Doors to an off-limits area tremain closed at the Patrick-Henry Village refugee center, a former U.S. military facility in Heidelberg, Germany September 29, 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet agreed a package of measures on Tuesday to help German towns cope with the influx of asylum seekers, as a poll showed her conservatives dipping to a one-year low on concerns about her handling of the crisis. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

DATE IMPORTED:28 September, 2015Syrian refugees arrive on an overcrowded dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, September 28, 2015. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

Migrants walk towards the Austrian border from Hegyeshalom, Hungary September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

An ink pad and stamp of the Bedarfserstaufnahmeeinrichtung fuer Fluechtlinge Heidelberg (BEA Patrick-Henry- Village) lies on a table at the registration office of the Patrick-Henry Village refugee center, a former U.S. military facility in Heidelberg, Germany September 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

A migrant woman collapses after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, September 30, 2015. A record number of at least 430,000 refugees and migrants have taken rickety boats across the Mediterranean to Europe this year, 309,000 via Greece, according to International Organization for Migration figures. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

Migrants and activists face off with Italian police on the seawall at the Saint Ludovic border crossing on the Mediterranean Sea between Ventimiglia, Italy and Menton, France, September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A migrant prays on the seawall at the Saint Ludovic border crossing on the Mediterranean Sea between Ventimiglia, Italy and Menton, France, during a protest with migrants and activists September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A migrant girl looks on as she waits to board a train at the railway station in Tovarnik, Croatia September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

A refugee child from Syria receives a vaccination at Berlin's central registration center for refugees and asylum seekers LaGeSo (Landesamt fuer Gesundheit und Soziales) State Office for Health and Social Affairs in Berlin, Germany October 1, 2015. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

A graffiti reading "We are refugees" is seen on a caravan in a makeshift camp for asylum seekers outside the foreign office in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2015. Camp volunteers announced in a press release that they will stop their activities in the camp, leaving asylum seekers without their logistical support and urging Belgium authorities to search for a more viable solution to help migrants. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

A migrant stands among tents in a makeshift camp for asylum seekers outside the foreign office in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2015. The banner reads, "Undocumented migrants, refugees it is the same. Document's problem." REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Syrian refugee girls are wrapped with blankets following their arrival on an overcrowded dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, October 1, 2015. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

A migrant man celebrates following his arrival on an overcrowded dinghy in rough sea on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, October 1, 2015. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

Refugees and migrants struggle to jump off an overcrowded dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, October 2, 2015. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis

A French gendarme patrols near the "new jungle", a field with tents and makeshift shelters where migrants and asylum seekers stay in Calais, France, October 2, 2015. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

A security guard walks along a fence topped with barbed and razor wire in a facility for a detention of foreigners in the village of Drahonice, western Czech Republic, October 2, 2015. The Refugee Facilities Administration of the Interior Ministry will open this detention centre on October 5, 2015, to house incoming migrants. REUTERS/David W Cerny

It’s an irony of history that a refugee crisis brought Germany together — and now is splitting the country once again. 

An East-West economic divide still exists, of course, but it is less pronounced than it was 10 or 15 years ago. 

Today’s dividing lines are increasingly between Germans who have accepted the reality of globalization and those who deny it by shrouding themselves in nationalism.