Germany today (Wed 28 Oct): Deutsche Bank's record profit as bank staff strike, Berlin SPD lets members decide on the coalition, Wolf Biermann documentary opens tomorrow, Dortmund win in the 93rd minute

Good morning! Here's your German news for Wednesday, 28 October. Today starts with money: the bank posts a record profit, while in the same week bank employees walk out for higher pay. Plus Berlin's next government, a documentary opening tomorrow and last night's cup results.

1. [Politics] Berlin SPD will let its members vote on a red-green-red coalition

• Unanimous decision on the evening of 27 Oct — the Berlin SPD's executive committee decided to put a coalition agreement with the Left party and the Greens to a member vote (Mitgliederbefragung). The full state board confirms it at a special meeting this week; approval is seen as very likely
• What's new since our last post — in the coalition tug-of-war from our 27 Oct briefing, all three parties now plan to ask their members
• Pressure from below — Franziska Giffey called for a vote of the roughly 18,000 members, and the Reinickendorf and Lichtenberg branches passed motions. Last time, 54.3% of SPD members backed the current CDU–SPD coalition
• Left and Greens ask members too — the Left plans a binding member vote; the Greens hold an online poll, then a delegates' assembly decides. The Left votes on starting talks at its party conference on Saturday (31 Oct)
• What it means for you — coalition talks could start next week and take several weeks. The Left's Elif Eralp wants a new government by the turn of the year

Source: news.de (dpa) · tagesspiegel.de

2. [Economy] Deutsche Bank: third record quarter in a row — while bank staff stage warning strikes

• Results out today (28 Oct) — pre-tax profit of about €2.6bn in the third quarter, up 8% on a year earlier. Net profit of about €1.9bn is the third quarterly record in a row
• On track to beat its target — the bank expects revenue above its goal of about €33bn this year. Return on tangible equity was 10.6% in the quarter
• Same week: first nationwide warning strikes at private banks — the union ver.di called on about 150,000 private-bank employees to strike (Warnstreik). On Monday, 26 Oct, staff at Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and UniCredit in Hamburg walked out for the day
• The demand: 6% — a 6% rise over 12 months, €300 a month more for trainees and juniors, the option to swap pay for up to 20 extra days off, and rules on AI. Employers have made no offer yet; round two is on 2 Nov
• What it means for you — employers expect no noticeable disruption, but if you have a branch appointment, check it beforehand

Source: db.com · t-online.de · db.com (Q3 2025) · ariva.de (dpa-AFX) · ad-hoc-news.de

3. [Society] New commission on long-term care insurance — proposals due by the end of January

• First meeting on 27 Oct — the government's care reform commission has started work: 13 experts from economics, law, nursing science and care advice, and no politicians
• The task: money and care — analyse how spending of the statutory long-term care insurance (Pflegeversicherung) develops, and propose lasting funding, better care and more prevention and rehabilitation
• Those affected get a say — hearings with people in need of care, care providers and local authorities are planned
• Deadline: end of January — Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) said the aim is to present results by the end of January
• What it means for you — this is about the care contribution taken from your salary and what families pay for a care home. If you worry about caring for your parents, watch for the January proposals

Source: zdfheute.de · boerse.de (dpa-AFX)

4. [Culture] Protecting Nazi-era records from AI fakes — the "GAMI" project

• Announced on 23 Oct, €400,000 in funding — €100,000 from the federal culture commissioner (BKM) and €300,000 from Google.org, Google's charity arm
• Who builds it — Authentic Memory, a non-profit start-up spun out of TU Munich and LMU Munich
• How it works — museums, archives and memorials attach a cryptographic fingerprint, a timestamp and an institutional signature to digital files, so anyone can check decades later that a document is genuine and unchanged
• Already tested — pilots ran with the Dachau and Flossenbürg concentration camp memorials
• What it means for you — be sceptical of convincing "historical photos" on social media. The project also protects real records from being dismissed as AI fakes

Source: bundesregierung.de · monopol-magazin.de (dpa)

5. [Arts] Frankfurt's Bridges chamber orchestra wins the €50,000 Binding culture prize

