Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.
Friedrich Merz won the vote to become the next German chancellor on Tuesday after a second vote in parliament, hours after an unprecedented defeat in the first round of voting.
The Dachau memorial is hosting commemorative events and dedicating a plaque in honor of the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division that first encountered prisoners alive at the camp 80 years ago.