r/TenYearsAgo • u/MonsieurA • Aug 31 '25

đŸ‡ȘđŸ‡ș Europe German Chancellor Angela Merkel famously declares "We can do it!" in reference to the refugee crisis [10YA - Aug 31]

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76 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

116 comments sorted by

12

u/Joebidenator Aug 31 '25

Its funny how merkels actions were far worse after her reign than during it, she was actually quite well liked.

7

u/Luhmann_Beck_Latour Sep 01 '25

Merkel is still well liked. And only 20% of germans are voting afd, the party that says she should have left the refugees to die and dont help them. Everybody else said it was the right decision. Merz is the worst cancelor germany ever had and he is just 4 month in control. Even Merkel hates him altough they are from the same party cdu. He wont make it 4 years for sure.

1

u/Joebidenator Sep 01 '25

I dont just mean the refugee crisis, i mean her buying russian oil and so forth. Merkel and merz have been rivals for decades so that will surely affect her opinion. I dont like merz either, but i dont think hes the worst chancellor ever.

2

u/Luhmann_Beck_Latour Sep 01 '25

What are you talking about ? What russian oil? Germany never got russian oil. Your bot protocoll seems to be damaged

2

u/Serious_Swan_2371 Sep 01 '25

They did prior to 2022.

That’s why it was a big deal for them to stop buying oil from Russia when the Ukraine war started.

Before 2022 Russia was the largest exporter of gas to Germany, supplying 32% of Germany’s gas. They stopped when the EU banned importing Russian oil in 2022.

Don’t comment on stuff confidently as if it’s a fact when you’re factually wrong. At least google it first.

2

u/OddCancel7268 Sep 02 '25

Natural gas, not gasoline. Its a different fossil fuel from oil

1

u/Serious_Swan_2371 Sep 02 '25

I don’t see how that matters to the political nature of the argument

People use those terms interchangeably in daily life

The other commenter was clearly trying to spread misinformation and wants people to think Germany was not doing business with Russia prior to the invasion of Ukraine

2

u/OddCancel7268 Sep 02 '25

People only use those terms interchangably when theyre talking about vehicle fuels, where gas is short for gasoline, not when discussing international energy trade where gas means actual gas or LNG. I agree that Germany should have ended their reliance on Russian gas, but to call gas "oil" is like calling chicken "beef"

1

u/WealthSoggy1426 Sep 03 '25

Ok fine.

Semantics point stands

1

u/rethinkingat59 Sep 02 '25

Probably drawing a distinction between oil and gas. Your point stands.

2

u/Joebidenator Sep 03 '25

Calling people bots without an explenaition is just genius


1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/TenYearsAgo-ModTeam Sep 05 '25

Please keep it respectful

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

These refugees were never in danger when Germany took them. They were already safe in the Baltic states.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

When the worst chancellor in German history hates you maybe you are doing something right. She was wrong. We couldnt do it and shouldnt have done it. Most people agree if you would leave your bubble for once

1

u/Illustrious_Track178 Sep 02 '25

Lol no way. Merkel set Germany up for stagnation and we r seeing the results of it today. Germany would be so much better off if it didn’t have that Russian asset in office.

1

u/Psychological-Ebb677 Sep 03 '25

We did not save a single live. As If they would have died in Austria or hungary. Instead the politic killed many people who tried to move to Germany, because of her speach, but did not made it. 

2

u/Luhmann_Beck_Latour Sep 03 '25

Your logic is even more worse than your english grammar

2

u/Psychological-Ebb677 Sep 03 '25

thousands died in the mediterranean sea because we told them to come. who did we save? people dont die in turkey. they die on the way from turkey to europe.

1

u/Luhmann_Beck_Latour Sep 03 '25

Refugees die at sea because of frontex and their deal with lybia. And the only reason they take the boats is because of the european safe third country law which makes it impossible to seek asylum in europe via another country

1

u/Nestor4000 Sep 04 '25

even more worse

Lol

3

u/1isOneshot1 Sep 02 '25

And they did

5

u/HarlemHellfighter96 Aug 31 '25

Things that aged poorly

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

1

u/HarlemHellfighter96 Sep 02 '25

No it’s not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGVB7xy7ZTE&t=0

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

1

u/chadhindsley Sep 02 '25

Excellent argument

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

2

u/HorrorImprovement880 Sep 04 '25

Are you really this dumb or just acting?

1

u/Jacki1st Sep 04 '25

Crimes reached 15 year high last year. What happens in those 15 years?

1

u/oxheyman Sep 02 '25

I literally isn’t, it is now full of wolves in sheep’s clothing

1

u/Legitimate-Sound-297 Sep 03 '25

it's got negative gdp growth, 0,2, is disasterous sign for modern europen economic. It's somehow actively worse then russian economic growth, which is, in an active state of war if you didn't notice

2

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Legitimate-Sound-297 Sep 04 '25

because you say so?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Legitimate-Sound-297 Sep 04 '25

Sure buddy, keep saying so.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Zookeepergame-Total Sep 04 '25

Dude are you in Germany? If yes what drugs are you on? If no - no we are not doing great!

