticized during last week's Cannes Film Festival.

American director Wes Anderson, inCannesto launch his new film "The Phoenician Scheme," wondered how the tariffs could ever work when applied to intellectual property as opposed to physical goods.

"Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn't ship that way," the filmmaker said at a press conference.

Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, who accepted an honorary Palme d'Or in Cannes, said of Trump's film sanctions: "You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it."

Meanwhile, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, an Indian actor, filmmaker and Bollywood star, said on social media that a 100% tariff on foreign movies could mean that "India's struggling film industry will collapse entirely."

In a post on Truth Social announcing the film tariffs, Donald Trump claimed that "the movie industry in America is dying a very fast death."

On-location filming in Hollywood has declined around 34% in the last five years, according toFilm LA, a film industry publication.

While many film workers have lost their jobs as a result, the slowdown isn't only due to incentives to shoot in foreign locations. The COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic downturn and a months-longstrike by actors and writersin 2023 have also causedHollywoodto grind to a halt.

As budgets tighten, films might not be made without co-productions that take advantage of incentives in foreign regions, says Stephen Luby, a lecturer in film at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia.

"US productions which have taken advantage of tax incentives in places like Australia to make their films offshore, do so because the films are less expensive to make that way," he told DW. "Perhaps they may not get made without pursuing this pathway."

While actor-director Mel Gibson is helping to advise Trump on the tariffs and ways to "make Hollywood great again," his latest film, "The Resurrection of the Christ," will be shot in Rome and across southern Italy.

There is currently a slight US trade deficit in entertainment content, meaning more is imported than exported — $27.7 billion (€24.35 billion) versus $24.3 billion in 2023.

This is according to Jean Chalaby, a professor of sociology at the University of London, who says this imbalance is partly due to streamers like Netflix who do not officially export US-made content like "Stranger Things," but distribute it internationally via their own US-based platform.

Meanwhile, hit series like "Adolescence" and "Squid Game" that are acquired from overseas are counted as imports, even if they are US assets that earnNetflix"hundreds of millions of dollars" in subscription fees, Chalaby noted in an article forThe Conversation.

"The US-based entertainment industry has never been so dominant globally," he added, despite the trade deficit.

The US also remains the world's largest film and TV exporter, even as Hollywood faces more competition from content hubs likeSouth Korea.

"If implemented, these tariffs will certainly have far-reaching consequences for the film and TV industry," Chalaby concluded. "But they are unlikely to make anyone more prosperous."

Sections of the local film industry support Trump's intention to bring productions back to the US, including the union representing actors, the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

So too the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a US film industry group that represents studios fromDisneyto Netflix, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros, agrees that more content should be made in the US and supports the use of tax incentives to encourage production within America.

In February, when Trump announced his broader tariffs, he singled out protectionism in the EU film market, where US streamers are required to include at least 30% of European content in their programming within EU member states. The MPA also opposes these quotas.

Under the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive, these member states can also demand that the likes of Netflix and Disney be obliged to fund local productions — which the streaming giants have tried to avoid through legal action.

Others in Hollywood question Trump's tariffs logic, and his commitment.

"The tariff thing, that’s not going to happen right? That man changes his mind 50 times," said US director Richard Linklater in Cannes at the opening of his film "Nouvelle Vague."

At that same press conference, the discussion surrounding Trump's tariffs ledZoey Deutch, who stars in Linklater's film that was shot in Paris,to praiseHollywood's history and culture:"It would be nice to make more movies in Los Angeles," she said, almost nostalgically. "I just finished doing a movie there and it was magical."

A previous version of this article stated that the Motion Picture Association "supports the principle of tariffs," however the group have not stated this. This has now been corrected and the department apologizes for the error.