Building fences is not a solution

My name is Julia and, though I’m German, my husband keeps telling me that I’m more French since I was born on the “left side of Rhine river” in Palatinate. I lived in Berlin for five years and now I’m living in Brandenburg where you can still sense the differences of East and West Germany.

Regarding the current situation with refugee crisis, that is widely debated in Germany, I think it cannot continue like it is now. I don’t think building fences is a solution – people fleeing war find their way in anyway and I cannot blame them. But at the same time we cannot ignore the problems we are facing either. There has to be a European solution and we have to really address the problems and difficulties we are facing.

By building fences we support people crossing borders without registration and that means without perspective. It is essential to open the job market for the refugees. If you don’t have a job or any perspective then no wonder some people turn into a criminal. It is important to be able to build up your life in a new environment and to come together with local people.

At the same time it has to be very clear that people who don’t want to integrate or abide by the law should not come here. There are some basic values I’m not willing to compromise on at any cost. I’m already compromising on the security question, but I am not prepared to compromise on freedom or equal rights. It has to be very clear for the refugees that yes, they are welcome, but here is how this society works and this should be explained in detail. When a person is not willing to respect freedom and equality, then he should not come here. Thinking about all that is currently happening, I’m afraid that the generation of our children will not have the luxury anymore to grow up in a secure and free society like we did. I always thought that our generation will not have to face a war, but now I’m not so sure of it anymore…