Solidarity with refugees: negotiations of proximity and memory

This chapter explores the emergence of a particularly welcoming societal stance and atmosphere towards asylum seekers and refugees in Germany.¹ In German, this significant cultural shift has been labelled Willkommenskultur – or ‘a culture of welcome/hospitality’ – an attitude that started to emerge noticeably in 2011 and reached its peak in the summer of 2015, when hundreds of thousands of Germans joined voluntary associations and groups to support large numbers of refugees arriving in the country, predominantly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, around 10 per cent of Germany’s adult population joined such initiatives or projects aimed at helping refugees in...