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00:02Europe I would not want to miss this rich in history and culture absolutely beautiful for
00:13centuries this continent has played a central role on the world stage but this is Europe's
00:21most perilous moment since the Second World War this is the bunker it faces an aggressive Russia
00:31an ambitious China it's quite shocking to hear you say that it is much closer right now to Beijing
00:38than it is to Washington and Europe's most powerful ally can no longer be fully relied on I said if
00:45you're not going to pay your bills we're not going to defend you I'm Katya Adler and after years of
00:54living and working in Italy France Spain and Germany I've got to know them really well you
01:01said that Germans don't have an excellent sense of humor so how are these four countries with mainland
01:08Europe's biggest economies responding to this turbulent new world there are a lot of police
01:15vans behind us what strengthens them oh wow it looks like a shark and what weakens them in this
01:26episode I'll continue my travels through Germany to see how a surprising descendant of this country
01:32has changed everything ancestral home of the troops then I'm off to Spain a country still coming to terms
02:00with its painful past I'm starting this part of my German journey in a quiet corner of the country
02:05in the Bavarian Alps in the far south of all the countries that I'm visiting on this journey I think
02:13Germany is the most misunderstood go often to France Italy Spain on holiday but look at this it's
02:22spectacular and there's only one way to really see this landscape so I'm a bit nervous but I'm quite
02:33thrilled at the same time actually yes I'm quite happy to be up here I'm just a bit nervous about
02:58jumping off that jumping off that I've known these mountains since I was young but I have never
03:03done this you have to run if I tell you to run I have to run okay okay Katja ready
03:15go forward go forward go forward go forward and run run run oh my gosh wow oh my lord
03:30my brain is kind of it's like oh wow this is amazing and then it's like oh my god I'm
03:35so high
03:41absolutely beautiful look at that you know people think of Germany and they think of the Autobahn
03:48and they think of factories here we are not an Autobahn not a factory in sight and I cannot get
03:59the smile off
03:59my face look what we have down there what a castle this castle looks so much like something out of
04:13a fairy
04:13tale that apparently it caught the eye of Walt Disney it's said to be the inspiration for sleeping
04:20beauty's castle and it became part of Disney's logo as well that is impossibly romantic I mean no
04:27wonder Disney fell in love with this castle I think that tells you a lot about Germany there is a
04:34lot
04:34of unashamed romance in this country okay we're gonna land now okay we're getting closer
04:50yeah it was pretty amazing it was I didn't expect I was gonna love it as much as I did
05:01and I would also
05:03say that I've spent a lot of time in my career trying to persuade people how interesting and beautiful
05:14Germany is but I've never gone to those lands before for outsiders Germany is often associated with high-tech
05:25engineering or it's Nazi past but there's another less well-known side to this country which is just as
05:33important to its identity I've stopped off in Fusen a medieval town just a couple of miles from the castle
05:42gorgeous isn't it this is classic Bavaria look at the pharmacy these painted buildings are also you see
05:51them a lot whenever I travel to Germany for work if I have five minutes free I'll always look for
05:59an
05:59old town and I'd love it you find a quaint town centers like this across Germany they are dripping with
06:14nostalgia thank you I grew up in the UK the parts of my family are from Germany and I love
06:23its culture
06:24and traditions not good for the figure but you know it's very good for the soul and actually
06:30coffee and cooking coffee and cake it's like a religion in Germany this is another part of the
06:39German character that isn't so well known there's a word in German the midley Kate it sort of means
06:45comfy coziness it's very hard to translate into English and it's it's it's just very German sit and have
06:52your cup of coffee it's it's not glamorous like in France it's not dramatic like in Italy it's kind of
06:59quiet comforts that inclination towards quiet comfort tells you a lot about Germany long haunted
07:09by the horrors of their country's Nazi past modern Germans have shied away from taking the lead
07:15politically or militarily in Europe the leaders they choose can come across as a little bland compared
07:23to Italy's or France's Angela Merkel one of Germany's longest serving prime ministers was
07:29nicknamed mutty meaning mummy but now Germany is being forced to step out of the shadows like
07:40much of Europe it's facing a new and different kind of threat hybrid warfare Munich Airport has halted
07:49all flights after unidentified drones were spotted in the area airports in Denmark Norway and Poland have
07:56all recently suspended flights due to drones Moscow denies any involvement but these incidents have
08:02raised fears that Moscow is testing Europe's defenses from drones shutting down airports to packages plans
08:10to explode on planes to underwater cables being cut hybrid attacks on Germany blamed on Russia have
08:18increased significantly in the last couple of years Sunka yep hello my god you look busy please join me at
