Xenophobia in Germany

All of the top stories in the German Politics section of Spiegel Online right now deal with immigrants and xenophobia in Germany. This is pretty amazing, but also not so much unexpected.

Here are some highlights from reader comments on being an Aüslander in Deutschland:

This from an anonymous Asian scientist in Munich:
"...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."

From a white American former ex-pat:
"Another friend was born in Germany to a black American father and a white German mother. She was a German citizen, with German as her first language, and very German culturally, yet new acquaintances never failed to ask her how her German got so good -- the idea being that since her skin was darker, she couldn't possibly be German."

From a current American ex-pat in Heidelberg:
"...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."

That last one just smacks of Americanism but for the first two I can either relate personally or have at least have heard strikingly similar stories from others.

Perhaps one of the worst things is that unlike descrimination and prejudices. Xenophobia can be politically supported in various guises and is much more vague than other forms of separation. Anybody that is not part of the "group" does not fit in and that can include a lot of people. It can also occur on very small levels and be very subtle at the same time.