How many times have we read about people from, say, Ireland leaving their country to start a new life in far-away places like Australia, the US or, like an acqaintance of mine who wasn't put off by the chill factor, and moved to the Canadian province of New Foundland because his academic career wasn't prospering at home!
Who would have thought that one day one would find oneself in exactly the same position. Whilst I've moved often in my life and am certainly no stranger to being an expat, I find this is now an entirely new situation:
Suddenly, ever since the beginning of last September, Germany (where I live) has changed. Within the space of 4 months, 1.1. million refugees have entered the country. Every single town in Germany has to accommodate vast numbers of mainly male Muslim immigrants.Container homes are being built. Twon centers are full of migrants who have nothing to do. And life has changed: You will all have heard about the terrible New Years Eve events at Cologne main station. Similarly horrifying reports have come up from other German cities, and are still emerging as I write. Today, it transpired that two teenage girls in a small town in the South Western corner of Germany were gang-raped by immigrants.
Life in Germany doesn't seem to be safe anymore - all of a sudden. And worse is to come: The forecast is for another 3 million migrants to enter the country in 2016. This would all be bad enough, as there simply isn't any room here anymore, and already newcomers have to be put up in shelters and gyms which are hardly fit for purposes.
Worse, or at least just as menacing, I find another terrible change which has occurred in Germany: The media, the police, officials etc. cannot be trusted anymore. Whilst this has been clear for a while (what for example with varying reasons for the chaotic mass immigration being given - Gemany needs young people, Germany needs qualified workers, oh no it's all a humanitarian imperative, and so on) the events of NYE have proven this suspicion to be fact-based without the shadow of a doubt. Police and media now admit to having neglected to report the real catastrophic extent of the events. Rapes, gropes, robbings, theft, assault, injuries were brushed under the carpet, and only came to light when the pressure of eyewitness and social media reports proved too strong.
So, one suddenly finds oneself living in a country where the dangers of uncontrolled mass immigration are being denied, and victim's are supposed to just get one with it whilst being urged to shut up so as not to "slander" innocent migrants. Germany, once again seems to have transmogrified into a totalitarian state where unpleasantness is being denied, coverd up, and where people who want to speak their minds will be intimidated.
I don't feel I can live in such a country much longer. And whils it will certainly not be possible to move overnight - jobs, family connections etc. standing in the way of rash and emotional decisions - I feel a normal life, such as people were used to here in Germany is no longer guranteedor even possible. I know for a fact that many many well-educated Germans of all ages feel exactly the same.
If Mrs. Merkel and her government can afford to lose people like us, and is happy to import unskilled, largely uneducated migrants from Islamic countries in extraordinarily large numbers, I wish her good luck. Meanwhile I'm thinking of where I shall be moving to. Stay tuned.
