Matthew Lester: Germany gets it right – why SA should embrace refugees

Source: By Matthew Lester – Fin24, 01/01/1970

Migrant with child smiles as he is welcomed with other migrants with
locals after their arrival at the railway station of Hamburg -
Harburg, northern Germany. (Daniel Reinhardt, AFP)
Matthew Lester takes aim at those criticising German Chancellor Angela
Merkel`s handling of the refugee crisis. He says the cost of policing
walls is unsustainable and looks at how Germany succesfully managed a
vast influx of humanity previously post World War II.


Lester predicts that within 10-20 years we will see fantastic success
stories of the children that walked to Germany in 2015 with one
mission in mind, to get a better life. He says South Africa should
take note and instead of trying to strengthen its borders to keep
migrants out, rather think of how those that make it could help make
the country a better place for all. – Stuart Lowman
I find it hard to stomach criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel
these days. And there is a lot of it! Not from the Germans mind you.
But others come with this stuff, some it xenophobic in fact, about how
Germany will pay for letting hundreds of thousands of refugees in the
door.


Not that Germany has had it easy this year, being saddled with the
problems caused by unrestrained Greek government expenditure. If this
had all happened in the UK it could well have toppled David
Cameron.

But it doesn`t seem that opposition politics in
Germany has jumped on the bandwagon.

The critics are missing the plot. This is not the first time that
Germany has faced a vast influx of humanity. And they have done very
well out of it.


At the end of the World War II there was literally nothing left of
Germany. And yet by the 1970`s the economic might of Germany was back.
How did they do it? Some would believe that the Germans just got back
to work. Rubbish. Literally put, there were not enough able-bodied
workers left alive.

The USA came with the Marshall plan. This was not only about massive
loans and economic policy. Where did the hands come from?

If one takes a walk around German cities you see massive sectors of
the working class. They are German yes, but many are descendants of
the people who were literally imported into Germany from the Middle
East in the post World War II era. And they were allowed to stay when
the job was done.


Post World War II Germany put a massive amount into their education
system. They educated the children of immigrants. And in one
generation they produced a new face of solid German citizens.

It is no secret that Germans have always been great administrators.
They will provide somewhere to live and a job for the refugees. In
return they will forever enjoy their devoted loyalty and respect. That
must be an asset.

I predict that within 10-20 years we will see fantastic success
stories of the children that walked to Germany in 2015 with one
mission in mind, to get a better life.


Perhaps the Berlin wall showed us that no wall can keep people in or
out if they just start walking. And it is simply unsustainable to
incur the cost of policing walls.

Back home in SA there are some that would say we should strengthen our
borders to keep migrants out. `Lets build a wall from Swaziland to the
tip of Botswana` they say. That`s simply not sustainable. We should
rather be thinking of how those that make it here could help make SA a
better place for all.