Benedikt Thoma recalls the moment he began to think seriously about leaving Germany. It was at a New Year's Day reception in 2004 in nearby Frankfurt and the guest speaker, a prominent politician, was lamenting the fact that every year thousands of educated Germans turn their backs on their homeland."That struck me like a bolt of lightning," said Thoma, 44, an engineer who was then running his family's elevator company. "I asked myself, Why should I stay here when the future is brighter someplace else?"
In December, as his work with the company became an intolerable grind, mainly because of labor disputes, Thoma quit and made plans to move to Canada. In its wide-open spaces, he hopes to find the future that he says is dwindling at home. As soon as he lands a job, Thoma, his wife, Petra, and their two teenage sons will join the ranks of Germany's emigrants.