- Immigrant Times
- Oct 22
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 26
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ‘cityscape’ remark sparks uproar and historical echoes
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel once said she could NOT tell people's nationality just by looking at them
By The Immigrant Times
Poster by the ‘Young Socialists’ (Jusos) saying ‘We are the cityscape, and that's how it will stay’ and a women’s demo outside the HQ of Friedrich Merz’s CDU party, saying ‘Our daughters do not need protection from diversity. They need protection from racism’.
23 October 2025: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has ignited a nationwide controversy after remarks about the ‘cityscape’ (Stadtbild) of German cities and a follow-up comment urging critics to ask your daughters’. The comments, which many have condemned as dog-whistle politics, have triggered public outrage, protests, and comparisons to far-right rhetoric of the past.
Speaking at a press event earlier this month, Merz said his government was ‘correcting the immigration failures of earlier administrations’, but added pointedly: “Wir korrigieren die Versäumnisse früherer Regierungen, aber wir haben natürlich immer im Stadtbild noch dieses Problem.” (“We are correcting the failures of earlier administrations, but of course there is still this problem in our cityscapes.”)
When questioned by a journalist about the meaning of ‘this problem’, Merz doubled down rather than clarify.
“Ich habe gar nichts zurückzunehmen, im Gegenteil, ich unterstreiche es noch einmal. Ich weiß nicht, ob Sie Kinder haben. Und wenn unter diesen Kindern Töchter sind: Fragen Sie mal Ihre Töchter, was ich damit gemeint haben könnte.” (“I have nothing to take back, on the contrary, I underline it again. I don’t know if you have children. And if among those children are daughters: ask your daughters what I may have meant by that.”)
The insinuation, widely interpreted as linking migration, visible diversity, and threats to women’s safety, drew immediate criticism from opposition politicians, activists, and civil society groups.
The Green Party and the Social Democrats (SPD) accused Merz of echoing far-right tropes that associate migrants, particularly men of Middle Eastern and African descent, with crime. SPD general secretary Tim Klüssendorf said the chancellor was “tearing open social divides for political gain,” while Green co-leader Katharina Dröge called the remark “deeply irresponsible for someone leading the country.”
Even within Merz’s own Christian Democratic Union (CDU), unease surfaced. CDU MEP Dennis Radtke warned that a Chancellor carries a special responsibility for cohesion, not polarisation. Other party figures tried to play down the remarks, suggesting they had been misunderstood, but the damage was done.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel once responded to similar statements about a changing cityscape made by the then AfD far-right leader Jörg Meuthen, saying that she could not tell people's nationality just by looking at them.
Within 24 hours, an online petition titled ‘Wir sind die Töchter’ (We are the daughters) gathered over 100,000 signatures, according to German media. Activists, including climate campaigner Luisa Neubauer, organised demonstrations under the slogan ‘Wir sind das Stadtbild’ (“We are the cityscape”), rejecting the notion that diversity is a ‘problem’.
Crowds rallied outside CDU headquarters in Berlin and other major cities, holding banners reading ‘My city, my home, my right to belong’ and ‘We are the daughters you’re talking about’. Social media lit up with the hashtag #FragDeineTöchter (Ask your daughters), turning Merz’s phrase into a symbol of protest.
Some commentators and social media users went further, circulating a 1941 speech by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in which he similarly framed Jews as a problem visible in German cityscapes. (“The Jews spoil not only the streetscape but also the public atmosphere.”) While many drew historical parallels, major newspapers cautioned against simplistic comparisons. The Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that “invoking Goebbels risks trivialising the enormity of Nazi crimes, but the rhetorical pattern is impossible to ignore.”
Women’s rights organisations and migration advocacy groups, including Pro Asyl and Terre des Femmes, accused Merz of instrumentalising women’s safety to justify tougher migration measures. “He is using our safety as a shield for xenophobia,” said a spokesperson for Pro Asyl.
Editorials across the political spectrum debated whether Merz’s comments were a calculated appeal to right-wing voters or an unguarded remark revealing deeper prejudices. Conservative newspaper Die Welt argued that the reaction was “hysterical,” while taz called the episode “a moment of clarity about what the CDU now considers acceptable rhetoric.”
The controversy has reignited Germany’s long-running debate over migration, security, and belonging, a conversation that remains deeply polarised. For many, Merz’s “ask your daughters” remark was not just a gaffe but a mirror of deeper anxieties about who gets to define the face of modern Germany.
As the protests continue, one slogan on a placard outside the Reichstag summed up the public mood: “We are the cityscape — and we are not going anywhere.”
Editor’s Note
This article draws on reporting from ARD, ZDF, Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and public statements from the CDU, SPD, and Green Party, as well as social media documentation of the ‘Wir sind die Töchter’ movement.
