Foreigners in Germany on German Xenophobia
Filed under: Europe, Germany, Immigration — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on January 22, 2008 @ 6:37 pm CET
A fascinating article appeared at the Spiegel today, in which the German newspaper quotes letters from readers who are foreigners living in Germany. I suggest you read it in its entirety, below follow some excerpts of letters and some thoughts of my own.
Letter 1.
I was not disappointed at all when it comes to freedom of expression and the infrastructure in Germany. But I was utterly shocked when it comes to integration and tolerance. I never suffered explicit racist attacks like those which happened in eastern Germany. But I was exposed to a subtle yet stubborn kind of racism on a daily basis. This mostly takes the form of social exclusion — I always felt that I am not and will never be allowed to become a normal member of society, despite holding a promising academic record and decent linguistic skills.
Letter 2.
Everyday I am reminded to my face that I am an Ausländer. No matter how I try to explain to people that I have nothing left in my home country and my new life is here, they always treat me as if I am exotic and that everything in German life is still new and novel to me. I have a German name, I have a German passport, but I look Asian, and therefore am a foreigner.
I immigrated to the US now and am attending university here. Here, I am not treated as a foreigner but as a person and my skin color doesn’t matter as much as in Germany. I have a lot of opportunities that weren’t possible in Germany as a foreigner.
Letter 3.
Compared to these other three countries, Germany showed by far the greatest tolerance for foreigners. Do you know the number of hate crimes per 1,000 inhabitants in Massachusetts, not to mention the American South? Do you know the number of immigrant children killed in Great Britain? Have you ever counted the number of TV series in Britain containing blunt prejudice against foreigners (especially Germans)? Have you ever seen films about the riots in French suburbs, in Birmingham or Los Angeles? Did you ever experience the large number of no-go zones in American or British cities?
Letter 4.
As much as I love Germany, I do feel that it is a prejudiced place. It saddens me to think that, as much as Germans seem to love the idea of Barack Obama as US president, he would only be seen as a second-class citizen if he had grown up in Germany.
Letter 5.
I am an Indian, living in Germany for more than three years now. I’ve completed my Master studies and seeking a job. I am not afraid of the skinheads, actually — I never had a bad experience with them. What I am afraid of is the racial intolerance of people who are in responsible positions, people in suits.
Letter 6.
Recently, I was walking my dog (a very friendly one-year-old Labrador) in the fields near my house. I am a regular in these fields and I often see many other dog owners and everyone is quite friendly and cordial to one another, except one old curmudgeon who apparently reprimands friendly dogs off the leash with a whack on the nose. Again, I tried my best to be polite and ask that old fellow not to hit my dog as he is still young and learning and only wants to sniff and play. His response was that stupid foreigners should know better than to let a dog off the leash. This time I had no choice but to let him (verbally) have it.
I asked him if he would like to send me in a train car to the east. I then told him that I am American, like my father and my grandfather, and that my grandfather gave his life in World War II to free Germany and that he should be glad that he isn’t speaking Russian right now.
It goes on and on like that.
One of the problems Europeans have, I think, is that we consider those who don’t look like us “foreigners,” even if they’re born here. Those born here have to answer the question “where do you come from” on a regular basis. Even those who intend no harm, but are truly interested, often remind immigrations that they’re not truly, in this case, Dutch.
I think that this is a problem, but it’s also something that may be a temporary one. The more we get used to immigrants, the more at home we’ll make them feel… as long as they integrate. One has to remember that the US is a country of immigrants; European countries aren’t.
1 wj
January 22, 2008 @ 7:44 pm CETOne part of integration in this nation of immigrants that I suspect many Europeans don’t notice: the integration is a two-way street. Yes, we expect immigrants to adapt to America. But America also adapts to the immigrants to some degree. And expects to.
Granted, there are those who get hysterical about hearing Spanish (for example). But their unhappiness is fueled, in part, by the knowledge that they are a minority — the vast majority of Americans simply don’t get worked up that someone is speaking a language other than English. If they stay, we expect them to learn enough English to communicate with the majority. But if they choose to speak another language part of the time, so what?
The same goes for other things. Currently there is a fairly large dust-up going on over a stupid track official who disqualified a (Muslim) girl who normally runs in a full body suit. What’s significant isn’t that it happened. It’s that there is a lot of outcry from non-Muslims here, demanding that the decision be reversed. And, since that particular track meet is over, that the young lady be given an alternative way to qualify for the Olympic trials.
2 SAS
January 30, 2008 @ 4:45 pm CETMy own experiences with Germans has been very good, but I do feel that Germany as a whole is a very intolerant and rejectionist society towards non Germans. The proof of this fact - the genocide of the Jews, Slavs and Gypsies, centuries of systematic anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination against Turks and other immigrants, the hysteria over the decision by the EU to start membership negotiations with Turkey, and of course the seemingly never ending stories of racist attacks against foreigners, immigrants and ethnic and religious minorities, opposition to new mosques, etc etc. Yes, Germans may have many strengths, but it is abundantly clear racial tolerance is not one of them.
3 Mackenzie
June 2, 2008 @ 12:40 pm CESTAnswering to SAS: I recently had the chance to explore the recent history of North America, and get acquainted with what Europeans and Euro-Americans did, how they treated the Native people. It is unbelievable: how should we comment on it?
I don’t know much about other cultures, but I know that 2000 years ago or less the Romans also conquered lands, and reduced the newly subjugated populations into slavery. Poverty and slavery, and persecutions…..
Are persecutions against the first historic Christians perpetrated by the Roman people different from the genocide against the Jewish? and what about the genocide of the Native Americans?
From my point of view, the only difference is about dates, names, numbers, and technical devices or weapons
And besides, there are new genocides going on right now: are we aware? probably, we are, but…? here I am, writing on the internet
4 Maciel
July 17, 2008 @ 4:05 pm CESTI think all this problem comes from a long time ago. I live in southern-Brasil, in a very small town called São Bonifácio (Saint Wilfrids in English), it’s a german colony as many other cities from the southern part of this country. Everybody here is Brazilian born, though they come from a German background and almost everybody still speak German in a daily basis. But still, whenever somebody who is not a German looking person comes to their places, some visitors, tourists, etc; they through some dirty look or say something racist towards that person. When I first came to live here, I entered a store to do my groceries and two girls at the cashiers say in German "gück auf den schwarzen Mann!" (take a look at that black man! ). Much to their dismay when they found out that I actually speak German. And to make things worse, I do not have any african descent, my grandparents were Portuguese! Back when I was a kid, when living in Germany, people asked me many weird questions that made me feel just like an E.T. So I guess, it’s not from the WWII, nor anything around that date, this xenophobia Europeans have is just something that comes from the simple fact that for thousands of years they haven’t had anybody that looked a bit different from what they are used to. Then, nowadays, they are not able to deal with that very well yet.