Hi Jae. No, I'm afraid I don't know of any such research. But it's an extremely good and timely question. You might try contacting Ase Gornitzka (University of Oslo) or Marek Kwiek (University of Poznan) both of whom write and research extensively on European issues. Good luck! Jon

Joe Park says takes the fact that Germany is accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees as an indication that it is moving away from the xenophobia that characterized WWII. By that same logic, we should assume that all non-European countries, such as China, Japan, Mexico, Arab states, are xenophobic since they don't take any refugees from anywhere, and what is more, they don't allow any immigration.   Would he care to explain why this double standard? Is China a racist country in its treatment of minorities and outright suppression of Uighurs and Tibetans? 

Most of the so-called refugees are males colonizing Europe. 

The kindness of German government to the recent immigrants is greatly appreciated no matter out of what. Not many western countries have the courage and would like to take the mission. I personally think countries that brought this part of the world into hell should take responsibility. It is not understandable to put countries that have no blood on hands for this to blame. How evil the latter are is not issue. Meanwhile, no countries in the world allow immigration unconditionally.

Absolutely apolitical and not an expert in this academic field, and moreover, do not want to judge or criticize a person let along a country, I am just telling some stories in my life. Growing up in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China where most Uyghurs live, I am afraid that it is Han Chinese who deserve much better social and legal protection and financial payback. In some sense it is not bad to be a Uyghur who is subjucted to more social benefit and do not have to work like a donkey and save every penny for better family life as most Han people used to.

In the small place where I was born, it has never been news that people we know who moved southwards for work were physically hurt or murdered. When out in street we Hans better never confront with Uyghurs because we are at a worse position physically and legally.  Some of my friends living in the most dangerous Southern part of the region have suffered hugely from the social turmoils in recent years that they dare not go out in the evening and have to take the most sufficient protection for their children when going out in the daytime. They have colleagues and relatives hurt and killed over the years.

Call it suppression if a country has to take action to protect most peoples' life. In fact I cannot anticipate what will happen if things like this hapen in a country where HUMAN BEINGS are shot dead for things next to nothing or indeed nothing only because they have different skin color.

Not personally familiar with the circustances in Tibet, I dare not pretend to have the political wisdom to evaluate. Somewhat I do not understand what will the good be for the people and who will benefit most if Tibet goes independent. If democracy and freedom are meant to be there all over the world as they really stand for, good to see it everywhere as non-politicalized and no damage on life of people in other nations. If what intended is cheap oil supple (or simply money) or military composition globally, say it and GO NAKED.

Well, better go back to the point.

Hello. I am not aware but following the events very closely, this would make a very interesting research. It would be interesting comparing countries like mine in Kenya that have allowed Somali immigrants for several years now and how it has impacted the country 10+ years later.

Hi again! Like all good questions this one keeps nagging away at me!

This morning the BBC Radio 4 Today programme (broadcast in the UK where I live) included an interesting piece on precisely this topic. It didn't highlight any relevant research, but it did suggest that the German government has begun to think through the educational policy issues and has strategies in place. So there may well be government policy documents that you could access.

My other thought was that it might be helpful to look at similar cases. For example a lot of work has been done on the education of Roma children. Clearly, they present a particular challenges for mainstream schooling since they are travellers and run the risk dropping out of the school system or having a very fragmented experience of schooling. There is an MEP who represents the Roma within Europe, so presumably evidenced based policies are in place across Europe as well as in particular localities.

There has also been a considerable amount of work in particular urban areas within the UK on educational provision for Somalian young people. Sheffield, for example, has a significant Somalian community and the local education authority used to have a dedicated team to monitor their educational needs and to highlight key policy issues. (These special provisions may have fallen foul of the austerity measures imposed across the UK.) So it might be useful to follow up on some of these initiatives.

My final thought is that any policy response to what you quite rightly describe as 'the most spectacular/abrupt change since the fall of the Berlin Wall' would need to be comprehensive and joined-up and involve professional collaboration across the areas of education, social work, health, housing provision, etc. A piecemeal approach would be wholly inadequate. The policy response would also - I believe - need to build in an educative element aimed at the indigenous population in order to ensure that it understood something of the cultural background and needs of the incoming refugee groups.