08:30the
08:30table pleased to meet you Sunka Mararins is a colonel in the German air force and a specialist in hybrid
08:39warfare he advises military and political leaders on the attacks that Europe's facing but instead of using a
08:46powerpoint presentation to illustrate the threats he's made a board game it comes from the military war
08:54gaming every time I see an article I create a gaming card so that my players really learned this is
09:01happening not just making stuff up well this was an event in the Baltic Sea and someone fired from a
09:08ship
09:09onto a German helicopter other thing this happens in the UK the nuclear power plant of Sellafield was hacked
09:15you see someone going our real critical infrastructure mines are floating this is something what happened
09:23in the Black Sea affecting now shipping the same like we have seen with the drones around airfields you
09:29have to clear the area you can't go on with that the front line of Russia's war may be in
09:34Ukraine
09:35but all of Europe is under attack now we are in a hybrid war with Russia it's happening every day
09:43all
09:44around us how much has Germany been affected by it Germany is affected almost every day every day every
09:50day every day something's happening somewhere here on this map you really can see what happened over the
09:56last three years but these are high level events we have seen much more on a lower scale but here
10:03you see
10:03attacks against governmental organization you see attacks against industry you see attack against critical
10:10infrastructures you see something like a water company which was attacked so I can see the United Kingdom I can
10:16see
10:17you see Poland Lithuania different countries that have had these high-level attacks but most of them
10:22are concentrated in Germany why we are the second best provider for Ukraine and in terms of military
10:29in some of military support and in terms of humanitarian aid none of these attacks feel significant
10:37enough to provoke all-out war and that's the point they allow Russia to cause fear and division they weaken
10:46European confidence in their governments and cause rifts between allies with very little risk of
10:52retaliation if Russia will be able to crack the German public opinion that the German public opinion would
11:00say to the politicians please don't use our money for Ukraine any longer this would be a victory for
11:06Russia in Ukraine and this is really the challenge we see in the 21st century you know it's not always
11:15easy to say with a hundred percent certainty with each individual incident Russia's behind that or China but
11:23it is clear that the number of hybrid attacks in Europe is on the rise and that when it comes
11:29to big
11:29countries like Germany or NATO as a whole while they may have discussed what to do if tanks roll over
11:36borders when it comes to hybrid warfare there is no joined-up plan and it's hard to make a plan
11:49when
11:50NATO's most powerful member appears increasingly disinterested in German and European security I'm just
11:59arriving at Rammstein Air Base it's the headquarters for US air forces in Europe and Africa and of NATO Allied
12:07air command it's a pretty significant place and I'm not supposed to film going in through the gate so it's
12:15cameras down
12:19hello oh hi Asia yes nice to meet you Katya I'm pleased to meet you and I'm looking forward to
12:26having a tour
12:27yeah absolutely I'd love to take you around fantastic okay master sergeant Asia Hinson has been stationed at
12:35Rammstein for two years so Rammstein is very a very unique base just because of how much the base actually
12:44does
12:44this um here is kind of like a medical complex the dental clinic is huge it's a dental squadron it's
12:51not just a
12:52clinic dentist squadron yes that's yeah well you do have a lot of mouse look after yes we also have
12:58a dog grooming
12:59facility here as well Rammstein is the largest American air base in Europe part of a local cluster of US
13:07military bases which
13:08are home to 55,000 Americans actually this is the largest American community outside of the United States
13:17full stop not just military not just military the base was built after the Second World War when Germany
13:24was split in two the Soviet Union treated East Germany as a satellite state the Americans built Rammstein
13:34military base in West Germany and invested heavily in Western Europe as a buffer against the spread of
13:41communism from the East and as Germany was forbidden for a while from having its own military because of
13:48its Nazi past the US provided its defense plus a security guarantee that all of Europe has benefited from
14:14it's kind of like a huge mall has multiple stores yes so the they definitely adhere to all the American
14:22traditions yeah so it it's like going to a mall back home yes absolutely you get popcorn hot dogs
14:29yeah nachos with nacho cheese and all that great stuff you've got our Taco Bell Starbucks okay people
14:36would typically flock to Popeyes and Panda Express where we're gonna get our lunch uh I like Panda Express
14:43okay uh I'll take the teriyaki chicken so you're paying with US dollars yes that does feel odd actually
14:51to see dollars in the in in Europe yeah thank you thank you thank you you're welcome I mean the
15:01base is
15:02so huge and this place is so huge could you just sort of spend your time in Germany in here
15:09you know not
