Annual review: These people were particularly challenged in 2024

A loud bang in the middle of the night, a cloud of dust and a pile of rubble: In August, a hotel in Kröv on the Moselle collapsed. For Jörg Teusch, the fire and disaster control inspector (BKI) for the Bernkastel-Wittlich district, the mission of his life began.

Teusch coordinated the operation on site. His calm and thoughtful art impressed. Particularly emotional: The experienced operations manager had tears in his eyes when a baby was rescued from the rubble of the collapsed hotel. He said after the rescue that he had never been so happy to see a strange child.

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At risk of life
Firefighters talk about operations after the hotel collapse in Kröv

At the beginning of August, a hotel in Kröv collapsed, nine people were buried. Trier firefighters are playing a key role in rescuing the survivors.

Two people died in the Kröv hotel collapse and seven were saved alive. The reason for the collapse is currently under investigation.

The district administrator of the Vulkaneifelkreis, Julia Gieseking (SPD), was particularly challenged this year when plans were announced for refugees to be accommodated in an empty hotel in the Michelbach district of Gerolstein. There were civil protests.

“Liar, liar, liar,” some chanted and accused the district administrator of the fact that the investor had only bought the hotel after he had received a promise from the district administrator that refugees would be accommodated there. They must have known about it for a long time, but they left the village in the dark, hence the allegations.

Gerolstein-Michelbach

Place in the Vulkaneifel feels taken by surprise
Michelbacher defends himself against planned refugee accommodation

In Michelbach on Thursday, 160 people demonstrated against planned refugee accommodation. The Vulkaneifel district will accommodate up to 60 refugees in the village.

Gieseking admitted that some things could perhaps have been done differently. Finding solutions for so many different interests is never easy, she said. No people have yet been accommodated in the planned accommodation in Michelbach.

Every year on International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, a survivor of Nazi terror speaks at the United Nations in New York. This year it was Christian Pfeil from Trier. “Speaking at the United Nations was a surprise to me,” he said.

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Trierer survived the Holocaust
Holocaust Remembrance Day: Trier Sinto speaks at the UN in New York

The Sinto Christian Pfeil from Trier spoke at the UN as a survivor of the Holocaust. Pfeil was born in 1944 in the Lublin Ghetto in occupied Poland.

Sinto from Trier was born in January 1944 in the Lublin ghetto. “It’s a miracle that I survived,” says the now 80-year-old.

“What we are experiencing here now is threatening the existence of our company.” This is how winemaker Maximini von Schubert from Mertesdorf assessed the situation in his vineyard in mid-September. Many winegrowers on the Moselle, Saar and Ruwer are similar. Especially in the cooler side valleys of the Moselle, for example on the Ruwer and in the Liesertal. The frost there in April caused extensive damage.

Trier region

Forecast for 2024 vintage
Historically bad vintage: less wine on the Moselle than ever before

The Riesling harvest begins next in the Mosel wine-growing region. It is already clear that the winemakers will have very little wine in their cellars. This could endanger livelihoods.

The results at the autumn press conference in October were the same: winegrowers in the Mosel wine-growing region harvested fewer grapes this year than ever before in the past 50 years.

According to Moselweinwerbung, around half a million hectoliters of wine were produced on the Moselle in 2024 – around a third less than in average years. According to the association, winegrowing businesses in the cooler side valleys of the Moselle – such as the Lieser, the Saar and the Ruwer – were particularly affected.

The main street in Riveris was destroyed during the Pentecost flood. Since then, local mayor Thomas Hoffmann (FWG) has been fighting for the state to pay for the road to be repaired – so far without success.

We hope that the country’s great shoulder will help us.

The community has now filmed the street on its own and still feels abandoned by the state at the end of the year, says Thomas Hoffmann. “We hope that the country’s big shoulder will help us,” he says.

Riveris

Less flood aid than promised?
After Pentecost floods: People in Riveris feel left alone

The Pentecost flood caused great damage in Riveris. The state had announced that it would support the community. But now there is less money than hoped.

After her victory at the Paralympics, cyclist Maike Hausberger was welcomed in her hometown of Butzweiler (Trier-Saarburg district). The place organized a celebration for her. The 29-year-old Hausberger won gold and bronze at the Paralympic Games in Paris.

From Eritrea via the Vulkaneifel to Paris: It wasn’t that long ago that Samuel Fitwi had nothing to do with running. Fitwi fled his home country of Eritrea to Germany. “It was a 50:50 chance: either I end up in Europe or I die,” he told SWR.

“The race of my life”
By two seconds: Samuel Fitwi improves the German marathon record in Valencia

Amanal Petros set his German record over the marathon route. Samuel Fitwi from the Silvesterlauf Trier club was just slightly faster in Valencia.

Samuel Fitwi is now a German citizen and has discovered his passion for running. The success shows that he has found the right passion. First the Olympic participation as a marathon runner in Paris and then a new German marathon record in Valencia. “I am really happy about the German record. “That was the race of my life,” said Fitwi after the competition.