I realise I've strayed from your original question which was specifically about research. What I'm suggesting is that research relating to similar policy cases may at least throw up some interesting insights and help highlight key issues.

Some of the comments are not really to the point, are they? Just two comments:

1) There is quite a bit of theoretical and empirical research done e.g. in Berlin on refugees, migrants and especially women and children. MRBB and Alice-Salomon-Hochschule have projects regarding their education and help to become self-supporting. You might refer to their website.

2) To say - correctly - that Germany has a responsibility towards refugees does not absolve other countries from their responsibility. I refer precisely to the so-called refugee crisis in the South China Sea, where certain countries scream and shout about the alleged ill-treatment of minorities, but refuse steadfastly to admit these selfsame minorities onto their shores. The whole problems needs a much dispassionate, academic and comprehensive(!) look from a theoretical, empirical and ethical perspective.

Some of the comments are not really to the point, are they? Just two comments:

1) There is quite a bit of theoretical and empirical research done e.g. in Berlin on refugees, migrants and especially women and children. MRBB and Alice-Salomon-Hochschule have projects regarding their education and help to become self-supporting. You might refer to their website.

2) To say - correctly - that Germany has a responsibility towards refugees does not absolve other countries from their responsibility. I refer precisely to the so-called refugee crisis in the South China Sea, where certain countries scream and shout about the alleged ill-treatment of minorities, but refuse steadfastly to admit these selfsame minorities onto their shores. The whole problems needs a much dispassionate, academic and comprehensive(!) look from a theoretical, empirical and ethical perspective.

As usual, academics here are responding to this question without seeing that this refugee crisis has to be seen in the context of endless influxes of immigrants into European created nations; not just these refugees but hordes of Africans coming in, backed by open-border policies and multiculturalism at home. The end result of this mass immigration will be the end of European identity as all European countries will start looking alike in their "diversity" just like the cities of Toronto and New York; lands of a deracinated, rootless, generic species. I am for the preservation of German ethnic identity, and the identity of all peoples, but there is a double standard in which only Europeans are called racist if they value their millennial ethnic identity.

I can tell from the answers here that most rely on the mainstream media for their views and not one has done any alternative research. Take a look: The Truth About the Migrant Crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BDqzmG-rH8

I wonder what Li is referring to when she writes: "...in a country where HUMAN BEINGS are shot dead for things next to nothing or indeed nothing only because they have different skin color."

Ricardo - you seem to be in an awful muddle. You keep posing rhetorical questions rather than getting round to the hard task of questioning your own assumptions.

So, let me turn the rhetorical question game round and pose you a few questions: Why that initial 'as usual'? Why do you use the metaphor of 'hordes' to describe our fellow human beings? Why do you characterise the citizens of Toronto and New York as inhabitants of 'lands of deracinated, rootless, generic species'? Why do you assume that your correspondents 'rely on mainstream media' (when in the UK the 'mainstream media' is predominantly right wing and would be very comfortable with the prejudices you seem to entertain)?

I'm not asking you to agree or concur with anything, but it might be helpful if you tried to respond to Jai's (not Joe's as you stated in your earlier response) original question - which, as I pointed out earlier, is in my view highly pertinent question given Germany's response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Europe.

I write this, I would like to emphasise, in the spirit of collegiality. But we can't really get anywhere in any attempt at rational discourse unless we make explicit and examine our own assumptions, engage seriously and respectfully with the alternative arguments, and (following Kant and Hegel) have an unconditional respect for and recognition of the individuality and uniqueness of our fellow human beings.

 OK, Jon Nixon, let's see what your assumptions and errors are:

1) "As usual" ----- tell me, who else in Research Gate is challenging the mainstream view about refugees, that this is a humanitarian crisis and that Europeans have a moral obligation to open their borders to them? So, I am the only dissenting voice, and you can find this out if you check my answers to other questions here and the respondents.

