Is Germany Loosening The Hold Over Compassion For Ukrainian Refugees?

Every country tries to make negotiation with its own values, regardless of how strong they are or not. It may not be wrong to state in the case of Germany that the nation widely known as Deutschland compromised heavily on its moral values during the volatile and jarring events of the Second World War.

It was a moment of time in its history where perhaps the German character- usually resilient, strong, virtuous- suffered a malicious decline, the likes of which no country in the wider world had come to imagine.

But that was then; contemporary Germany is a multicultural society where the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Protestants, believers, atheists function in harmony even as there are occasionally attacks leveled on the basis of religion.

For example- the persistent cases of Anti Semitism that don’t seem to leave Europe’s Jewery.

But having said that, few countries in the world have done so much and so willingly for the world’s refugees as Germany. Not since the second world war had the world witnessed such mass movement of a people as what was evident in 2015 with the Middle East crisis. Back then, and it’s been seven years, Germany led by an example as it opened doors welcomingly to accept the displaced and the distraught from the warring Middle East.

A similar emotional, compassionate sentiment was extended towards the Ukrainian refugees, those scarred perhaps permanently by a meaningless Russian war.

But have things changed?

The current mood back in Germany with regards to those coming to aid the Ukrainian refugees is pretty simple and seems to imply that there’s nothing convoluted as such.

So how is that?

Back in the month of March, 2022, it seemed that the support from Germany’s stable towards the Ukrainian refugees was paramount. Nowadays, it has shrunk considerably, although for what apparent or particular reason, one doesn’t quite know.

Having said that, the following are key excerpts taken from DW.com that seem to suggest clearly that the German interest towards the cause of Ukrainian refugees is shrinking even if not at rapid pace:

Lesyia, who was planning to launch an IT start-up in her hometown between Lviv and Kyiv shortly before the war began, does not have the feeling that solidarity with Ukrainian refugees has waned — on the contrary. 

But just a look at the number of donations to aid organizations shows that the huge wave of support in Germany that followed the start of the war has ebbed away.

Thanks to a fundraiser entitled Emergency Aid Ukraine, Germans transferred more than 180 million euros ($183 million) to “Aktion Deutschland hilft,” an alliance of over 20 German aid organizations, in March.  

People are still reaching into their wallets to help, but since May only single-digit million contributions have been coming in per month. Now, many refugees are considering returning to their home country, or have already done so.