Good evening,


this day was also mainly characterized by the news from the Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the question of how to accommodate the many refugees who have no family ties in Germany is becoming ever more pressing.

The Frankfurt social affairs officer Elke Voitl (Die Grünen) called Frankfurt the "largest contact point" for people fleeing the war from Ukraine on Monday.

However, the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey (SPD), has said the same thing about the capital in the past few days.

Basically both are saying that they need money, lots of money, to do their job.

Change of subject: A supposedly eagerly awaited new anti-corona vaccine is a slow seller, the war is also having an impact on universities, and there is a lack of successors for Hessian handicraft businesses.

Jacqueline Vogt

Department head of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Boss wanted:

The question of succession is perhaps even more economically threatening for the skilled trades than the pandemic.

A special survey by the Hessian Chambers of Crafts in autumn 2020 showed that almost a quarter of the business owners are 61 years of age or older.

The number of those who want to hand over their company to a successor in the next five years rose from 18 to 29 percent compared to 2015.

For every 100 young entrepreneurs willing to take over, there should be around 200 companies looking for a successor.

Demographic change is exacerbating the need, as the strong baby boomer cohorts will be retiring in the next few years.

For business owners who are approaching retirement age, the search for potential successors is becoming increasingly difficult,

because, according to the chamber, the number of trainees and young masters has been falling continuously for many years.

At the same time, traditional succession planning often fails because there are no offspring in the family or they have different professional orientations.

Nicolas Schoch describes the phenomenon on the business page of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung and presents companies from the region and how they deal with the question of succession.

Studying in times of war:

Students from Ukraine and Russia are also enrolled at almost all universities in the region;

many colleges maintain relationships with Russian universities.

A survey on the university page of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung sheds light on how they are dealing with the current situation.

That's what the universities do: There are Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian students at Frankfurt's Goethe University.

With 325 students from the Russian Federation make up the largest group of international students after Turks and Chinese.

The 250 Ukrainians form the fifth largest group, while 40 Belarusians are enrolled.

The university offered all of them psychological support, among other things.

The social counseling is currently experiencing a lot of inquiries, it is said, many wanted a certificate of study so that they would not be drafted into military service.

The historical research group POLY in Frankfurt wants to give researchers from Ukraine a perspective with scholarships.

The TU Darmstadt prepares language courses, examines scientific fellowships,