Comparing tolerance: asylum seekers in Germany
When it comes to racial profiling and nationalism, "we've been there and we know where it end.”
Plaque in Hamburg outside homes of where Jewish residents were forcibly removed.
The census came back five million people short. "That's the size of some small countries. That's the size of Denmark!" I've met with a friend in Kruezber, a suburb of former East Germany. It doesn't take long before we're comparing country size and populations.
"The thing is, we didn't have a formal census for close to 30 years. Understandably, Germans are very privacy conscious." Something that I was made aware of last week when asked to put my camera down at a football match by fellow fans.
"Merkel's let in millions of refugees since then. So perhaps it's evened out! And look, there's still plenty of room." We joke knowing that we're over simplifying matters - sitting in a heavily Turkish influenced area where the second generation of guest workers from the 70's are still considered to face challenges integrating.
As I walk the line of cobbled stones on my way home, I am reminded by small plaques of where the Berlin Wall stood a few decades. Just as when I walked for coffee in Hamburg, I was reminded of the Jewish residents who once lived there. Names now carved into the footpaths outside the homes they didn’t return to.
It's history quite literally caved into the streets. And as my friend Lars puts it, carved into our minds. "Our history is very much processed here. We spend a year and a half at school going over the atrocities. There's really no nationalism for us to be proud of - not for our parents, not for our grandparents."
"In fact, it wasn't until the World Cup in 2014 that that we'd seen any German flag waved." And it's true. I see plenty of flags of the infamous football team, St Pauli. I see flags of the European Union. The only German flag I see however, is one on an election campaign poster for a far right party, Alternative for Deutschland.
"They now have 10 per cent of the vote," Lars explains. "They used to not even get media coverage. De-legitimised - the media refused to give them any more airtime. But now they're Nazis in suits," this time said with concern.
"They're saying Merkerl's opened the borders and doesn't care about the consequences. We don't even have borders to open! You just walk straight over them." Incredulous. Frustrated. For him, just absurdity.
And that's just it, we have a different starting point right there. The label 'Nazi' used in common conversation. Dropped matter of factly to simply describe far-right nationalism.
In turn it remains more real and more possible than the ludicrous and barbaric understanding of Nazi that we have in Australia. A term that currently has little to no correlation to our own politics or political lives.
It's this attitude that protects high levels of political dissent.
It's why months after violent protest in Hamburg, the conservative government continues to leave streets with anarchist and anti-G20 messages sprayed and hung in public spaces. And it's also why after strong public backlash, the federal government has continued its progressive position to offer asylum to those who need it.
When it comes to racial profiling and heightened nationalism, my friend puts it quite aptly - "We've been there and we know where it ends."
As the number of forced displaced people exceeds levels reached at the end of World War II, it seems that while the rest of the world fears by what might become by offering asylum, there's a strong part of Germany that scares from what might become by denying it.