Here in Germany there is an increasing awareness of a problem among the youth of this country. In general, I guess this would include “kids” from 12-19, but the problem certainly begins at home. You may have heard about it in the news: here in Germany there are a large number of immigrants from countries like Turkey, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc. In recent months, it seems primarily Turkish immigrants that are causing the problems, but I imagine they can’t be solely to blame. The problem is this: these kids apparently have too much free time and aggression and they are beating the crap out of people on the street with hardly any provocation.
It started in Munich when a man asked a 17- year-old Greek & 20-year-old Turkish national to put out their cigarettes. They were in subway station and smoking is banned there. The kids, apparently offended that this older man would feel he has a right to request that they obey the law, just started whaling on him…and there were security cameras there for the world to watch.
A few days later, a similar attack happened and since then there have been more or more reports hitting the news that things like this are happening. In fact, one town which is part of our town fellowship had an attack last weekend. In Oberdorfelden (pop. 2000 I would guess), a few of these newly coined “youth criminals” jumped some other kids who were coming home drunk from a bar. They stole their wallets, cell phones, watches, iPod and anything else of value. And not one day later, an elderly woman was beaten to death at 5:30 am in Frankfurt. All I can say is what the hell is going on here?
Is this what happens when society just loses control of an immigrant population? I’m sorry to make this a question of immigrants and their upbringing (being that I am an immigrant in this country myself) but when the statistics show that 50% of the youth committing these crimes are foreigners, you have to take notice.
But honestly, it’s not just a question of heritage; this is a much bigger problem than that. It’s a matter of these kids not having family that care AT ALL what these kids do. The parents are happiest when the kids don’t come home every night because then they don’t have to deal with them. The kids don’t respect their parents, their friends or even themselves; and with every generation it just gets worse. The adults feel overworked and underpaid, they are tired at night and just don’t want to deal with their kids and possibly regret ever having them at all. Some of them probably wish the government would take over responsibility of them – and some of them will have that wish met when their kids end up in prison.
All this is causing major upset in the German political system right now. Some say let them be, we can’t kick these foreigners out just because they’re breaking the law. But the Conservatives have had enough. They want them booted the first time they commit a crime. Personally I will fully support that – or at least a”3 strikes, you’re out policy.” Why should these criminals be allowed to stay in this country when all they want to do is cause trouble? Maybe we should just send them all to Siberia like this kid. Needless to say it’s a chaotic situation, and upcoming elections on January 27th in the state of Hessen should be interesting. The vote is being ruled by this topic which has caused a lot of harsh words to be said between politicians.
Personally, we’re just hoping to stay out of the way and pray that nothing happens in our little town. Five kilometers away from us is definitely close enough to open our eyes and we’re all much more cautious now when we’re out at night. Is this the beginning of the end of civilization?
hi,
i stumbled on your blog last year when thinking about our own renovation project (just a dachbodenausbau on a 70s farmhouse in austria, but trying to get it done from california), and i just wanted to comment on this post, since i did my dissertation research with turkish women in austria.
the over-emphasis of the german media on the fact that the youth are foreign nationals (which doesn’t mean that they haven’t grown up in germany – they could even be second or third generation!) has created a sense of panic and extreme racism. instead of asking what ways society could work with youth to get/keep them occupied (work, school, etc.), these youth are often stigmatized and ostracized.
i don’t think you need to pray that something doesn’t happen in your town, but listen to news reports with a critical ear and urge those who can vote to chose responsible and non-racist policies.
Hi Chris,
As I mentioned in my post, although over half of the kids committing the crimes are foreigners (whether they have lived here their entire lives or not), the REAL problem is a lack of parenting and teaching. These kids have far too much free time (which I mentioned already) and get out of school between 11:30 and 1:30pm every day. That leaves the entire afternoon for them to find trouble…and opening more McDonald’s restaurants certainly won’t solve the problem which seems to be their primary hang out now.
But I do have to wonder if just giving them more opportunities to work, join society and be useful in general would interest the worst of the bunch (which are certainly the ones committing the crimes anyway). Every kid who wants to avoid breaking the law can and usually does – but something has to motivate him to want to do the right thing…and I think that comes from a strong moral foundation which generally starts with parents. Teachers also have a big role to play here, but I’m not so sure that most of them here in Germany really put forth enough effort to try to reach kids anymore.
Perhaps they don’t try in the US either. The issues with kids here in Germany certainly isn’t all that different from in the US. Constant news reports of kids raping, killing and causing injury to one another aren’t hard to find. It’s a general problem that has grown worse over the last 10 years and unless we ALL start reaching out to these kids it’s only going to get worse.
Hey,
I am a 19 year old student living in the US. In a year or so I am planning on moving to Germany to study for a while. Will the German people see me as just another foreign teenager trouble maker? Will I automatically be put in that group? I’d hate to move to a country where everyone is going to hate me. Are these problems only in certain kinds of areas or should you just be aware no matter where you are? I’m sorry, the thought of moving at all makes me nervous so I guess I’m just worrying too much over every little thing.
Hi Celia,
No, absolutely not every young person is put in this category…the majority of them are still good kids – it’s just that the bad ones unfortunately get a lot more press!
Where are you planning to move? Or do you know yet? Every city and area is a bit different but in general I don’t think you’d need to be scared about falling into this sort of category – and a lot of them still are in high school actually. They have a lot more time on their hands since they go to school early in the morning and are often out at 11:30 (1:30 on regular days). That gives them an entire afternoon to look for trouble instead of finding something productive to do with themselves.
Feel free to write me about any questions you might have…I’ll try to answer them as best I can! And good luck with your transition over here 🙂
Tiffany