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At least three people were killed and several others wounded in a shooting at a shopping centre in Munich on Friday, according to Bavaria's interior minister.

SPIEGEL: The German government's central message was, "We can handle this" and "there is no upper limit for asylum." Do you honestly believe that this wasn't a trigger that led people to come to Germany?

De Maizière: I do not want to be a part of any debates about the causes of the flight or enticement effects . Surely there were several.

SPIEGEL: Was the idea of a Willkommenskultur, or welcoming culture, for the refugees a mistake?

De Maizière: Asolutely not. We should be proud when refugees say that the German border official was the first polite police officer they had ever encountered in their life. Of course you could say that even that could be an enticement to come. It has to be self-evident that we seek to provide people with decent accommodations. The personal experiences that are shared using smartphones play a considerable role in the fact that so many people want to come to us.

SPIEGEL: Are we currently experiencing the most serious crisis yet in Angela Merkel's time as chancellor?

De Maizière: That is something for the historians to determine at some point. Clearly it is a major challenge. But not just for the chancellor. For everyone.

SPIEGEL: Let's put the question another way: Is the crisis so major that it could cause Merkel to fall?

De Maizière: We would be doing ourselves all a favor if we were to refocus on finding a solution to the challenges instead of stirring up political passions.

Police and politicians in the German region that includes Cologne have been so scared to talk about North African migrant crime that is has effectively been a “state secret”, a prominent German newspaper has reported.