“Not so long ago, to be a German soldier dressed in German uniform was quite a difficult role to embody. I mean, you could be going down the street and you could be spat on, or you could have names called at you.

“I’ve recently seen people get into conversation with soldiers, which I hadn’t seen in the past, [and] more recently, somebody going up to a soldier and actually getting him into conversation about his role, and at the end of the conversation, thanking him.”

Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, describes to Annie Kelly the vast military expansion under way in Germany and outlines the geopolitical landscape that prompted it. They discuss the current rearmament and recruitment campaigns, the political and economic pitfalls the German government faces, and the wider question of national identity that Germany is grappling with.

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