Berlin
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder went on national television this week to urge Germans to adopt Russian orphans. Schröder himself adopted a 3-year-old girl, Victoria, from a St. Petersburg orphanage earlier this year. “For those Germans who have a place in their hearts and homes, they should think about if they want to also adopt a child,” Schröder said. “There are loads of children who can be offered a better future than the one they have.” German newspapers stressed another reason to adopt, one Schröder did not mention: a looming demographic crisis. Germany’s birthrate is already well below the “population replacement” level.
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