Migrant Tales – German Migrant Says She’s Leaving Because NZ Looks Good on the Outside, but the Inside is not Keeping its Promises

/ March 22, 2017

New Zealand looks good from the outside, but what lies beneath?

Continuing in our very popular Migrant Tales series – hundreds of first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand.

Today’s tale was sent in by a German migrant, a pâtisserie chef by training she emigrated to New Zealand with her children expecting a better life.

However, her children were bullied, called Nazi pigs and ostracised for taking their own pencils to school. Racism is killing her spirit and stopped her from working, despite having graduated with a New Zealand qualification.

She’s leaving New Zealand. Here’s why.

Just reading through the heading of this site, lets me shake my head in disbelief and agreement at the same time. Coming here as a fully trained Konditor from Germany with my child, was nothing short of years of heart and headache literally. Nobody employed me, and so I tried to open my own catering business. (but this humble effort was greeted with envy and someone reporting me to officials for feeble reasons, in order to have me kicked out of the country) But the worst part I had to endure was the fact that schools had a ‘no bullying’ policy. This however was more than a joke. Both of my children were called ‘Nazi-pig’. When going to the respective head of school to report this, I was told that they would deal with it. No apologies offered. The bullying however increased which forced me to take my child out of that school.

At enrollment into school they told me to bring $5.00 pencil money (it was put in a way that one could choose to), so the children can use the pencils offered by the school. I opted out and was promptly ordered to school and asked why I did not pay the $5.00 fee. I was shocked to find out that they classed it as a fee and that I was not really given a choice. I explained that I wanted my child to learn to take care of their own pencil case and gave him a case with everything in it (ruler, colored and lead pencils, eraser, etc pp, as a good german mother would do to have their child set up with everything and not be shamed out for being poorly equipped). Children were then throwing the pencil case in class around making everything break inside, while the teacher did not intervene. I was asking to speak to the head of school. The HoS stated the same as the teacher and as a result my child was ostracized and left out of many activities, which I found out ‘through the back door’ so to speak. So I asked to have my child removed from that class, which posed many problems. And as I could not afford to put my child into a private school (which was a direct result of not finding employment, despite my good education) I was forced to stay with this school, or I could enroll my child at another school, with a far worse educational level and reputation.

I also found, that women in general are deemed lower than men. Being invited to some parties by people showed this very clearly: Men stand on one side of the yard, while women on the other side. Women talk about babies, dirty nappies, the latest in strollers and recipes while men talk about cars and in some cases even politics, which I prefer any day over dirty-nappy talk. Having children does not restrict me to topics regarding children. Which in turn made me no friends in the women’s community and as I joined the men group for a better fare of topics, jealousy was palpable and I found myself withdrawing from society more and more.

So I decided to study instead. NZ gives everybody the possibility to study just about any topic. However this became not true for me either. The entrance interview went terribly bad. The panel asked me the question of Why I wanted to study interior design and decided that my positive reply was reason to disregard me. I asked for a different panel to decide. The second panel was exactly the same as the first and I was outraged about not being given a different panel, as it was my right per their statutes, and stated this. The snide remark they gave me for a reason was: ‘We cannot teach you anything’.
I ended up in studying Bachelor of Fine Arts and gained a Masters in Graphic Design, still hoping to get at least employment or a destination to work with, finding neither. (I have to add, that the school of Fine Arts and Graphic Design were both run by an English and American HoS.)

I cannot fulfill any of my aspirations, my qualifications aren’t worth a dime and racism is killing my spirit. So I am going to leave NZ. This country looks good on the outside, but the inside is not keeping its promises. People seem to fearfully and jealously clique together without looking at new things they could learn and expand their horizon. (During my time of study a Professor from Austria too left NZ in disgust about free speech or better the lack thereof at NZ Universities.) Instead, more laws and regulations open up toward the unlearned and docile, who get rewarded for bullying, ridiculing and brute force as can clearly be seen in the police. Plumbers board takes money for points and registration each year from Plumbers and offering not a single protection toward those who feed them, but prosecuting Plumbers for little things the Board has no knowledge about and threatening and bullying the Craftsmen. I feel racism in so many aspects. Statements like: ‘Oh my grandfather was at war against Nazi Germany’, makes my stomach twist each time. NZ is just poor in so many aspects. Just sad.

Do you have a migrant tale to share with our readers? Leave it in the comments section below.

