Photo Gallery Feeling the Strain
Migrants make their way along the Austrian-German border on Oct. 12. The German states have reported some 409,000 new arrivals between Sept. 5 and Oct. 15 -- more than ever before in a comparable time period.
Each night, a train carrying approximately 450 refugees arrives at Mannheim's Central Station. The people are then brought to gymnasiums and other halls where temporary emergency housing is being provided.
The thousands of refugees arriving each day have proven to be a major burden for many German towns. Municipalities have had to act quickly in responding to the challenge. Here, in the Main-Taunus region near Frankfurt, officials were given 77 hours to convert three halls, including this one, to accommodate 1,000 refugees. The refugees are being distributed across the country according to an agreement reached between the federal government and the states.
In the city of Nuremberg, many unaccompanied minors who have come to Germany as refugees are being housed. It has been estimated that as many as 14,000 unaccompanied minor refugees are currently in the state of Bavaria.
Many Germans are becoming uncomfortable with the sheer number of refugees coming into the country. In Hesepe in Lower Saxony, some 4,000 asylum-seekers are being housed in a village that is home to only 2,500 residents. Kathrin and Ralf Meyer (pictured here) are local residents. "It's gotten a bit too much for us," says Kathrin, a mother of three. "Too much noise, too many refugees, too much garbage." The Meyers say they are planning to move out in November. Though "you do feel sorry for them," says Ralf.
That kind of sentiment could spell trouble for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is feeling increasing political pressure from within her party to stop the flow of immigrants. Six weeks after her historic decision to open Germany's border, the mood within her own party is quickly shifting.