15:10really venture outside into Germany yeah I think you will be missing out but absolutely you could
15:15live on the base and not go anywhere these troops seem really settled here but while Russia remains
15:23Europe's most pressing security concern Washington has new priorities Donald Trump has made it clear
15:30Europe must be more self-reliant when it comes to defense he isn't the first US president to say it
15:37but
15:37he's certainly the most direct I said if you're not going to pay your bills we're not going to defend
15:42you the threat has worked feeling suddenly vulnerable Germany is massively increasing its defense spending
15:51roughly tripling its budget over a 10-year period with more promised if needed Germany's new drive when it
16:00comes to defense is the biggest single turnaround I've seen in this country in all my years reporting
16:07on it the German government now says it wants to build the biggest army in the whole of
16:13the European Union it's a massive change but so is the attitude of Germany's European neighbors they used to
16:20fear the idea of a mighty German military because of its history now they're begging for it
16:38it's hardly a secret that Donald Trump has an uncomfortable relationship with Europe shall we
16:43say but Germans feel particularly got at even if you look at when Donald Trump was a property
16:50magnet in New York he's said to have talked often about wanting to get rid of German cars on the
16:56streets
16:56of Manhattan yet as it happens his grandparents were from Germany from its prosperous wine country in yet
17:06I'm just down the road from the American airbase ancestral home of the trumps wow look at that church
17:25Trump's first moved here over 400 years ago and there are still some who live in the area
17:33oh look beckerei Trump Trump bakery I am gonna go in there the former owner of this bakery was a
17:44distant relative of the American president they don't want to talk there's been a lot of grief just
17:53being associated with the name Trump has caused a lot of problems it seems for the family Trump is not
18:01popular in Germany you don't even need to go on the streets you can see that very clearly in opinion
18:06polls
18:08apart from the bakery there are few other signs of this area's most famous descendant oh but the
18:16mayor of Karlstadt Thomas Javorek is taking me to see the grave of Donald Trump's granddad oh yes is
18:30there a lot of interest in the Trump greats no okay Trump's grandfather Friedrich Trump grew up in
18:38Karlstadt in the 1870s it was Friedrich Trump who went to to the United States to just for for income
18:48reasons from there he then went to to the gold rush and he bought land in New York and that's
18:56actually
18:56the the the fundament for the the Trump Empire yeah Friedrich's wife Elizabeth Donald Trump's
19:03grandmother was also from Karlstadt they got married and that's that's one of the wedding
19:09pictures who do you think looks most like Donald Trump I think none of them no I think I can
19:16see a bit
19:17in Elizabeth maybe I'm imagining perhaps perhaps for the hair I do find it intriguing that you know
19:26Donald Trump's ancestry on his mum's side goes to Scotland that seems to play in the UK's favor you
19:33know when it comes to personal relations with Donald Trump but so far this link to Germany hasn't helped
19:40I mean your former Chancellor Angela Merkel she even writes about it in her autobiography that he
19:44Donald Trump seemed to be out for Germany you know not in a friendly way it's what it what it
19:50is do
19:51you hope to tempt him here now he's slapping tariffs on German cars and Germany's building its military so
19:56maybe he's more favorably disposed will you invite him I think we cannot afford the security taxes to
20:04to run this this invitation it's a good thought though it's interesting thought Donald Trump used to say
20:12his grandfather was Swedish not German now he seems proud of his heritage but two-thirds of Germans
20:19according to polls look at the US as one of the biggest threats to world peace more than China and
20:26just behind Putin's Russia my next stop is Berlin Germany's capital city and before German
20:46reunification in 1990 East Berlin was the capital of communist East Germany a country more or less
20:54controlled by the Soviet Union which in turn played a huge role in defeating the Nazis
21:04I'm visiting trip tower Park a memorial to the Soviet soldiers who died here in 1945 that you can see
21:15the
21:15a statue to the hero Soviet soldier with a crushed swastika at his feet I've never been here before and
21:26the enormity of it all really hits you there's no way that the Allies would have won the war against
21:34the Nazis without Soviet help and sacrifice all in all 25 million Soviet civilians and soldiers died in World War
21:44Two
21:52Guilt about the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis still shapes Germany in all sorts of ways including its relationship with
22:01Russia
22:01Professor Professor or can I say hello I'm Katya pleased to meet you Professor Jens Wendland's father was a senior
22:12figure in the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union
22:15a moment
22:20that is my my leitly father and that is Himmler my leitly father Hans Ardolf Pritzmann SS-Obergruppenführer
22:29person through persönliche Befele von Erschießungen den Tod von 400.000 Menschen zu verantworten hat
22:36was man sich mal vorstellen
22:47Jens says he's sickened by the Nazis' mass murder of Soviet citizens.
