Germany’s refugees deserve compassion

In 2015 alone, Germany received asylum applications from 1.1 million refugees who have fled violence in nations affected by the Arab Spring. For a population of 80 million, taking in that many refugees obviously presents a logistical problem of a scale and category not seen since the end of the Second World War. And the sheer volume of new arrivals will present a whole host of issues on German society. How are the refugees to be assimilated? How are they to be integrated? And, in basic terms, what’s the real cost going to be for Germans, either in higher taxes, overstretched resources for local governments and municipalities, or public services focused on the new arrivals rather than on those living there previously.

These issues provide fertile ground for those opposed to the principled open-door policy advocated by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government. Already, across Germany, the far-right movement is gaining traction from loudly protesting the arrival of so many non-Germans. And fear thrives on ignorance and misinformation cited by xenophobic groups such as Pegida.

In Cologne, where a number of crimes, sexual assaults and incidents have been recorded by police and attributed to refugees, tension is growing between those who support the refugees, those who oppose them and those who oppose the right-wing philosophies espoused by the anti-immigrant groups. German history is rife with the damage done by the far right, and it is rife too with examples of how propaganda and misinformation influenced outcomes to favour the far right.

The reality is that the arrival of such a large number of desperate and desolate people will be significant, and the challenge of integration will require the full and considerable resources of German society to be a success.

Merkel is right to ensure that those who break the law are held to account — be they refugees or thugs who target the vulnerable. What the refugees don’t need now is the hatred and violence aimed at them from the far right. They have suffered enough these past months and years.