August 2015
On August 25, Germany decided to suspend the Dublin Procedure for Syrians, which meant that refugees from that country no longer had to be sent back to the first EU country that they entered.
On August 31, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared "Wir schaffen das" or "We can do this" as Europe was confronted with the largest refugee crisis it has seen in years. The wars in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, resulted in the German government granting protection to hundreds of thousands of refugees. Merkel called it a "national duty" to do so.
September 2015
On September 4, Germany and Austria started to take in refugees who were stuck in Hungary. At
Munich's main train station, German volunteers passed out candy and greeted hundreds of refugees with signs. This highlighted Germany's "Willkommenskultur," or welcome culture, and the country became the most desirable destination for asylum seekers in Europe.
Two weeks later, on September 13, Germany began to strengthen controls on its border with Austria, and trains were suspended between the two countries for twelve hours. Thousands of refugees had been arriving and many small towns in Germany couldn't deal with the influx.