As we read in the printed Handelsblatt, 50% of Germans say they fear that President Putin will attack a NATO country and thus World War III could break out.
DW Irini Anastasopoulou
A recent poll by the polling institute Forsa records a scene of great insecurity in Germany.
As we read in the printed Handelsblatt, 50% of Germans say they fear that President Putin will attack a NATO country and thus World War III could break out.
Indicatively, in March when the Institute did the same poll, the percentage was at 70%.
The Germans are gripped by the fear of impending war and are preparing for this inevitable eventuality. We read: “A 45-year-old woman, who does not want to see her name printed in the newspaper, wanted to open a safe at a bank and asked to exchange the sum of 20,000 dollars.
It is preparing for the escalation of the war in Ukraine and a new Russian attack on another Western country. The trigger was given one warm evening when she discovered that two of her friends had recently opened safes and stored thousands of US dollars and Swiss francs.
In case they had to leave, they hoped that with this money they could live abroad for a few months.
One of them has even had his suitcase ready for weeks. Then the 45-year-old realized for the first time that she would not be able to easily withdraw money abroad with her credit card if the war in Ukraine escalated and she had to flee Germany.
Because in the event that the bank, from where the credit card was issued, stopped its activities, the card does not work either. An experience lived by many Ukrainian refugees”.
This is not an isolated incident, Ridiger Schmitt, a spokesman for Reisebank (SS. The Frankfurt-based bank specializes in currency exchange, precious metal transactions and travel payments), assures the newspaper.
“Many cooperative banks offer these services,” he assures. “Since the start of the war in Ukraine we have seen a significant increase in demand for US dollars, Swiss francs, Norwegian kroner and Australian and Canadian dollars. All five currencies are considered safe haven currencies.”
Riedinger Schmidt confirms that the number of transactions and coins ordered prove that the demand is not related to preparations for a common trip.
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