As retirement neared a decade ago, German butcher Waldemar Hackstaetter took stock of his finances and concluded he and wife Hildegard couldn't afford to remain in their home country.
"The month stretched further than our pension did (in Germany) and we didn't want to become a burden to our children," 78-year-old Waldemar said.
Since they left, Germany's
economy has prospered, drawing a steady flow of immigrants that peaked with over a million who crossed its borders at the invitation of Chancellor
Angela Merkel during the refugee crisis of 2015.