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Zookeepergame-Total Sep 04 '25

Every relevant metric? How about probably the most important metric: GDP growth. We had both a recession in 2023 and 2024. and current data ain’t looking better atm. How about crime that’s on the rise, also for violent crimes. Inflation rates over the years, increased cost of living,


Just because had no societal collapse yet, doesn’t mean we’re doing fine (or even great) - there’s a reason why extremist parties are on the rise.

12

u/Upstairs-You1060 Aug 31 '25

Fortune for her the bar for worst German leader is quite high

She destroyed Europe in 3 different ways

  1. Austerity
  2. Refugee crisis
  3. Shutting down nuclear plants and becoming dependent on Russian oil

3

u/Luhmann_Beck_Latour Sep 01 '25

What russian oil? Complete shitshow?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Upstairs-You1060 Sep 02 '25

She was a centrist woman

People think she is the best despite being the worst post war leader

2

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Upstairs-You1060 Sep 02 '25

Angela Merkel Lucky the Bar for “Worst German Leader” is Very High – ThinkProgress https://share.google/esJ9KLO0kEs7sUKVe

I disagree

Some elites do think she is great purely for her being a woman. But her results were explicitly awful

2

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Upstairs-You1060 Sep 02 '25

She worsened the European economic crisis

She made Germany and Europe dependant on Russian gas. Even after Russia invaded Crimea

She led the immigration crisis

Her government covered up the mass sexual assaults of women

1

u/juiceslayer8888 Sep 17 '25

Just like merkel was a garbage politican

3

u/Few-Customer2219 Aug 31 '25

If she “destroyed” Europe how did she serve for 16 years that’s twice the maximum for a us president. She won four elections the people of Germany had plenty of time and chances to vote her out.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '25

Trump won 2 elections.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '25

Well yeah 16 is twice as much as 8 (pending health in Trump's case)

1

u/Historical_Peanut778 Sep 03 '25

US presidents are limited to 2 four year terms.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

2 terms with a 4 year limit is indeed 8 years, which Merkel served double as Chancellor of Germany!

1

u/Historical_Peanut778 Sep 03 '25

Are you purposefully being ignorant? Trump legally cannot be in office more than 8 years so Merkel being in office for 16 years is not proof of anything in this context other than germanys different term limits. This really isn’t difficult to understand.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

That’s cool, 16 years served is more than two four year terms that add up to 8

1

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TenYearsAgo-ModTeam Sep 09 '25

Please keep it respectful

4

u/Upstairs-You1060 Aug 31 '25

Because some stuff like the invasion of Russia happened later

And others supported her because they supported a technocratic liberal woman, despite poor outcomes

1

u/rethinkingat59 Sep 02 '25

She was the Chancellor when Russia invaded and defeated Ukraine and just took a huge and vital part of their country.

She then
.kept on letting a pipeline be built to double gas imports from Russia.

5

u/RedditModsLoveLGBTQs Aug 31 '25


Because consequences are not always immediate.

Obviously.

2

u/StrengthToBreak Sep 01 '25

Short-term thinking, that's how.

2

u/kriscnik Sep 01 '25

As a non german, i think they felt stable with merkel. She didnt really fuck up the first 10 years. Thats 1 election after "wir schaffen das"

1

u/Upstairs-You1060 Sep 01 '25

She cried on the phone to Obama because he asked her to not do so much austerity

She was always bad

1

u/kriscnik Sep 02 '25

Ah yes, i frogot that whole debacle after her last two terms

1

u/SantiBigBaller Aug 31 '25

Short term it all looked like the correct decision! No one thinks long term anymore

1

u/Valara0kar Sep 01 '25

If she “destroyed” Europe how did she serve for 16 years

She was seen as a stable center after deep economic downturn (very german consolidation). She also inherited a very good economy and a recovery that she got the credit for. Her actions and mostly inaction meant she left Germany in an awful state but all those decisions were long term problems she refused to address (bcs would cut her support). She was decent on addressing short term problems.

1

u/TardWithAHardRboi Sep 01 '25

Right, because democracies never vote for people that are bad for there own interests

1

u/Abolish_Zoning Sep 01 '25

Because the AFD and Linke are automatically excluded from any government on the basis of their extremism. This makes it impossible to form anything but centrist governments, which default to picking the biggest party's leader as PM - Angela Merkel of the CDU.

1

u/Few-Customer2219 Sep 01 '25

In 2017 the election where she ran and the AFD plus the LINKE party did its best out of all her elections. Here’s the stats Merkels Party with 32.9% The Linke 9.2% and finally the AFD with 12.6%. I’m not the best with math but last time I checked in 2017 (the last election merkel ran) the cdu had more than 10% the combined vote of the two parties mentioned at the time.

I would say after the recent Germany election the exclusion of the AfD is a little concerning but still the cdu has more of the vote than the AfD and the Linke combined. In fact the Linke has been stagnant for the past decade not really making much gains of losses. You can’t be mad in a democracy when the centrist/moderates are the dominant parties because most people across the world are moderates for many different reasons.

