Idk if it helps but a friend of mine has similar problems with depression because of the world going to shit. (Even though here problems aren’t so severe). I once showed her the Solarpunk genre/Movement and it worked (at least a bit). It let a bit of sunlight and hope in her heart and she has fallen directly in love with it in the same way I did. So maybe it helps a bit looking into it and get a bit of a hope boost.
Where in Germany? I never have heard of this saying