Frustration mounts as Germany's refugee crisis overwhelms resources

“We can do it!” Chancellor Angela Merkel declared last summer after agreeing to keep her country’s borders open to about 1 million refugees. But Germans aren’t so sure after gangs of migrants attacked hundreds of women in Cologne during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Last month, Cologne saw an increase in applications for licenses to carry gas-powered airguns in public. That reflects increasing frustration with the Merkel government’s handling of last year’s refugee influx. When Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker suggested women protect themselves from harassment by keeping strange men at “more than an arm’s length,” social media exploded with ridicule—since at least some of the incidents involved groups of alcohol-fueled young men encircling women. On Jan. 18, West German Broadcasting Cologne reported that 766 women had filed police reports related to the New Year’s Eve harassment.

Ingo Tophoven, a Christian counselor in Berlin, supported Merkel until four years ago. That’s when she began departing from what the people elected her to do, he said, adding much of the blame for the current crisis is hers. He blames Merkel for inadequate preparation to “do immigration well,” and says her decision has split Germany, with refugee issues overwhelming government agencies. Newspapers report daily on refugee problems and Germany’s legislators regularly create new laws in reaction to the challenges.

On a positive note, Tophoven sees Germans uniting in both general society and among Christian churches to solve problems through neighborhood self-help groups, volunteer language classes, and trauma training.

“We can’t just let people freeze, waiting for their registration day and night, without tents, without hot tea,” he said. “That’s crazy.”

Germans are noted for their planning and organization. But with more than 1 million new refugees already in Germany and 300,000 of them unlikely to be registered anytime soon, Merkel’s government is nowhere near catching up with the crisis. Merkel’s 2015 slogan, “Wir schaffen das!” (“We can do it!”) seems to fall on deaf ears these days as many Germans reply: “We can’t do it!”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.