The German Immigration Crisis
By Andrea Radoman
Introduction
The ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East have led to a multitude of changes in the world as well as bringing emphasis to issues that had been present for years. Amongst the territorial disputes, age old grudges between nations and the like, there was the resurgence of questions regarding immigration policy. With the destruction of the Gaza war and other nearby conflicts, the inhabitants sought refuge in Europe. In 2015 when the refugee crisis was marked to have started- with the Syrian War- they initially went to Greece and took the path of the Balkan route to more northern countries, such as Germany and Sweden. The Schengen Agreementthat allows for passport free travel through much of the EU was called into question during this time as wealthier nations were flooded with refugees they were woefully unprepared to accommodate. Over the years countries have modified their immigration policies to either work with the EU top-down allocation of refugees or refuse them, with Poland being one of the few that doesn’t, and France and Germany being the primary hubs of immigration. In countries with looser refugee laws, it appears that the economy and standard of living have decreased, while crime has risen- all of which apply to France and Germany, perhaps more severely to the latter.
History of Immigration Policy in Germany
Germany has subsisted on immigration and acted as a shelter for refugees as far back as the mid to late 17th century, after the thirty years war when Huguenots migrated, though it should be noted that it was more a country of emigration during this period, with many Germans going to America for better economic opportunity. Emigration peaked from 1816-1914, while an uptick in immigration started in the 1890’s of Russian Jews fleeing from strict Tsarist regulations as well as the antisemitism that had grown rampant. Tsarism and the corrupt Russian government were causing problems within society, for which the Jews were blamed. Later in 1905 the Union of Russian Men (one of the many pro-Tsarist groups) took to the streets, killing 21,000 Jews in Ukraine alone. 1917 saw the beginning of the century of refugees, the rise of the Soviet System leading many eastern Europeans to flee from the region into Germany.
Since this was following the first world war- and had Germany and Russia on opposite sides of the conflict- because of post-war tensions still being high, Germans viewed the Jewish immigrants to be collaborators with the Soviets, since regardless of their religion and distaste of the new government system they’d still come from Russia. Then the 1920’s came, a time where the German mark had dropped astronomically low due to hyperinflation. To put it into perspective, a dollar was equal to 4.2 trillion marks and not even a wheelbarrow’s worth of money could buy a newspaper. Initially immigrants found it relatively easy to find jobs, but upon the crisis of 1923 hitting they were faced with workplace discrimination, rising nationalist sentiments that were only further aggravated by the formal recognition of the Soviet Union as a country.
After WWII, Germany struggled with bettering its economy due to labor shortages. This led to family reunification acts and labor contracts with Italy in 1955, and with Greece and Spain in 1960. Treaties with Turkey (1961), Morocco (1963), Portugal (1964), Tunisia (1965) and Yugoslavia (1968) followed suit; the people who’d come to Germany as a result were known as Gastarbeiters. They differed from refugees because they didn’t come because of the destruction of their homelands, but for the sake of opportunity. It should be noted however that family reunification acts were for the benefits of refugees, a practice that would be continued well into the future.
From the late 1950s until the stop in labor recruitment in 1973- due to the energy/oil crisis resulting from Arab embargos on oil in response to US Israeli support during the Yom Kippur War- approximately 14 million foreign workers came to Germany, of whom 11 million only stayed in the country temporarily and eventually returned to their home countries. The others remained and their families joined them. Because of this development, the number of foreign workers decreased after the end of the recruitment period – from 2.6 million in 1973 to 1.6 million in 1989 – but the foreign population grew from 3.97 million to 4.9 million during the same period. The fall of the Berlin Wall led to a drastic increase once more in refugees, the number of asylum applications rose significantly, especially from Eastern, Central Eastern and Southern Europe. It surpassed 100,000 in 1988, climbed to approximately 120,000 in 1989 (the year of the European Revolutions), reached 190,000 in unified Germany in 1990, and finally soared to almost 440,000 by 1992. There was also many Germans living in the areas the emigrants came from who’d been dispersed during WWII and had started resettling in Germany with the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Modern Day Policy
In 2015, Angela Merkel was the premier, and is largely blamed for exacerbating the refugee crisis. EU law at the time stipulated that refugees should take shelter in the first country they go to, but the more lenient policy in Germany when compared to the rest of Europe made them the go to location. Germany has homed over 1.5 million refugees, in comparison to the 450,000 by France and 300,000 by Italy.
Despite the open door, neither the country nor the people were ready to accept such a change in the system. While Germany had been immigrant friendly in the past- even reliant, during the economic reconstruction- there’d never been such an influx of refugees and immigrants at once, and more importantly, unanticipated ones. What separates the refugees from the Gastarbeiters is that the latter were in demand, necessary in certain industries, and the government system had already carved out a place for them. Most of said countries had also been European and secular, not requiring a huge adjustment other than filling in already empty spaces. With refugees, though, many of them came from Muslim countries that had religion integrated into every facet of society. And unlike the previous time, Germany didn’t have an economic crisis that required the aid of foreign labor. Without many jobs and a secular society, the refugees would’ve found it difficult to assimilate unless they were willing to part with their previous values.
In 2017, the Alternative for Germany (AFD) party gained popularity, a right wing party that was nationalistic and anti-refugee. In 2013 they’d been focused more on Germany’s fiscal policy and suggested that Germany should leave the EU, since the value of the euro was diminishing and believed it would be better off partnering with wealthier northern European countries instead. 2016 changed the party’s core ideology from revolving around fiscal policy to what it is today, largely because of how costly the refugee endeavor had been. Over 20 billion euros were spent in just that year to accommodate for the immigrants; refugee centers, housing, food, etc., as well as the additional language centers, altered lesions, and many other systems created to try making integration easier- but that came at a cost to the citizens already there.
