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In reply to the discussion: Have your friends/families taken the current situation and you seriously? [View all]DFW
(59,138 posts)That is five couples. Only one out of the five involves a marriage with two partners from the same country. Well, one and a half if you count my daughters as half German and half American. Still, definitely a minority. Two out of three live in the USA, so yes, of course, we keep a close eye on things. My New York based daughter has kept her German nationality current, and though her husband is now a US citizen, their children are dual citizens of the USA and Germany.. They can come live here any time they want. With my brother, it's more complicated, as his wife had to give up her Japanese citizenship for him top keep his job (security clearance issues), so, while she could probably go back to Japan, he would have a hard time following her, and their sons never kept their Japanese nationality current, though their parents got it for them at birth.
On the other hand, so far none of the family, all active Democrats, has been harassed for being so, but that doesn't mean they never will. Except for one of my nephews, currently stationed in the Ukraine, and one daughter, who lives with her family in the Taunus Hills near Frankfurt--and myself, of course--, my siblings and their families are all US-based. EVERYONE keeps active, and everyone keeps their passports current. We have friends in both high and low places, and we forget nothing, so we never relax. In the current situation, relaxing is a luxury we cannot afford. None of us can. It's odd--more of my family is under threat from violence right now than isn't. The ones in the NYC-D.C. areas and my nephew in Kyiv are all in danger of being subjected to government-sponsored violence (USA and Russian). My daughter and I in Germany are in the least danger.
My German-based daughter and I travel a lot, so we are exposed more than the rest, even if it's civilian violence. Just last week in Brussels, in a train station, someone was able to de-activate an escalator I was on while I has half way up. He then raced up to where I was, grabbed my small suitcase, and urged, "let me help you, let me help you!" I held on to it, and yelled, "let go, let go!" This was all in French, of course. It attracted enough attention--there are cops in all major European train stations--that he took off when he realized he wasn't getting my luggage without more of a fight then he was willing to be a part of. In most of western Europe, unarmed theft is not considered a crime by the justice system, so either hold on to your stuff, or kiss it good-bye. In Germany, if someone tries to rob you with a gun, and he's caught, it's an almost automatic five years. If there is no weapon involved, and they catch the thief, he is usually released in five minutes, and told, "bad boy, don't do it again (he will)."
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