22:52He's devoted much of his career to building bridges with Russia, teaching media studies in Moscow.
23:09And the second thing was, I had the dream that Russia really belongs to Europe.
23:19I always thought that it belongs to us culturally and it belongs to Europe.
23:29Even when it comes to the war in Ukraine, Jens is very open to Russia's perspective.
23:34You speak so warmly about Russia and about your time in Russia, about working in Russia.
23:42Do you see Russia though as an aggressor these days?
23:46It marched into Ukraine, a sovereign country. Do you accept that?
23:52Yes, Putin was an aggressor, of course. But it came not from about.
23:59The Germans have for this cooperation, for the cooperation of Russia and Europe,
24:07very little done, very little concrete.
24:10That mistrust is never been done.
24:21Since the end of the Cold War, Germany has worked really hard to build close business ties with Russia.
24:28And the invasion of Ukraine came as a huge shock.
24:32That was really interesting.
24:35What a contrast to the UK, where when it comes to Ukraine, Russia is definitely seen as the aggressor.
24:44Jens was explaining it all very much from Russia's point of view.
24:50Jens is far from alone in wanting to normalise relations with Moscow.
24:54The AFD party, which regularly leads opinion polls in Germany,
24:59wants to end sanctions on Russia and start buying cheap Russian energy again.
25:10The shadow of Germany's Nazi past hangs over everything in this country in one way or another,
25:17including attitudes to immigration.
25:20I've come to Mannheim, a city in the rich, industrialised west of the country.
25:31We have Turkish everywhere here.
25:35We've got kebab shop, there's another one down there, and another one.
25:41Jewelry shop, the kind that you see all over the place in Amman and Jordan.
25:46There's another one, two, three of them down this street, and delicious cakes.
25:52I feel like I'm back in the Middle East.
25:54Germany's economic rise from the ashes of World War II was supported by lots of foreign workers.
26:01Germany's large immigrant population goes back to the 1950s, 60s and early 70s,
26:08when it was looking for workers to come and feed the booming economy in West Germany.
26:13And they came from all over the Mediterranean, and a lot from Turkey.
26:19Germany called them Gastarbeiter, that means guest workers.
26:22The implication was, you come here and work, and then you go home.
26:26But a lot of people stayed.
26:29Today, a quarter of Germany's population is either an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.
26:35Here in Mannheim, it's almost half.
26:42Hello.
26:43Hello.
26:44Hi.
26:45Hello.
26:46Hello.
26:46Hi.
26:46I find your business so beautiful.
26:48Yeah, thank you very much.
26:49Nisa Okal runs a wedding dress shop together with her mum.
26:53Du bist hier geboren?
26:54Ja, tatsächlich.
26:55Ich bin hier geboren mit meinem Opa, väterlicherseits.
26:58Der ist damals hergekommen aus der Türkei.
27:00Er ist dann als Gastarbeiter hergekommen.
27:03Meine Vorgeneration, die hat hier so viel hergebracht.
27:06Die hat hier die Brautläden reingebracht.
27:08Die hat hier die Goldläden reingebracht.
27:10Die ganzen Restaurants, die ganzen Speisen.
27:13Dass, wenn man sieht, die Familie hat sich hier was aufgebaut.
27:16Und Steuern bezahlt.
27:18Ja, das ist Teil Deutschlands.
27:19Ja, genau.
