Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who is believed to have deliberately crashed his Germanwings plane into a mountain, may have rehearsed the descent on an earlier flight, says a preliminary French air accident report.

On 70th anniversary of the end of the Nazi regime, new colour footage shows what Germany looked like in the aftermath of World War II.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Hitler’s death in that weird bunker deep beneath the ground in Berlin.

Seventy years ago we reported that German radio played Hitler out with Wagner's Twilight of the Gods.

Otago Peninsula jewelled geckos smuggled to Germany are the first to return to New Zealand under strengthened rules to crack down on poaching.

A protester yesterday jumped at European Central Bank president Mario Draghi during a press conference raising an interesting question: How did she get so close?

German writer Gunter Grass passed away in Lubeck, near the farmhouse where he lived with his second wife, Ute. He was 87.

Five German aspiring models have been flown to New Zealand with the help of the Government's tourism department in a bit to boost visitor numbers.

One year before he made the cut for Lufthansa's elite flying school, Andreas Lubitz worked at a Burger King behind a car wash, flipping Whoppers and frying fries and talking to co-workers about his dream.

The father of the Germanwings co-pilot who allegedly deliberately crashed his plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, is said to be “completely shattered”.

Media reports tell of a disturbed young man in relationship crisis as friends say he was happy in job.

A judge has taken a German tourist's word that she will voluntarily pay thousands of dollars in compensation to a motorcyclist that she seriously injured in a head-on crash.

German retailing giant Aldi has brought a new supermarket experience to Australian shoppers.

Anti-austerity protesters seeking to spoil the inauguration of the ECB's new HQ in Frankfurt left a trail of destruction across the city.

Despite its dark past, this visitor-friendly city in former East Germany takes its history very seriously, as Mathew Dearnaley finds out.

Hundreds of thousands of German women were raped by British, American and French soldiers after the end of the Second World War, a German historian has claimed.

Passengers on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland last month have been exposed to measles, public health officials have confirmed.

She had spent seven months living and working in New Zealand as an au pair, but German woman Janine Baer lost her life after a crash that killed her mother.

As 4500 tonnes of explosives fell from 800 British planes, 25,000 Dresdeners died in a raging firestorm and the heart of their historic city was obliterated.

When 500 German anti-Islamisation protestors in Germany were given free banners and stickers, they accepted. But activists had lured them into a trap.

For the dwindling band who still remember the horrors, it was possibly the last time they would gather to remind the world of their story.

Jozef Paczynski recalls the "welcome" speech the deputy commandant of Auschwitz gave on his arrival in 1940, down to the last chilling word.

A Duesseldorf court has ruled in favour of a man's right to urinate while standing up after his landlord demanded money for damage to the bathroom floor.

Europe is on high alert following anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected Islamist militants.

Munich's Oktoberfest is the largest festival in Europe and one Josh Martin enjoyed a little too much.