"What would our clinic actually look like without migration?" That was the question posed by a Darmstadt hospital in a recent video shared on social media sites including TikTok and Instagram to make a point about the benefits of immigration to Germany.
In the video around 40 employees of Darmstadt Klinikum, in Hesse, stand on a staircase. As the number of staff dwindles, it becomes clear to the viewer that the hospital would not survive without migration.
The short clip, posted below, then goes on to say: "When you vote on February 23rd, vote for humanity."
It has gathered millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes in just a few days since it was posted.
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Why did the Darmstadt hospital issue the message?
A spokeswoman for the hospital's communications team told The Local that employees wanted to do a similar video to other hospitals who have been highlighting the importance of migration for staffing levels.
The spokeswoman added: "Diversity is an important topic for us and a lived reality."
The communications team went on to say that staff with a migration background are feeling uneasy in the current political climate.
"This is not an irrational feeling," the communications team said. Without mentioning any political parties in Germany by name, the spokeswoman said: "The fear of far-right politics in the population and among our employees is real."
Immigration has been at the top of the political agenda in Germany, particularly following high profile attacks involving migrants and asylum seekers.
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It has led to the centre-right CDU and CSU, which is leading in election polls, calling for tougher migration measures - and even controversially accepting votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to pass a motion in parliament.
Meanwhile, the AfD, which is second in polls, has consistently spoken out against immigration. The party even added the controversial word "remigration" to its party programme, which is understood to refer to the mass "return" or deportation of certain migrants.
Although the AfD says the focus is on people who don't have the right to stay in Germany, the inclusion of the word is provocative because it is well known in far-right circles to refer to the deportation of "non-assimilated citizens" or others deemed to not be integrated enough. That includes people who grow up in a country but have migrant parents or grandparents.
Both parties also want to dismantle Germany's dual citizenship reform brought in by the previous government.
READ ALSO: What are Germany's leading political parties' plans for immigration and citizenship
'Rhetoric against migrants affects all migrants'
The communications team went on to tell us that the Darmstadt hospital, which is the largest in the region, is made up of people from a "wide variety of backgrounds" who experience the effects of social and political changes "on a daily basis".
The video has been met with an overwhelming response, with many applauding the message and leaving love hearts or supportive comments.
However, a lot of people disagree. Some users were also keen to point out that the plans to crack down on immigrants do not affect 'these kind of immigrants'.
Yet the communications team emphasised that this was not true.
"The idea that skilled workers in Germany will remain unaffected by this development is an illusion that is not borne out if we are not in contact with the people affected," the spokeswoman said. "They are not just workers, they live here as neighbours, parents and friends."
They cited one example of their colleague with a migration background, Dr Cihan Celik.
"Our doctor with a German passport is very present on social media, and when he comments on this topic, he always has comments threatening him with deportation," said the hospital spokeswoman.
"The fact that this topic has narrowed down to the question of which of these employees in our reel can be deported is also reflected in the reactions on Twitter (now known as 'X') - namely that we didn't understand the topic because it wasn't about them."
Finally, the spokeswoman told us that hospital employees with a migration background feel insecure "because rhetoric against migrants affects all migrants".
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