Feature: Germany welcomes new year with hope amid refugee crisis
Xinhua, January 1, 2016 Adjust font size:
"10, 9, 8, 7... 0!" The crowd counted down, and then the fireworks lit up the sky over Brandenburg Gate during the celebration for the New Year in Berlin.
The famous countdown to midnight, the live music, and the huge fireworks display once again attracted hundreds of thousands of guests from around the world to Berlin's best-known landmark on the last night of 2015.
"Personally, I think 2015 is a beautiful year," said Matthias, a tourist from Munich, when looking back at the past year.
"From a social point of view, 2015 is for me a very defining year, which began with the German Wings crash, the refugee debate and the attacks in Paris, that the seemingly perfect world in Europe is not infallible, and besides, very vulnerable," he added.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel once called 2015 a "turbulent and very difficult year" for Europe.
The number of refugees registered in Germany officially reached one million three weeks before the end of 2015. "Refugees" was also named the word of this year in the German language.
"I wish that they could learn the German language well to be socially integrated in this country as soon as possible," said a German-Chinese Yu Hongping from Berlin, who also admitted that he felt concerned when many refugees were sheltered in the district where he has lived for a decade.
With a view to the future, Matthias wished that "2016 will be a more peaceful year than 2015, the wars in Ukraine and Syria will be over, and the European Union can find a solution to the refugee crisis".
However, the majority of Germans look to the coming year rather with fear than with confidence, as an inquiry of Hamburg-based Foundation for Future Studies showed. A possible cause for the result are the influx of refugees and the recent terrorist attacks, said Ulrich Reinhardt, the foundation's director.
Despite the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers and internal criticism, Merkel still holds her famous "we can do it" attitude and emphasized of integration of refugees as "an opportunity for tomorrow" in her New Year's address.
"We can do it" is a great battle cry, but now there is a lack of clarity, said Bianca, a young woman living in Berlin.
"I wish a clear statement of the policy. So there is no room for fear. Everyone knows what the next steps are and can follow and participate with them in these steps," she told Xinhua.
Looking to 2016, Merkel noted "there is no question that the influx of so many people will keep demanding much of us. It will take time, energy and money."
"I am definitely curious and excited what new surprises and challenges the New Year would bring ... I certainly hope for only good ones," said Matthias. Endit