27:19Das war die Idee von den Gastarbeitern, oder?
27:21Dass man die Wirtschaft hilft.
27:24Ja, die Wirtschaft einfach ankurbeld.
27:27For decades, immigrants into Germany, along with their families, were broadly accepted
27:32and seen as a necessary part of a growing economy.
27:36But in 2015, that changed radically.
27:41This year has seen an unprecedented number of migrants arriving in Europe.
27:47Most have come from Syria.
27:49Eleven million Syrians have been left homeless, and many have fled abroad.
27:54No bus, no train.
27:56We are very tired.
27:58As over a million Syrian refugees and other migrants arrived in Europe,
28:03many EU countries shut their borders.
28:08But Chancellor Angela Merkel did an extraordinary thing.
28:12She welcomed them.
28:14The world sees Germany as a land of hope and chances, and that was not always so.
28:23Germany expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015, far more than any other country.
28:29But Merkel's decision has had profound consequences.
28:37A trail of devastation after a car ploughed in to protestors.
28:42Three people have died in a knife attack in southern Germany.
28:45About an hour or so, this news broke that a car had driven into a crowd at a Christmas market,
28:50possibly 60 to 80 people being injured.
28:58A string of attacks over the last few years, carried out by asylum seekers and immigrants,
29:04has fueled concerns that immigration is out of control.
29:07Many German Christmas markets now have barriers to make people feel safer.
29:14There was an attack here in Mannheim's central square too, when an Afghan man stabbed and killed a policeman.
29:24All these attacks have made Germans feel incredibly insecure.
29:30It's pushed up support for the far right, because a lot of people feel that migration is totally out of
29:37control now.
29:39The attacks are fueling support for views that are tough on migration.
29:45And breaking taboos that have existed in Germany since the end of the Second World War.
29:55As a result of changing attitudes, the AFD has become the first hard-right nationalist party
30:02to be voted into the German parliament since World War II.
30:05It's Germany's biggest opposition party by far.
30:12And it's very well known, and liked, for its hard-line policies on immigration.
30:18A very clear statement to all the world,
30:23the German borders are closed, dear friends.
30:28They are closed!
30:31One leading AFD politician was even found guilty of using Nazi slogans and downplaying the Holocaust.
30:38We are believed that we have been forced.
30:41We are believed that we have been a political point of remembrance of a 1008 people.
30:55Support for the AFD is particularly noticeable in Germany's east.
31:03this is a map of the election results from the last general election here in germany look the
31:11blue is afd and you can see a clear split between the country east and west i mean and that
31:20is the
31:20dividing line between west germany and what was former communist east germany if this isn't a
31:26picture of a country still deeply divided i don't know what is i've come to a city in east germany
31:34called schwerin oh look at that now that is wow you know there is a tendency to think of east
31:48germany
31:49as a an ugly poverty stricken former communist version of the west but oh my god does it have
31:59some beautiful secrets look at that i mean a fairy tale castle on a lake it's gorgeous oh this is
32:13stunning the reason i'm here is to get a better idea of why the afd is gaining ground in places
32:20like
32:20this i am on my way to meet a couple of young podcasters supporters of the afd um and i'm
32:34going to arrive just before they start recording so we're going to have to be very quick quick quick
32:41punctuality that's what germans believe in and i think i've just failed the test
32:45as the afd has gained popularity berlin's position towards it has hardened in 2025 the german authorities
32:54officially classified the party as extremist describing their policies as anti-democratic
33:01there's even been talk banning the afd outright the local government here is also investigating the
33:09man i'm about to meet for extremism a claim he contests hello i am so sorry i hope i'm not
33:19too late
33:19it's it's fine it's fine no worries yeah sorry boris hello nice nice to meet you boris that's
33:27boris von morgenstein is a journalist who vlogs on youtube about immigration and culture wars
33:35i'm just gonna sit and observe so please just carry on as you as you would okay then we'll start
33:40you can you can get inside the inner sanctum yeah excellent where shall i put myself you can you can
33:47come through here okay and then today boris is joined by regular guest matthias schroeder
33:53so you're going to tell your listeners that we're here today they already know yeah i had to tell them
33:59it's this time it's not my fault that we're late usually it is but now i have someone to blame
34:08okay einen wunderschönen guten tag zusammen hauptthema geht es heute um maya t dazu entschieden
34:27there are now dozens of afd supporters like boris and matthias
34:34using social media far more skillfully than traditional parties