2) What do you mean by "fellow human beings"? Clearly this phrase, and many similar ones, are intended to create the impression that the millions of Africans and Muslims coming into Europe over the last decades are just your average neighbours longing for a liberal democratic life. Do you call the men who have been systematically raping of white girls in Britain your fellow human beings? Why do you exclude the girls from this definition and use the word fellow only in reference to immigrants? Here from the BBC, which until recently was denying the epidemic of rapes of white girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70T3eJZfnU

And it is not just Britain but Sweden, Norway and other countries.

3) You ask: Why do you characterise the citizens of Toronto and New York as inhabitants of 'lands of deracinated, rootless, generic species'? 

Think about it, we are being told that immigration enriches us all, brings diversity and color to otherwise dull white cities in Europe, but if you bring ethnic groups from the world, Asians, Africans into Europe, what you have is a situation in which every city starts to look alike in its diversity, losing their historically true diverse character. Is this hard to comprehend? Go to cities like Rome, Paris, Toronto, NY and you will find that they all identified themselves as uniquely diverse, as being the same in their diversity, and this is happening all across the West. 

4) I question the assumption Jai brings to his question, namely, that Germany will somehow show itself as non-xenophobic by bringing millions of immigrants. He has yet to answer my basic question, why does he not apply the same standard to non-Western nations, none of which have open borders, all of which want to remain racially homogeneous, such as China, which is almost all Han ethnically and suppresses all its minorities, expropriates their lands and so on. 

5) Believe me, I know Hegel and Kant well, and both were racist by our infantile politically correct assumptions. 

Overall, your thinking is all too typical in academia, based on unquestioned assumptions and easy-going statements about humanity. 

Thanks, Ricardo. I'll ponder upon your response. In the meantime I don't want to hijack any further the discussion that Jai set up - which is timely, important and highly focused.

Thank you everyone for participating in this thread.

I agree with Jon Nixon that we should avoid straw man arguments. Merkel herself said that Germany should feel proud of its open policy for the crisis. Obviously, there is no consensus and even people overtly against  it have valid points (e.g. video link by Ricardo Duchesne).

I think we should also avoid doomsday arguments, like "Europe is heading to an inextricable  disaster". I think mankind is smarter than that;  over and again we came out with solutions to forthcoming problems as well as actual disasters. I think one of the most important  missions of us academics is that of keeping on track rational arguments. To do so, we do not need to use ad hominem arguments or fallacies.

My question is simple: A few days ago, Germany allocated significant budgetary resources to the crisis. I know that housing was one of the big items. I was wondering if Germany has a plan for other social welfare issues. I am interested in education because that is my field. Those young people need to receive education (schooling as well as training) regardless of their intention of staying or going back to their places of origin after a while.

A second line question was "Why do migrants want to go only to Germany ?" and "What makes Germany so attractive for them?" Can Germany's wealth be the only attraction for the migrants? I find these questions beyond my field, and perhaps colleagues here can help me.

"Why do migrants want to go only to Germany ?" and "What makes Germany so attractive for them?"

They don't want to go "only" to Germany, but Germany has offered the best welfare deals for them, and Germans are terrified of affirming their heritage and ethnic identity, even though it can be reasonably argued that the Germans have made the highest contributions to high culture in the world. 

Of course, Germany's wealth is an attraction to migrants; all white countries are craved by Asians, by Africans, by Mestizos, since European countries are the best in all respects, but, as they become diverse, they too will increasingly look like Third World nations, as has happened to many cities already. 

It is sad that even on an academic platform like this pure racism is spread on this issue. Please try to apply Ricardo's logic (e.g. in connection with violence against women and girls) on white perpetrators and follow these thoughts for yourself. As is always the case with racist discourse it is also full of very simple errors - e.g. that only European countries would take in refugees, take a look at Libanon or even Turkey, will you?

Back on the original question: a lot of critical research is done members of 'kritnet' - unfortunately their page is in German only, but I guess you could get in touch by writing an e-mail: http://kritnet.org

Some clarifications need to be made so that Jae will comprehend how abrupt a change is or has occurred in Germany's current official and present responses.

