Europe may not only be learning a lot about immigration and national identity in a short period of time, but quickly becoming a lesson to the rest of the world as well. Unfortunately for them (and Germany in particular) they seem to be rushing into situations so far on the extreme end of the scale that the lessons they take away from the experiment may come too late to save the patient. One prime example was highlighted in the New York Times this week when they looked at the situation in Sumte, a tiny hamlet in Germany with a population of approximately 100, no school, no shops, and little more than a roadway. Imagine the surprise of the residents when they found out that 750 immigrants from other nations and cultures would be moving in with them this year. (Daily Caller)

Sumte, a small town at the western fringe of the former East Germany, was informed earlier this month by its municipal government that it had been assigned to accept over a thousand of the asylum seekers that have poured into Germany over the course of 2015. The number was so high that mayor Christian Fabel first thought it was a joke, but after a storm of local protest, the figure was lowered to 750, not out of sympathy but because it was believed a thousand would overwhelm the town’s sewage system.

The municipal government plans to house migrants inside an abandoned office building, but other than that, services for them will be scarce. Sumte has no school, no shops, and extremely limited public transportation options. Residents have expressed fears that the migrants, who are disproportionately young men, will bring a crime wave that will make it unsafe to go outside. Officials have responded by saying it will still be perfectly safe to go out at night, because the town’s streetlights will stay lit.

Here’s the Google Earth image of Sumte. And to be clear, this is the entirety of Sumte.

So 750 people are suddenly going to show up and move into an abandoned office building in this village. No mention is made as to who is going to show up to provide services for all of them. Who will provide them all with food, medical care and the other endless things which a mass of people that size will require? And where will those caregivers stay themselves? I don’t imagine that these 750 refugees are going to be expected to find jobs since there’s no real industry to support the jobs of the current residents.

Under those conditions, how could the natives not be worried about a crime wave? Pretending that keeping the streetlights lit is going to stop a mob of desperate people with nothing but time on their hands is simply abject denial of reality. Asking a village of 100 people to not only absorb such a wave but somehow hang on to their ancient culture when they are suddenly outnumbered by more than seven to one should not just be cause for protest, but for revolt.

Admittedly, this is a case of a bad idea taken to its ridiculous extreme. If this plan is carried out the village of Sumte will, in all likelihood, cease to exist. But we don’t need to have a situation where the citizens are so grossly overwhelmed by a human tidal wave to learn something from this example. On a smaller scale it’s already happening all over Europe. The people (and some of the governments) are beginning to push back in various degrees, but the danger this represents has already become clear. Back in August, more than a thousand residents of Dresden took to the streets and fought back against busloads of unwelcome immigrants.

At the rate things are going, the more liberal governments who are accepting these schemes are going to lose the support of the people entirely. But by then they may have already lost their historic cultures in the process.