Floyd 1

Will Floyd

English III (H)

Mr. Phillips

08 May 2017

Research Essay: Refugees in Germany

The United States of America has a melting pot society, which means all the cultures are

mixed together to make one delicious soup, but in Germany blending the different cultures for

some people is not so easy. We often see things on the news and social media about terrorist

attacks that claim the lives of many innocent civilians. Many people in Germany believe the

problem has gone on long enough, and they have begun to push for more regulations and reform.

New regulations are needed because the German people and their culture are in danger, and the

country is spending insane amounts of money on the refugees.

One of the main problems with the influx of so many refugees is that they do not truly

have a place to stay. In the early days, refugees were housed in school stadiums and public

parks (Sollors). The temporary housing caused many sports and other extracurricular activities to

be cancelled or postponed. Tensions immediately rose between the German people and those

being housed in those places, especially since it is not wise to come between a German and his or

her Futbol. The problem housing, were later passed on to a new group, the outer city residences.

The German government set up camps around suburbs. The increase of people in those places

caused the suburban area to feel congested like the inner city (Lisser). The suburban area is not

equipped to handle a mass amount of centralized people, and once again this caused tension with

the refugee and German populations.

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The German people are also fearful of the suspected radicals hiding among the refugees.

In 2015, independent.com released a story about jihadis amongst the refugees. The article,

written by Lizzie Dearden, included a statement about Syrian smugglers admitting to using

refugees to test routes that they would later use to bring across jihadis. This news deeply worried

the entire world once the allegations were confirmed by local authorities. German citizen Anna

Lisser commented to Dailymail, It was right to accept refugees but now we realize we don't

know where they are from and what they will do. This attitude is the same all around Germany.

Sibo Sollors, a management advisor in Munich said, There is in general no hostile atmosphere.

However a minority is still acting and behaving quite hostile. The German people do not want

to abandon the thousands of women and children fleeing Syria and the Middle East, but the

German government must also stop the group of hostile migrants from entering the country

disguised as refugees.

The multitude and magnitude of the attacks by this group are staggering. The most

notable attack was during the Christmas season in 2015 when a Syrian refugee drove a truck into

the crowded Christmas market killing 12 people and wounding 49 more. This sparked protests

around Europe as people called to close the porous borders (Tomlinson). When ISIS took

responsibility, people became even more worried. The refugee mood soured again when

hundreds of reports were filed about male refugees assaulting German women during the New

Year's Eve celebrations this past year (Ydstie). Then, again in the summer of 2016, at public

swimming pools, male refugees caused many tentious moments for the German people because

they have a completely different view of women(Sollors). Male refugees were assaulting

German women for wearing bikinis, which violates their religious views. These events caused

many Germans to fear the people they are trying to help. The combination of radicals and violent
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traditionalist make up only a portion of the population, but the minority is still causing the

majority of Germans to look at the refugees in a slightly darker light.

Arguably, a main problem is the refugees have a difficult time assimilating to the German

society. When refugees first began to pour into the country, Germany responded by holding

classes in both German language and culture. However, this could not last as more and more

people had to return to work. The refugees have no proper integration process, and they do not

completely understand how the German people interact with each other (Sollors). In April 2017,

I went on a trip to Germany and could immediately see a separation of the cultures rather than a

melding of them. Firstly, with public communication, riding on the trains and buses you can feel

the silence. Many Germans do not bother other people and mostly mind to themselves, talking in

low whispers when they are in public. Many Germans also are huge believers in the honor code;

the residents do not j-walk or ride the train or bus without a ticket, even though they are rarely

checked. The refugees also have distanced themselves from their German hosts. Some refugees

that have come to Germany have opened Turkish markets, restaurants and bars, and the Germans

feel unwanted in these places. This in itself has caused the two groups to become separate from

one another. Instead of the two cultures mixing together these subtle separations have caused the

two groups to see each other as different, rather than one whole community.

The idea of maintaining the family unit supports yet another argument to continue the

open border policies. Like almost all big animal species, family and the group is important to its

continuation. Similar to inertia, as a family moves, the leader of the house tends to migrate first.

The first person to come will find a job and a home, hopefully in time for the rest of the group to

catch up. This process continues on and on as more and more of the family is able to come to the

country.
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Many people however still believe the refugees can positively impact the country. They

believe this impact will come in the labor market. Germany has one of Europes biggest

economies and the lowest unemployment rate. The big business CEOs believe the refugees

could provide the manpower to help with the worker shortage. The companies needed a mix of

qualified and base level people to fit into the many roles inside the labor force (McDonnel).

