No. Merkel left the borders wide open for years, supported by the left saying how positive this would be for social
fabric, and by many conservatives and JCs wanting a bigger cheap labour pool.

I remember reading about Turkish "guest workers" in Germany, in the 70s. I can understand the German population feeling the same pressures now, as USians. VAG's board just approved stepping the RIF up to 100,000, and closing four more plants. One of the four plants is in Zwickau, in the east. VAG closed it's small Dresden plant last year. Hanover, Emden and Neckarsulm are also up for the chop.

Like in most European countries there is lasting resentment about policies enacted despite a lack of buy-in by the populace -

Welcome to the new concept of "democracy", where money has a larger vote than people. The thing being aired, a lot, in the US, right now, is the government's unflinching support for Israel, no matter how brutally it behaves. Some 80% of USian Dems do not support Israeli actions, but we see Dem politicians like Haley Stevens and Fetterman, attacking those who do not lay down for Israel. Trump talks a good pro-worker game on the campaign trail, then governs for the wealth and comfort of himself and his cronies instead.

The proles were told ‚together we‘ll manage‘

Sticks in my mind that one of the things the Bonn government did, at reunification, was converting Ostmarks to DM. I remember when Hungary rolled up the fence, and people were escaping the GDR via Hungary. The news showed the people throwing their Ostmarks away as the train left the station, and janitors sweeping them up from the platform. Wonder what those people thought, when Bonn made the Ostmarks they had thrown away good?

Steve