That means “welcoming culture” and refers to the German willingness to accept refugees.

It is, of course, a Märchen (fairy tale), as a survey on Friday is now beginning to make clear and not really a great revelation for anyone who lives here, either.

A new study has revealed that a majority of Germans are unwilling to take in more asylum seekers. The country took in around 890,000 refugees in 2015. According to a representative survey conducted by the Bertelsmann foundation, 54 percent of the respondents said Germany had reached the limit as far as accepting asylum seekers was concerned. In 2015, the same survey showed 40 percent of people holding this opinion.

Let’s face it, Germans are fine and decent people but the German culture has never been a “welcoming culture” in that sense. That many Germans would like to believe that it is anyway speaks for their good will and good intentions but they know themselves that this simply isn’t true. Reality has a way of catching up with good intentions, the road to hell being paved with them, as we all know.

In einer am Freitag veröffentlichten Emnid-Umfrage im Auftrag der Bertelsmann Stiftung sieht eine knappe Mehrheit von 54 Prozent der Befragten Deutschland an seiner Belastungsgrenze angekommen. Vor zwei Jahren teilten diese Auffassung noch 40 Prozent.