Tim McDonnel wrote in an article, titled "Here's Why so Many of Europe's Migrants Have Their

Hearts Set on Germany" on MotherJones, [the refugees] are a potential that needs to be

exploited to a much larger extent. Other immigration supporters don't want to see people in

need turned away. This attitude can be traced back to after World War II when the German

people wanted to make amends for the war. Since the 1950s the German people have created a

Willkommenskulter, a welcoming culture, and they pride themselves on helping people in

need. This is why many people flock to Germany because if you can get to Germany, then you

will tend to be accepted (McDonnel).

Even with the Germans Willkommenskulter many believe the refugees threaten the

German culture. A study by the University of Leipzig was taken on the the German opinion of

refugees. The astonishing results found that almost every second German person felt they are

strangers in their own country (Migrant Crisis Has Left Half of Germans 'feeling like STRANGERS

in Their Own, Express). The German people do not want to remove the refugees, but they are

also against further refugees (Sollors). The problem for the residents is the refugees are refusing

to integrate, When refugees come to a country they should be able to retain their culture, but they

also must integrate into the new country.

As more and more time passes, the support for the continued open borders policy seems

to be fading. The belief that refugees could fill the labor market need does not seem to be
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completely true(Sollors). And the country has spent over 20 billion euros on the refugees

already by having to provide shelter, food, language classes and other basic needs. The country

has also had to resort to buying people off. To try and clear space in the overcrowded camps and

emergency facilities, the German government has started to pay people 1200 euros if they

withdraw their applications for asylum and go back home, and 800 euros to leave if the person

has already been denied. All these expenses are costing the country 7% of the GDP while the

refugees bring in only .4% of the GDP. The expenses can only rise with the inertia effect as more

non-working refugees come following the leaders.

To combat the massive surge of refugees in Germany, the country must reform and revise

its immigration policies. This revision is not a closed border policy, but it is a strengthening one.

Many radicals are able to sneak into the country, which is putting the lives of the citizens in

danger. Kassem Eid told CNN, refugees do not want to come to other countries. They want to

stay in their homes. To help the refugees, we must combat the forces that are making these

people refugees. To begin to solve the refugee problem in Germany, the country must change its

acceptance policies. The change should be a more in depth screening policy and a post

acceptance policy, which would allow government workers to check up on refugees after they

are accepted. Furthermore, rather than allowing anyone to walk into the country unchecked, there

should be tighter security around the borders. There must also be more of an integration policy

that truly prepares the refugees for life in Germany to create a more mingled population and not

a separate one. Ultimately the first responsibility of the German government should be to protect

and support the German people and its culture and helping the refugees from other countries

should come after that.

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Work Cited

Crabtree, Justina. "Germany's Immigration Controversy Rumbles on as 55,000 Migrants Chose to Leave." CNBC.

CNBC, 28 Dec. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.

Dearden, Lizzie. "Germany 'spent More than 20bn on Refugees in 2016' as Crisis Outstrips State Budgets." The

Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 10 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

Estrin, Daniel. "Germany Tells Refugees Don't Touch Women at Pools." USA Today. Gannett Satellite

Information Network, 06 Sept. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

McDonnell, Tim. "Here's Why so Many of Europe's Migrants Have Their Hearts Set on Germany." Mother Jones.

MotherJones, 08 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.

Melin, Mark. "Here's How the Refugee Crisis Is Impacting Germany's Economy." Business Insider. Business

Insider, 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.

"Migrant Crisis Has Left Half of Germans 'feeling like STRANGERS in Their Own Country'."Express.co.uk.

Express.co.uk, 15 June 2016. Web. 05 May 2017.

Sollors, Sibo. "Re: English Research Paper." Received by Will Floyd, 27 April. 2017.

Tomlinson, Chris. "Marine and Marion Le Pen Slam Merkel for Berlin Attack." Breitbart. N.p., 21 Dec. 2016.

Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Thompson, Paul. "'Merkel Is RUINING Our Country!' Germans Revolt over Four Savage Attacks by Muslims in

a Week... and Blame ISIS Terror Attacks on the Million Refugees She Welcomed in a Year." Daily Mail

Online. Associated Newspapers, 27 July 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

Ydstie, John. "For Refugees In Germany, Hope And Frustration Mark Path Toward Integration." NPR.
NPR, 13 Mar. 2017. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.