Just 5 years ago, the level of xenophobia in several German states against accepting more immigrants would have made it impossible for the present response to have taken place.   (However, if one had just gone back to the later 1990s, the openness for Germans receiving more foreigners was even higher than it was today.  This has to do with traditional manpower needs in Germany--cyclical as they may be--dating back to the end of WWII.) In short, Germany is just coming out of an anti-immigrant period, similar to the late 1970s and 1980s, i.e. when I first  lived in Germany.

In contrast to Japan, Germans, as a whole, are fairly dead set at replacing too many of its people with robots and this, too, dates from the extreme modernist pro-science mystic of the NAZI regime--which has led to a caution with science and medicine solving all human problems.   (This does not mean that Germans avoid robotics by any means.  There is, however, a  more creation oriented bent or trajectory in German history,  in contrast to Japan--which has not sought to expand its population through emigration as compared to Germany and other people-deficient lands.)

German welfare rights are as good and as bad as France's.  The country has had trouble integrating immigrants and refugees like France, too.  However, they have been historically less demanding of fuller integration of the recent (post 1970s) refugees and immigrants.  This switched after about 2001 and when Germans saw that they had lower scores than they thought they should have  had (historically) in the firs PISA education studies. 

There is a lot of literature on immigration issues and policy in Germany available--but the most current (and unpolished or less-propaganda oriented) is often in German initially. 

Note: One of the leaders in Chancellor Merkel's own coalition is rejecting her recent decisions as catastrophic & at least 7 states claim to have no beds in the days prior to the states summit on immigration (Sept. 24) in Germany.  Read in German here: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/horst-seehofer-wettert-gegen-angela-merkel-in-fluechtlingspolitik-a-1052455.html

Here is a more optimistic piece: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/spiegel-cover-story-the-new-germany-a-1050406.html

From ethnic nation to universalistic immigrant integration: Germany

F Heckmann - The integration of immigrants in European …, 2003 - books.google.com

Germany has experienced large scale immigration since the end of World War II. German

refugees, foreign workers and their families, asylum seekers and foreign refugees, EU

migrants and ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are ...

Cited by 152 Related articles All 2 versions Cite Save

[PDF] from uu.nl

The return of assimilation? Changing perspectives on immigration and its sequels in France, Germany, and the United States

R Brubaker - Ethnic and racial studies, 2001 - Taylor & Francis

... Jennifer Lee, Daniel Wolk and members of my nationalism workshop for helpful comments, and

to Christian Joppke, who organized the conference on 'Immigrant Integration: From Assimi ...

Research support from the Comparative Immigration and Integration Program of the ...

Cited by 924 Related articles All 8 versions Cite Save

Transformation of immigrant integration: civic integration and antidiscrimination in the Netherlands, France, and Germany

C Joppke - World politics, 2007 - Cambridge Univ Press

Abstract This article argues that, beginning in the mid-1990s, there has been a

transformation of immigrant integration policies in Western Europe, away from distinct

“national models” and toward convergent policies of “civic integration” for newcomers and ...

Cited by 155 Related articles All 4 versions Cite Save

Islam, gender, and immigrant integration: Boundary drawing in discourses on honour killing in the Netherlands and Germany

A Korteweg, G Yurdakul - Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2009 - Taylor & Francis

Abstract Public discourse on Muslim immigrant integration in Europe is increasingly framed

around the presumed incompatibility of Islam and Western values. To understand how such

framing constructs boundaries between immigrants and majority society in the media, we ...

Cited by 99 Related articles All 3 versions Cite Save

[BOOK] Becoming Europe: immigration, integration, and the welfare state

PR Ireland - 2004 - books.google.com

... 2. Europe— Emigration and immigration—Social aspects—Case studies. 3. Welfare state—Europe. ...

Page 7. CONTENTS List of Tables Preface List of Abbreviations vit XI IX I. Introduction Europe's

Immigrant Integration Crisis 1 2. Germany 27 Social Policy and the Construction ...

