Germany : The First Vital Step Is Housing

In Germany, the Catholic Church has a portion of the population consisting of 25.2 million. The Protestant Church, has 24.5 million members. The two churches make up more than three-fifths of the population. The Muslims number is approximately 4 million, with 226,000 Shia, 400,000 Alevis, and 2.6 million Sunnis. Germany has about 2,600 Islamic places of worship, including 150 traditional mosques (Germany, N.d.). Muslim populations continue to rise, especially with the conflict occurring in Syria which is displacing thousands of families. More than 6 billion euros are being set aside to house for 800,000 new refugee applicants this year. Germany is planning to take in 500,000 more for several years to come. This amount represents 1% of Germany’s population (Shubert, 2015). Not everyone in Germany is open to the idea of refugees coming into the nation and it is sparking up conflict between the citizens and the newcomers. When the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, informed the nation that they would be taking in this amount of refugees, Germans who strongly opposed this decision burnt down a refugee shelter that ended up hospitalizing many of the individuals taking refuge inside (Shubert, 2015). Taking in refugees into the country is forcing the people of strong national identity to come forth and combat the intake of lesser political identities in the refugees. This kind of national pride is being started by right-wing extremists who believe that bringing in so many

The consequences of the conflict on outside nations has been tremendous. The Syrian Civil War has led to arguably the worst humanitarian crisis since World War 2, and although the plight of refugees through Europe is highly publicised, the number of refugees in Europe only accounts for 10% of the total number displaced across the world. The majority of Syrian refugees currently reside in neighbouring such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The economic and social strain on these countries is immense, and the issue of aid and refugee resettlement has become a polarising issue in all countries which have offered/are discussing whether to take in refugees and resettle them. In fact, In Turkey alone, there are around 2,700,000 registered refugees in various camps and throughout the country. Turkey has also given $8,000,000,000 in aid to the cause. The situation is particularly bad in Jordan where almost 650,00 registered refugees reside. A Jordanian census conducted in 2015 showed that there were twice as many refugees as first thought, meaning that half were unregistered. The wave of refugees into

Empathy and Angst in a German City Transformed by Refugees is an article by Katrin Bennhold that describes the conflicting perception held by German nationals towards the influx of Syrian asylum seekers. The article captures the reaction and perception of the German uptake of the Syrian refugees by the German nationals. The author suffices as the untold voice of the German citizens that are directly affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. The author, Katrin Bennhold, seems to be keen on highlighting the shunned opinions of the citizens in Germany that have found themselves in a crisis that is not of their making. Her intended audience seems to be the policy makers as well as the world citizenry willing to offer refuge to the Syrian

One of the many countries admitting refugees is Germany. The decision to let them in was made by German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. She decided to use what could be referred to as, “an open door policy.” Which basically meant that any Syrian refugees could enter the country without first having a background check or passport. This was meant to help get the refugees away from the war that was going on in their home country, and was to be a an act of charity from the German people to the refugees.

While Germany continues to welcome thousands of refugees it is also giving them housing, money, food and basic humanitarian aid, which is pulled from their welfare programs paid by Germans. Any crime against Immigrants is viewed as racist and can be punished harshly under German law. This has spurred thousands of racist and far right political movements against immigrants. The rise of far right parties is due to the complex of Angela Merkel’s prioritizing the need of Refugees instead of actual Germans. After all, German taxpayers are the ones that pay for immigrant spending. Another argument could be that most of them are not refugees but instead are economic migrants that choose to stay in Germany or Europe permanently and not return to syria. This hurts German opinion of refugees as they take up jobs and it becomes harder for for natives to make a living. The refugee crisis is an obvious show that Native borns should have more rights then immigrants as they were there

The way people see security and safety is changing around the world due to increase numbers of terrorism. Countries around the world are becoming more in favor of securing their border and bring in less and less immigrants. This sentiment has been gradually increasing over the years. However, one country government openly welcomed Syrian refugees and that nation is Germany. S. Akbarzadeh, and D. Conduit, (2016) state that more than 4.8 million refugees are living outside Syria, and many more are displaced in the country. Many countries now realize the effect the war has had not only to the Syrian people but to other surrounding nations.

The Germans do not want the Syrian refuges in their country because they are not Germans, they will put strain on their economy and a living all over their streets. The Germans have resorted to ill-treating, capturing them and returning them to Syria or calling on the authorities to act.

