Refugee crisis – casus of Cottbus

Abstract

The fact that about 4000 immigrants are placed in Cottbus, situated 192 km from Poznań and 83 km from Zielona Góra, makes us feel it is necessary to analyze modus operandi of the entities legitimizing or delegitimizing the Open Door policy of the Chancellor Angela Merkel. To explain their position, political actors refer to the diverse narratives that Rolf Peter Sieferle classified as: the refugee narrative; a narrative recalling the demographic problem; a narrative referring to problems in the labor market and a lack of qualified employees; a narrative referring to the essence of multiculturalism. Difficulties in absorbing immigrants caused a discussion about fatigue both in political parties and in the media, but they showed the potential of social initiatives and movements, for example the organization “Future of the Fatherland”, led by Hans-Christoph Berndt. His views combined with the statements of Dietmar Woidke, the Prime Minister of Brandenburg, or Jörg Steinbach, the President of the Brandenburg University of Technology, reflect the diversity of the assessment of migration policy in a micro-scale.