archived recording (nigel farage) [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] Funny, isn’t it? Isn’t it funny. You know, when I came here 17 years ago, and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you? I’ll make one prediction this morning — the United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union.

[music]

michael barbaro

From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This week on “The Daily” —

speaker Us, as European citizens, we are living in a bubble.

michael barbaro

— before the recent rise of nationalism in the United States, in Europe, a decades-long plan to stitch together countries and cultures into a united Europe was ultimately blamed for two crises.

archived recording (speaker 1) How many people are you on the boat? archived recording (speaker 2) 500. archived recording The U.N. estimates about 5,700 migrants have arrived in Italy from Tunisia since January.

michael barbaro

One of mass migration into Europe.

archived recording It’s a big problem. There are too much of them.

michael barbaro

The other of crippling debt.

archived recording We’ve had enough. We don’t want to be governed by you. We want to govern ourselves.

michael barbaro

Together, they set off Europe’s own wave of nationalism.

archived recording 1 [SPEAKING ITALIAN] archived recording 2 [SPEAKING FRENCH]

michael barbaro

While the U.K. has elected to leave the E.U. altogether, nationalist movements across the rest of Europe want to blow it up from within. My colleague, Berlin bureau chief Katrin Bennhold, tells the story this week. It’s Monday, June 10. Katrin, where should we start this story?

katrin bennhold

So for me, the story starts when I start to doubt Europe. And there were two moments that really crystallized this for me.

archived recording The total number of votes cast in favor of Leave —

katrin bennhold

The first was Brexit.

archived recording 1 — was 17,410,742. This means that the U.K. has voted to leave the European Union. archived recording 2 The British people have spoken, and the answer is we’re out.

katrin bennhold

I was living in London at the time with my family. I was a correspondent there. And you know, the European Union has always been a certainty in my life. It’s sort of this thing that has always been there and I thought would always be there. You know, I’m German. My husband is Welsh. We met at university in London. And it’s kind of incredible, but our grandfathers fought on two different sides of World War II, and now we have three children. And they’re little Europeans who basically speak both of our languages and feel at home in both of our countries. So when I woke up to the news on that morning in June 2016 that Britain was leaving the European Union, it was kind of the first time that Europe felt fragile. It was kind of this moment that put a doubt in my mind about the European Union. And that felt very new.

[music]

katrin bennhold

And then, in 2018, I actually moved back to my own country, to Germany, for the first time in, like, over 20 years. And Germany at the time felt very different from the U.K. It was kind of considered to be this bastion of liberal democracy. But there was a backlash building here, too. And one of the first things I started reporting on when I got back was this rise of the far right.

archived recording 1 [SPEAKING GERMAN] archived recording 2 This party’s story very much echoes that of the anti-establishment movements seen elsewhere across Europe.

katrin bennhold

And then eight months into my stint in Germany, the second thing happened.

[music]

katrin bennhold

There’s a city in the eastern part of Germany called Chemnitz.

archived recording [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

And every August, they have this festival celebrating the founding of the city.

archived recording [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

So on August 25 last year, they were having this festival once again. And after most people had gone home, at around 3 in the morning, a fight breaks out. These two Germans, locals, are stabbed, and one of them actually dies.

archived recording A German man was fatally stabbed by, it’s believed, a Syrian and an Iraqi man.

katrin bennhold

So pretty quickly, news spreads that the men who allegedly did this were from Syria and Iraq, and had been claiming asylum in Germany. And remember, this is three years after this big influx of migrants in 2015.

archived recording [CHANTING]

katrin bennhold

This is sort of political dynamite. Within a few hours, you’ve got protesters on the street. They’re organized on social media, and they outnumbered police 10 to one.

archived recording [CHANTING]

katrin bennhold

And things go totally nuts.

archived recording [LOUD BANG]

katrin bennhold

For a few hours that day, it really felt like this mob owned Chemnitz. I remember talking to this Syrian guy who had actually been watching this from his friend’s apartment. And he’d been seeing this march sort of snaking through the city below, and he’d been seeing these breakout groups pursuing brown-skinned people like him. He described it as a pack of wolves. He said it felt like wolves going after innocent prey.

