成千上万德国人站在铁路站台上欢迎难民的日子不会再出现了。跨年夜科隆及德国其他城市发生的事终结了这一切。数十名年轻妇女遭到阿拉伯或北非模样男子团伙的性侵和抢劫。警方未能保护她们。当晚受到警方检查的部分男子持有难民证件。失窃的手机也被追踪到难民收容所。
The days when Germans stood in their thousands on railway platforms to welcome refugees entering their country are long gone. What happened in Cologne and other cities in Germany on New Year’s Eve put an end to that. Scores of young women were sexually assaulted and robbed by gangs of men of Arab or north African appearance. The police were not able to protect them. Some of the men checked by officers that night held refugee documents. Stolen mobile phones have been traced to refugee shelters.
这是安格拉默克尔(Angela Merkel)的最大噩梦。在把自己的政治前途押在向逃离战争和迫害的人们“展示友好面孔”上之后，德国总理现在承认，也许存在“不只限于科隆的问题，比如：是否存在对女性有轻蔑意识的群体？”
It is Angela Merkel’s worst nightmare. Having pinned her political future on “showing a friendly face” to those fleeing war and persecution, the chancellor now acknowledges that there might be “questions that go beyond Cologne, such as: are there groups that harbour a contempt for women?”
答案似乎是肯定的。多方报道指出，汉堡、斯图加特和其他城市也发生了类似的案件。上周，住在德国西南部城市莱茵河畔魏尔的一伙叙利亚难民因涉嫌强奸两名年轻女孩而被捕。
It seems there are. There have been reports of similar incidents in Hamburg, Stuttgart and other cities. Last week, a group of Syrian refugees living in the southwestern city of Weil am Rhein were arrested for the alleged rape of two young girls.
长期以来，将文化上的特征归咎于特定群体是德国的一大禁忌。那是二战后德国用了多年时间才摆脱的阴暗习惯。在战后时期，每当解释暴力、犯罪或失业等社会病理现象时，社会学的解释往往会压倒文化的解释。
Ascribing cultural traits to specific groups of people has long been taboo in Germany. It was a dark habit that took years to unlearn after the second world war. In the postwar period, sociology always trumped culture when it came to explaining social pathologies such as violence, crime or unemployment.
如今这种状况在改变。保守主义者、女权主义者和同性恋权益活动人士之间结成了新的同盟，此类同盟在荷兰和丹麦已存在一段时间。在默克尔所在的执政党基民盟(CDU)内部，曾任家庭事务部长的克里斯蒂娜施罗德(Kristina )贴出一条Twitter消息称：“我们忽视穆斯林男子对女性的歧视态度已经太久了。”与此同时，头号女权主义者阿莉塞施瓦策尔(Alice Schwarzer)写道，她由于指出德国人“幼稚地输入了性暴力、性别歧视和反犹太主义，又一次被通常的批评者指控为种族主义”。施瓦策尔补充说，这么做“不仅危及我们的安全和价值观，对那些野蛮的年轻男子也不公平——他们不是生下来就是犯罪者，我们应该帮助他们成为正派的人。”
This is now changing. A new alliance, of the kind that has existed for some time in the Netherlands and Denmark, has formed between conservatives, feminists and gay rights activists. The former minister for family affairs in Ms Merkel’s ruling CDU party, Kristina , tweeted: “For far too long, we have overlooked a misogynist attitude among Muslim men.” Meanwhile, the leading feminist Alice Schwarzer wrote: “Once again, I am being accused of racism by the usual suspects” for pointing out that Germans have been “naively importing male violence, sexism and anti-semitism”. In doing so, Ms Schwarzer added, “we not only endanger our own safety and our values. We also treat these brutish young men unfairly, who were not born as perpetrators. We should help them become decent people.”
然而，在德国启动大规模再教育计划之前，它必须恢复公共安全。科隆并不是德国境内警力单薄、要么不见踪影要么控制不住局面的首个地点。过去两年里立案的400起针对难民居所的攻击事件（包括纵火）中，没有一起被定罪。
But before Germany embarks on a giant re-education programme, it needs to restore public safety. Cologne was not the first occasion on which the authorities have been either absent or overwhelmed. There has not been a single conviction following the 400 attacks (including arson) on refugee homes recorded in the past two years.
在柏林和其他城市，多个居民区发生过袭击独自行走的妇女、戴小圆帽的犹太人甚至巡逻警察的事件。在首都柏林，数以百计的难民露宿在卫生与社会事务办公楼外，希望能获得相关批准及福利。
In Berlin and other cities there are neighbourhoods where there have been attacks on women on their own, Jews wearing a kippah and police patrols. In the capital, refugees camp in their hundreds outside the office of health and social affairs in the hope of acquiring permits or benefits.
德国政府在这些问题上的失败，在一定程度上是由于预算削减。在科隆所在的北莱茵-威斯特法伦州，警察人数已大大减少。但是态度也同样重要。有一句老话说，向左翼人士请教某个社会问题，他/她先是会否认问题存在，接着会说一直是这样的，最后会说这对你有好处。几年来，成群结队的北非年轻人一直在科隆火车总站周边游荡，偷窃手机和骚扰过路人。但是，自2010年以来由社民党(SPD)和绿党(Greens)联合执政的北莱茵-威斯特法伦州，却一直不愿部署大量警力。
These failures of the German state are due partly to budget cuts. In North Rhine-Westphalia, where Cologne is situated, police numbers have fallen dramatically. But attitudes are just as important. There is an old saying that when you ask a leftist about a social problem they will at first deny it, then say that it has always gone on, and finally that it is good for you. For some years, gangs of north African youths have hung around outside Cologne’s central railway station stealing mobile phones and harassing passers-by. But a strong police presence rarely goes down well in North Rhine-Westphalia, which has been ruled by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens since 2010.
这种局面必须结束。所有人——不仅仅是警方——必须向新来者明确表示，想要在德国生活，就必须接受某些基本价值观，否则就别来。
This has to stop. Everyone, not just the police, has to make it clear to the newcomers that if they want to live in Germany, they must accept certain basic values. Or else move on.
不难想象欧洲各国对科隆事件的反应是什么。“德国人疯了。他们是自作自受。”你几乎可以看到布达佩斯、华沙和伦敦的讥笑。
It is easy to imagine the reaction across Europe to the events in Cologne. “The Germans have gone bonkers. They have had it coming.” You can almost see the smirks in Budapest, Warsaw and London.
但科隆不能成为人们自鸣得意的理由。将人们从叙利亚的战争恐惧中解救出来，仍是一种崇高的行为。如果德国不是被迫独立承担起这一任务，科隆事件也许不会发生。然而，令人难以接受的是，部分难民用如此恶劣的行为来回报我们的慷慨。
But Cologne is no reason to gloat. Rescuing people from the horrors of the war in Syria was and remains a noble undertaking. If Germany had not been left to take on this task almost single-handed, Cologne might not have happened. Yet it is hard to accept that some of those rescued have rewarded our generosity by behaving so abominably.
德国允许进入的难民数量势必会下跌。但由于几百个流氓的行为就放弃德国的开放，将会是一大失败。
The numbers of refugees being admitted will have to fall. But for Germany to give up on its openness because of the actions of a few hundred hooligans would be a defeat.