RE: European Stories

They lead strict lives, like to stay within their community, and are convinced that a new and better world is coming. Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses call them a sect, but they see themselves differently. ARTE has been allowed the rare opportunity to film in their German administrative headquarters in the town of Selters.

Chrome, exhaust clouds, tail fins: Hardly any other country outside the USA has as many American classic cars as Sweden. The highlight of the year: the „Classic Car Week“. Thousands of people celebrate and cruise here, many from the working class. The lovingly rocked finery is often their only luxury - and a piece of self-assertion.

If large employers go bankrupt, this often affects entire regions. In Saxony-Anhalt, 580 employees of an automotive supplier feared for their future and their hometown. In central England, an entire industry is in crisis with the stumbling porcelain industry, and people have been witnessing the decline of their cities for years.

Attached to only one rope at a dizzying height: industrial climbers practice one of the most dangerous professions in France. The formerly freelance graphic designer Ella Freeman, like many other high-altitude workers, only discovered the profession indirectly. Grégory Molina co-founded a union due to numerous accidents and precarious employment conditions.

A church that moves „migrates“ several kilometers to a new location was the spectacular highlight of the move of the northern Swedish city of Kiruna. Because iron ore mining is getting closer, large parts of the city have to make way. Many buildings are being demolished, and the new center consists largely of new buildings. This is causing resentment among the residents of Kiruna.

Romania was once a leading nation in gymnastics. But behind the successes of the numerous world and Olympic champions lay not only flexibility and iron discipline, but also psychological pressure, humiliation or even physical violence. Former and active athletes break their silence, as questionable training methods still apply to this day.

The new beginning in Syria is proving difficult. A year after the fall of the Assad regime, many who fled to Germany during the civil war are gradually returning – also out of responsibility to their country.

„I'm not afraid of the soldiers here, but of crazy Putin!“ says Dorin Todoruţ. The Romanian lives in Cincu, a village that has increasingly become a military-strategic hub on NATO's eastern flank in recent years. Around one thousand soldiers from various NATO countries are currently stationed on the outskirts of the village. And there are to be more.

An island of its own – a dream for many! But not all island owners are super-rich, reclusive and under palm trees in the sun. From an uninhabited island off Scotland to the Finnish holiday island, most private islands require extensive management and protection. What does it mean to own an island in Europe?

Women and men who would have been retired long ago bake at Vienna's Café Vollpension. They improve their slim pension and stay in contact with the youth – according to the concept of the Café Vollpension. The young organizers now want to spread this idea and are going on tour to Bad Ischl – a big risk.

Roma are in a difficult position in Hungary: 40 percent of them live below the poverty threshold, mostly away from city centers. This has a very strong impact on their education: 99 percent of young Roma never attend university. Given the situation, the Ambedkar Gymnasium seems like a hotbed of resistance, as it only teaches Roma.

Only six per cent of prisoners in EU prisons are women. They are usually housed in women's correctional facilities or wards isolated from men. In Spain, however, they have long been setting up mixed wards in prisons, and France is now also considering this.

In the middle of the Adriatic Sea lies Palagruža, a lonely rock with a lighthouse that has been inhabited since 1875. Vojo Šain has worked here for 26 years as one of Croatia's last lighthouse keepers. For him, Palagruža is more than just a workplace; the island is his second home. For weeks he lives far from comfort and civilization.

Peace Village International staff regularly fly to the world's crisis areas. There they take children who are so sick or injured that they would die in their home countries. Currently, mainly two- to ten-year-olds from Afghanistan, Tajikistan or Angola come to Oberhausen, where they are treated by volunteer doctors and helpers.

Since the attacks on the Christmas markets in Berlin in 2016, Strasbourg in 2018 and Magdeburg in 2024, police, authorities and organizers have been providing increasingly massive protective measures every year. But can such major events even be fully protected against terrorism?

More than 100 magnificent old palaces dominate the cityscape in Palermo. The owners try to save the old houses over time on their own. The state imposes costly requirements for monument protection, but does not help with the preservation of the buildings. They are part of Palermo's identity and an important economic factor.

Alpacas are sweet, fluffy and move people's hearts. Originally from the Andes, the camel species has become a phenomenon in Europe, and alpaca hikes or alpaca yoga are trendy. But the hype surrounding the cute animals also has its downsides: Some hobby breeders underestimate the care of the demanding animals.

The Czech village of Rozvadov – in the middle of no man's land on the German-Czech border has only 800 inhabitants, but a large casino – and millions in the game. Where once a border fence separated two worlds, Europe is now coming together. Europe's largest poker resort makes the community rich. How is life between the village idyll and the poker palace?