Read more in the series here: Migrant Tales

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25 thoughts on “Migrant Tales – German Migrant Says She’s Leaving Because NZ Looks Good on the Outside, but the Inside is not Keeping its Promises”

  1. My favourite ,now ten people in Auckland hospital with Typhoid ,I got this disease while sailing my boat in Mexico 20 years ago ,it’s primarily caused by fecal matter contaminating drinking water yum yum,so 100% pure N.Z has now reached critical mass for the struggling infrastructure the roads in Auckland are gridlocked ,people are living in the streets and in their cars and the water purification systems can not keep up and still will welcome 70000 more immigrants a year into this country ,the best way to fix this problem N.Z style is just not to talk about it ,pretend it’s not happening and continue the insane giggling as we speed off the cliff edge.

    • So far they’re blaming it on Samoans ,couldn’t be a N.Z manufactured problem.However they have so far failed to diagnose or treat all the friends and family who came in contact with the dying victim ,makes one worry about what would happen were a seriously fast spreading virus etc to get going.

  2. Es freut mich dass er spricht sehr gut Deutsch. Ich vermute dass es hilft ihm ein Job zu finden und besser im Deutsche Arbeitsmarkt zu integrieren.

    Ich wohne seit 2013 in der Schweiz nach eine drei Jahre Aufenthalt in Neuseeland. Neuseeland war eine grosse Enttäuschung. Ich habe besser Karriere Möglichkeiten in der Schweiz, obwohl ich Amerikaner bin. Die Steuer sind tiefer und fast alles funktioniert perfekt. Dieses Jahr bewerbe ich für den roten Pass. Der Vorgang geht schneller für mich, weil meine Frau Schweizerin ist.

    Ich finde, die Leute in der Schweiz sind höflicher und kluger vergleichen Neuseeland oder die USA. Ich habe angst über die Zukunft als ich schon geschrieben habe. Deshalb mache ich ein Plan B ausserhalb Europa, falls eine Katastrophe passiert werden, aber derzeit ist meine Präferenz in der Schweiz zu bleiben. Meine Herkunft ist teilweise Deutsche und ich habe die fatalistisch teil von mir. Trotzdem ist das Leben einfacher und besser in Deutschland vergleichen Neuseeland. Mann kann gute Produkten für günstiger preisen finden und das Ausbildungssystem ist viel besser.

    Ich wünsche dir viel Gluck mit der Umzug. Ich bin gegenüber die Deutsche Grenze, falls du in die nahe bist. Du kannst vielleicht eine E-Mail Adresse lassen und ich schreibe dir direkt.

    • Hey, es freut mich sehr, dass ihr in der Schweiz Fuß fassen konntet. Ich denke auch, dass die Schweiz ein viel besserer Ort zum leben ist als NZ!

      Das Ausbildungssystem ist mit großer Sicherheit in der Schweiz und in Deutschland besser als in NZ… Ich habe hier in NZ festgestellt sobald ich zu einem Thema etwas Internet Recherche betrieben habe weiß ich besser bescheid als jeder neuseeländische ‘Experte’…

      Leider sind wir derzeit noch hier, planen unseren Exit aber für 2018, danach werden wir in der Nähe des wunderschönen München sein…

      Wie ich schon sagte, ich zähle die Tage… Can’t wait…

      Viel Erfolg mit der Beantragung des roten Passes!

  3. I am German too and I am counting the days till we are going to leave this place. I have experienced racism against me here in NZ in so many possible ways as well and I now have a child and under no circumstance I will allow that he experiences the same as I have been over the last 2 years.

    As well am I highly experienced in my field where I am additionally holding a honours master degree, nevertheless the only jobs I was offered were low paid assistance jobs…assisting much lower qualified kiwis in tasks they are simply to lazy to do themselves.

    It’s going to be a change for us to live in a small flat again instead of a house as we do here in NZ but I always say to my partner, you exchange space with no longer living in total social isolation, a functioning health system, culture, infrastructure, lower cost of living, great free (!) education, friends and family, and so much more….A bit more living space is a bad trade for all these things…

    The whole life in NZ is as the NZ houses are: looking good and shiny from the outside but it’s shabby from the inside. Whereas in Germany some things might not look so modern or fancy but when you look deeper you see it has substance, depth, quality, thoughtfulness etc. This includes the people.

    Btw my partner is kiwi and he agrees with me but he’s been living for about 10 years abroad and about 7 of it it in Gemany…He calls Germany home, where he has been welcomed with open arms whilst I get treated like a dog in New Zealand.

    • Thank you for all your great work you are putting into this forum..I thought I was going mad before I found your page.

      I’ll send you a bigger read as soon as we made it out of here.

      And to all my fellow Germans who are thinking of moving to NZ, I honestly can only say don’t do it! And this whilst for us it’s been ‘easy’ with my partner being a kiwi…

      • @Silvi: Die Deutsche sind derzeit pessimistisch über die Zukunft. Ich bin leider mit diesen Meinungen einverstanden insbesondere mit der Einwanderungen Politik und die EU.