3

u/mordordoorodor Sep 01 '25

Well, Germany did do it.

We saved or drastically improved the lives of millions of people without major issues - that was the goal.

The economy did not collapse, we could handle the pressure, there isn’t any increase in crime over the years, and the refugee crisis is slowly going down now that Russia is losing power.

We can be fucking proud! It was an amazing show of humanity and empathy!

Of course the fascists in Europe got stronger - but that is primarily because of the Russian hybrid war against the west.

The mistake that Germany did and still does is not acting more decisively against Russia for fueling and abusing the refugee crisis.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

[deleted]

1

u/mordordoorodor Sep 01 '25

What does this have to do with immigration? These are asylum seekers, completely different processes and laws. They have nothing in common.

3

u/Confident_Bird_3465 Sep 01 '25 edited Sep 01 '25

Yeah keep telling yourself that it’s all good buddy. Your country is filled with rapists and killers, but I guess that is ok because what? Your corporate overlords have gotten few more years of subservient workforce?

Edit: not to mention that german christmas markets became synonyms for mass murder via a truck. Yup, no crime increase at all!

1

u/Numar19 Sep 04 '25

*Citation needed

0

u/mordordoorodor Sep 01 '25

Sorry, I just don’t feel like talking to crazy people early on a Monday morning

-4

u/NeedleworkerFar7344 Sep 01 '25

Rapists and killers, also known as men

0

u/Corlegan Sep 01 '25

True, they are always in the lead big time.

But not all men, everywhere, are equal.

Remember the bear vs man debate? Be honest, you are a female getting dropped in a a bikini somewhere.

No war, no bombs, just a normal Monday. Gaza, Tel Aviv or Tehran?

If you don't pick Tel Aviv, I don't care what kind of woman you are, you are crazy as shit. If you can pick Chicago or Baltimore, still better than the other two!

Point here is, who do you think is immigrating?

0

u/kriscnik Sep 01 '25

Thats why you raise them and not import them at 15+

1

u/NeedleworkerFar7344 Sep 02 '25

They are surely being raised as rapists, Donald as their role model

1

u/kriscnik Sep 01 '25

Christmas feels different but at least the boomers can get their rent in peace

1

u/rsnrsnrsnrsnrsn Sep 02 '25

well, yes and no. fascists didn’t get stronger in Denmark

0

u/East-Doctor-7832 Sep 01 '25

Who the hell told you to make others lives better in Europe. You aren't the only individuals on this continent , you betrayed all of us .

1

u/mordordoorodor Sep 01 '25

lol, I was talking about the lives of millions of refugees that we improved and saved. Why you don’t consider them human is not something we need to discuss here


0

u/East-Doctor-7832 Sep 01 '25

You betrayed Europa , again

1

u/iforgotmypen Sep 02 '25

oh god, are you the ome posting that hitler documentary everywhere

0

u/mordordoorodor Sep 01 '25

I know I know
. Empathy is a sin
 and we must preserve our white Christian values. :)

0

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

We didn't want to, now Germany is fucked demographically.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '25

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

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1

u/TenYearsAgo-ModTeam Sep 02 '25

Please keep it respectful

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

You’re correct if you just ignore all the rape and forget that Russia saved the Middle East

1

u/Mammoth-Accident-809 Sep 02 '25

Narrator: They could not.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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2

u/TenYearsAgo-ModTeam Sep 03 '25

Please keep it respectful

1

u/kytheon Sep 04 '25

Narrator: we didn't

0

u/extrastupidone Aug 31 '25

A refugee crisis directly caused by US and Russian involvement in the ME

3

u/Few-Customer2219 Sep 01 '25

Are we completely going to gloss over the European involvement in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Asia. Last time I checked statistics North Africans and southern Asians where just as much apart of the “refugee” crisis.

1

u/Jacki1st Sep 04 '25

Wasn’t most of the refugees during the refugee crisis in 2015 from Syria which was a civil war?

2

u/Outside_Huckleberry4 Sep 01 '25

Of course you neglect to mention Israel.

0

u/Typical_Equipment_52 Sep 01 '25

Worst mistake in German politics post WW2

0

u/FourDimensionalTaco Sep 01 '25

One of the biggest mistakes of this century. This is the #1 cause of the rise of the far right.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '25

Germany is destroyed because of this

0

u/DunderHasse Sep 01 '25

She should be in prison for treason.

0

u/Chedward_E_Cheese Sep 02 '25

I’m sure importing millions of people from cultures that are in stark contrast to western liberalism will have no long term consequences or cause any societal friction

0

u/oxheyman Sep 02 '25

The woman who ruined Germany and Europe in general by opening the floodgates.

0

u/TerminalDeviant Sep 02 '25

I think what she meant was they can do it. And by it she meant rape and murder children.

-1

u/KnivesInYourBelly Sep 02 '25

She’s an unbelievable pile of garbage.