In 2024, Olaf Scholz- PM at the time- started the process of negotiating with primary source countries of refugees that they can be returned to. Germany is also negotiating agreements with Georgia, Moldova, Kenya, Colombia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, though these would not affect the majority of asylum-seekers who come from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. But the move is part of a larger effort to designate more countries as "safe countries of origin," which would permit Germany to return people to those places. Georgia and Moldova received this status in November of 2023. Welfare has also been cut, with refugees only receiving them after three years. While there are more restrictions and less benefits for refugees, Germany has sought to increase skilled labor by providing yearlong work visas after taking a language proficiency test and adequate work experience, enabling foreigners to find jobs, allow them to stay longer because of the lowered income requirement, and bring their families with them.
Effects of the Refugee Crisis and Incompetent Policy
Crime by illegal immigrants and refugees has greatly increased since the first wave, particularly so since COVID restrictions were lifted. The case of Issa al Hassan is a demonstration of such crimes, when he attacked a diversity festival, killing three and seriously injuring others. Following the incident, then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a "terrible crime" and his ruling coalition quickly agreed on a "security package" providing for quicker deportations, more supervision for potential threats to public safety and additional spaces in pre-deportation detention centers. There was another case in May of 2024, a similar attack was committed at an anti-Islam rally, resulting in the death of a police officer. In December, another asylum seeker drove a truck through a Christmas market town, killing six. In January, a man attacked a kindergarten with a knife and killed a two-year-old boy.
Incidents such as these have fueled fear amongst German citizens, leading to a shift to the right and overall, a rise in nationalism. Many Germans reported feeling like their culture was being overtaken by foreign influence, that Germany wasn’t Germany anymore. What led to this sentiment in the first place could be argued, but it would seem the country’s history is the primary source. As was stated earlier, Germany has a turbulent past with immigration. From at first being a primary source of emigration, to then a hotspot for eastern Europeans, to gastarbeiters, to now refugees from primarily the Middle East. The far-right extremism that served as the country’s doctrine during the second world war then turned into an outline of what not to do for the next government system, and so it swung in the opposite direction of liberalism because they didn’t want to be associated with the Third Reich, rather as a country of progress and openness. “Basic Law” placed a great emphasis on civil rights in particular, also extending to refugees and the open-door policy. Today, the conservative shift solidifies the idea that citizens believe they need to return to their core values as a society. Nationalism always soars in times of economic decline, particularly when foreign influence is present. Both coincide with Germany’s steadily falling GDP and refugee crisis.
Just looking at Berlin and its crimes- as well as their types- shows the correlation between increased migration/refugees and increased crime rate. In 2024, there were 7,475 sexual offenses recorded in the city, marking a 79% increase over the past seven years- ever since the start of the crisis. Initially crime hadn’t risen, not right away in 2015, but it did in the following year, having a sort of delayed effect. When looking at Frankfurt’s crime reports, crime related to sexual assault paints an even worse picture for non-Germans (defined as people without German passport.) The Frankfurt police released shocking figures regarding foreigners and major crimes, including one particular figure that shows they are responsible for 100 percent of all serious sexual assault crimes and 57.4 percent of all crimes. As for life crimes, 54 percent of cases of murder were committed by foreigners, while they were responsible for 64.8 percent of cases involving manslaughter. While it may seem wrong to attribute these statistics to all refugees and foreigners in Germany since Frankfurt has the highest concentration of non-Germans, it gives further credence to the need for stricter immigration policy. Crime has been steadily on the rise in city, especially concerning violent crime, and it’s no coincidence it’s highest in the city with most foreigners.
Proposed Policy Changes
Germany suffered most from an open-door policy. The refugees that came pouring in didn’t need background checks, weren’t required to get citizenship, and unlike previous programs Germany had for optimizing labor force, didn’t need to have even a basic education. By contrast, Poland- that’s been entirely unscathed by the crisis- refused to adhere to EU refugee applications. They accepted a total of 1-2% of them, with most being from the former Soviet Union. Based on this case, the best way to accept refugees and immigrants is with a closed border policy, with thorough review of applications beforehand.
Family reunification was another aspect that caused divide. 77% of Germans say they don’t believe in this, mostly because it’s been a way for gang members to get in by using trafficked children as cover-ups. More thorough checks should also be done on children and their parents, even in that circumstance it shouldn’t be used as a way into the country- they should be reunited and sent back.
The reforms Scholz put into place have been perceived as too harsh by critics, but have gained approval from a large part of the population that has been scared by the increase in violent crimes and stabbings. It involved the banning of knives on public transport- following a major stabbing- and tighter border control, involving the relocation of migrants by making them apply for asylum in other countries. This has been met with minimal success, however, since only 3,500 out of 25,000 were moved. Others avoided this, including the perpetrator of the stabbing, who was meant to be relocated to Bulgaria.
If Germany wants a solution to its crisis, it will have to enforce harsher measures. It’s admirable to want to help others, especially if one is in a position to do so, but not if it’s at the cost of those that are meant to be prioritized, like a country’s own citizens. There comes a point where a line has to be drawn between goodwill and naivety, and the overly lenient policies regarding refugees leans dangerously close to the latter.
