One had to be completely oblivious of the new German reality to be surprised by the results of the latest Civey survey. According to which more than half of German women feel unsafe in public places. More exactly, 55 percent of them reported feeling unsafe in all the locations surveyed (streets, parks, public transport and alike). Clubs and train stations are the scariest places, there only 14 percent felt comfortable.
And it’s not only women. Even men are spooked – proven by the fact that nearly half of all respondents (men and women alike) admitted that they felt unsafe in such locations.
Crime statistics confirm the worries: the German federal police (BKA) noted a 56.3 percent jump in bias-motivated crimes against women in 2023 compared to the year before.
It seems that train stations became real no-go zones for the average German, especially for women.
For years, this dark reality was hidden in plain sight, noticed but with heads turned to the side, the obvious reasons referred to only in rebuses.
This has changed in the last couple of months.
Yet, when Chancellor Merz dared to point this out, blaming the ‘problem of the cityscapes’ on immigration and related crimes, his opponents cried foul. The more so when Merz argued that Germany needs “large-scale deportations” of foreigners who haven’t integrated into the society.
Green and Left bureaucrats and opinion-leaders were furious. Within days, 50 prominent women (activists, writers, politicians) sent an open letter to the chancellor. They demanded real safety measures, “not as a cheap excuse to justify racist narratives”. Natalie Pawlik (SPD) added her bit, “migration must not be stigmatised with simplistic or populist kneejerk reactions – this divides society even further and ultimately helps the wrong people instead of promoting solutions”.
Green parliamentary leader Anton Hofreiter joined the female choir, warning that Merz’s words were “dangerous race-baiting”. The Bundestag was also loud with protests as leftist derided Merz’s proposal for overseas deportation centres, warning of serious human rights violations if refugees were locked up abroad.
Chancellor Merz didn’t back out. He insists he has “nothing to take back” and that “security is the priority”. He also said something that was unimaginable just a few months ago: “only if [security] can be guaranteed will the mainstream parties win back trust”. A tiny proof that not all European politicians have completely lost their connection with the real world.
Alas, we had to wait almost ten years for this pragmatic and clear voice.
If Merz is right, Germany’s open-door era is over.
In a speech to the Bundestag on November 4, 2025, he flatly stated “there are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany”, since the war in Syria has ended. He then added, “we can also begin with repatriations” and those, who refuse to return “can, of course, also be deported in the near future”. In short: many of the 1.3 million Syrian refugees in the country should voluntarily return home to help rebuild their own country; or else be sent packing.
Merz’s logic is simple: if Germans feel unsafe, they will favour their current leaders less and less. Rebuilding trust is Step Zero before starting to work on anything else that needs an overhaul (clue: economy).
Merz’s ideas weren’t received with applause by all.
Politicians from the Left redoubled their campaign for migrant rights: the Greens and the Left have introduced motions opposing deportations and criticizing the “scapegoating” of immigrants.
The left is divided, though: FDP and SPD back some of the tougher rules, while the Greens vehemently oppose them, let it be establishing deportation centres in third countries (as proposed by Minister of Interior Alexander Dobrindt in October) or sending Syrian migrants home.
Maybe a reminder on some basic political and economic principles (like Maslov’s Hierarchy) would help with the situation, an Intro to Politics 1.0 course. In the hierarchy of human needs, food is followed by safety. As long as those two basic needs are not met, ideology and complex moral issues rest in the corner.
And safety is something Germans lack today – and while the Left is in denial about the causes, the headlines are straightforward. From the shocking attack in January 2025 against a group of toddlers to the latest arrest (a 22-year-old Syrian man was arrested in Berlin, allegedly planning a jihadist terrorist attack), violent attacks with immigrant perpetrators are on the rise.
There are still some who want to carry on as if nothing had happened, defending migration till the end, framing security talks as “cynical score-settling” and accusing Merz of “scheming to pit victims of sexism against victims of racism”. They failed to notice that the movie changed from “refugees welcome” to the “importance of maintaining social cohesion”.
Ironically, Merz’s act might save Die Grüne in the long run: the faster safety and normality returns to Germany’s cities, the sooner Green ideology can return to the political discourse.
