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Wir schaffen das

I say quite simply: Germany is a strong country. The attitude with which we approach these things has to be: We have done so much - we can do this! We can do this, and where something stands in our way, it must be overcome, it must be worked on. The federal government will do everything in its power - together with the states, together with the municipalities - to achieve exactly that.

Angela Merkel

"Wir schaffen das" (English: "we can manage this"; "we can handle this"; or "we can do this") is a statement made by Angela Merkel, the then-Chancellor of Germany, during the 2015 European migrant crisis. It has been described as a core slogan of the German concept of Willkommenskultur. She repeated the statement several times at the 2015 Christian Democratic Union party conference. The phrase has become a symbol of Merkel's refugee policy used by supporters and detractors alike.

Merkel made her original comment at a federal press conference held on 31 August 2015 following a visit to a refugee camp in Dresden where opponents of her refugee policy had booed and heckled her.[1] The full sentence used ("wir haben so vieles geschafft — wir schaffen das") can be translated as "we have managed so many things — we will also manage this situation".[1]

Individual media sources have suggested that Chancellor Merkel repeated the phrase several times even in situations in which the phrase could have been construed as insensitive to those injured or killed in acts of violent crime, or as dismissive of the crimes themselves, such as in 2016, in response to incidents in Germany, including the 2016 Munich shooting, the 2016 Ansbach bombing, and the 2016 Würzburg train attack.[2][3] The repeated use of the phrase in response to criminal events is not corroborated by the legacy media domestically nor internationally. In September 2016, Merkel stated she would no longer use the phrase, telling the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche "I sometimes think this phrase was a little overstated, that too much store was set by it — to the extent that I'd prefer not to repeat it".[4][5]

  1. ^ a b Delcker, Janosch (19 August 2016). "The phrase that haunts Angela Merkel". Politico. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Ermittlungen zum Münchner Amoklauf abgeschlossen". Bavarian State Police (in German). 17 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  3. ^ "After rampages, Merkel says again: Wir schaffen das". The Local. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  4. ^ Livingstone, Emmet (17 September 2016). "Angela Merkel drops the 'we can do it' slogan". Politico. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  5. ^ Meckel, Miriam; Schmitz, Gregor Peter (17 September 2016). "Flüchtlingskrise: Angela Merkel will "Wir schaffen das" nicht wiederholen". Wirtschaftswoche (in German). Retrieved 8 March 2023.

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