Over the past month, I've been amazed to see Germany accept tens of thousands of refugees and to hear Chancellor Merkel promise that the country will take up to 1,000,000 within the year. It's truly mind boggling that families fleeing across the world consider Germany the destination of choice.
Even those voices that criticize Germany's generous policy as indirectly encouraging more people to flee and raising their hopes about entry to Europe, and who forecast bad things ahead for Germany and other European countries that accept refugees on the assumption that they will surely fail to integrate them-- should admit that the resolution to open the country's doors to people in dire need is laudatory.
Germany, the country that started two world wars? The country that invented industrialized mass murder and committed the worst crimes of humanity during the Holocaust? The country that until recently seemed to have utterly failed to attract the high skilled engineers and technicians from abroad that it had sought to bolster its workforce because it was not seen as hospitable?
It’s a surprise to me to witness this new Germany, but not a shock. There has been a gradual but very real shift in Germany's identity over the last generations and even during the last decade.
How did this happen?
It is the direct result of a long and slow process of self-examination following World War II – the Nazi era and all its crimes. A second generation of Germans famously asked their parents and grandparents what they had done during the war and tried to hold Germany accountable for its sins. Universities took up the calls, so did political parties, the media – books and movies, and a special relationship developed between Germany and Israel.
The lessons of the past – to shun anti-Semitism and all forms of xenophobia and nationalism, to question political violence – were taught to apply very directly to the present. A slate of monuments, large and small, in central symbolic places and in small alleys in front of people’s home, were built not only to make the point that Germany should never forget its role as perpetrators, but also that it needed to live with that past and translate its lessons in very real ways today.
And the message was taken up by real people. Groups like Action Reconciliation Service for Peace has sent thousands of post- high school volunteers over decades to work with Jewish organizations, Holocaust survivors and others who suffered under Naziism in Germany, the United States, Israel, Poland and beyond. Many Germans I met during my studies in Berlin and those who visited AJC seeking a more formal dialogue when I worked there, talked very seriously about moral issues and responsibilities. Finally, Germany's leadership tried to set the tone at the top.
Germany is a far cry from a tolerant ideal. Discrimination still exists and sometimes rears its very ugly head, as in the racist-led populist marches being held in Dresden. But the debate is lively: even in Dresden, the counter marchers turn out in impressive force. Regular debates about school integration, circumcision and multiculturalism come up with strong voices all around, but Germany has not enacted laws against mosque height, as Switzerland has, or the wearing of head scarves. The outcomes of these discussions may be unresolved; they generally do not end with further polarizing decisions. Perhaps one can even argue that it's good to keep some of the tensions above surface and to engage in regular national arguments.
It would of course be naive to think that Germany’s new found hospitality is an ethical issue alone. As Brecht famously wrote in The Three Penny Opera: “first food, then morality.” Germany has a strong economy, an anomaly in a struggling Europe. A generous refugee policy is enabled by the country’s economic position, which allows it to even consider the high cost of absorbing refugees.
There is also the demographic issue that has haunted Germany for over a decade – too few young people, too many pensioners on the horizon. New immigrants, many young, offer an answer for an aging population. And the people fleeing Syria are often well educated. So there is self-interest involved as well.
Finally, while the country’s leadership is in favor, and the hospitality of many citizens is undeniable, there remain right wing elements, some of them extreme. It's scary to see those skinheads and their supporters, whose more civilized clothes hide even more pernicious threats, and who have before and may again strike out violently against refugees. They are relatively few, but they can do substantial damage.
Even short of violence, there is no chance that a mass immigration of this nature will move forward without problems. After the initial euphoria, we can expect real concerns about the pressure this will put on housing, the economy, schools. There will certainly be some radicals among the refugees themselves. The decision to accept people is a far cry from being able to successfully integrate them. The United States may have some lessons to offer here, though our own present backlash is not encouraging.
And with all this, the Germany that is accepting refugees, no – welcoming them in the full knowledge that it will have to deal with problems and that this immigration will change the face of the country– is a Germany that is worth noticing and for which I am quite grateful.
And there is one other thing to mention here. I believe that the outcome of this decision is not set and sealed. Will integration be possible or will it fail miserably? Yes, there are historical precedents, but they are not determinants. Decisions that are made now, in small, people-to-people ways and in large, political ones -- will influence the result. So I'd rather cheer than sit on the sidelines and predict the worst. I'd like to think that we can encourage the amazing Germans, young and older, who want to do the right things and that their engagement in this process will bode well for a positive resolution of this courageous action.