        Ich denke trotzdem dass Deutschland bietet viel mehr als Neuseeland. Neuseeland hat Wundernatur, aber es ist nicht als schön als Kanada, die westliche USA, oder Lateinamerika.

        Ich hoffe dass dein Mann kann Deutsch relativ schnell lernen. Ich sehe viele Leute von englische Länder haben Schwierigkeit andere Fremdsprache zu lernen. Meine Deutschlehrerin wohnt derzeit in den USA und sie hat ähnliche Frustrationen als dich in Neuseeland. Sie möchtet nach Deutschland zurück, aber ihr Mann spricht kein Deutsch und er kann deshalb nicht in dem Deutschen Arbeitsmarkt integriert.

        Ich wünsche dir viel Gluck mit der Umzug

        • Hi safefromNZ,
          Danke für deinen Kommentar!

          Mein Partner spricht zum Glück sehr gut deutsch, er hat in Deutschland auf Deutsch studiert, wir sprechen zu Hause immer noch Deutsch usw. Ich weiß, dass er damit einer von wenigen ist… Aber wie schon erwähnt für ihn ist Deutschland mehr Heimat geworden als NZ jemals war. Früher hab ich ihn darin nicht verstanden, heute schon….

          Wegen der pessimistischen Stimmung in Deutschland stimme ich dir voll und ganz zu, ich hatte nur den Fehler gemacht mich damals davon anstecken zu lassen, was unter anderem einer der Gründe war überhaupt den Schritt nach Neuseeland zu wagen.
          Das war blöd von mir und irgendwo auch typisch deutsch – Deutsche jammern gern obwohl es ihnen sehr gut geht, ganz im Gegenteil zu Kiwis ‘who are praising a shit hole’! Siehe beim Thema Natur: NZ vermarktet sich als Green and Clean während 60% aller Gewässer zu dreckig sind um überhaupt darin zu baden während in Deutschland (einem der stärksten Industriestandorte der Welt) 98% aller Gewässer so sauber sind, dass sogar kleine Kinder darin baden können…
          Jammern ist der deutsche Smalltalk…

          Deinem Namen nach zu urteilen bist du aus NZ weg und das freut mich sehr für dich!

    • Please don’t take this in a negative way as I am asking purely out of interest.Were you aware of this site and others like it before making your move to N.Z ?
      In my personal situation I returned to N.Z after 23 years abroad with eyes wide open.Despite the propogander and rhetoric from the N.Z machine I was well aware of the conditions you mention ,what I didn’t expect was all the social and economic problems here had become so much worse.
      I returned in order to be supportive to ageing family members however I regret coming back here more than any other decision I have made in my life.Im now 50 years old and due to insane ageism in N.Z have absolutely no hope of achieving any kind of rewarding employement ,the qualifications I received in the U.S are deemed invalid here so I have no real hope ,I have very few options other than to invest in real estate and collect rents ,in other words become part of the N.Z problem.
      You will always be sad that N.Z didn’t work out for you however going now will save your social and economic futures ,possibly your relationship also,this is a cold hard ruthless place where nobody really cares about one another least of all a foriegn born person.

      • Thank you for your interest and your advice!
        I am sorry to hear about your hardship.

        Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of any of these sites…
        I did all my ‘research’ through family members of my partner who have immigrated to NZ a few decades ago unaware of the brainwashing with NZ media they have been through.

        And I guess his mother’s advice has been biased due to the fact that she just wanted to have her son back in NZ (things I unfortunately only understood as we have been here).
        Stupid German me was expecting honesty…

        • Silvi I don’t think you realise how much censorship goes on with New Zealand. So much of the bad stuff gets removed or drowned out.

          There are sites where the word E2NZ is banned. Try talking about it on BritishExpats.com or mentioning it on a Stuff.co.nz comment and see what happens.

        • I also felt a lot of pressure to return here due to family members who are somewhat out of touch with the reality of life in present day N.Z .I wish you all the best.

        • E2NZ

          This site certainly helped me. Years ago, I considered moving to NZ, being very cautious by nature I looked for sites that reported on the bad news about NZ and first discovered Expatexposed, then E2NZ, it was a revelation. Like most Australians I knew very little about NZ and I was ignorant of the amount of Australia-bashing in NZ, particularly in the MSM.

          I changed my mind and decided to stay in Oz.

          NZ is a fascinating study in social and political decline, if you don’t live there. The causes of the decline are something of a puzzle since NZ is so closely integrated with Australia economically.

        • Yes NZ is in decline. I only hope Australia does not follow the same fate.

          The Economy is propped up by immigration that is currently running at 2% p/a. Strip this back and remove inflation and the place realistically has been in recession in real terms for two years. Don’t believe the hype of endless opportunities as on the coal face there isn’t a lot above $15/hr. Good luck with that.