Cited by 160 Related articles Cite Save

The challenge of diversity: integration and pluralism in societies of immigration.

R Baubock, A Heller, AR Zolber - 1996 - popline.org

... The challenge of diversity: integration and pluralism in societies of immigration ... from immigrants

and how open are their national cultures for accommodating the immigrant experience ... There

is a common denominator: Cultural diversity resulting from immigration is neither seen as ...

Cited by 130 Related articles Cite Save More

[PDF] from econstor.eu

Immigration, integration and the labour market: Turkish immigrants in Germany and the Netherlands

R Euwals, J Dagevos, M Gijsberts, H Roodenburg - 2007 - papers.ssrn.com

Abstract: On the basis of three micro datasets, the German Socio-Economic Panel 2002, the

Dutch Social Position and Use of Provision Survey 2002 and the Dutch Labour Force Survey

2002, we investigate the labour market position of Turkish immigrants in Germany and the ...

Cited by 28 Related articles All 15 versions Cite Save

[BOOK] Immigration and the nation-state: the United States, Germany, and Great Britain

C Joppke - 1999 - books.google.com

... It compares the postwar politics of immigration control and immigrant integration in

the United States, Germany, and Britain, three liberal states characterized by sharply

distinct nationhood traditions and immigration experiences. ...

Cited by 984 Related articles All 2 versions Cite Save

[BOOK] Migration and European integration: the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion

R Miles, D Thränhardt - 1995 - books.google.com

... where he is a founding member of the research and teaching group on immigration studies. ... He

has recently begun a research project on the social and economic integration of labour ... Dietrich

Thränhardt is Professor of Political Science at the University of Miinster, Germany. ...

Cited by 171 Related articles All 2 versions Cite Save

[PDF] from researchgate.net

[PDF] The relationship between acculturation strategies, relative fit and intergroup relations: Immigrant-majority relations in Germany

H Zagefka, R Brown - European Journal of Social Psychology, 2002 - researchgate.net

... to Germany) participated in a questionnaire study. Findings revealed that both acculturation

strategies of one group and relative 'fit' between immigrant and host society strategy preference

were predictive of intergroup relations. In general, a strategy of integration was ...

Cited by 247 Related articles All 6 versions Cite Save More

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/horst-seehofer-wettert-gegen-angela-merkel-in-fluechtlingspolitik-a-1052455.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/spiegel-cover-story-the-new-germany-a-1050406.html

It is sad that Stefanie does not believe in academic freedom, which is one of the most important legacies of the West, and recklessly uses the word "racism" to silence those who disagree with her views, without offering a single argument explaining why being against mass immigration is racist. She says that my comment is "full of very simple errors - e.g. that only European countries would take in refugees, take a look at Libanon or even Turkey, will you?" 

First, it is spelled "Lebanon"; second, I said that only Western nations are caught up in the idea that diversity and immigration are "culturally enriching" even though there is no evidence supporting the view that mass migration into Europe has created a  better cultural climate. Third, Turkey is only storing migrants to send them out to gullible Europeans: http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/209111/no-muslim-country-wants-take-syrian-refugees-daniel-greenfield

Some may be familiar with the work of Robert Putnam, released in 2007, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, which concluded that racial and ethnic diversity is NOT a civic strength, does NOT encourage "social networking", but instead results in a depressive climate in which people "hunker down" in their homes,with fewer people voting and giving to charity and working on community projects.

There is a growing literature showing that democratic participation, including social trust, community participation, is fast declining in Western societies as both the left and the right establishment implement mass immigration and multiculturalism:

Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (2004). Ethnicity, the problem of differential altruism, and international multiculturalism. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity, and altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 283-291). London: Frank Cass.

Sanderson, S. K. (2004). Ethnic heterogeneity and public spending: Testing the Evolutionary Theory of Ethnicity with cross-national data. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity, and Altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 74-87). London: Frank Cass.

