Berlin emerges from its most severe post-war blackout as power gradually returns to the final households following a five-day electricity disruption. The unprecedented outage, triggered by a suspected arson attack on critical power infrastructure, paralyzed southwest Berlin during freezing temperatures, affecting approximately 100,000 residents across tens of thousands of properties including schools, hospitals, and care facilities.
The crisis has unveiled stark realities about urban resilience as citizens resorted to emergency measures. Families like Lena’s depended on battery-powered radios for information updates while cooking on camping stoves and preventing water pipes from freezing. Elderly residents including 79-year-old Reinhold adopted extreme cold-weather adaptations, sleeping in woolen hats and multiple layers despite sub-zero conditions.
Authorities attribute the disruption to a deliberate attack on cables near the Lichterfelde gas-fired power plant early Saturday. The far-left militant Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) claimed responsibility through a statement criticizing the fossil fuel industry, though expressing limited sympathy for affluent neighborhoods while apologizing to less wealthy residents. Subsequent contradictory statements appeared on Indymedia, with purported founders distancing themselves from recent actions.
German federal prosecutors are investigating the incident as terrorism, considering charges including sabotage, arson, and disruption of public services. Fire service spokesman Adrian Wentzel confirmed restoration efforts proceeded on a ‘step-by-step basis’ with resources drawn from across Germany.
This incident represents the latest in a series of infrastructure attacks attributed to left-wing extremists active since 2011. The scale and duration exceeded September’s similar outage, reigniting debates about Germany’s vulnerability to sabotage. The crisis has accelerated parliamentary consideration of the ‘Kritis’ bill, presented in November, which establishes minimum protection standards for critical infrastructure after years of development.