It all starts with the awareness of helplessness. In early 2015, the Mediterranean was repeatedly the scene of shipwrecks. Overloaded boats capsized, hundreds of lives swallowed, under the impassive gaze of Europe. From Marseille to Berlin, a handful of women and men refuse to give up. Among these fanatics, Sophie Beau, coordinator of humanitarian projects for nearly two decades, and Klaud Vogel, captain of the German merchant navy, were dismayed by the escalating tragedy. Together, they share a common certainty: we must act. “We said to ourselves that it was unthinkable that no one would do anything while in the central Mediterranean (maritime corridor between Libya and Italy, editor’s note) has become the deadliest migration route in the world. We couldn’t stand doing nothing any longer, so we formed a civil association to compensate for America’s failure.”recalls Sophie Beau.
The previous year, Rome had ended Operation Mare Nostrum, its rescue system
