A small village in Brandenburg, Petersdorf, will receive 500 migrants despite having only 600 residents, and local residents are outraged, alienated, and feel helpless. It is a story happening across Germany and is likely to only fuel anti-immigrant resentment.
Petersdorf is situated next to Bad Saarow, a spa town, and is known for attracting Berliners for the weekend for its thermal baths, restaurants and beautiful views of the local lake, the Scharmützelsee,
However, just outside the town in an old army barracks, which the local district is planning to convert into a home for hundreds of migrants. It is the type of story that conservative critics say is further evidence of the Great Replacement, which describes the ongoing demographic replacement of Europeans in their native lands by non-Western immigrants. While the left describes it as a “conspiracy theory,” the right states it is an irrefutable fact supported by data, and in many ways, illustrated clearly by these types of cases.
The barracks are a four-story building that can house 300 men, but they are set to be expanded, including with the installation of residential “containers.” Construction teams are already at work and are set to soon finish. In total, the accommodations will house 500 migrants. The plans for the construction are moving forward despite the local council unanimously voting against expansion plans a year ago.
Once the men are settled, there will be nearly as many migrants as residents. The German government is running out of spaces in the cities, but there is never an end to more newcomers, which has led to a push in small towns and rural areas. Over the years, German newspaper Welt reports that many other small towns have undergone a similar fate, including Upahl, Dabel, Seeth, and Bernkastel-Kues, and “there was trouble every time.”
In many cases, there is little offered in terms of planning for how social services and infrastructure will cope with the newcomers, including even the removal of sewage. Once again, this is the case for Bad Saarow and Petersdorf. The local mayor of Petersdorf, Thomas Schoppe, told the local paper Märkische Oderzeitung that the containers were already being built “while the local council was still discussing it.”
Schoppe said, “We were totally betrayed.”
Within the town, voters are also angered, while others are simply disappointed. Brandenburg, where the village is located, notably swung hard to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) in recent state elections, giving the party nearly 30 percent of the vote. Residents told a Welt reporter that they have no idea how buses, daycare centers, and other infrastructure will cope with the sudden influx of migrants.
According to Welt, “still others don’t want any foreigners in the neighborhood at all.”
Although the local council rejected the entire plan to house 500 migrants, they are still powerless to stop it. Paragraph 246 of the Building Code has been used in many such cases. It allows for the construction of emergency refugee accommodations as quickly as possible, a rule that was first created at the beginning of the migrant crisis and is renewed every three years.
Although it is possible to take action against this code, Katja Kaiser, head of the department for youth, social affairs and culture in the Oder-Spree district claims “it is a fairly formalistic procedure” in which there are few options to take action, because consent from the municipality or town is not actually required.
The AfD has already pointed to the case as yet another example of how mass immigration is reshaping communities. The Oder-Spree branch of the party wrote:
“Shock for Petersdorf and Bad Saarow. These are gigantic numbers that reflect the extent of migration: more than 8 million foreigners migrated to Germany since 2005, according to the Federal Statistical Office… Especially cruel is once again a case right here in the district of Oder-Spree. In Petersdorf, located between Fürstenwalde and Bad Saarow, container villages are created. In total, 500 migrants are to be housed in the middle of the forest on the site of a former barracks at Fuchsbau. That would double the population. Locals say, ‘This has nothing to do with democracy anymore.'”
