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'Nothing military.' What actually burned down at the Berlin plant
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.by Gregor Spitzen [REGNUM] A major fire that broke out on Friday at the Diehl Gruppe plant in southwest Berlin immediately enveloped the German capital not only in a cloud of acrid black smoke, but also in all sorts of conspiracy theories. Although Berlin police told reporters on Tuesday that the preliminary investigation had revealed "no signs of sabotage" at this time, some reporters had a good imagination, fueled by an article in The Financial Times about ubiquitous Russian agents sleeping and seeing how to arrange another petty mischief at the enterprises of the European military-industrial complex, they continue to look for a black cat in a dark room. An article published on Sunday in a British publication with the headline “Intelligence agencies warn: Russia is preparing sabotage across Europe” has certainly fueled conspiracy theories around the Berlin fire. Thus, journalists recalled that in mid-April, two Russian Germans were arrested in Bayreuth (Bavaria) for allegedly plotting attacks on military and logistics facilities in Germany on behalf of Russia. At the end of April in the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service also charged two more men with starting a fire at a warehouse containing aid supplies for Ukraine on instructions from the Russian government. Finally, in Sweden, security services are currently investigating a series of recent train accidents that they believe may be acts of sabotage. A number of recent statements from other European capitals fit perfectly into a similar outline of pan-European hysteria: a statement by the Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, according to which Russia tried to destroy the signaling systems on the Czech railways; a message from the Estonian Internal Security Service accusing Russia of organizing an attempt on the car of the Minister of Internal Affairs in February 2024; and of course, a warning from the French Ministry of Defense about possible sabotage attacks by Russia on military targets this year. Well, how, pray tell, in such a situation can an ordinary German believe that a fire is just a fire? The trigger for most speculation about the man-made nature of the fire is, of course, the fact that the Nuremberg industrial concern Diehl Gruppe is engaged not only in the production of metal structures for the automotive and aviation industries, but also carries out defense orders for the German government. In particular, the concern's enterprises manufacture the IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile system, currently used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Journalists eager for sensations are not stopped even by the fact that Diehl’s military products are produced not in Berlin, but in Überlingen - that is, on the other side of Germany. It is quite possible that the interest of the press was fueled by the fact that until 2012, products were manufactured at this enterprise by the company Schempp & Decker Präzisionsteile und Oberflächentechnik, which then came under the control of Diehl. However, as a spokesman for the concern stated, this company is currently not part of the Diehl Defense arms division and does not supply products to other Diehl Gruppe companies. The morbid interest of reporters could also be aroused by the fact that until recently, the corporate office of Diehl Defense, responsible for external communications, was located on the territory of the untimely burned enterprise. However, the company's PR and GR divisions, which already have nothing to do with production processes, recently moved to Potsdamer Platz, apparently for greater presence and easier communication with the Ministry of Defense and the administrative divisions of the Bundeswehr. Let us briefly recall how events developed in the German capital: a fire broke out on the territory of the plant on Friday morning and quickly spread throughout the territory, especially affecting the electroplating workshop for cars, where hazardous substances were also stored. The situation was complicated by the fact that during the fire, part of the building collapsed, which contained toxic chemicals - in particular, sulfuric acid and copper cyanide, the fumes of which, if inhaled, can be very dangerous to humans. At the peak of the fire, the Berlin fire brigade was forced to deploy up to 220 firefighters and about 50 vehicles, including the fire brigade of Schönefeld Airport and the internal fire brigade of the pharmaceutical concern Bayer, which is well acquainted with extinguishing chemical fires. At the same time, all employees of the affected plant were able to leave the fire scene on their own, and, according to authorities, no one was injured. The same cannot be said about the plant building, which was badly damaged by fire and is in danger of collapse. Its "controlled demolition" is expected to begin Tuesday, police said. The Office of the Fire Marshal of the State Criminal Investigation Department has taken over the investigation. Although a huge cloud of smoke appeared over Berlin on Friday and was preparing to move north across the city, causing mild panic in the German capital, elevated levels of pollutants were detected in the air only at the site of the incident, so there was no widespread alarm about chemical hazards in Berlin. was announced. The situation is slightly worse with waste water and foam after extinguishing a fire: there is a danger that some of the waste still managed to leak through the barrier of sandbags and end up in the sewer system and the nearby Teltow Canal. Be that as it may, on Sunday afternoon, as the author of IA Regnum, who specially arrived in the German capital to study the circumstances of the incident, personally noted, there was no longer any poisonous cloud over Berlin, there was no panic among the townspeople, and the remains of the plant continued to burn out peacefully under vigilant under the supervision of German firefighters. Alas, sometimes you still have to admit that a fire is just a fire that broke out in a galvanizing shop as a result of an accident. No matter how much we sometimes want to witness a sensation. Posted by: badanov 2024-05-08 |
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