Refugee Influx Brings out Best and Worst in Germans

Fleeing war and poverty, record numbers of refugees have made it to Germany, only to face another kind of chaos -- desperately overcrowded shelters struggling under the massive influx.

All over Germany, asylum-seekers from as far as Syria and Afghanistan, and as close as Serbia and Albania, now live in cramped shelters, army barracks and tent cities, often traumatized by the past and fearful about the future.

"What we are doing is crisis management," said Murat Sivri, head of a refugee center in the western city of Dortmund. "This has assumed crazy proportions."

For German cities, towns and villages, the biggest wave of asylum applications faced by any European nation has brought home, literally, the impact of far-away conflicts and crises.

It has also brought out the best and worst in the local host communities.

In the ugliest cases, xenophobic protesters and far-right thugs have hounded and abused the foreigners. The number of attacks on homes for asylum-seekers has shot above 200 this year, already reaching last year's total.

In a more heartening trend, citizens moved by the plight of strangers have organized through schools, churches and Facebook groups to give what they can, from food to baby clothes to language lessons.

A bus driver has been celebrated as a hero on social media for offering a simple welcome to refugees on his coach, which moved one of Germany's best-known newscasters to tears on national TV.

"I have an important message for all people from the whole world in this bus," the driver said in his high-school English.

"I want to say welcome. Welcome to Germany, welcome to my country. Have a nice day!" he said to cheers from the passengers.

All the while, the number of asylum-seekers has kept growing, and so has the misery for many people in the shelters.

In the eastern city of Hoyerswerda, 17 Syrian refugees have launched a hunger strike to protest against excessive delays in dealing with their cases, a shelter said Wednesday.

The Red Cross has set up several tent cities, and this month the armed forces joined the nationwide aid effort, putting up tents for more than 1,000 people in three different states.

Aid workers admit it's only a temporary solution and more durable accommodation will have to be found before the winter comes.

Next week the government is expected to announce what monthly data already indicates -- that the number of new asylum applications this year could top half a million.

The sight of desperate families sitting on their suitcases, or waiting in blazing summertime temperatures outside overwhelmed refugee offices, has sparked an increasingly emotional debate.

Many believe that Germany's wealth -- coupled with the dark legacy of World War II and the Holocaust -- gives it a special responsibility to provide safe haven to persecuted groups.

"It is not insurmountable for a large and rich country like ours," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Thursday while visiting a large refugee camp in the eastern city of Eisenhuettenstadt, condemning hate crimes as "incomprehensible, unacceptable and unworthy of our country".

Politicians have also called for other EU countries to accept a greater share, warning that in Germany social acceptance will hit a breaking point and the ugly backlash will grow worse.

Germany last year accepted about one-third of refugees in the EU, the highest number, followed by Sweden, Italy and France, according to Eurostat data.

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned pressure would grow to curb the freedom of movement in Europe if "all the refugees go to only a few countries".

Germany has also stepped up a campaign to urge people from the Balkans to stay home, paying for TV ads in the region that stress that asylum-seekers from there have almost no chance of being allowed to stay.

De Maiziere said Thursday it was "unacceptable" that 40 percent of asylum-seekers in his country were from the Balkans, calling it "an embarrassment for Europe".

The national commissioner for refugees, Aydan Ozoguz, signaled this week readiness to declare Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo as "safe countries of origin", raising the bar for asylum requests.

The head of the far-left party Die Linke, Bernd Riexinger, warned that this ignored "racist persecution" especially of many Roma.

Still, many have argued that what shelter Germany can offer should go to those in most desperate need.

The war in Syria alone has forced more than four million people abroad in what the U.N. calls the worst national refugee crisis in nearly 25 years.