          When the Southern Alps crack it will be all over as it will send the country back 30 years in terms of infrastructure and bankrupt the government and all other insurers due to the housing asset bubble.

    • I live across the border in Switzerland after having wasted three years of my life in New Zealand. I prefer Germany any day to New Zealand. I even think that buying a house is attainable compared to New Zealand and, builders in Germany know how to build.

      The level of ignorance, apathy, and incompetence in New Zealand is what ultimately did it. I would rather live amongst my people in Europe than amongst the inbred cretins in New Zealand.

    • I understand your husband 100%, Silvi.

      I used to be a New Zealander (born and raised – schoole – if you can call it that). I met and married a Swiss girl some 14 years ago and as quickly as I could, cleared my $20,000 NZ debt (at 21 years of age – typical NZ) and moved to Europe within 6 months of meeting. We returned to NZ for a couple of years while I completed a degree and even managed to buy a house in that time… but we sold it after two years and high-tailed it out of that God-forsaken country as quick as we could.

      My wife, a degree qualified translator could not find any work in New Zealand. She was always ‘over-qualified’ etc. That was poppycock. She would have done anything and was simply passed up for having a slight accent. The assumption was clearly always that she wouldn’t speak good enough English or that she wasn’t Kiwi enough. Yet she speaks better English than I do.

      As you have stated in your comments, the housing stock in Germany/switzerland far surpasses that in NZ – heck, even British housing is much better… and at the end of the day, giving up a little space is worth it for the other benefits.

      I have no intention of ever returning to New Zealand – preferably not even for a holiday to see my parents of brothers, let alone to live. The country is full of racist imbeciles that are the product of the worst education system, attitudes and infrastructure that I have ever seen despite having travelled every continent except Africa. I never willingly admit that I was a New Zealander – when I do, I quickly qualify that information by explaining how shit a country it is and how NZers, possibly myself included, are ignorant assholes.

      • Hi formerkiwi!
        Thanks for your comment, it always helps me so much to hear we are not the only ones with our feelings/thinking!
        Before I found this website I honestly thought there is something wrong with me because I were not able to praise this place as people in NZ do… Now I know why and can only shake my head with all that brainwashing in NZ media going on.

        Same as you I have traveled a lot and lived in Asia before – in a 3rd world country – where my workplace, apartment etc was of higher standard than in NZ…

        Don’t be too hard on yourself there are some good kiwi guys like you or my parthere – just not many though. I must unfortunately say that the average kiwi I have met is a greedy, lazy, lying and boring person. I totally know there are many idiots in Germany too – way too many! – but I think the average German is honest, hard working, fair and humble.

        All the best for you and your wife!

  4. I hope you find what you are looking for elsewhere. Aside from the regressive leftist policies, Germany will always be at the top. All products manufactured in Germany are of top quality, they have great folklore, a rich heritage and they are a nation Europeans can truly be proud of. There is absolutely no room for comparison between Germany and NZ. Germany has far more stunning landscapes and scenery compared to NZ. Kiwis do not understand geopolitics – they will ignorantly label anybody (whether they are “oppressed” or the “oppressors”) with racial slurs without acknowledging what the people of those nations have contributed positively to the world which stands alone on its own merits.

  6. It’s not just new migrants subjected to this sort of bullying . . . that is condoned from the very ‘top echelons’ of NZ ‘society’.
    Try being a Classical Homoeopath opposed to fluoridation, 1080, glyphosate, animal cruelty and bullying!
    John Key, while still PM – ‘barking mad’, ‘eco-terrorist’ to name just 2:
    Jonathan Coleman Minister of Health – ‘whacko’
    Maggie Barry Minister for Conservation . . .
    Peter Dunne Assoc. Min of Health – ‘tin-foil hat wearing, UFO-abducted pseudo-scientist’!
    and even the President of the Paediatric Society, Dr David Newman suggesting that ‘social pressure’ may be brought ‘to bear on people who are proposing to show this movie’ – VAXXED – to premiere in Auckland on 2nd April.
    This no doubt assures the ‘mob’ that it is perfectly OK to attack people who may hold different views to the collective ‘wisdom’ and especially if they ‘look different’ – or ‘foreign’.
    Won’t bore you here with the exhaustive list of insults, criticisms, put downs and downright abuse that results – can just imagine how much worse it would be if I didn’t ‘feel at home’ here . . .

    • And now the news reports that maybe N.Z should have heeded the warnings ,followed international guidelines and stopped selling leaded gasoline 20 years before they ceased selling it.Apparently it has caused mild retardation and lower I,Q’s in some of our adult population ,well there’s your answer.

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