I’ve been wanting to write something for a while now about what it’s like here at the moment, with all eyes directed at Central Europe because of the stream of refugees. When I read news stories from abroad, I get the impression that foreigners think we’re being overrun by refugees and that all our streets are full. Well, that’s not the case here in Vienna. To be honest, I think if I were a nice old lady who didn’t read the news and who only went around town on my errands, I wouldn’t have any idea that something this big was happening. At all. But, ther are a few ways that we notice. A few.
For example, the picture of the post is from Westnbahnhof late one night earlier this week. It’s not a clear shot but then I did feel that I was imposing big time just by snapping a quick shot, and I’m happy that it’s probably too crappy to identify people by. But it hits you if you take the trip down to Westbahnhof (which I wouldn’t recommend unless you’ve actually got business there). There are people sleeping on the ground, all over the train station, because they want to continue the next day or whenever they can catch a train. If you go 50 metres away from the train station, you’re out of the refugee zone and you notice nothing. The rest of the city is working just like normal.
Another thing is that border controls are back, and trains North and East are not running regularly. In fact, some are not running at all. Going to Budapest, which can be a nice break away from Vienna, is not recommended nowadays. At least not if you want to go there and make it back here by train…
I’m reading the papers every day to see how the situation is changing, and it is changin a lot. People in Vienna have also done a fantastic job at taking care of the refugees, suddenly everyone wants to help. But, there is a lot of superficial stuff happening (clearing out the crap from one’s wardrobe without being too critical) and news are coming from Hungary about their way of solving the crisis…which is to fence off the countries that pose the biggest problem. Serbia to start with, and now they’re considering Romania. Funny, because Austria realised early that these people want to go through and not stay, and so the borders were opened to allow that. One would think Hungary could do the same. But as of yesterday that’s also over in Austria. Now it’s border controls and the works, for the first time in many years. Companies are complaining that they are losing revenue because of hour long queues on the borders etc…
There are good ways that one can help though. Here are a few web sites if you are in Vienna and you want to do something:
http://refugees.at/ (Which tells you what is needed in terms of supplies)
http://www.trainofhope.at/ (What’s happening at Hauptbahnhof in Vienna)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vienna.EAAR/ (Facebook group for Expats in Vienna, where you can get info about what you can do)
http://www.fraubock.at/aktuelles/ (The homepage of Ute Bock, who helps homeless people in Vienna, and now also refugees).
Vienna Würstelstand, which is an excellent magazine from Vienna about what is happening around the place also posted an excellent post about what you can do to help in a meaningful way.
So, there is much that can be done to help. There are MANY that want to help. Which is good, because there are MANY that need it.
But for those who would rather close their eyes and get on with their lives and try not to think about what’s happening, that’s also possible. That’s what it’s like here now.
Everyday life in Vienna 
This is a terrible situation, and Hungary’s way of handling it is even more terrible. I am deeply ashamed of my country right now. It is so nice to hear that Austrian people want to help. All I hear from Hungarians is hate speech.
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It’s a very tragic situation. I suppose Hungarians are afraid of the financial burden? I don’t know much about what happens in Hungary (from a Hungarian point of view), all we hear are horror stories about how refugees are treated. It would be interesting to hear your point of view.
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Hungary is clearly not prepared for this situation, but this is only part of the problem. The average Hungarian earns about 400 euros a month (nurses earn even less – I’m a financial refugee in Austria myself, haha) – it is an illusion to think that we can take in thousands of people. Our economics is a huge failure. But the biggest problem is really the racism, intolerance and hate that is so deeply rooted in our society and mentality. And this attitude is even supported by the Hungarian government. It is a shame, really.
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That is weird.. Especially when thinking of the history of central Europe. People have been coming and going, and borders have changed a lot. I always think it’s weird that countries with such a history can be so hostile to change. Just look at HC Strache… If immigrants didn’t vote for him he wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as he is.
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It is not weird at all if you think of Hungarian history (don’t worry, I don’t expect you to know anything about Hungarian history :DDD) Every border change in the past meant a significant loss of territory to Hungary, every “coming and going” meant a new foreign control over us (Ottomans, Habsburgs, Germans, Russians – 500 years of constant changing from bad to even worse). It is totally understandable that Hungarians get hostile if it comes to changes. In our history, change equals things getting worse. But we should not use our past as an excuse for present crimes. We should step out of this circle of self-pitying and do something positive. But it seems, all we can do is continuing hating everybody who had it better than us (basically, every country in Europe). I don’t think that our present government policy does any good to us either.
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I think that in addition to the hatefulness and racism (which we Austrians also know just too well, unfortunately) the Dublin regulation might be a reason for the Hungarian government’s reaction. What do you think? Refugees who enter the EU in Hungary would have to apply for asylum there, and I suppose the government can’t or doesn’t want to take on that task. The refugees don’t want it either, so they have something in common there….