Further reading: Foreign nationals in German states and cities || Teaching refugees in Germany || Apprenticeship discrimination in Germany ||
German Chancellor’s comments on urban diversity and deportations sparked political outrage
17 October 2025: When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke in the City of Potsdam earlier this month (October 2025), he likely did not expect one phrase to dominate the headlines. “Of course, we still have this problem in the cityscape,” Merz said, referring to migration. “That is why the Federal Minister of the Interior is now working to enable and carry out repatriations on a very large scale.”
The German original: “Aber wir haben natürlich immer im Stadtbild noch dieses Problem, und deswegen ist der Bundesinnenminister ja auch dabei, jetzt in sehr großem Umfang auch Rückführungen zu ermöglichen und durchzuführen.”
The phrase immediately sparked outrage, with critics accusing Merz of portraying immigrants as a visual problem, something that disturbs the aesthetic of German cities.
Friedrich Merz, leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Chancellor since 2024, has long advocated a tougher line on migration. His government has made deportations and border enforcement a central priority, arguing that Germany must regain control after years of rising asylum numbers.
But with this single phrase, ‘problem in the cityscape’, Merz struck a deep emotional chord. To many, it suggested that people with migrant backgrounds are not just administratively inconvenient but visibly unwelcome.
The reaction was swift. Katharina Dröge, from the Green Party, asked pointedly: “What exactly is the problem in the cityscape? The colour of people’s skin? Their clothing? Their faith?”
Felix Banaszak, co-leader of the Green Party, called the remark deeply disrespectful and unworthy of the Chancellor, demanding a public apology. “When the Chancellor of all Germans concludes from a cityscape that further deportations are necessary, he is sending out a disastrous signal. This is disrespectful, dangerous and unworthy of a head of government. He questions whether people with a migration background really belong to Germany, even if they were born here, live here, work here and pay taxes here. Friedrich Merz must apologise.”
Politicians from The Left Party (Die Linke) accused Merz of legitimising resentment through imagery, warning that his words blurred the line between mainstream conservatism and far-right populism.
Friedrich Merz was also criticised by members of his own party. Kai Wegner, the Mayor of Berlin and a member of Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), has distanced himself from the statement made by the Chancellor. “Berlin, like most other German cities, is a diverse, international and cosmopolitan city,” Wegener told Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper. “This makes urban landscapes such exciting places.”
German media outlets echoed these criticisms. Der Spiegel called Merz’s statement “a dangerous slip into the language of exclusion,” while Die Zeit argued that it “reduces human beings to visual disturbances in the national picture.”
For many Germans with immigrant roots, the remark hit even harder. “He’s talking about us, about our faces, our families, our neighbourhoods,” said a member of Berlin’s Turkish community. “We are part of this cityscape.”
Within the conservative camp, however, Merz found defenders. Michael Kretschmer, CDU state premier of Saxony, insisted that critics were misrepresenting the Chancellor’s intent. “He was talking about the visible consequences of failed integration, not about people’s skin colour,” Kretschmer said.
Supporters argue that Merz was addressing legitimate concerns about social cohesion, crime, and housing shortages, issues that have grown increasingly politicised amid rising migration. They see the backlash as proof that public discourse in Germany has become hypersensitive and detached from everyday worries.
When asked about the connection Merz made between deportations and the cityscape, German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius tried to smooth things over. “I think people are reading too much into it. Merz has always made it clear that, in his view, migration policy should not be about exclusion, but about uniformly regulated immigration.”
Some commentators saw strategic calculation: With the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) surging in polls, particularly in eastern Germany, Merz’s rhetoric may be an attempt to reclaim voters who feel alienated by liberal immigration policies.
Germany has received millions of migrants and refugees over the past decade, from Syrians fleeing war to Ukrainians escaping Russia’s invasion. While many have integrated successfully, challenges remain: housing shortages, pressure on welfare systems, and debates about cultural identity.
At the same time, xenophobic violence and anti-immigrant sentiment have been on the rise. For critics, Merz’s phrasing risks feeding these tendencies, even unintentionally, by reducing diversity to a matter of “what the city looks like.”
Others counter that Germany must be allowed to discuss migration openly, including its visual and cultural impact, without being accused of racism. It’s a delicate balance that German politics has struggled to maintain since the refugee crisis of 2015.
As an editorial in Süddeutsche Zeitung put it, “When a leader describes diversity as a problem in the cityscape, he is not talking about policy, he is talking about belonging.” Merz’s defenders say he merely misspoke. His critics say he revealed more than he intended.
Further reading: Foreign nationals in German states and cities || Teaching refugees in Germany || Apprenticeship discrimination in Germany ||
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