“This summer could be the last one in peace,” said military historian Sönke Neitzel in the spring of 2025. Not a threat. Not scaremongering. Simply his sober assessment of the global political situation.
It is a contradictory summer. Cafés and bars are full, a murmur of voices fills the air, bursts of spontaneous laughter echo between the buildings. In the parks, people sweat under the sun, cooling their feet in the cold water of a stream. Music drifts from Bluetooth speakers and open-air clubs. A sense of freedom, seemingly without limits.
And yet, hanging over it all is a veil of concern. For a long time, peace in Europe was taken for granted, and prosperity seemed to know no bounds. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the latest, that feeling has cracked. Perhaps that is why we are now living in a kind of “all the more” attitude – an attempt to suppress the looming threat. Perhaps this summer will be one we look back on later with nostalgia. Or perhaps it is simply just another summer like any other.