RIGHT SPEAK: INVASION OF EUROPE: Germans Welcome Fades in Face of Fears, Chaotic Scenes and Growing Numbers

Where are the women?

Of the 411,567 refugees/migrants who have entered the

EU by sea so far this year, 72% have been male. Above,

some of the hundreds of migrants who arrived in Munich

on September 12, 2015.

Four weeks after Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the doors to refugees and Germans welcomed them with applause and food, worries are mounting that the country has been overwhelmed.

Ms. Merkel’s long-lofty approval ratings are falling back to earth. Senior officials are voicing fears of terrorists among the migrants as towns and cities run out of shelter space. And in a country that prizes order, polls show that Germans are losing faith that their government is up to the task of managing the influx as the news media show chaotic scenes of migrants sleeping outside and police responding to fights at shelters.

Migrants waited for registration and allocation of shelter

outside a Berlin government office on Wednesday.

Getty Images

“It is simply too much,” said Karin Pahlitzsch, a 57-year-old teacher in the eastern German city of Dresden, referring to the number of people coming to Germany. “But the worst thing is how poorly organized everything is.”

Unlike past European crises such as Ukraine and the early-summer debt showdown with Greece, the migration crisis directly affects Germans’ daily lives. Auditoriums, gyms, and trade-show halls are being converted to emergency shelters. Government officials are starting to openly voice frustration that migrants are misbehaving, stoking fears that the influx could lead to a rise in crime.

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“Until summer, the refugees were thankful to be here with us,” Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said on ZDF public television Thursday night. Now, he said, some “go on strike because they don’t like their shelter, they make trouble because they don’t like the food, they fight in the asylum-seeker facilities.”

Germany-based Islamists have been approaching migrants, particularly minors traveling alone, Mr. de Maizière said Friday after meeting with security officials. And intelligence agencies have warned that Islamic State jihadists could try to sneak into Germany with the migrants, he said.