She is perhaps the most powerful woman in the world, but that does not mean she cannot seem to change her mind. Just 10 days ago Angela Merkel unexpectedly declared an exception to European rules, opening Germany’s borders to trainfuls of people — most of them refugees from the war in Syria — whose passage had until then been blocked by hostile Hungarian authorities. Then, last Sunday, she announced controls along the border with Austria intended to better regulate the influx of those refugees. Does the chancellor know what she is doing?

Her initial embrace of the refugees’ cause chimed with a public mood that also moved ZDF, the public broadcaster, to air a prime-time charity appeal show. It was a well-intentioned gesture, like the ones that followed the 2004 tsunami that killed perhaps 250,000 people in south Asia. [IS THIS THE TSUNAMI YOU HAD IN MIND?]

But behind this display of generosity lies a misunderstanding about what welcoming refugees really entails. One-time donations of money and a few worn out clothes will not be enough.