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The Dublin regulation is actually the reason why Hungary does not allow the refugees to move on without registration. I find that this is a correct move, according to the law. The problem is how Hungary makes it happen and how it presents itself. The government clearly does not want to take in people (but my latest information is that Orban said, that if the EU wants us to take in our quote, we have to obey. This is the first occasion in years that he shows some will of integration in the EU, haha), but instead of giving the real reasons, like look EU, we are so deep in our own shit that even our own people flee this country on a daily basis, no, instead of this reasoning we pretend to be holy warriors whose task is to save Europe’s Christian future. Like, you can’t force us to take in Muslim! refugees, because we are the last barrier of civilisation and if we fall, Europe (and Christianity) falls with us. I find this argumentation disgusting, because it is not true. Hungary is not a Christian country, even if Orban wants to present it as one. Most Hungarians don’t give a shit about religion, they simply hate foreigners (especially if they are dark skinned). And Orban would like to sell this hate as something positive that Europe needs right now.
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Oh my, yet another savior who wants to protect us from the decline of the West. Haha, the Austrian right wingers won’t be happy because they claim that Austria is the last bastion of Christian civilization and that Hungary, well, it’s a foreign county AND on the eastern side, oh my 🙂 Right wing ideology is always the same old, same old, and all they do is change the scapegoats. It’s so boring and depressing.
But I am happy to hear that Orban at least said that Hungary would accept a quota for the refugees, because earlier in the week I heard an interview on the BBC with a spokesperson of the Hungarian government, who sounded like a veritable nutcase by the way, and he said that Hungary wouldn’t accept refugees under the Dublin rule but also will not accept EU quota. Well, I thought then, what’s it gonna be?! Acting like a little child, shouting “I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna” won’t solve the challenges of the day.
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Ha! Let’s start a war about who is the last bastion of civilisation! Hungary will of course lose this war, as it lost every single war in the last 500 years, and then we will have yet another reason to pity ourselves. Let’s do it! (“Let’s make history”, as Orban prefers to say).
“Veritable nutcase” is the description of every member of the Hungarian government right now :DDD
I am very curious how this situation will evolve but, sadly, I’m quite sure that we will make all the wrong decisions that are possible to make. Just as we did in the past every single time.
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Interesting discussion! 🙂 Also in light of yesterday’s news, where Croatia was marching refugees into Hungary… And now they’re extending the fence? Wow. I wonder if it isn’t just on the edge of what is ok in regards to human rights. Is it right to fence off people fleeing from war? Ugh…. I fear this will get uglier before it gets better…. Dublin agreement has to fall. It was bleedingly unfair to start with.
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Well, there are no quotes anymore and the refugees will be taken in voluntarily. EU will examine the situation of the Easter European countries. But as far as I know, now it’s Croatia building femces.
The real losers are the refugees, they flee the war, walk thousands of kms, lose their home, their family, and now they are being treated shitty by Europe.
We have already forgotten how war feels, although the last one was not so long ago. I still remember the Balkan war and have friends who were refugees at the time. And lots of us still have family members who survived WW2. That’s why we should show more respect and empathy towards people who suffer instead of pretending that it’s not our problem.
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Hear hear
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Hahaha, it would be interesting to see who would lose the war between two losers 😉
Do Orban’s savior fantasies actually resonate with the Hungarian people? Do they really believe this crap?
Chances are that the rest of Europe would politely decline the offer of being saved 🙂
I don’t know… I am working hard on being slightly more optimistic. I also tend to get disappointed. If nothing else, this situation forces us to take a long and hard look at who we are as Europeans and how serious we are about the EU (beyond the mere economic union, that is).
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That’s why Orban is still our prime minister. He says things people want to hear to feel good about themselves. Of course we want to see ourselves as the saviors of Europe :DDDD
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Thanks for that enlightening blog Tina. I posted it on my Facebook page.
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Than you! 🙂 We live in very interesting times now. With Hungary trying to close borders completely to the refugees, the stream coming through Vienna will probably start to ease, but we’ll still see hundreds, if not thousands a day. Now it’s been ten thousand a day, which is pretty rough. But like I said, they don’t go out of the train stations here in Vienna.
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Excellent post, thank you so much.
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Thank you!
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I think it is great that a lot of Austrian bloggers are not ignoring the actual happenings at the moment with refugees. I was going to write a post also but I am not sure where to start. The NGO where I work at collected donations especially for women and children which we distributed in Traiskirchen. Even though the situation there is bad enough already, the refugees in Hungary and elsewhere are far worse off and the closing of boarders is a step in the wrong direction..
When I went to Hauptbahnhof I noticed that trains aren’t going to Budapest anymore but besides that i didn’t really notice any refugees. I guess most of them are at Westbahnhof or come in the evening.
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Yes, I think they come to Westbahnhof. By all means blog! It’s a great way to sort your thoughts, and I think the world benefits from hearing the perspectives of us who live here. I think… 😉
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