Ten years ago Germans were putting balloons on lampposts to greet a multitude of foreigners. The popular tabloid, Bild, screamed the headline 'Refugees Welcome' as a million or more migrants began to flow over the border.
Warehouses in Berlin were stacked high with donated clothes, food parcels and toys for the new arrivals. Camp beds to house the guests filled sports halls, while housewives, business owners, students and social workers volunteered to help in a nation still compensating for its Nazi past.
On August 25, 2015, Germany's immigration ministry announced that Syrians fleeing civil war would be waved in with few checks or questions. Then came the moment that changed Europe for ever.
On August 31, Chancellor Angela Merkel uttered her now infamous rallying cry at a Press conference. 'Wir Schaffen Das' or 'We can do it.'
Her words were a clarion call to people the world over to come to her country, sparking an immigration crisis with all and sundry from a myriad of nations heading to Germany.
