Drones loaded with explosives, blackouts – the threat has a “new quality,” says Malteser President Schelleis. Citizens must take precautions so that Germany becomes crisis-proof.
Berlin. Drones, attacks and blackouts – the threat situation in Germany has worsened. On Thursday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned of a growing threat from Russia and further hybrid attacks.
Martin Schelleis has been president of the Catholic aid organization Malteser Hilfedienst since the summer and looks back on a 46-year career in the Bundeswehr. As a lieutenant general in the Bundeswehr, he was always on alert, but even as a civilian he always packed an 80-liter backpack at home.
Only a quarter of Germans prepare for disasters. Everyone should be prepared for the “fire department to ring at three in the morning,” says Schelleis, who was also responsible for the Bundeswehr’s administrative assistance operations in the corona pandemic and the 2021 flood disaster. How well is Germany prepared for an emergency and what still needs to happen?
Drones loaded with explosives at airports, attacks on substations, large-scale blackouts like those in Berlin at the beginning of the year - is this the new threat reality that we have to get used to?
The threat definitely has a new quality, although I hope we don't have to get used to it permanently. And I think it is problematic when incidents like the one with the explosive drone in Leipzig are ridiculed or trivialized.
An event like the power outage in southwest Berlin in January – could that happen anywhere?
I was rather surprised that it was only a selective attack. If the perpetrators had paralyzed critical infrastructure on both sides of the state border between Berlin and Brandenburg, the rescue workers would quickly have reached the limits of their capacity - both in terms of personnel and critical material such as power generators.
In cases like the blackout in Berlin, state civil protection is important. But according to a Maltese survey, two thirds of Germans believe it is not sufficiently crisis-proof. How alarming is this finding?
The loss of trust is significant and has become even worse since Corona. Depending on the survey, only 20 to 40 percent of citizens believe that the state can cope with its tasks. This is alarming. But we also need to appeal more strongly to personal responsibility.
Citizens should help themselves?
In any case, you shouldn't rely solely on the rescue workers. During the Berlin blackout, many people had no electricity-independent light or heat source in their apartment. When the outside temperatures were low, they were immediately dependent on external help. And without a battery-operated or crank radio, if you're in doubt, you won't even know what's going on. If your own apartment is no longer usable, you should also know which friends or relatives you can go to.
Since August 2024, Schelleis has been a volunteer federal representative for crisis resilience, security policy and civil-military cooperation for the Maltese. In June 2026 he was elected president of the Catholic aid organization with its 41,000 full-time and almost 60,000 volunteer employees.
In 2016, the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière, was heavily criticized when he advised citizens to stock up. Have we made any further progress in taking care of ourselves?
Thomas de Maizière experienced a terrible shitstorm back then and was accused of warmongering. In my opinion, the willingness of the population is greater today. Many people actually expect the state to tell them what to do. Information campaigns would therefore make sense - for example along the lines of the Swedish civil protection brochure, which is regularly sent to all households.
The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Control has checklists on its website. Should it also send out brochures?
Why not? The city of Essen sent out a precautionary brochure adapted to local conditions to all around 300,000 households and received no negative feedback. That is remarkable. Smaller communities have also started similar initiatives.
How do you personally prepare?
We have water and canned food at home, but luckily we also have a cellar with plenty of space. I also always have a packed 80-liter backpack with the most important things. Clothes, water, a cell phone, a power bank, a crank radio and food for two days.
As a soldier, you were used to alerts. But isn't an 80 liter backpack excessive?
Everyone has to decide for themselves what they need when the fire brigade rings at three in the morning. The only important thing is to be prepared for such cases. According to a survey, 75 percent of Germans know that they have to take precautions themselves. Only about a quarter actually do it. Another quarter say they want to take care of it at some point. And around half do nothing.
Five years have passed since the devastating Ahr Valley flood. Have we learned from the mistakes made back then?
In my opinion, structural precautions are not being taken consistently enough. Some people are building again in unsafe zones, arguing that they have no other property. You can do that, but you shouldn't be surprised if you are affected again. Rhineland-Palatinate has learned from concrete disaster management and created a state office for fire and disaster control that is intended to improve supra-local management.
But a new authority alone isn't enough, is it?
That's correct. During the pandemic, I experienced that some crisis teams only existed on paper and had never been put into practice.
The Maltese rely on around 60,000 volunteers. Isn't the state putting itself on a limb here because it can delegate such sovereign tasks?
Voluntary work is a great treasure of our country, and this system should fundamentally be preserved. But anyone who spends their free time working as a volunteer should at least have a working vehicle, a hall where it doesn't rain, and reasonable sanitary facilities.
In May, the federal government promised ten billion euros by 2029 with the pact for civil protection...
That is good and right. Among other things, three billion euros are to be invested in the technical relief organization. The reason for this is that 90 percent of civil protection is carried out by volunteers and they need an appropriate infrastructure.
But that also applies to the aid organizations that also provide forces and resources for civil protection, right?
Exactly. But the federal government refers the fire departments and aid organizations that work on behalf of states and municipalities to their funding. We Maltese have next to nothing from the pact. And to make matters worse, we must continue to use donations for sovereign tasks.
How come?
For example, the costs we incur for providing a civil defense vehicle are only partially reimbursed; the rest must be covered by donations. For our organization, this amounts to a single-digit million amount per year. That may not be a lot of money, but I still find it scandalous that core functions of state services have not been fully financed from state resources for years.
Back to the starting point – if a hybrid threat were to become an emergency, Germany would be a hub for the passage of Allied troops. The Bundeswehr, emergency service organizations and the private sector would then have to work together well, as the Germany operational plan envisages. How far are we with this?
When I dealt with this topic myself a few years ago in the Bundeswehr, there were strong reservations - other topics were more important. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General André Bodemann is traveling extensively across the country to make the operational plan known to business and elsewhere. But there are also originally civilian responsibilities that are not covered in the operational plan.
What are you thinking about?
Medical care, logistical support, maintaining food supplies. In June, the conference of interior ministers of the federal states called on the federal government to create a roadmap for civil defense capability and to define what we should actually prepare for. We urgently need a new conceptual approach because the existing concept essentially dates back to the 1960s.
Wouldn't that be a task for the new National Security Council?
Civil defense is currently the responsibility of the Federal Minister of the Interior. But it's hard to leave health care to that. Issues relating to supply chains, supplies or the provision of personnel also fall under the responsibility of other departments. In this respect, it would be good to let the National Security Council develop a concept and then regularly carry out a target/actual comparison.
