Markus Kaim is a senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.
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Germany has come through a horrible week of bloodshed, and the aftershocks are fuelling a national awakening on public security issues.
Last Thursday, a 17-year-old who identified himself as an Afghan when he sought asylum in Germany, used a knife and an axe to severely injure four members of a family on a train, and another woman off the train. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. A day later, an 18-year-old German-Iranian student killed nine people and himself in a shooting rampage in a Munich shopping centre that left more than 30 wounded.
And on Sunday, two other incidents involving Syrian refugees occurred, thereby connecting the German debates about public security and immigration. That day, a 27-year-old Syrian man with links to the Islamic State blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, injuring 15 people; another Syrian man killed a woman with a machete and injured two others in Reutlingen.
Two of the attackers professed loyalty to the Islamic State, and although none appear to have been directed by the jihadist organization, these attacks have further blurred the line between political terrorism and violence driven by personal circumstances or mental instability.
Although the public and German politicians have reacted with demonstrative calm, many Germans are not only shocked and saddened, but also feel deeply insecure, asking if, and how, they need to adapt to a radically changed domestic environment.
This political awakening has three dimensions:
First, the international aspect. After the terrorist attacks last November in Paris, Berlin joined the military fight against the Islamic State. The mission includes six reconnaissance jets, a frigate to help protect a French aircraft carrier, a refuelling aircraft and up to 1,200 military personnel.
In response, the Islamic State announced that Germany would be a target for increased attacks – a domestic consequence of a foreign policy decision that hasn't been openly discussed in Germany. Germans are starting to realize that greater responsibility in international affairs comes with a higher price, not only in terms of diplomatic engagement or defence expenditure, but also in terms of individual physical vulnerability.
The second dimension is public security. Concern is spreading that the significant and rather uncontrolled influx of refugees to Germany last fall has had unintended security implications, which have been pushed aside for too long by the "welcoming culture" promulgated by the government and other elements of society.
It has been estimated, for example, that anywhere from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of asylum seekers can't provide proper identification. In many cases, German officials simply do not know the true identity of the individual, his or her age, origin or religious affiliation.
While the vast majority of refugees are not a terrorist threat, but are simply people looking for safety, shelter and a better life in Germany, authorities have repeatedly warned of an unspecified number of people among the refugee influx who have been prepared by Islamic terrorists for attacks.
The third aspect is the social impact. Although the political as well as societal efforts to accommodate and integrate the 1.5 million refugees have been massive, it becomes more and more clear that German authorities simply cannot properly satisfy every need, whether because of financial costs or because of bureaucratic or legal hurdles.
Many refugees have been traumatized by political violence in their home country; others have inflated expectations about how they will be housed, the speed of their integration into the labour force, and the benefits of the social security system.
Hence, a sense of disappointment and a feeling of being disenfranchised and uprooted are spreading among some refugees – particularly among unaccompanied minors, who are especially vulnerable in many ways.
Despite the spate of recent violence, most Germans still embrace the culture of welcoming refugees and asylum seekers, where they can.
But there's a new tone in the debates about security and immigration, two issues that are increasingly seen as being closely intertwined – a tone that is more sober, more realistic, and even disappointed to a certain degree.
This should not be misread as a political paradigm shift, however, but simply as an adaptation to reality.
For the long-term success of the German integration efforts, this new realism might even be helpful.