[mojaveman]

I'm pretty much in support of Richard on this subject. Many Germans have strong reservations with foreigners immigrating to their country just like we do with all of the illegal immigrants who come here. As I mentioned earlier, I spent a few years in the former DDR and feel qualified to make a few observations about life there. The "Ossies" do not like foreigners coming and living in their territory. They see them as competitors for jobs and also as a force that will degrade their standard of living. The only reason that I was accepted there is because I can speak the language, I am white, and I have a last name that is of eastern European origin. I would have to agree that a large number of the population there are xenophobic. The man who stabbed the Arab woman was a Russian who immigrated there at an earlier time. I am certian that he may have been treated poorly because of this and also had issues with his status of not being a true German. I believe that the Arab population overall in the former DDR is only about 1%. It's higher in the larger cities but nearly non-existant in the smaller towns and villages. In the coming decades when the Arabs begin to expand further into eastern Germany I predict that there will be many more incidents like the one that we read about.