German lockdown 'snitches' spark hot debate
On a sunny Sunday in April, 20 people were enjoying a barbecue in the city of Schwerin in northern Germany. The police promptly intervened, slapping them with a fine for breaking new social distancing rules to limit the spread of COVID-19. Telling on your neighbours is a highly sensitive subject in a country still haunted by memories of Nazism and the former communist dictatorship in East Germany, two regimes under which informing on others was practically a national policy.