I remember vividly my first trip to Berlin. I traveled by train from Moscow, through Belarus, Poland, and East Germany. As the train approached West Berlin, the billboards and advertisements became visible, signaling a stark change from the drab scenery we had been passing. When we wanted to shop, we went to East Berlin in the GDR. It was simply because we could exchange one Deutsche Mark for five East German Marks, and we could eat much more than we could in the West. As students, this was a luxury.
In Berlin, I encountered a little trouble from some Tamil boys who were refugees from Sri Lanka. They didn't like us Sinhalese being there and questioned our presence. It was understandable, given the events of the 1980s in Sri Lanka. However, another Tamil student, who had studied at Lumumba University in Moscow, intervened, and everything was resolved.
After I met my wife (then my girlfriend), she invited me to see her parents in Coburg, Bavaria. I had met them once before in London. They lived in a small village in the Coburg suburbs, surrounded by beautiful countryside. I noticed I was the only brown person in the area. People were very courteous, greeting each other on the street. After that, whenever we visited Coburg, I would walk alone and sometimes have a beer in a pub by the riverside. I never experienced any issues walking alone or having a beer. In Coburg city, I saw a few Turkish shops and many Turkish nationals, Greeks, and a few Italians who owned eateries. They were minding their own businesses and seemed well integrated with the rest of the population.
On my first visit, we went to see my girlfriend's grandparents, who lived in a former East German village. Beautifully built houses lined the main road, and there were many more charming dwellings on either side of the hills. My girlfriend's grandparents welcomed me warmly. Her grandfather took me to show me the village and introduced me to his old friends. I spoke in English, and he spoke in German, but somehow we managed to understand each other. He and friends understood when I told them I live in England and was born in Sri Lanka. He had been a mechanic in the German engineers corps and stationed in the Channel Islands. He escaped on the last ship leaving for Germany and lived the rest of his life in Soviet-occupied East Germany.
We walked to the village square, and he bought me an amazingly tasty, well-barbecued Thuringian bratwurst. It was fantastic, and I'm still a fan. I saw some Vietnamese people in the village and, upon asking, found out they were students who had come to study in former East Germany. After the fall of the Wall, they chose to remain in unified Germany. Again, some of them had their own businesss and lived peacefully among the local German population. This was in the late 1990s.
I traveled to Germany many times after that, after we got married, with our two daughters. We went on a cruise along the Rhine's wine route, visited Cologne, Frankfurt, and many other cities and places. I had many interactions with warm, cordial Germans everywhere I went; they were very welcoming.
Then COVID happened, another war started in Europe and the Middle East, and Angela Merkel decided to admit many refugees on humanitarian grounds.
I noticed a subtle difference when I visited Germany afterward. Once, in a large shop, I realized a store employee was following me wherever I went. Annoyed, I just left. My wife was in another shop, and I told her what happened. Later, we found out some shoplifting had been happening in the area. A similar incident happened in the swimming pool area. I felt some people didn't want to be near my lane. Again, we found out there had been some incidents in previous months that the government had downplayed. In one famous city, an incident occurred in a swimming pool changing room, and there was a light sentence due to a "cultural issue." People were clearly not happy with the government or the judiciary.
Then came a shock. I was writing a blog post, and someone commented. He lived in the Thuringian city of Gera (population 93,000, according to Wikipedia). He and his family were legal immigrants who had come to Germany through a skilled visa program and were employed. They were having a hard time adjusting. If some Germans get on the bus, they apparently insist that brown people (i.e., anyone who looks like a refugee) stand at the back of the tram or bus, like in the American South or apartheid South Africa. I didn't believe it, and he sent me a picture. It showed a billboard that said, "The only good brown is a sausage." I'm not sure if it was a tongue-in-cheek comment or meant seriously. It was from an election campaign and remained on the billboard for months.
Apparently, except for the Greens, no other political parties engage with refugees or skilled immigrants, he said. It's difficult to get an appointment with a GP; they don't want you. There are problems with Afghans and Ukrainian women. The Afghans were not happy that the Ukrainians were wearing revealing clothes. Are we in the most liberal country in Europe after France? Jobless Germans squabble in the streets, something I had never heard of. And they are blaming refugees for taking their "fair share" of benefits and living in luxury hotels funded by taxpayers.
Still not believing many of the things he said, I asked another friend who lives further west. He used to travel around the country for work. Then, the police started escorting him from the train station to his hotel whenever he visited a particular station in the middle or east of the country. He initially resisted but then saw gangs of youths around the stations.
In another story from the same friend, a German developer created a beautiful housing complex for private ownership. People moved in, mostly Germans. It had beautiful grass fields for recreation. Residents used this space for sunbathing. Then, the government quickly built container houses on the adjacent land and started housing refugees. Soon, some men from the government housing started throwing bottles and other objects at the sunbathing Germans, claiming they were sunbathing indecently and inappropriately. Arguments started, and the mayor was called. He advised the residents to be more sensitive to the new arrivals. After that, people started selling their houses and moving out, unhappy. Who do you think these ordinary people will vote for in the next election?
He also confirmed problems in swimming pools and at social events, saying there were some abuses towards women, and he claims the police and judges mostly cover up these incidents.
I honestly think German and other European governments, including the UK, should be more sensitive to the needs of the local population while making a real effort to help refugees integrate into their new societies. I am not a Trump follower, but it might be a good idea to cap the arrival of new refugees until these problems can be sorted out. Otherwise, even genuine refugees who arrive through proper channels and legal visa programs will suffer along with the others. Also, the chances of Europeans voting for more right-wing extremist parties will become very real.
