This Sunday, voters in the eastern German state of Brandenburg will be casting their votes for a new regional parliament. The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), known for its anti-migrant stance, is currently leading in the polls with 28% support. This comes after the AfD’s recent success in the Thuringia election on September 1st.
In response to the AfD’s rise in popularity, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has introduced stricter border checks for migrants and increased deportations of unsuccessful asylum seekers. Meanwhile, opposition conservatives are calling for the closure of borders to asylum seekers altogether.
This shift in policy marks a significant departure from the Germany of Angela Merkel, who famously declared “Wir schaffen das” (“We can do it”) in response to the influx of refugees in 2015. At that time, Germany welcomed around 1.5 million refugees and migrants, primarily from the Middle East, with signs of “welcome” and a newfound sense of pride in the country’s identity as a safe haven.
Today, many of those refugees have become German citizens, with a record 200,000 people naturalized in 2023. This group, known as the New Germans, is described as highly motivated and statistically more likely to be employed than the native-born population.
However, the current political climate in Germany, marked by the rise of the AfD and anti-migrant sentiment, has led to a shift away from the welcoming culture of 2015. Fewer refugees are now arriving in the country, but the overall number of refugees living in Germany has reached 3.48 million, the highest since the 1950s.
As the debate over migration continues to intensify, the experiences of individuals like Parvin and Sultana, who arrived in 2015 and have since made Germany their home, highlight the challenges faced by migrants in the current political climate. Despite their contributions to society, they express feelings of unwelcome and fear in the face of rising far-right sentiment.
For Sultana, the answer lies in increased political activism to combat racism and prejudice, as she grapples with the question of what more she must do to be recognized as German in her own country.
Muchos de los migrantes no tienen ciudadanía, y por lo tanto no tienen derecho a votar. Pero tenemos voces y queremos llevar estas voces a las calles y decir: ¡estamos aquí y nos quedamos aquí! Pero otros Nuevos Alemanes están pensando en irse por completo. Tan pronto como obtuvo su pasaporte alemán, Parvin finalmente pudo visitar a su hermana en Londres por primera vez, en agosto. Ahora que es trabajadora social calificada, incluso está pensando en mudarse al Reino Unido. Me dice que se sintió más bienvenida allí. Un estudio publicado la semana pasada por DeZIM, un instituto que investiga la migración, encontró que casi una cuarta parte de las personas con antecedentes migratorios, muchas de ellas ciudadanos alemanes, están considerando emigrar debido al aumento de la extrema derecha. Casi el 10 por ciento dicen que tienen planes concretos de abandonar Alemania. La paradoja es que el gobierno está desesperado por atraer trabajadores a Alemania. Pero la retórica cada vez más hostil sobre la migración no solo puede disuadir a las personas de venir, sino también alejar a esos Nuevos Alemanes emprendedores que ya están llevando vidas exitosas aquí. El documental de Damien sobre los Nuevos Alemanes se transmitirá en el BBC World Service y estará disponible para escuchar aquí.