michael barbaro

So this is starting to look like a riot against migrants.

katrin bennhold

It certainly felt like that, but what was really interesting and sort of shocking to me was that, while fueled by this anti-immigrant hatred, there was this other thing going on. And it felt sort of eerily familiar in this country.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

Late in the evening, Uwe Dziuballa is at his restaurant.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

A restaurant that he’s owned in Chemnitz for 18 years. It’s a Jewish restaurant.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

It’s the only Jewish restaurant in town.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

The restaurant is closed that evening because Uwe is having this little book party. There’s a journalist there, and a few people from the community. And what they’re talking about is this book about how the Nazis took over Jewish businesses during World War II.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

So they’re all sitting there talking about this till about 9:30 at night. And then they see on television —

archived recording [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

— that these riots are happening right there in their city outside. And so they’re like, O.K., let’s call it a night, maybe. And then Uwe, sort of without thinking, says, you know, I’ll just check if everything is O.K.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

But as he opens the door, he hears a sound that he says sounds like a rolling bottle and a horse hoof or something. And he doesn’t know what’s happening. And he looks up, and he sees a group of young men, maybe about a dozen, although he says at the time that it felt closer to 100. And they were covered in dark clothing, standing in front of him, looking pretty threatening.

uwe dziuballa [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

Then they start throwing things, at him and at the restaurant. A crowbar. Bottles. And they break his window, and they hit Uwe himself in the shoulder by a stone. And then they’re shouting, get out of Germany, you Jewish pig.

michael barbaro

So this riot that started out as a protest of this murder by what people think are refugees is now also targeting a Jewish man.

katrin bennhold

Yes. What I come to realize is that some of the protesters out on that street are full-blown neo-Nazis. And what makes it such a moment for me, a kind of a moment that really crystallizes just how fragile the European project has become, is the fact that alongside those far-right extremists are elected German officials, leaders of this far-right party that’s rising in Germany. There they are in the crowd, walking alongside these neo-Nazis. Something shifted that day. You know, I grew up in West Germany in the 1980s. My parents were both born still during World War II. In school, you know, the Hitler years were taught early and often.

archived recording On the 30th of January, 1933, this man became chancellor of Germany.

katrin bennhold

This was, like, the darkest possible version of nationalism, the darkest possible expression of national identity. And we had to learn about it, and we inhabited that. And it is a sort of constituent part of German national identity. So to experience this rise of ethnic hatred and this resurgence of anti-Semitism up close in Chemnitz was basically really, really scary. I’ve been watching as a correspondent this nationalism and populism build, but to see this in Germany felt more significant.

michael barbaro

Why?

katrin bennhold

Germany is the most important country in Europe. It’s the most important country in the European Union, both because it’s so big and so rich and because of its history. It was that horrible history of World War II and of the Holocaust that led to the foundation of the European Union.

archived recording (winston churchill) We must recreate the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe.

katrin bennhold

And it’s this moment where a group of nations get together around this shared understanding that they have to suppress nationalism, this kind of destructive nationalism that fuels ethnic hatred and, ultimately, war, and instead unite around this different idea, this idea of a European community.

archived recording (winston churchill) Europe can only be united by the heartfelt wish and vehement expression of the great majority of all the people in all the parties in all the freedom-loving countries, no matter where they dwell or how they vote.

katrin bennhold

And in order to do that, they designed this system, a kind of a club that will trade together and get so economically intertwined that war becomes impossible, unthinkable. And at the heart of this system is the idea of liberal democracy. So it’s both a sort of ideal and also a set of practical structures. On the one hand, it’s everything that you think of when you think of a democracy. It’s elections, it’s a variety of political parties, it’s separation of powers, an independent judiciary. It’s basically an open society and free markets. But above all, it’s sort of the protection of human rights and of civil rights, of civil liberties and of political freedoms for all people.

archived recording The scene now here at the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag in Berlin is unbelievable pandemonium. It’s New Year’s Eve, the removal of the wall and unity all in one.