• Awarded on 27 Oct in the Kaisersaal of Frankfurt's Römer — €50,000, one of Germany's most generous arts prizes
• What kind of orchestra? — a "transcultural" chamber orchestra of musicians with and without a refugee background, based in Frankfurt's Ostend
• Music from three traditions — it brings together classical music from European, Arab and Persian cultures and writes its own repertoire
• A story that began after 2015 — it grew out of a music project founded shortly after the 2015 refugee arrivals; artistic director is Johanna-Leonore Dahlhoff
• What it means for you — if you live in the Rhine-Main area, look up their concerts: a good way to hear the music of Germany as a country of immigration

Source: hessenschau.de · miz.org

6. [Entertainment] The singer East Germany expelled — documentary "Biermann" opens tomorrow

• In cinemas from Thursday, 29 Oct — a 120-minute documentary by Jens Meurer, distributed by Majestic
• Who is Wolf Biermann? — a singer-songwriter and poet born in 1936. He was watched for criticising the GDR and stripped of his citizenship (Ausbürgerung) after a concert in Cologne in 1976
• What's in it — his songs and poems, archive footage, Stasi files and surveillance films, and conversations with fellow artists, told mostly in chronological order
• What it means for you — a way into Germany's division and the tradition of the Liedermacher, Germany's protest singer-songwriters. Good for practising German song lyrics, too

Source: filmdienst.de · kino-zeit.de

7. [Sports] DFB-Pokal: Sabitzer's 93rd-minute goal sends Dortmund past Bremen 3–2

• 27 Oct, Dortmund 3–2 Bremen — Guirassy (6') and Chukwuemeka (17') put Dortmund 2–0 up, substitute Füllkrug struck twice (65' penalty, 69'), and Sabitzer won it in the 93rd minute. 81,365 fans
• Frankfurt win 3–1 in Hamburg — Koch, Burkardt and Ebnoutalib scored; Moffi got one back for HSV
• Ten-man Leipzig turn it around — 0–1 down in Essen, Baumgartner scored in the 78th and 82nd minutes for a 2–1 win after Seiwald was sent off (44')
• Tonight (28 Oct), 20:45: Bayern vs Magdeburg — free to watch on ARD (Das Erste). Leverkusen vs Nürnberg and Kiel vs Hoffenheim kick off at the same time

Source: zdfheute.de · sportschau.de · t-online.de · zdfheute.de · news.de

Weather

City	Thu 29 Oct	Fri 30 Oct	Sat 31 Oct
Berlin	🌥️ 11° / 6° cloudy, a little sun	☁️ 13° / 7° mostly overcast	🌥️ 12° / 8° cloudy, a little sun
Hamburg	🌥️ 15° / 10° cloudy, a little sun	☁️ 12° / 9° overcast	☁️ 12° / 9° overcast
Munich	☁️ 11° / 5° mostly cloudy	☁️ 11° / 3° mostly cloudy	🌦️ 8° / 1° little sun, light rain in places
Cologne	⛅ 14° / 9° partly sunny	⛅ 14° / 5° partly sunny	⛅ 12° / 4° partly sunny
Frankfurt	🌥️ 11° / 2° cloudy, a little sun	☁️ 14° / 4° mostly cloudy	⛅ 12° / 4° partly sunny

Tip: mostly grey but dry. In the south, Halloween night (Saturday) is chilly: Munich reaches only 8° and drops to 1° in the morning, so dress the trick-or-treaters warmly. (wetter.com forecasts)

German from today's news

Word	Meaning	Example from the news
die Mitgliederbefragung	member vote, members' survey	Die SPD plant eine Mitgliederbefragung.
der Warnstreik	warning strike	Verdi ruft zu Warnstreiks bei Banken auf.
der Gewinn	profit	Die Bank meldet einen Rekordgewinn.
die Pflegeversicherung	long-term care insurance	Die Kommission soll die Pflegeversicherung stabilisieren.
die Fälschung	forgery, fake	Das Projekt schützt Archive vor KI-Fälschungen.
das Achtelfinale	round of 16	Dortmund steht im Achtelfinale.

The bank smiles, the bank staff strike — check your appointments this week. Have a good day. Schönen Mittwoch! 🇩🇪