Stabbing of a Girl Unnerves Germany
KANDEL, Germany — It happened between neatly stacked rows of shampoo and baby food: A teenage boy walked up to his ex- girlfriend in the drugstore, pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the heart.
The death on December 27 has traumatized this town of barely 10,000 inhabitants in southwestern Germany, not just because the suspect and the victim were only 15 years old and went to the local school, but because the boy is an Afghan migrant and the girl was German.
Since Germany took in about a million migrants two years ago, episodes like the Berlin Christmas market attack have stoked insecurities.
But the case of the two teenagers, Abdul D. and Mia V., has struck a special nerve because the killing happened in such a provincial setting and the two people involved were so young. It became national news and reinforced fears that Germany is becoming ever less safe.
Something has shifted in Ger- many. Not long ago, the logistical challenge and cost of integrating new migrants dominated the debate. Now, the growing unease with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policy has reached a new stage.
“I am scared,” said Jana Weigel, 24, of Kandel.
Calls have multiplied for swifter deportations of those who, like the suspect, have been denied asylum.
A preliminary coalition agreement between Ms. Merkel’s conservatives and the more liberal Social Democrats announced in January includes a cap of 220,000 refugees per year and strictly limits the number of family members allowed in.
Even in left-voting Kandel, the mood has hardened. Many took the killing personally. Before Mia broke up with Abdul, he had been welcomed into her family, Ms. Weigel said, much like the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been welcomed to Germany. “It makes you think,” she said, “how many others will betray our hospitality.”
That sense of insecurity was re- inforced by a study showing that reported crimes in Lower Saxony had risen by more than 10 percent over the past two years, an increase attributed to cases involving refugees. The authors said that crimes involving migrants are twice as likely to be reported. Many accused of crimes are young men under 30, an age group most likely to commit crimes, even among Germans. Less publicized was that over all, violent crime, including murder and rape, remains well below its 2007 peak.
“The paradox is that Germany is still a very safe country, much safer than even a few years ago,” said Christian Pfeiffer, a criminologist and a co-author of the report.
Kandel is an orderly town of restored medieval houses and shops. It is also home to 125 refugees, most of them from Syria or Afghanistan.
Until Mia was killed, “there was never a problem,” said Günther Tielebörger, Kandel’s mayor.
Maja Mathias, 53, works in a bakery and has a Croatian brother-inlaw. “I have no problem with foreigners,” she said. “But there is always the fear: What else is coming?”
Beyond fear, the killing has stirred other resentments.
“German retirees who have worked hard for 45 years get less than the refugees,” said Knoll Pede, 64, a town worker.
Such talk worries Mr. Tielebörger. The benefits migrants receive are far less generous, he said, and many of the migrants are barred from work until their asylum applications have been processed. But “Germans feel neglected,” Mr. Tielebörger said.
“We need to wake up,” he said.