Viewpoint: Munich migrant welcome shames Europe

A gap-toothed little Syrian boy beamed as he was allowed to try on a Bavarian policeman's hat.

An exhausted man, unshaven for three days, couldn't help wiping a tear from his eye.

A cheerful young man was a picture of good humour, making a heart sign with his hands.

There were heart-warming scenes at Munich's main railway station. People who had spent weeks fleeing were greeted with applause, sweets and soft toys - not by some political activists, but by many ordinary citizens.

Those citizens had set off for the station in Munich and other German cities to demonstrate to the refugees: "You're not lepers, you're welcome - we respect you for what you've had to endure".

There were thousands of small gestures, made possible because Chancellor Angela Merkel had decided on one big gesture: Germany will take in the Syrian refugees who were stranded in Hungary.

The refugees were treated badly in Hungary; in Austria they were waved through - and in Germany they were welcomed.

Banishing Hitler

It was touching and grand - it is historic. Munich is the big German reception centre, the place where refugees get first aid, from the state, from a well-run administration, from a mayor with a heart and from a hospitable civil society.

Such goodwill doesn't solve the many problems faced by the state and society in integrating the refugees.

But it helps to tackle those problems. And perhaps that goodwill is infectious.

Munich was the city of the 1938 Munich Agreement - the Hitler diktat that set in train the destruction and break-up of what World War One had still left intact.

Now in 2015 Munich could establish a new tradition: Munich as the name and symbol of protection and help.

The Prime Minister of Upper Bavaria, Christoph Hillenbrand, said a really remarkable thing at the weekend - so different from what one expects a German official to say: "Legal issues right now are not so important to me."

Above all, for the man responsible for receiving refugees in the greater Munich area, it is a question of "humanitarian management".

The official is picking up on the new line of Chancellor Merkel. Rules and instructions, Mrs Merkel says, are not as important right now as flexibility and first aid. The concern of quite a few European politicians that this help will attract more refugees is disgraceful, she argues.

Germany is establishing an alternative to the policy of deterring refugees.

Far-right hostility

What's happened? Are we witnessing a miracle? Has Germany overnight become a paradise of charity? We should not exaggerate. German society, like in Europe as a whole, is torn between a willingness to help, a sense of helplessness, defensiveness and incitement.

Germany has an increasingly toxic anti-immigrant scene - their messages are marked by brazenness, death threats and incendiary language.

The threats are directed at refugees - "We'll burn you" - but recently they have also targeted politicians who stand up for refugees.

(BBC)