BERLIN - For decades the German asylum law was literally untouchable.
Enshrined in the aftermath of the Third Reich - during which the brutal Nazi dictatorship that drove hundreds of thousands out of the country - the founding fathers of the current German constitution wanted to set a clear mark that the post-war country was different. Article 16 (2) of the constitution, adopted in 1949, stated that "politically persecuted persons have the right to asylum".
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