In the event of a crisis, Germany is lost: we can no longer afford our catastrophic dementia

And it shouldn’t take another day. Germany has long criminally neglected the protection of its population; experts see a clear investment backlog and hardly any skills. The Federal Republic, it must be said clearly, could not currently protect its citizens in the event of a crisis.

Experts have been sounding the alarm for years. The responsible institutions, which are primarily organized on a voluntary basis, complain desperately about a lack of funding, too few staff and dilapidated equipment. A good year ago, the German Red Cross also demanded 20 billion euros for itself alone – and warned of “serious deficiencies in civil protection”.

And the budgets of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) recently comprised 1.3 and three percent of the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s budget. Given the importance of their tasks, this is undignified. Even the Federal Statistical Office has more resources.

In an emergency, there would be bunkers for 100,000 people

It is therefore right that Dobrindt now wants to support the ailing civil defense with more than warm words. No country in Europe is more at the focus of hybrid threats than Germany – and hardly any country is more vulnerable in the event of an attack. That has to change.

But Dobrindt’s initiative can only be the beginning. Because Germany has long been in a situation in which it must be now or never.

The minister’s plans contain many important approaches. Yes, it needs more equipment, more staff and more buildings. There is also a need for better networking between civil and military protection. And 1,000 new special vehicles, 110,000 camp beds and 50 locations for medical intervention troops are not a bad idea either.

But these are only the most pressing points on a long list of deficiencies. The real problem lies deeper.

Dobrindt’s plan envisages informing the population about existing shelters via a warning app. The problem: out of around 2,000 public bunkers, 579 still exist today, only a fraction of which are operational. In an emergency, there would be actual protection for around 100,000 people – that’s 0.1 percent of the population.

There was no learning effect

But civil defense is not just made of concrete. Functioning processes are also crucial: clear reporting chains, trained staff, well-rehearsed crisis reactions. The devastating flood in the summer of 2021 that hit the Ahr Valley and other regions showed how bad Germany was doing here.

Warning and reporting chains did not work in many places – more than 180 people died. However, there was largely no learning effect. Only a few municipalities have begun to systematically involve and train volunteers; In the vast majority of cases there are still no fixed responsibilities for civil protection.

At the same time, the population must be informed in the event of a crisis – and then know what to do. According to a study by the German Committee for Crisis Preparedness, more than half of Germans are inadequately or not at all prepared for a crisis. Around 40 percent have a disaster warning app installed on their cell phone – but this only helps if the electricity and mobile phone networks are working.

Blackout in Berlin was a warning shot

Last winter showed how severely a power outage can affect the Federal Republic: After an attack motivated by left-wing extremism, thousands of Berliners had to endure 104 hours in sometimes life-threatening conditions.

Albrecht Broemme, one of the country’s most renowned civil defense and disaster protection experts, attests to the Germans in the Tagesspiegel podcast “104h Blackout – how vulnerable are we?” a “catastrophe dementia”: No matter how bad a crisis may have been, after a year its hardships are forgotten and the lessons are put on the back burner. This has to end.

Especially since Germany is currently in the process of correcting other mistakes of the past: the Bundeswehr is to be renovated and expanded with an almost unlimited budget in view of a new threat situation. Civil defense must follow. After all, what use is a modern army if the country itself remains vulnerable?