COPENHAGEN — Lise Ramslog was out for a barefoot amble on the warm day last September that Europe’s refugee crisis came to her remote village in southern Denmark.
The 70-year-old grandmother had planned a simple stroll. What she found in her quiet, coastal community were hundreds of exhausted asylum seekers who had arrived on the ferry from Germany only to be stranded without access to public transportation. Some had begun to walk along the highway in desperation.
Ramslog decided on the spot that she would help: She ended up giving two young couples, a small child and a newborn baby a 120-mile ride in her cramped sedan to their destination in Sweden. “When we crossed the border, they rejoiced and cried,” she recalled.
In another context, Ramslog might be known as a good Samaritan.
But the Danish government has a different term for her: convicted human smuggler.
Good grief. Fined for being a decent human being. Had the Danish people been warned? During WWII, the Danes were amongst the most humane people in the world. They saved hundreds of Jews. What has become of the humanitarian state? Denmark also shielded and assisted those escaping the Iron Curtain.
All of Europe seems to have gone heavy handed in discouraging immigrants, mostly asylum seekers.
Is it fear? Is it financial? Or could it be that there were just too many needy people?
The link to the post shows the draconian measures that many European countries are taking to discourage refugees. It’s a new world but not necessarily brave.