katrin bennhold

And you know, it was interesting because I remember when the Berlin Wall fell.

archived recording 1 It’s happened. It’s official. Germany is now one country of 80 million people, and even the Germans themselves are stunned. archived recording 2 It’s a fantastic time. It’s very good. We like it.

katrin bennhold

When the wall falls and communism falls in Europe, we see all these previously unfree countries now very eager to join the European Union, as well. You know, this was a tall order. These countries had to sign up to an entirely new set of values, to the values of liberal democracy. That required them to get their proverbial houses in order to gain membership. But they do it because the expected payoffs were so great, not just in terms of prosperity and development, but in terms of rejoining the European family after decades of Soviet rule. So all this had started with Western Europe, but now these Eastern and Central European countries are joining, too, countries like Poland, like the Czech Republic, like the Baltic States. The E.U. is getting bigger, and it feels at that moment like it’s getting stronger, too.

archived recording We’re welcoming 10 new member states into the European Union. And today marks a new beginning for Europeans.

katrin bennhold

It’s kind of this glorious period.

archived recording This day is a day of hope and opportunity.

katrin bennhold

It feels like there’s only one system now. There’s only one way forward. And that way forward is liberal democracy.

michael barbaro

And that system is completely at the heart of the E.U.

katrin bennhold

Exactly. You know, in that moment, in 2004, it was kind of inconceivable that these countries that had just joined and had made such an effort to join and got their houses in order would actually roll back. Nobody thought it was possible that these countries would roll back their democracies.

michael barbaro

It felt like it was all just moving forward.

katrin bennhold

It felt like it was all just moving forward.

[music]

michael barbaro

We’ll be right back. So we’re in this post-Cold War moment. The E.U. is big and strong. So what happens?

katrin bennhold

At the heart of this, you’ve got Germany. And Angela Merkel comes to power in 2005. And she embodies all of this.

archived recording (angela merkel) [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

She’s from the East. She has experienced totalitarianism. She grew up in communism.

archived recording (angela merkel) [SPEAKING GERMAN]

katrin bennhold

And she becomes the de facto leader of the European Union, really. And she oversees this sort of amazing period in Germany, where, in the early 2000s, a sort of civic patriotism grows. So for the first time, Germans feel able to be proud to be German again.

archived recording [SINGING GERMAN NATIONAL ANTHEM]

katrin bennhold

In 2006, Germany hosts the soccer World Cup. Suddenly, you see Germany flags being flown across the country. And it’s a moment.

archived recording [CHANTING]

katrin bennhold

It’s funny, this was new to me. You know, I don’t actually recall, as somebody growing up in West Germany, seeing German flags, like, ever, because it was kind of a taboo. And I remember traveling to the United States for the first time as a teenager and seeing all these flags. And it kind of shocked me because, to me, it just looked like nationalism, and nationalism was bad. But now, the German flag was back. And it’s kind of fascinating, actually. It’s through all these decades of atoning for its history, through this embrace of a united Europe and liberal values, that Germany has actually come to feel more comfortable again with its own national identity.

archived recording [SINGING GERMAN NATIONAL ANTHEM]

katrin bennhold

But shortly after, just a couple years later, there come these two big tests to these values and to these principles of the European Union that Germany is sort of a symbol of.

archived recording You know what? Right now, breaking news here, stocks all around the world are tanking because of the crisis on Wall Street.

katrin bennhold

So in 2008, we have the financial crash. And that leads to a serious economic crisis in several European countries, especially in southern Europe.

archived recording Greece is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy right now. Banks are closed, cash hard to come by. And the ripples are being felt around the world.

katrin bennhold

The idea at the time was that a crisis in Greece could infect the entire European Union. And there was this fear of a kind of contagion. Angela Merkel makes it clear at the time that she wants to keep Greece in the euro area pretty much at all costs.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

katrin bennhold

But it comes at a heavy, heavy cost for those southern European countries, and particularly for Greece, because there’s austerity imposed on them that is mainly directed from Germany. And it causes a lot of social pain in those countries. It’s a point at which Angela Merkel’s star in southern Europe really dims. And then, of course, on top of this devastating economic crisis, you have the refugee crisis that sends hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Afghanis and North Africans to Europe. All of these migrants are now showing up at borders across Europe, and many countries are just not allowing them in.