This article starts off by stating a rather large number (104,460) of refugees/asylum seekers that have arrived in Germany in the past month. One of the reasons that Germany is so popular for refugees is that it has very liberal asylum laws and the country takes care of them when they do arrive. Numerous towns and cities especially in the state of Bavaria are requesting aid from the government due to the influx of refugees in the area. In fact, Germany is estimating that 800,000 people will file for asylum this year alone. Having that many people arriving has brought light to the apparent racism issue which Germany has faced with its four million strong Muslim population. This has manifested in attacks on refugee shelters as tensions are running

The European refugee crisis encompasses the flight of millions of refugees escaping violence in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asian countries. The surging tide of refugees has created a predicament among countries where the movement of people is unrestricted. Seeking asylum, they risk their lives on arduous journeys through Turkey and across the Mediterranean to Greece, from where they enter other countries, the most popular destinations being Germany, Sweden, France, and Italy. As countries receiving these immigrants scramble to provide basic necessities, European governments still struggle to propose a suitable solution for resettlement.

As we all know there is a huge conflict happening in Syria, and in the middle east and is in fact one of the worst humanitarian crisis after world war 2, where millions of people try to cross to Europe for a better life, however, millions of refugees die in the attempt. The ones who made it face more challenges because

In ‘Refugees Who Could Be Us’ Nicholas Kristof (2015) is an article published in the New York Times that discusses the deficiency of leading world countries in response the on-going Refugee influx that Europe is facing. First, the author explains the ineffective strategies carried out by world leaders in order to stop the on-going Syrian war and stresses on the lack of attention given to the Syrian War. Second, he demonstrates the Xenophobia that is common in European and Arabic citizens has made the stigmatization of refugees easier; consequently, many of the refugees were not accepted into Europe and their trips to safety became much harder. Third, Kristof argues that the most reasonable solution would be to create a safe-zone back in Refugees’

This decision was very unprecedented and unexpected for the German culture is typically a light skinned race. With being dark skinned you were automatically assumed not to be German even if you were born and raise as German. With bringing in these Syrian refugees it was also a very dramatic change in the economy. For these people did not speak the language nor did they live the same way. Angela Merkel still decided to make this decision for the German population is aging too fast, so by bringing in these Syrian refugees it replenishes the population with new and younger people. Seeing why this decision makes sense is obvious at this time, but in 10-20 years the change will be understood (if these refugees are integrated into society). Since its not understood at this time it split the people into two categories: supporters and non-supporters. Supporters would take the Syrian refugees in and care for them. Non-supporters would not take them in, in fact they would burn down the building the refugees would be living in. It caused a lot of trouble, for seeing why they need the refugees would later be

This essay will critically evaluate a number of articles on the refugee/ migrant crisis, demonstrating why the The Guardian article by an anonymous Syrian refugee was the most compelling and convincing argument. Before I begin this essay I would like to first elucidate the crisis specifically in Europe. It has been estimated that 650,000 migrants have arrived by sea this year so far, according to the International Organisation of Migration. Out of each 20 asylum applicants in the EU-27, 5 were minors, 11 were young adults aged between 18 and 34 and the remaining 4 persons were aged 35 and older.

The United States’ interests on refugees entering the nation has become a concern for many, especially with the increased attacks in Germany after the immigration.10 The Deputy Director of the German Marshall Fund, Sudha David-Wilp stated that many Americans were at first impressed with Germany’s decision on refugees, but now question the absence of management that went into the policy.11 Another problem with refugee immigration is how to integrate over a million refugees into the country without disrupting the safety and welfare of the economy.12 The United States viewed these events and has chosen the nation’s security over humanitarian efforts. It stands by strict immigration laws so as not to mirror the events in Germany caused by its allowance of refugees under the unfiltered policy.13

Since 2011, Syria has been engaged in a Civil War with protestors against the government and members of the extremist group ISIS, and approximately 7.6 million people have been displaced from their homes (usnews.com 2015). As the conflict destroys more homes and livelihoods each year, an increasing number of civilians have been forced to leave Syria and try to find safety elsewhere. Already a contentious issue, the Syrian refugee crisis has awakened tensions, both economic and social as debate erupts over what to do with the refugees.In response to the crisis, while some countries like Germany have pledged to help the refugees, (New Statesman 2015 1) only 2,340 have been admitted. Clearly, more needs to be done in order to help the refugees. Although there are economic and population concerns to be considered, the humanitarian conflict that faces the refugees and solutions already available are reason enough for Europe to increase the numbers of Syrian refugees allowed in.