The Local Germany

Majority of Germans 'back New Year's Eve fireworks ban'

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 10:27:05 +0100

From Saturday until New Year's Eve, fireworks will be sold throughout Germany. But as warnings over safety and pollution intensify, are fireworks still a big part of German culture at Silvester?

German fireworks sales fizzle on climate anxiety

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 13:26:06 +0100

Pyrotechnic-mad Germany loves to see in the New Year with a bang but concerns about climate change have prompted several major retailers to take fireworks off the shelves this year, local media said Friday.

Berlin New Year's Eve air quality 'worst in Germany'

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 01:19:59 +0100

If you found it difficult to draw breath around midnight on New Year's Eve in the Hauptstadt, you were not alone.

Video emerges of Cologne New Year's Eve violence

Mon, 09 May 2016 16:40:03 +0200

Cologne police on Monday released previously unseen video footage of the chaos at the city's main train station on New Year's Eve, when hundreds of women reported sexual assaults and thefts by large groups of foreign men.

First suspect charged with sexual assault in Cologne

Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:00:58 +0100

Almost three months since the wave of sexual assaults and robberies in central Cologne on New Year's Eve, the first suspect has been charged with a sexual crime.

Cologne faces inquiry into NYE sexual assaults

Thu, 18 Feb 2016 09:34:00 +0100

North-Rhine Westphalia has launched an inquiry into how such large numbers of sexual assaults and other crimes were allowed to happen at Cologne's main train station on New Year's Eve.

New Year sexual assaults in Frankfurt, police say

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 09:41:09 +0100

Groups of men sexually assaulted women in Frankfurt on New Year, police report - as the number of complaints of sexual assault in Hamburg has risen to nearly forty.

'Warzone' Berlin New Year video goes viral

Fri, 02 Jan 2015 15:54:00 +0100

Sometimes it's hard to explain to outsiders just how crazy Berlin goes on New Year's Eve.

50 years of a New Year's dinner for one

Tue, 31 Dec 2013 10:00:00 +0100

Nobody cares to eat alone, but for decades Germans have rung in the New Year by watching a little-known British comedy skit "Dinner for One." The Local explains a Teutonic tradition.

More than a million ring in New Year’s in Berlin

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:06:00 +0100

At least a million people peacefully rang in 2013 at Germany’s largest New Year’s party in Berlin on Monday night.

Record crowds awaited at Brandenburg Gate

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:13:00 +0100

Berlin tourism officials are gearing up for what may be the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve party on Monday, the daily Berliner Zeitung reported on Sunday.

Police warn of illegal New Year's fireworks threat

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 13:07:00 +0100

Germans can start stocking up on New Year's fireworks as of Friday, but they're being advised to revel with care: The case of a man who bled to death, apparently due to an illegal firecracker, has police warning of the dangers of contraband pyrotechnics.

Ski champ's brother killed in fireworks accident

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:58:00 +0100

The brother of skiing champion Annemarie Gerg was killed on New Year’s Eve when a homemade firework exploded unexpectedly, according to a Monday media report.

Germans ring in 2011 with a bang

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 12:01:00 +0100

More than a million people gathered at Germany’s largest New Year’s party in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Saturday night to ring in 2011 with a fireworks spectacle.

Merkel urges euro-faith in New Year's address

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:31:00 +0100

Chancellor Angela Merkel used her New Year's address to stress the importance of the euro to Germany, after polls showed voters going cool on the single currency following the Greek and Irish debt crises.

37-year-old loses hand to firecracker

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:24:00 +0100

A man from Saxony-Anhalt has become the first major casualty of the New Year’s pyrotechnic orgy by blowing off his left hand with a firecracker, police announced Thursday.

Reckless fireworks fans face hefty fines

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:28:00 +0100

New Year’s Eve without fireworks is unthinkable for many Germans, but giddy pyromaniacs could face hefty fines for recklessly blowing things up near churches, hospitals and quaint thatched-roof houses.

Berlin ready for Germany's biggest New Year's party

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:17:00 +0100

Despite the freezing weather forecast for New Year's Eve, Berlin is expecting hundreds of thousand people to come to Germany’s biggest Silvester party at the Brandenburg Gate.

300 million text messages expected on New Year's Eve

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:50:00 +0100

Germans are likely to go SMS-crazy this New Year's Eve. The mobile phone trade organisation Bitkom said that networks are bracing themselves for an onslaught of New Year's wishes.

Firework truck in flames blocks A9 motorway

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:42:00 +0100

A truck laden with fireworks for New Year’s celebrations went up in flames on Tuesday morning, temporarily closing the A9 motorway in Bavaria between Munich and Nuremberg.