Wir Deutschen sind mehrheitlich zu gutgläubig, um auch nur zu ahnen, was man mit uns treibt! #CDU #AngelaMerkel
— Lars Winter (@LarsWinter_) January 9, 2016
My translation:
We Germans are of the majority too trusting and we don’t even know what impels us! #CDU #AngelaMerkel
According to Politbarometer, a poll of the German population conducted by the German television broadcasting company ZDF, for the first time in early January, a majority of Germans (56%) believed that Germany could not handle the number of refugees they had accepted in the previous year. A majority were also dissatisfied with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies. In December 2015, the majority was favorable on both accounts.
This tweet is just one example of a slew of tweets in recent weeks from Germans and foreigners alike that question or outright critique Merkel’s current pro-refugee stance. This tweet is of interest to historians who want to gather information on the climate of the German population’s ever-shifting opinions in regards to the topic of immigration, and specifically, refugee policy.
This tweet was tweeted by Lars Winter, a seemingly avid consumer and critic of all things German politics, though with no obvious political ties himself. Winter, as can be gathered from this tweet, is a somewhat harsh critic of Merkel and her policies.
At the time of this post Winter had 48,700 Twitter followers, a substantially large audience, even after considering the fact that many of his followers could be spam accounts. The intended audience was, of course, Winter’s own Twitter followers but he also aimed to reach a larger audience by using the hashtags #CDU and #AngelaMerkel. At the time of this post Winter’s tweet was retweeted 13 times and liked 21 times. Though this indicates agreement among some of Winter’s followers it is not a fair assessment of how the tweet was received because many of Winter’s Twitter followers likely agree with him on most accounts.
The tweet’s bias is Winter’s own bias and should certainly be considered as a single opinion in interpretation but Winter is not alone in this opinion. Merkel’s own party, German citizens, and notably New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat share opinions that include questions and critiques of Merkel, her pro-refugee stance, and her immigration policies.
– Maude Molesworth