One Does Not Travel in a Vacuum

Given the route of my travels, it's inevitable that I encounter the refugee situation at some point. That has happened now, in Austria. Upon arriving at a train station in Vienna, I stopped by the tourist information office at the station to pick up a map & find out where my hotel was.

The man working there asked "Are you sure you want to be here? Do you know what happened in Cologne on New Year's Eve?" I didn't know. He told me that hundreds of women were raped by a mob outside the train station & that the perpetrators were Syrian refugees.

                                     A news story about the riot that night

                            One of many inflammatory posters created afterwards

                            Fears & feelings are running very high on this subject 

The tourist information man then reached into his coat pocket & pulled out a large can of pepper spray. "I never go anywhere without this now," he said. "I have a gigantic one at home." He spread his hands to show the size of it. "And we are all buying shotguns because no license or waiting period is necessary. I don't let my wife go out at all anymore without me."

                 I guess American-style pepper spray is more desirable

                                                   An Austrian ad for rifles

This conversation rattled me. Should I leave? How much of his information is accurate?

                               I did not see anything like this

                                                        Or this

I went to my hotel & discussed this conversation with the staff. They were startled that a person working at a tourist bureau would say this to a visitor. They said it was a reflection of the paranoia & hatred of Islam that some Austrians have & that there are no refugees in Austria. That, I know, is not true. There is no warning about Austria on the U.S. State Department travel warnings website. Nor have I received an email from them regarding this (I always register my overseas trips with their traveler program).

There is a large refugee camp 20 miles outside Vienna. Conditions there are said to be deplorable.

                                        These are two of the refugees there

                           So are these. Is this what people are afraid of?

Today is Sunday. Perhaps I will stop by the US Embassy tomorrow. Just to ask. 

In the meantime, I went sightseeing today as usual. The city was very quiet.