archived recording Yet another queue for weary refugees.

katrin bennhold

But then?

archived recording But this is a breakthrough. Hundreds are being allowed to board trains to Germany and Austria. None of these people have visas, yet now they’re crammed inside a train bound for Munich and cleared to leave.

katrin bennhold

Merkel lets them in.

archived recording [CHEERING]

katrin bennhold

I remember this moment well. I was quite pregnant at the time with my third child, and I came to report on this. I was sent to Munich. At Munich train station, people stood on the platforms, masses of Germans, welcoming these refugees and clapping as they arrived off the trains.

archived recording [CLAPPING] (SINGING) Say it loud, say it clear! Refugee are welcome here!

katrin bennhold

Germany basically opened its arms to these refugees.

archived recording (SINGING) Say it loud, say it clear! Refugee are welcome here!

katrin bennhold

It was a moment where a country that, in its past, had created refugees who were fleeing from Germany for their lives was now a safe haven for people fleeing for their lives. We’d become the safe haven. This country had become a safe haven.

michael barbaro

So this is sort of the ultimate affirmation of what the E.U. was created for and what Germany now represents.

katrin bennhold

At that moment, it definitely felt like that. But not all Germans liked this vision of Germany. In some ways, that decision by Angela Merkel in 2015 to embody these liberal values and to act on them, she may have inadvertently set in motion a reaction that is now challenging those very values.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

katrin bennhold

So you now have a situation where the Alternative for Germany, the AfD, this far-right party that we talked about earlier, is the third-largest party in the national Parliament and is the main opposition party, which means that it gets to respond to Angela Merkel whenever she speaks in Parliament first. This has started to normalize far-right language, far-right slogans, certain angry sentiments about immigrants. So you now see stuff that’s being said that has become pretty much mainstream when, only a few years ago, you would not have been able to say it.

michael barbaro

And this is when you started to question the future of Europe.

katrin bennhold

This is when I started to question the future of Europe. I was thinking, if this could happen in Germany, I mean, can the European Union survive this?

[music]

michael barbaro

We’ll be right back.

katrin bennhold

So last month, there was a big test of all of this, a Continent-wide election to the European Parliament, which is the only directly elected body in the European Union, where every five years, each country gets to send a number of lawmakers to represent it in the E.U. And this year, there were a lot of nationalist and populist candidates running for seats inside the E.U. Parliament, running on platforms that directly oppose the E.U. and its values. They’re no longer proposing to leave the E.U. They’ve understood that voters don’t want that, maybe because they’ve seen how messy it gets. You know, they’ve seen Brexit. They’ve seen how messy it is to actually deliver on a promise to leave the E.U. And so instead, they want to change the E.U. from the inside.

michael barbaro

Hm.

katrin bennhold

They want to blow this thing up from within. So a few weeks ahead of these elections, I decided to go on a road trip across Europe with two producers from “The Daily,” Lynsea Garrison and Clare Toeniskoetter. I basically wanted to understand the frustrations and the movements that are behind all of this, that are driving all of this. I wanted to understand what Europe means to Europeans today.

michael barbaro

Katrin, thank you very much.

katrin bennhold

Good talking to you, Michael.

michael barbaro

All this week, we’ll follow Katrin, Clare and Lynsea’s trip across Europe.

clare toeniskoetter We’re in France! katrin bennhold We’re here! We’ve arrived! Except it looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere. lynsea garrison Oh, my God. clare toeniskoetter That’s a serious train. lynsea garrison What was that? katrin bennhold That was a TGV, a Train à Grande Vitesse. It’s basically a feat of French engineering and a big source of pride in France. They have these superfast trains that are a product of, like, a lot of state investment. But this is actually something —

[music]