MDR (a regional public TV network from the eastern sections of Germany) came up with an article today over Freiberg. It's a major city in the Saxony state....with a university and roughly 40,000 people.
The topic of the article? The city (with the mayor and council in agreement) said 'enough', and won't be accepting any migrants or immigrants for the next four years. Reason? Well....it goes across the entire landscape.
They took in roughly 2,000 migrants and immigrants since 2013 as part of their effort for the nation. What they kinda discovered is that there are a number of social platforms required, and each takes up manpower, time, and resources.
Just to talk about living space or affordable apartments.....there was a problem.
Just to talk about German language and integration classes....there was a problem.
Just to take new kids into kindergarten....there was a problem.
Just to take new kids into schools.....there was a problem.
One might sit and think that the leadership and authority would have had some image of their landscape....their capabilities....and taken limits at various points. But no.....they never did (at least until now).
Getting new kids to some degree of German language? Well....the city discovered that you need working space for the classes, and more instructors.....which they hadn't really thought about or anticipated.
I sat and viewed the whole article. Just on the kindergarten slots....they figured they were missing a minimum of 200 seats. On additional classrooms required in the schools....they figured another dozen were needed within the city.
Political hot-topic? Yes. Both the Greens and Linke Party went against the city government vote, but the SPD and CDU groups within the city council carried the vote through.
So a four-year moratorium will occur. What happens in 2022? My guess is that a review by the city council will take place. The mess will have corrected itself to some degree by that point. Some 'white-flight' situations will occur with some townspeople moving ten kilometers away and resolving the city's problems by simply not living there. Maybe a mini-housing boom will occur with a dozen new apartment buildings built.
On the whole of it....this brings you full-circle and asking the question....did the Germans as a whole grasp what happens if you dumped a million-plus people into it? My general view is....no. The leadership at the national level (Berlin), through the sixteen states, and on down to three-hundred-odd cities that accepted a responsibility....did not grasp the full consequences, the cost, or the local impact.
Some major urban cities....like Hamburg or Essen....had the potential to absorb a fair number of immigrants, while admitting affordable housing shortages. But the lesser towns and cities? They all had a unlisted or unprinted limit....never realizing that it really did exist.
You can refer to this as simply a lesson learned, and that when some migration door is opened in the future...it'll likely be a controlled door.
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