Vacation Impressions

Just a couple of quick observations.

This year we travelled a bit and stayed in three different places in Germany, including in the south, on the Swiss-Austrian border and in the region which was supposedly made unsafe by the recent influx of migrants, at least, according to right wing American sources. We last were there 6 years ago and I was a bit unsure what to expect.

Granted, we avoided big cities, but...the countryside and average size cities and towns are hardly changed at all. Germany has always had some immigration and I haven't noticed any significant increase in numbers. And, it's still very safe. In fact, I felt much more safe there than in my own town where a woman would sometimes have to think twice to walk by herself after the dark.

In another area where we stayed the schools already came back from vacation and we saw groups of children brought to a swimming pool nearby. There were all ethnically German, everyone of them. Young families are also  having more children compared to 10 - 20 years before.

So the stories about imminent demise of Germany are severely exaggerated. Those who point to the official data should keep in mind that half of Eastern European youth is currently there and they are counted as foreign migrants, too,  but they mostly stay for a couple of years and then go back home. That is not to say that uncontrolled immigration is not a problem, but scaremongering online just goes too far.