CDU leader Friedrich Merz described the sons of migrants as “little pashas”. He referred to a lack of obedience to teachers. While the German teachers’ association partly agreed with the politician, others accused him of generalisation, populism and racism.
Friedrich Merz could be heard on Tuesday evening in the ZDF program “Markus Lanz”. There he called the sons of migrants ‘little pashas’. Popularly, this term mainly refers to men who are naturally served by a woman. According to Merz, it is mainly “young people from the Arab world who don’t want to follow the rules here in Germany, who like to challenge this state”.
Teachers’ Union: “No general suspicion”
Specifically, the politician said about the problems teachers have in dealing with the children: “And then they want to call these children to order and the result is that the fathers show up in the schools and refuse to do that. Especially when it comes to teachers goes, that they correct their sons, the little pashas, because there is something.” Heinz-Peter Meidinger, president of the German teachers’ association, agreed with Merz on Wednesday, that that cannot now be a general suspicion or general accusation against all families with a corresponding migration background.”
There is a fundamental problem that female teachers in particular are not taken seriously and their authority is not recognised. However, other parties criticized Merz’s statements. They are “very exaggerated and inaccurate,” said Edgar Bohn, president of the elementary school association. Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) also disagreed. “The young people we are mainly talking about here are Berlin children.”
Main countries of origin Romania, Poland, Bulgaria
According to the migration report, the share of the foreign population in Berlin in 2021 was the highest in Germany. About every fifth inhabitant of the capital did not have a German passport. The majority of immigrants coming to Germany in 2021 were male. The main countries of origin were Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Syria and Turkey.
Last year more people applied for asylum in Germany than since 2016, namely 217,774 people. Most came from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq. According to the annual statistics of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 24,791 of these initial applications related to German-born children under the age of one. In an EU comparison, Germany ranks first, followed by France and Spain (data up to mid-December, note). Austria ranks fourth for asylum applications.
Source: Krone
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