Schubert, N. J., & Tweed, M. J. (2004). Ethnic diversity, population size, and charitable giving at the local level in the United States. In F. Salter (Ed.), Welfare, ethnicity and altruism: New findings and evolutionary theory (pp. 53-73). London: Frank Cass.

Ahlerup, P. (2009). The causal effects of ethnic diversity: An instrumental variables approach. Working Papers In Economics No. 386, University of Gothenburg.

Andreoni, J., Payne, A., Smith, J. D., & Karp, D. (2011). Diversity and donations: The effect of religious and ethnic diversity on charitable giving. NBER Working Paper No. 17618.

Boustan, L. P. (2010). Was postwar suburbanization “white flight”?: Evidence from black migration. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 417-443.

Das-Munshi, J., Bécares, L., Boydell, J. E., Dewey, M. E., Morgan, C., Stansfeld, S. A., & Prince, M. J. (2012). Ethnic density as a buffer for psychotic experiences: Findings from a national survey (EMPIRIC). The British Journal of Psychiatry, 201, 282-290.

Dincer, O. C., & Wang, F. (2011). Ethnic diversity and economic growth in China. Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 14(1), 1-10.

Duffy, B. (2004). Life satisfaction and trust in other people (MORI Report 2004 March). London: MORI Social Research Institute.

Faist, T. (1995). Ethnicization and racialization of welfare-state politics in Germany and the USA. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 18(2), 219-250.

Glaeser, E. L., & Saks, R. E. (2006). Corruption in America. Journal of Public Economics, 90, 1053–1072.

Lassen, D. D. (2007). Ethnic divisions, trust, and the size of the informal sector. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 63, 423-438.

Li, S. X. (2010). Social identities, ethnic diversity, and tax morale. Public Finance Review, 38(2), 146-177.

Miguel, E., & Gugerty, M. K. (2005). Ethnic diversity, social sanctions, and public goods in Kenya. Journal of Public Economics, 89, 2325-2368.

Montalvo, J. G., & Reynal-Querol, M. (2005). Ethnic diversity and economic development. Journal of Development Economics, 76(2), 293-323.

Okten, C., & Osili, U. O. (2004). Contributions in heterogenous communities: Evidence from Indonesia. Journal of Population Economic, 17, 603-626.

Vanhanen, T. (2014). Ethnic nepotism as a cross-cultural background factor of ethnic conflicts. Open Journal of Political Science, 4, 143-155.

The current tragic events call for substantial research. This will take time. In the meantime, a quicker route - and one that I use in emancipatory research - is to feed accurate data and ethical pleas for socially just policies into the media. I have been doing this for 8 years, with a strong focus on the neglected rights of East European beggars and asylum seekers in Norway. Feel free to look at my chapter on this, which is downloadable on ResearchGate. Paul

Ricardo, how reliable is Facts on File? could you provide a link and an evaluation of it?

Thanks.

Here are some articles, links to rape epidemic in England; as you may know, the government and mainstream media has been suppressing any formal investigation and identification of the perpetrators, but the incidents were so systematic that this last year some important articles came out; all ignored by academics:

1, First, here is a report documenting a decade of cover-up and cowardice by the media, politicians and law enforcement: 

http://lawandfreedomfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Easy-Meat-Multiculturalism-Islam-and-Child-Sex-Slavery-05-03-2014.pdf

2. Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997 – 2013): http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham

3, By Roger Scruton, one of the foremost scholars of Britain: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerscruton/2014/08/30/why-did-british-police-ignore-pakistani-gangs-raping-rotherham-children-political-correctness/

4. By Bruce Bawer, who is well known: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/166570/truth-about-gang-rape-uk-bruce-bawer

5. By even the leftist Guardian, which could no longer ignored the mass of evidence: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/08/jack-straw-white-girls-easy-meat

6. By leftist BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089

7. By Gatestone Institute: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3854/uk-taxi-rapes

Now, give me some down votes for revealing what academics customarily hide from their students!