34:39and helping to bring the afd's agenda to huge numbers of young voters
34:50boris and matthias have invited me to meet some of their friends
34:54why is it do you think that so many germans are moving towards the afd
35:00i think that's not a simple question i think that it's basically with a uncertainty
35:07together and many people in germany have the feeling that the only possible way
35:14how you can give yourself a voice through this party is and that very many topics
35:21that have been ignored in the last few years from other parties for example
35:28the issue of migration as a main theme it's always been spoken about it and when
35:34you say these problems then explicit then you often hear that you are an extremist in
35:40irgendeiner form and i think on good deutsch said the people have just the
35:45schnauze full of them
35:47in the last few years so how it happened from the etabliered party
36:07i just wondered how can young people long for a homeland or a good old days that they've never
36:14that they've never really experienced is it is it real the dream that the afd is selling even
36:19the afd has millions of supporters like boris and his friends who feel alienated from traditional
36:48establishment politics for them classifying the afd as extremist is just a ploy to weaken support
36:57for the party
36:59the first time when the afd was secured as a right extremist was the time when the afd
37:07was suddenly the cdu was overhauled in a country
37:10the afd was suddenly overhauled in one country
37:10are you suggesting that it's the german establishment trying to shut the afd down rather than actually having
37:19bona fide arguments why the afd should be shut that's what you're saying so it's against democracy
37:33you don't have to agree with them but the afd is huge in germany and it's growing and it feels
37:42victimized by the german establishment and the danger of the german establishment trying to shut
37:47the afd up or even shut it down altogether is that increasing numbers of its supporters will lose
37:54faith in traditional politics here altogether and become more open to arguments that the freedom of
38:00speech or the voice of the people are being muzzled
38:09it's time for me to leave germany this is a country in flux at home and under pressure from
38:17its european neighbors to step up on the world stage
38:23right now germany is uneasy in its own skin it's unsure of who or what to be just at the
38:31moment that
38:31this continent is at its weakest since the second world war and as europe's biggest economy it is
38:38time for germany to stand up and to take far more of a leadership role one that it's been afraid
38:45to take
38:45since world war ii next i'm heading to spain
38:57of all the countries i'm visiting this is the one that brits are most familiar with
39:03we make more than 15 million trips here a year enjoying white sandy beaches and stunning coastal villages
39:14but although we may think of spain as being united by paella sangria flamenco living here it can feel
39:22less like one nation and more an assembly of 17 often very different regions with distinct identities
39:30i'm starting in the region of catalonia in a small town called villafranca not far from barcelona
39:42i've come here on a day when the town celebrates one of its most colorful and craziest traditions
39:50we've got one crew playing something over there these guys playing something completely different
39:55i i say you know this is what i love about spain this mix of you know festivities but absolutely
40:03chaotic
40:04people of all ages all coming together i love it
40:12people of all ages
40:16beautiful
40:21but today is about far more than the music
40:26you look at that lady's shirt at the back the yellow and red stripe that is the catalan flag
40:33these are very proud catalans
40:36so today the town is celebrating its catalan identity with an age-old tradition
40:43building giant towers made of people
40:51so if you have a look at the people on the bottom here everyone is kind of moving forward to
40:56give
40:56support the base structure the lightest scramble to the top
41:04all the little ones are coming now like small children but they're helmet
41:10so it's actually okay here we go
41:22wow it can happen you can see they're shaking but thankfully everyone's okay they're okay
41:34it's not unusual for a collapse to lead to a hospital visit but that's not enough to put them off
41:56oh my god
41:59oh my god
42:09they did it they did it
42:1810 12 hours a week of practice and it lasts a couple of seconds but it is really impressive
42:26to find out why they do something so dangerous i'm catching up with one of the climbers
42:31so i have to say first of all congratulations thank you that was amazing what does it mean
42:41to you and to everybody here to do these castles what does it what does it represent it represents a
42:49tradition it's a very strong symbol of the catalan character of the catalan people we are strong we
42:57work together we want we we like to reach the the sky we have catalan music playing what happens
43:04lots of people wearing catalan flags what's your mother tongue my mother tongue is catalan i always
