Flüchtling: (n) refugee

Die Mauer muss weg gehen. The wall must go away.

Over dinner yesterday evening, my host-mother quoted a German comedy series similar to SNL. This punchline, meant comically in reference to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall (which is November 9, by the way), stuck with me, and I raced to write it down.

Ironically, as Germany begins its celebration of the 25th anniversary of its reunification of eastern and western states and the meshing of its once iron borders, many European countries are frantically beginning to build their own walls, enhancing their own border control. Their goal: to keep refugees from entering their land.

Throughout the past couple months, the European refugee crisis permeated world headlines, going absolutely viral when the Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up, face down on a beach off the coast of Turkey as his family attempted to flee to safety in Greece with all perishing except for his father. Within this past week, many countries sealed their borders to fleeing refugees, claiming they have inadequate conditions, supplies, or not enough room or money to support the sudden tsunami of people. The only country to refrain from closing its borders is Germany.

According to Spiegel, a very well-known magazine in the country, comparable to Time magazine in the United States, there are over 100 reasons to legally reside in Germany including "refugees, people fleeing for their lives or freedom from persecution or other danger." For those who are unaware, people are currently fleeing Syria as it is in the midst of a brutal civil war (that has continued for about 5 years or so now). The war derived from the Arab Spring, in which many dictators and kings stepped down from their thrones in response to revolts of their subjects, however, the Al-Assad family refused to relinquish the throne. ISIS and other extremist and/or terrorist organizations also intervened in the attempt to seize the state for their own ruling. Thus, many Syrian citizens were tortured, brutally maimed, or killed, and those who survived were displaced as they attempted to make their escape. (If you would like to learn more about the progression of the war, watch this Youtube video: )

There is no easy way for those who seek asylum in the European Union, as there are mountains of paperwork to be filed, and one current debate is whether or not a refugee can apply in their homeland or once s/he reaches political asylum. Within the past week, headlines shouted the building and closure of borders to refugees in countries such as Austria, Hungary, and Croatia being the most recent, leaving thousands of refugees stranded between borders. In desperation for asylum, they flock to Germany. Currently, Germany has 250,000 pending refugee applications, and daily, exponentially growing numbers. So far over 800,000 refugees have entered Germany in the past month, with 40,000 of them being from only this past weekend. Because of the sudden influx of people, accommodations and resources have been severely lacking. However, one can only search for these resources if one makes it to said asylum. According to Spiegel:

"[The European Union] has established itself at the external borders of Europe a Darwinian regime. The right to asylum is only for those who reach European territory. This is exactly what has become almost impossible by Europe's border policy. The EU Member States have erected fences at its edges and pulled up walls to keep refugees away. For those seeking protection, whether from Eritrea, Syria or Iraq, there are no safe, legal ways to Europe. You have to pay smugglers to rise in unseaworthy boats and overcrowded trucks to even apply for asylum in the EU at all."

Basically, the refugee crisis is turning into a literal battle of survival of the fittest. Those who manage to make it to a European country find asylum, and those who don't perish. All the while, Chancellor Merkel extends welcoming arms to the refugees, stating that "if we must now begin to apologize that we show a friendly face in emergency situations, this is not my country." When the wall fell almost exactly 25 years ago, the Germans meant it. Despite the lack of effort worldwide, Germany has and still is constantly accepting refugees, even if they do not have adequate space or resources for them.

Here in Cologne, many citizens and especially students volunteer in a relief effort from preparing welcome banners and posters to donating clothes and food, to teaching kids and reading to them and their families. In fact, there were so many clothing donations that the organization in charge of collecting them had to shut its doors to process the overwhelming influx of help. The point is, these people are granted asylum. The CDU/SPD, which is the main political party in Germany currently, set aside 500 million euros in the German budget for the next year for the accommodations of the refugees, showing even more so that it is possible to make arrangements and handle this tsunami of people, something they may not have even had to go to that extent for had other countries decided to take down their walls.

Germany accepting these refugees is not without repercussions. In a conversation with a German, who wishes to remain anonymous, the German fear with this sudden influx of people and after years of dealing with Turkish immigrants is a loss of German culture. The German population is currently in decline with a negative birth rate, and those who are entering the country are refusing to adopt or even try to understand the way of German life. Translated from German, she says that "it is not a problem that Germany is accepting these people. It's a problem that they want our land to be more and more like their homeland, therefore they refuse to abide by German law and culture. There is a disparity between types of respect."

To the Germans, not acting is also a form of action, and seeing as this has been and continues to be a humanitarian crisis, it makes absolutely no sense to allow history to repeat itself. Instead, the United Nations sat back and watched a civil war tear apart a country, and now we have to deal with the shrapnel. That is not how it should be. Too many people have died and enough have suffered. When will we as a world population learn to not let history repeat infinitely?

There will always be a German opposition regardless as there still exists a neo-nazi party, more or less located in the east of Germany, who have burned down multiple refugee camps. However, the end goal for Germany is not only to help others in a time of crisis, but to show that they are, in fact (and despite the actions of a few people, whose intentions are not that of the country), a changed nation, something surrounding countries have not seemed to take note of as they build their walls ever higher. In the words of Kathi Schulz, German TA at Allegheny College (2014-2015), "There is no way for the refugees to go back to their countries, so it is our responsibility to welcome them to a new home. I think it is an important chance to show the world that Germany is a different nation now than it used to be more than 60 years ago."

*Disclaimer: Information may change from the time of publication.