What you need to know

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is visiting the Hürtgenwald region, where fires raged for several days

• Merz is expected to thank firefighters and rescue workers who battled the fire for several days before extinguishing it

• A German Cup match between southwestern rivals Waldhof Mannheim and Kaiserslautern ends in a mass brawl with dozens of injuries and arrests

• Germany's antisemitism commissioner, Felix Klein, calls for criminal laws to be strengthened to include penalties for pro-Hamas demonstrators

• Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is in Kyiv as Ukraine prepares to celebrate its independence and Russian missiles rain down on the country

This is a roundup of the main headlines in and about Germany on Saturday, August 22, 2026:

Germany mulls constitutional protections for LGBTQ+ people after Berlin Pride attack

Germany's Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig is calling for an amendment to the country's constitution, known as the German Basic Law, to specifically protect LGBTQ+ people.

"I am in favour of amending Article 3(3) of the Basic Law to include a ban on discrimination on the grounds of sexual identity," Hubig told the Rheinische Post newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

Hubig, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party, said there were reservations within Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives, but there were also encouraging signs.

German Basic Law prohibits the disadvantage or preferential treatment of people on grounds such as their ancestry, language, homeland or origin, their faith, religion or political views. "It is only logical to also prohibit unequal treatment on the grounds of sexual identity," said Hubig.

Hubig's comments come after a man drove his car into a crowd on the sidelines of Pride festivities in Berlin, one of the largest LGBTQ events in Europe.

The suspected attacker, Abdul Ballout, a German citizen of Lebanese background, was shot dead by police the day after the attack following a major manhunt.

Germany's antisemitism commissioner calls for tougher laws for Hamas supporters

Germany's Federal Antisemitism Commissioner Felix Klein on Saturday called for harsher laws and punishment for those supporting militant Palestinian groups such as Hamas.

In an interview published in the Saturday edition of the daily Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, Klein said he hopes Chancellor Merz and Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig will strengthen existing laws and called for anyone demonstrating in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas — considered a terrorist group by Israel, the US, Germany and many other nations — to face at least six months in jail.

"If the person is a foreign national without secure residence status," added Klein, "they should be deported after being convicted and serving their sentence."

He also demanded customs authorities be given expanded powers to disrupt the financing of terrorist organizations.

While praising the work done combating antisemitism through education, Klein also called for rigorous, mandatory teacher training. "Anyone susceptible to antisemitism has no place in the teaching profession," he said, calling for disciplinary consequences for teachers expressing antisemitic sentiments.

Klein said Jewish life in Germany must be presented in a positive light and that Judaism is about more than antisemitism, the Holocaust and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Felix Klein is leaving his current post, which he has held since 2018, to serve as Germany's ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

Over 100 injured in mass soccer brawl at German Cup match

Some 35 police officers and 85 fans were injured in a massive brawl during a soccer match on Friday evening in the southwestern city of Mannheim say local officials, with several people hospitalized.

More than 1,400 police and security officers were on hand for the German Cup game between local rivals Waldhof Mannheim and 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Officials say 23,500 fans were at the sold-out game, 3,500 of them supporters of visiting Kaiserslautern.

Those fans began shooting fireworks at Mannheim players at the end of normal time with the match goalless. Mannheim fans rushed onto the pitch in response, which in turn brought out mounted police and security officers.

"The intense preparations by all participating institutions and the close cooperation among all those involved paid off. Our tactical plan worked perfectly," said Mannheim Police Chief Michael Reichert after the melee.

Manuel Hagel, Baden-Württemberg's interior minister, said, "Anyone who abuses soccer as a stage for violent outbursts, deliberately puts other fans in danger, and — above all — injures security personnel is not a fan, but a criminal. That is exactly how we will treat these individuals in order to enforce law and order in our stadiums."

Police say they have launched investigations into "insults, various assault charges, property damage, breach of the peace, physical assault on police officers, and violations of the Explosives Act."

Several football fans were detained, German news agency DPA reported.

The German Football Association (DFB) has promised a full report into the incident.

Ibrahim Kanate scored in the last minute of extra time to give Kaiserslautern a 1-0 win. The second-division side advances to the second round of the Cup.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visits Kyiv as Russia steps up attacks

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived in Kyiv by a special train on Saturday morning, ahead of Ukraine's 35th independence day.

His visit comes as two Ukrainians were killed overnight in Russian attacks, and a day after at least 15 were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on a shopping center in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's home town.

Merz to thank firefighters for 'tireless' effort

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to interrupt his summer vacation to travel to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Saturday, where he will thank rescue workers and firefighters for their efforts battling last week's devastating forest fire in the western Eifel region's Hürtgenwald — the largest fire in the state's history.

The Hürtgenwald fire raged for a week, forcing the evacuation of entire villages before it could be extinguished two days ago.

Merz will speak with volunteers at the scene to get a picture of the firefighting and reconstruction efforts on the ground.

The appearance is Merz's first in public since July 29, when he left for his summer vacation. He previously thanked workers for their "tireless effort" on X.

His lack of visibility as Germany struggled with historic fires and an ongoing heatwave earned him criticism from the opposition, who accused him of not taking climate change seriously.

Welcome to our coverage

Guten Morgen from the DW newsroom in Bonn! 

Today we will cover Chancellor Friedrich Merz's visit to North Rhine-Westphalia, where he is expected to thank firefighters and rescue workers who "worked tirelessly" combating recent wildfires in the Hürtgenwald region of the Eifel.

We will also be following Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul's trip to Ukraine, where Kyiv is set to celebrate its independence from the Soviet Union as its successor state, Russia, prosecutes its over four-year invasion with devastating nightly missile and drone attacks.

Germany's antisemitism commissioner has called for the compulsory training of teachers and the inclusion of the history of Jewish life in school curricula while at the same time demanding jail for those who espouse antisemitic ideas or openly support Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.

And a German Cup match between rivals Mannheim and Kaiserslautern was briefly suspended as fans stormed the pitch in a mass brawl that ended with injuries and arrests.

Follow DW here for these stories and the rest of the news in Germany on Saturday.