43:11has speak catalan at home and i learn to speak spanish at school so later six or seven years old
43:18and what
43:19about your children my children speak speak catalan at home and also in the school they learn spanish
43:26as a second language or a foreign language yes the main lessons in catalonia are done in catalan
43:33do you feel more spanish or catalan i definitely feel catalan i don't feel spanish at all at all i
43:41know i i have nothing against spanish people or spanish country but i don't think i belong to spain
43:48i think for a lot of people that's quite a dramatic thing to say in a way you know many
43:54tourists come
43:55to barcelona to catalonia and they just think oh it's a region of spain yes not for you not for
44:02me
44:04but it's a region of spanish maria is far from alone amongst catalans in not feeling spanish
44:15near to villa franca is the largest city in catalonia barcelona
44:24i've come to barcelona on a really special day it's catalan national day
44:33today is about celebrating catalan culture but a lot of people aren't just here for a celebration
44:40they're here because they want independence from spain the catalan flag has red and yellow stripes
44:47but on proud display today are also catalan flags with a star and they symbolize a call for independence
44:55i'm trying to look for one flag that's not calling for independence
45:04i can't see one
45:11from the very very young to the very very old catalan nationalists they do feed that to their
45:20children with mother's milk it is felt so strongly so deeply
45:27catalonia does have considerable autonomy from spain with its own parliament and police force
45:32but many here feel that isn't enough isn't there a difference between having your language
45:40having learning catalan uh having your traditions and wanting to break away from spain
45:46so much passion on the streets today a lot of joy but also anger and frustration
46:18you know it does seem remarkable in modern day spain and of course it's not all catalans but
46:25there are so many people who feel hostile almost disgusted at the idea of being called spanish or just
46:35being part of this country
46:43so much of that hostility towards spain in catalonia and other parts of the country
46:48can be traced back to spain's civil war of the 1930s
46:59first of the actual pictures from spain in revolt tells a graphic story of bloodshed and violence
47:04the land of smiling tomorrow is grim today
47:08after almost three years of fighting general francisco franco's nationalist forces defeated spain's
47:15republican government franco went on to rule spain as a dictator for almost 40 years
47:23he imprisoned political opponents sent many to forced labor camps and executed tens of thousands
47:33in his drive to dominate spain he tried to centralize and control it all from madrid
47:40franco violently clamped down on regional identities in areas like catalonia the bars country and galicia
47:46which all had their own languages and independence movements
47:52franco felt really threatened by regional pride and local nationalist sentiment and he tried
47:59to crack down on all that hard and fast but the thing is if you try to repress people's passions
48:07and their sense of identity they often just come out all that much stronger
48:15across spain today many still burn with resentment about the brutality inflicted by the franco regime
48:22yet just outside madrid there's still a giant memorial franco commissioned essentially to glorify himself
48:32oh that is massive
48:42franco claimed this memorial and its 150 meter high cross stand in honor of everyone who died during the war
48:50on both sides but franco's political prisoners were forced to build it and it's become a symbol of what
48:57opponents believe is lingering sympathy for his legacy
49:03this place always sends shivers down my spine it's thought that more than 30 000 bodies are buried here
49:12but the families of those who were killed opposing franco said no one asked them if the remains of their
49:19loved ones could be brought here to a place they saw and still see as a homage to right-wing
49:27nationalism
49:27and a successful military coup and ultimately where franco's body was laid to rest in glory inside that basilica
49:38after franco's death instead of confronting what he'd done and trying to heal the country spain's political
49:45class imposed what they called a pact of forgetting that many spaniards have not forgotten
49:55look two banners have just been unfurled while we've been filming i've just seen the activists
50:00run off 1936 and 1975 you know that's from the start of franco's military coup until the end of his
50:08dictatorship that is a message saying glory to a freed basque country the activists are showing the
50:16repression they were put under by franco and and his regime oh look they're taking them they're taking
50:25them off now yeah yeah the security guards making sure they disappear
50:34these aren't images spain wants us to see
50:44this remains a hugely divided country between those who feel they still haven't received justice
50:51and those who saw the franco era as one of political stability and economic growth
