When Josef Klees sees the pictures of the war, it reminds him of the days after the flood in the Ahr Valley.
He doesn't want to compare the natural disaster with Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine.
But he knows what it's like to lose your home all of a sudden.
"The crass thing is that when you see the pictures on TV, you have a very good understanding."
Tobias Schrors
political editor.
Follow I follow
After the flood, the young Klees family from Ahrweiler found accommodation in an apartment in a nearby town.
There is no capacity to take in refugees in the Ahr Valley.
A distribution stop of the state applies in the district.
After the floods last July that killed 134, thousands are still struggling with the consequences.
The question “How are you?” can only be asked very carefully, says Josef Klees.
"It's still a lot of catastrophe." There is "such a standstill mode".
Everyone wants to get their houses in shape, pour the screed, put in the windows, but this is often delayed.
The economic consequences of the war can also be felt on a small scale in the Ahr Valley.
"In my grandfather's old workshop, the last windows are no longer there," says Annette Klees.
Most of the windows were supplied by a Russian company, but a basement window and three garage doors will probably not come "because the war got in the way".
The high fuel prices are a burden that Annette Klees cushions by staying in the home office on some days and thus saving fuel.
Flower bulbs under the mud
Despite the war, pandemic and flood, spring is also making its way in the Ahr Valley.
Some flower bulbs survived the flood quite well, says Annette Klees, but there are often no longer beautiful gardens around them.
A few days ago, when Josef Klees was driving along the Ahr near Dernau, he saw a single blooming flower.
A symbol of a strange spring.
Before the flood, Josef and Annette Klees liked to take the children through the old town of Ahrweiler at this time of the year.
A ritual was to eat the first ice cream in the sun.
"That's the typical spring awakening in Ahrweiler," says Josef Klees.
And now?
"There isn't much free time left at the moment," says Annette Klees.
The family would like to go on vacation, but they don't have the time.
They received three free offers: A helper who has a property in northern Germany offered them to stay there for a week.
Another helper promised them a holiday in a cottage.
And there is an invitation to Rotterdam.
At least there was a breather after the flood.
Last fall, the Klees family spent a week in the southern Palatinate.
At that time it was important "that the children saw something normal again," says Annette Klees.
In the Ahr Valley there was still a lot of dirt and dust.
They spent their holidays in the southern Palatinate in the house of a relative of the "Flood Family", as Annette and Josef Klees call the couple, who provided them with a temporary apartment, in which they still live.
During a walk with the couple, the little daughter of Josef and Annette Klees was asked if they were grandma and grandpa.
"No, these are my landlords," said the daughter.
That made the mother smile.
"You're much more than a landlord," she says.
They belong to the tide family.
In this series, the Klees family from Ahrweiler reports on how they coped with the flood disaster. Finally, it was about the improvised everyday life, the first Christmas, the christening of the little son and the beginning of the renovation of the house. In the FAZ podcast for Germany, the Klees family is presented in this episode.