The View from Afar

Imagine you are a time traveller, roaming the wasteland Germany had turned itself into after World War II, sickened at the sight: survivors scavenging for anything to eat amidst the rubble of the country's former architectural beauty. And then you decide you want none of it and jump some seven decades into the future. You arrive on a sunny spring morning in southern Bavaria and take a look around you. It takes your breath away.

What a beautiful country. What an incredible achievement. Postcard-perfect towns and villages interconnected by the best infrastructure. Everything works. That's the Germans for you. They can lay continents to waste, true, but they can construct and reconstruct with astounding efficiency too. So much so, actually, that today it is a privilege living here. And it looks like about half the world wants to do just that.

When your editor came to live here about 15 years ago, he found it surprisingly undemanding to become a German: at that time, all that was required was that you had been living eight years in the country. While gaining initial entry was not really straightforward, given that the officials warned that any health concerns would lead to the cancellation of the visa, despite having a German wife and German children, to be accepted into the fold for good, gaining German citizenship, was remarkably easy.

While they did add later the requirement of passing a language test and another one on familiarity with the German culture, both tests were pretty basic; nothing you couldn't pass with flying colours with just a modicum of effort. There was nothing momentous, nothing akin to the US's pledge of allegiance, for instance, where you solemnly declare your commitment to respecting the laws of the land.

Now your editor has moved on again, for a few years. Looking back on Germany from afar, mixed with the longing there is the uneasy feeling that now, in addition to being a bit too easy to get in, the country is being too accommodating regarding the willingness of the newcomers to integrate. When a suggestion is made that those refusing to learn the language should have their benefits curtailed (a long way from being shown the door), indignant voices are immediately raised of how discriminatory this would be.

Or when it comes to what you can get away with before a deportation can even be considered. Formerly, you could break laws and customs with abandon and, as long as you didn't get a sentence of at least three years, your place in Germany was secure. Now they talk of lowering the sentencing threshold to one year, and the indignant voices are again a chorus. Or when someone ditches all his commitments to Germany and leaves to fight for Islamic State, he may face a process and maybe some time behind bars upon returning. If you ask me, he should face a door firmly shut instead.

Come on, people. It is a privilege to live in Germany, the country you worked so hard to rebuild. Don't be afraid to impose some conditions. The minimum you can demand from those who want to live amidst you is that they respect your laws and customs, and that they at least try to learn the language. And you should have the guts to show the door to those who refuse or engage in criminal activities.

Otherwise, you risk feeding fuel to an ugly form of nativist populism. That's one road we don't want to go down on.