50:56but a public memorial perceived to be celebrating franco is surprising what a contrast to the fates of
51:06two other famous european 20th century fascist dictators mussolini and hitler
51:13franco's body was taken away from here just a few years ago
51:17but the shadow of this place still looms large here
51:34in the 50 years since franco died little has been done to help the families of his victims move on
51:43i've come to the south of the country to cordoba and i'm on my way to a cemetery that has
51:48a mass grave
51:49from the franco era
51:55at first glance this cemetery looks much like any other the final resting place for thousands of loved ones
52:05but tucked in a corner at the far end lie the remains of people executed by franco's followers
52:17hi i'm katia
52:20daniel quiroga is coordinating the exhumation of the bodies buried here
52:25this is a mass grave
52:27this is a communal forest
52:28totally
52:29we have more than 140 victims of people killed
52:35in this cemetery we know that there are more than 1400 people killed
52:41and in the city of cordoba
52:42in the city of cordoba
52:44according to the latest investigations we can reach 5.000 people
52:47wow in all these mass graves
52:49yes
52:49in the city
52:50yes
52:51how many people in spain
52:53disappeared
53:02it's thought that across spain there are up to six thousand mass graves sites
53:08around a quarter have been dug up and while bodies of the republican leftists who fought against franco
53:15were tossed into the ground in unmarked graves those who fought for franco were often given proper
53:21burials
53:22estos son gente que cayeron en el frente del lado golpista del lado franquista
53:28a los que les se les rindieron honores y les hicieron un espacio a perpetuidad
53:32como puedes ver con sus nombres con sus fechas de muerte con una cruz monumental
53:37que habla que han sido muertos por dios y por españa
53:42a los que les dieron pensiones a sus viudas y les intentó procurar una buena vida
53:48it's a big contrast between this part of the graveyard and an unmarked mass grave
53:55totalmente totalmente pues pensar que en españa en esa época y a partir de esa época
54:01ator asà en todos los pueblos unos olvidados y enterrados
54:06casi 90 años luchando para recuperar no unos huesos de los suyos que todo el mundo estuviera de acuerdo
54:12porque son derechos humanos you're very emotional hombre claro claro
54:17it's a real wound that's that's open in spain still
54:21totalmente nosotros estamos intentando cerrar esa herida que que hoy en dÃa sigue sangrando
54:29spain is a modern western european country but it still has one of the highest numbers of
54:36disappeared people in the world hi i'm katia i'm so pleased to meet you rafael amor and his daughter
54:44maria jose have been waiting for decades to find the remains of rafael's father
55:13francisco was a captain fighting against franco's army but he was captured
55:19he was brought to this cemetery shot and thrown into a mass grave
55:26bueno y al final que eso lo que más nos emociona nosotros cuando él ya sabe la fecha de
55:33que lo van a fusilar él empieza a escribir cartas de despedida la que le escribió a mi abuela de
55:39despedida dice a mi querida esposa hoy muero arte saber que muero con tu nombre en mis labios
55:50me perdonas las ofensas que haya cometido contigo sin querer honrar a siempre mi memoria diciendo a
55:57mis hijos la verdad de la triste historia del fin de su padre mi rafalÃn no ha tenido los labios
56:06de su
56:06padre más que dos veces en la cara no me conoce dar de besos en mi nombre y acuérdate siempre
56:17de tu esposo que
56:17te quiere francisco amor
56:23i'm so sorry rafael i'm so sorry
56:31this happened so many years ago but there's still so much pain
56:37a ver las guerras muere gente eso es obvio no pero pienso que todo mundo tiene derecho a saber
56:43dónde están sus familiares y a tener un un enterramiento digno a poder llevar una flor
56:51a ver las guerras muere gente que no se puede llevar una flor de francesa a la flor de francesa
56:57work is due to start soon to unearth the remains in this cemetery once they're recovered the aim is
57:04to identify them through their dna to finally bring some closure francisco amor cuadrado just one of so
57:15many spaniards thrown away like rubbish into mass graves by francos fascists this pain and division
57:23in spain is just going to keep on being passed from generation to generation until this country
57:29confronts its ugly past and then finally puts it to rest
57:35these old wounds divide and weaken spain politically as well as socially
57:41it's continental europe's fourth richest power but the role spain plays on the european stage
57:49is far off its potential
57:57next time i'll come face to face with one of spain's biggest threats another fire starts there
58:04another there another there before heading to a european rainforest
58:10you do not get this in paris and finding out why the heart of france is hurting
58:17looking in my um wing mirror there there are a lot of police vans behind us
58:43so
58:46you
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