Wir schaffen das

"Wir schaffen das" ("we can manage this; we can do it; we can do this") is an assertion made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the 2015 European migrant crisis that Germany could manage to absorb very large numbers of immigrants. It has been inverted and is now in wide use by politicians and activists opposed to mass immigration as a criticism of Merkel and her pro mass immigration policy.

Merkel's use of phrase

Merkel first used the phrase on 31 August 2015, at a press conference following a visit to a refugee camp near Dresden where local opponents of her open borders policy booed and heckled her.[1] The full sentence she used was "Wir haben so vieles geschafft – wir schaffen das.” This can be translated as "We have managed so many things — we will also manage this situation."[1]

Merkel used the phrase in the wake of attacks by immigrants, the children of immigrants and right-wing extremists[2], including the 2016 Munich shooting, the 2016 Ansbach bombing, and the Würzburg train attack.[3]

Use of phrase by political opponents

Two weeks after the press conference where Merkel first used the phrase, opponents began to use it to criticize her pro-immigration policy.[1] In August 2018, one of the vice presidents of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) stated, the dictum was the "root of the violence" in Chemnitz. SPD-chairwoman and SPD group leader in the Bundestag Andrea Nahles called this an "unbelievable statement of an experienced politician".[4]

Writing in The Atlantic, Graeme Wood describes "the anti-immigrant right" as having "hung 'Wir schaffen das' around (Merkel's) neck like a lead weight."[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Delcker, Janosch (23 August 2016). "The phrase that haunts Angela Merkel". Politico. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. ↑ "Ermittlungen zum Münchner Amoklauf abgeschlossen". Landescriminalamt Bayern. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  3. ↑ "After rampages, Merkel says again: Wir schaffen das". The Local. AFP. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Kubicki wegen Aussagen zu Chemnitz in der Kritik, Zeit.de, 29 August 2018
  5. ↑ Wood, Graeme (April 2018). "The Refugee Detectives". The Atlantic. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
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