After the Second World War, many thousands of grenades containing highly toxic chemical warfare agents were disposed of in the Dethlingen pond near Munster in Lower Saxony. On 14 March 2025, at the invitation of the Federal Foreign Office, the members of the Executive Council and the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had an opportunity to visit “the world’s most toxic hole”, as one journalist put it. Since 2023, tremendous efforts are underway to recover these toxic remnants of war, with a view to preventing damage to the environment and protecting the health of the local population. The international diplomats were shown how grenades are recovered by an armoured excavator with great care and then examined by experts in full NBC protective suits. Next, the toxic objects are placed in specially sealed containers and transported a few kilometres away to a gigantic incinerator of the publicly owned disposal agency GEKA. There, the grenades are destroyed without any residue or harm to the environment. After incineration, only harmless scrap metal remains.

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We are able to apply at international level the comprehensive expertise we have gained from dealing with the poisonous remnants of both World Wars, and specifically regarding the safe destruction of chemical weapons. Not only is GEKA destroying the poison gas grenades that are being recovered from Dethlingen pond; it has also, with support from the Federal Foreign Office, destroyed chemical weapons from Syria (2013-2014) and Libya (2016-2017) – thus making the world a little bit safer.

The toppling of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024 offers an opportunity to finally destroy the former regime’s remaining chemical weapons stocks. The visit to Dethlingen pond and to DEKA once again underscored that Germany is willing and able to contribute in this regard, as it has done in the past.