What we do know, without the necessary but time-consuming research that will eventually emerge, is that this is a human crisis that can and must be fixed through proper induction programmes, particularly at border points. These measures should be planned rather than impromptu, half-hearted affairs. Health and social provision must be ample, not minimal. The same goes for registration protocols and comfortable, safe transportation. The real tragedy is that Europe has by and large failed these brothers and sisters of ours who are doing what we would do if we found ourselves in similar circumstances. Some countries, notably Germany and Sweden, are doing more than others to help. Sadly, however, many countries, including my own, UK and the country where I live, Norway, are - after checking public opinion - implementing piecemeal, homeothopathic fractions of measures that get media attention but do far too little far too late for people who are in terrible pain. Paul

I can't give you academic sources, but I can give you few totally unscientific anecdotes - for the past 3 nights, I was outside the LaGeSo in Berlin (where refugees come to register), talking to some of the people camping outside. Many of them talked about how nice people were in Germany compared to elsewhere in Europe, and a few expressed a desire to go elsewhere (Canada was mentioned, as was Switzerland) after living in Germany long enough to get the required paperwork. Some also talked about how the German government is more welcoming of refugees. I didn't hear anyone mention welfare.

As far as I could tell, a lot of the people who arrive here, probably the majority, are educated and had decent jobs in their home countries before they had to leave - traffickers charge so much that you won't see many poor/uneducated people attempt an illegal crossing unless they have rich relatives or have worked tremendously hard to earn enough money.

I saw Syrian families who looked so middle class that you could easily imagine they were just tourists... except that they didn't have any suitcases, and they were exhausted and had this awful hopeless look in their eyes.

What I hear from people who volunteer regularly here is that the situation remains chaotic: borders closing elsewhere in Europe, families arriving without papers in the middle of the night, conflicting information, too little support from the authorities or established charities, volunteers from the community forced to pick up the slack - so I think it'll be a while before any research emerges that encompasses everything that's going on here.

Write to Dr.Ibrahim Awad,director of the Center of Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo.

Thanks a lot Hannah for your experiential note. Quite enlightening.

The  posts by Dagmar and Mustapha made me think that the terms  "migrant crisis"  and "refugee crisis" have different connotations. Media's preferred term seems to be "migrant crisis." The term "refugee" entails some specific conditions such as: They should not be repatriated immediately (Back to their place, they could be subject of persecution or various degrees of penalties);  and, some duty of the recipient country to provide basic to reasonable level of protection and aid.

Whereas voluntary "migrants" could be refused entry and aids, denied.

Hannah's post, on the other hand, made me think that there is a wide variety of people arriving to Europe (unlike Ricardo's argument in black and white). Regarding some seemingly mid-class families that Hannah witnessed, I wonder what are their feelings and thinking inside. (An interesting research topic; even basic statistical information could be enlightening and can have an impact on the management of the crisis)

I agree with Dagmar that there is a need of good research. In Asia we see media reports such as "11,000 spotted on Croatian boarders."  It might only feed worries, which in turn generate hot-headed reactions, sometimes nationalistic.  It would be a very sad thing, for example, to see the nightmare of  tensions in the Balkans.

Of course migrant and refugees are totally different categories, but at the moment, politicians insome countries are trying to fudge the issue by labelling refugees 'migrants' or 'economic refugees'. That is not new, it happened already in the 80s with the Tamil refugees, an issue with which I was very closely associated. These people had to demonstrate that they were fleeing political persecution and did not come for economic reasons. Sounds ridiculous, but it did happen.

I will note that purely economic migrants DO exist, and I've met a few who possibly fell into that category (e.g. people from mostly safe, but poor, countries who'd lived in Italy/Turkey for some time before coming here), but a) I don't have all the facts, and I'm not about to start interrogating them to find out what traumas they may have experienced, and b) there is an established procedure to process their applications and deport them if need be. Given how many people Germany reject/deports, it apparently works quite well - probably too well. My unscientific, gut feeling assessment is that the vast majority are at least genuine in their intentions (that is, they believe they're fleeing a very bad, unsafe situation), whether or not the German government will actually accept their applications. I saw too many ordinary families to believe that money - let alone welfare - is what's driving most people. You don't give your life savings to traffickers or put your baby in a rickety boat just to live in run-down social housing in Berlin.

