Kurt Bressler is one of Professor Birdsong’s brightest students. Mr. Bressler who has travelled in Germany and Austria took my Refugee and Asylum Law course in 2008. He wrote his seminar paper on violence against foreigners in Germany. Late last year he expanded on his paper to satisfy his upper level requirement for graduation. He has given me permission his expanded paper on my blog. He makes some good points about violence against foreigners in Germany that might just apply universally. Have a read:
Immigration Reform and Violence Against Foreigners in Unified Germany
Kurt Bressler, J.D. Candidate 2010, Barry University School of Law
I. Introduction
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany has struggled in its quest for an effective and all encompassing solution to the dichotomy between its immigration laws and the omnipresent xenophobic violence associated with them. In reality, this is not a problem which is unique to Germany; all countries struggle with racist violence in one form or another. Historically though, Germany has shown a correlation between the passing or relaxation of its immigration laws and a spike in racist violence, especially in the area formerly known as East Germany.
An example of the racist violence faced by non-ethnic Germans can be seen in the United States asylum application filed by Zakia Mashiri.[1]Zakia and her husband are natives of Afghanistan who lived in Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall. On numerous separate occasions, the Mashiri’s were subjected to violence based on their non German background. One such incident occurred when Zakia’s husband was severely beaten in his taxi after being subjected to racial slurs and threats.[2]He was also beaten in a similar fashion on several other occasions. The Mashiri’s son was also beaten by neo-nazi’s several times while returning home from school.[3] Each time, the reason for the attack was explicitly stated: Germany is for German’s.
Another poignant example of the violence endured by foreigners in Germany occurred in November of 2007. A group of eight Indian asylum seekers were chased
