Germany has taken in as many refugees this year as during the severe crisis of 2015, which was already a record high. And, with winter, arrivals could be even more massive. out of 27 000 places available, less than 200 are still available in Berlin. Lbavaria took in five times more refugees in September than a year earlier. In Saxony, 1,500 asylum seekers arrived in July, 2,000 in August, 2,400 in September.
The situation is all the more complicated as asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Turkey are also increasing in number. So much so that the German magazine Der Spiegel hijacked Angela Merkel’s famous expression in 2015. While the Chancellor asserted “Wir schaffen das” – “We will get there” –, the weekly, wonders: “Schaffen wir das?” – “Are we going to get there?”
Communal halls, containers, former administrative buildings, barracks, even the various terminals of Berlin’s former Tegel airport have been requisitioned… Everywhere, towns and regions are trying to find space to accommodate this flow. If the organization is much better than during the 2015 crisis, the devices are or are reaching saturation. Sometimes refugees have to pile into already full centers and are condemned to sleep on the ground, without mattresses, for several weeks.
150,000 young Ukrainians have also been enrolled in schools since the start of the school year, which has made the lack of teachers even more glaring, a problem that has already been present in Germany for several years. This sometimes generates tension, in a country where there are already many concerns: inflation, soaring energy prices, the economic crisis. And, sometimes, solidarity fades.
The German executive feared that the far right would exploit the situation, but the slippage came from the president of the CDU, the conservative party. Friedrich Merz blamed the Ukrainians for making “social tourism”, in other words to come and take advantage of aid from Germany. Accused of populism, Friedrich Merz, who is aiming for the chancellery in 2025, had to apologize.
The Minister of the Interior welcomed German solidarity at the start of the week. Nancy Faeser regularly repeats that the doors of Germany remain wide open while the Ukrainian border is only 800 kilometers from Berlin. She also invited communities to a summit in November on refugee issues. For some, this event comes very late.