Volunteers from the community here try to treat all the same: we aren't in a position to judge, and even if a minority of them are effectively homeless people taking a huge risk just to get the right to work/study here, I don't think helping the homeless is such a bad thing.

In reply to Hannah: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6527/migrants-rape-germany

Ricardo. Please consider deleting your latest post. There is no logic.  Besides, you do not need to do that to Hannah.  Probably, most of us in this thread already understood your position based on your earlier posts. Thank you.

Why is there no logic; and besides, it is an article that relates to the subject; I did not write it; you are almost implying that we should remain silent about rape cases related to this migrant issue, that women should not have a voice and that only rosy pictures of migrants should be considered, which is what the mainstream media already does. The only reason I would withdraw it is because you started this question, but for now I will let this statement stand for some time. I find it extremely disconcerting how the left has turned against women's rights for the sake of pushing a diversity-deceptive agenda.  

1) To take up Ricardo's reference to the rape cases in England (Bradford and other places): yes, the Guardian admitted that it had been reluctant to acknowledge them because of misplaced fears of being labelled 'racist'. But: it did so in the end.

2) Immigrants (refugees and others) of course constitute a problem, adjusting, integrating, accommodating. But that is nothing new: after WWII, the people dislocated from former East Germany (about 12 million) were often much resented by their fellow countrymen(!), abused, ill-treated and what not. It was handled. At the beginning of the 20th century and in the 60s immigrant labour arrived in Germany from Silesia, Poland, later Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey. And yes: there were always problems of acceptance and adjustment. They were overcome (most of the most typical surnames in the Ruhr Valley are of Polish background).

3) We are ALL migrants! From the time the first humanoids left Africa to try their luck elsewhere! Or when some funny tribes crawled out of the Caucasus and finally arrived in what is today India! Germany is right in the middle of Europe and has been a country of migrants probably from the year dot. So, Ricardo: yes, this creates problems, always. Yes, it changes the character of a society, always. Yes, there are fears on both sides, always. But we have to deal with all that. And that is at once simple and difficult: the newcomers must accept that we have our own values and must abide by the laws of the land. Not more, but also not less. Only that way can we prevent IS and other undesirables mingling with the refugees and wreaking havoc.

And btw: we have now in the EU decided on a quota to distribute the refugees, and our government has just increased the budget allocation to deal with the refugees, especially unaccompanied children. As I said earlier, the issue should be looked at dispassionately and globally. And maybe some countries should admit refugees that are currently loath to do so.

I cannot allow some of Dagmar's claims to go unchallenged, the more so because these are widely held beliefs without historical veracity. If I may start with 1) Yes, the mainstream press finally acknowledged what the so-called "extremist" parties and media were saying for years, that British girls were being systematically raped across Britain, but the reason why these rapes were allowed to go on and on without official recognition remains, namely, fear of being labelled a racist, as was reported here for the Rotherham rapes: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4344206.ece 

This fear is pervasive in Germany and Sweden.

2) Dagmar compares current problems with past immigrant problems that, she assumes, have been dealt with. She writes, "East Germany (about 12 million) were often much resented by their fellow countrymen(!)".  Well, those were Germans inhabiting Germany and now there are no problems since Germans are Germans and these problems were not about rapes and terrorist threats and imposition of Islamic values. On the other hand, when it comes to the biggest immigrant population into Germany since WWII, the Turks, they have yet to integrate into German society. Read this study: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4130/islamization-germany

3. "We are all migrants!" Wrong.

The fact is that immobility is typical for the vast majority of the world’s population: Even today, for all the talk about globalization and immigration, over 98 percent of the people in less developed countries in 2005 were born in the country where they reside. Immigrants have accounted for a mere 1.4-1.6% of Asia’s population over the past twenty years – despite massive globalization.

The truth is that immigration is an ideology imposed only on European created nations. And part of the brainwashing inflicted on students includes telling them that we are all migrants, so that they remain docile as their homelands are colonized by aliens.