German Doctor: ''They're completely exhausted and depleted."
HuffPost Germany
More than a million migrants and refugees have arrived in Germany from war-torn countries in the past year, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open the country's doors to many of them has its supporters and opponents pitched against each other.
Last week, Dr. Raphaele Lindemann, who works in an arrival camp for people who have sought asylum in Germany, took to Facebook to describe his experiences in the camp, as well as the insights he gained while working there. Lindemann did not name the camp he worked in.
I can assure you that it's impossible, for example, to treat a foot for frostbite when that foot has marched 500 kilometers in ruined shoes and wet socks through the winter, and in the process preserve a rosy view of humanity. Or to treat a 4-week-old infant in wet clothes with a lung infection, brought across the Mediterranean and from Greece all the way here along with a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old by a single mother who is then accused of not understanding how the world works. This is the world! And this situation is very real and in no way "positive!" The three children's father, by the way, died in Syria.
More than a million migrants and refugees have arrived in Germany from war-torn countries in the past year, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open the country's doors to many of them has its supporters and opponents pitched against each other.
Last week, Dr. Raphaele Lindemann, who works in an arrival camp for people who have sought asylum in Germany, took to Facebook to describe his experiences in the camp, as well as the insights he gained while working there. Lindemann did not name the camp he worked in.
I can assure you that it's impossible, for example, to treat a foot for frostbite when that foot has marched 500 kilometers in ruined shoes and wet socks through the winter, and in the process preserve a rosy view of humanity. Or to treat a 4-week-old infant in wet clothes with a lung infection, brought across the Mediterranean and from Greece all the way here along with a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old by a single mother who is then accused of not understanding how the world works. This is the world! And this situation is very real and in no way "positive!" The three children's father, by the way, died in Syria.
Amid a fierce and often divisive debate over the future of Germany's migration policies, many across the country have been transfixed by the moving account of a German doctor who treated recently arrived refugees and migrants.
In his work, the doctor saw the undiluted reality of the refugee influx, with scenes many people would find unbearable to watch:
These people arrive here in an absolutely desolate and pitiful condition. I'm sure it would surprise many to learn that 90 percent of them are not young, healthy people. ... In every shift I see some 3,000 to 5,000 refugees. At least 40 percent of them are CHILDREN! There are families, there are elderly refugees, and yes – there are also men. Why shouldn't there be? But what they all have in common is that they're completely exhausted and depleted.
I'm explicitly not saying that anyone should be able to just show up here and do whatever he wants. Naturally I expect a willingness to integrate and loyalty to the laws of the state -- but I expect those things first and foremost from my fellow citizens! After all, they've had the chance since birth to learn humanistic values. And in many cases they've been benefitting from the state's welfare programs much longer than the refugees have.
