Berlin (AP) – Almost 10 years later Escape from the Syrian civil warRahaf Al-Shar sat on her sofa in the lush suburbs of Berlin, sipping on an Arabic coffee spice with cardamom.
When she, her husband and their three daughters arrived in Germany as refugees, they It adapted quickly To their new country: Learn languages, find work, attend school.
“It was a tough job, but I’m proud of what we’ve achieved,” 44-year-old Alshar told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
The whole family at the beginning of this year I became a German citizen I bought a house with a lovely garden.
“We are German.” said Basem Wahbeh, 52, Alshar’s husband.
Their family has arrived Influx of immigrants From war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, which evacuated to Germany, 1 million in 2015. The arrival of so many asylum seekers in a year has left the country nervous about the resources, resulting in Germany still wrestling in a decade.
The integration of the family into German society was a success, but not without sacrifices. They and many others had to leave their homes, cultures, languages, and sometimes abandon the traditions that were important to them.
Germany opens its doors
On August 31, 2015, Europe faced what had been called before. Refugee crisis,prime minister Angela Merkel It opened the border to German immigration. Faced with criticism both at home and abroad, Merkel has promised its citizens that “we will take control of it.”
The refugees were originally Welcome with applause When they arrived at the train station. German family opened their homes Put them for months as an overwhelming city I had a hard time finding a accommodation.
In a large effort, schools and community colleges quickly created “welcome classes” for children and integrated classes for adults, helping them study German. Get a job And find a home in their new country.
“A lot of things have worked surprisingly well,” said Jonas Wiedner, a migration expert from the Berlin Social Science Centre.
He said the numbers for immigrant employment were roughly compared to German employers, politicians acted quickly to provide help and money to communities who integrated new arrivals, and “civil society was very involved from the start and achieved something really great.”
Germany has become the top exile in Europe, with a total population growing by 1.2% in 2015, according to the Federal Statistics Office.
Over time, as more asylum seekers arrived looking for a better outlook, not necessarily escaping the danger, and the surge in immigration has encouraged economic unrest and xenophobia resentment among some Germans.
Start a new life in Europe
Before the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, the Wahbe family lived a good life. He worked for many years at a company that made cookies, chocolate and juice, but his wife raised her daughter. However, as the war intensified, concerns about the safety of their families also escalated.
In December 2012, a bomb attacked her eldest son Rajaa’s primary school during class. She was not injured, but a close call convinced them to leave.
“There is no more school. We have to leave,” Alshar told her husband.
Alshaar and Wahbeh said a new beginning in Germany was difficult. They didn’t know the language. Winters were much colder than returning home, and authorities initially were unaware of their university degrees.
Determined to be successful, they enrolled in German classes and first entered the employment market by employing an internship. Al-Shar, a trained civil engineer, found a stable job at the Ministry of Transport and placed his three daughters in a good high school.
“I’m really proud and I’ve also been lucky to have good people around me,” said the German, who helped them as refugees and became good family friends. But she met again hostility Especially as a foreigner I’m wearing a hijab.
Polarization rise
Anger over migration has driven far-right rise German Party alternativesor the AFD would be the second largest party if elections were held today, according to polls. Voters Other places in Europe It has given more and more empowered the far-right nationalist party, who promises to limit immigration.
“It’s a very controversial political issue and we’ve repeatedly provided ammunition to the far right,” Wiedner said.
In a recent poll, which asked Germany “comprehensively addressed the influx of around 1.5 million refugees between 2015 and 2020,” only 21% said it was “good,” with 41% saying it was “so good,” while 37% said it was “nothing at all.” Data were collected by the Forsa Institute on behalf of RTL Germany from August 22-25. They questioned 1,006 people, with the margin of error being positive/minus 3 percentage points.
During the German election campaign earlier this year, AFD’s prime minister candidate, Alice Weidelwas asked Close boundaries to undocumented migrations And a large scale Deportation of asylum seekersreveals that she is not problematic with the terms she was politically charged. “remigration.”
Many Germans express their anger, Protest against anti-immigrant stance Among the AFD, Christian Democrat Prime Minister Friedrich Merz on the centre right campaigned on the promise to end “uncontrolled migration.” When the new government comes to power, Border control has been strengthened to curb movement We’ve started speeding up in Germany Deportation of criminal asylum seekers who were denied.
Alshar said she was watching. Rise on the far right I have concerns, but I don’t want to let myself do at the same time. I was threatened She feels that her family did everything right, even if integration into German society wasn’t always easy.
Suitable for new homes
The German asked her multiple times whether she was forced to wear a hijab. On a reservation at the construction side of the suburbs of Berlin, Alshar showed his middle finger.
See a photo of her arrival in Germany – after an Odyssey from Damascus to Lebanon, Egypt, and finally Berlin, after tightly shoving a white scarf around her face, Alshar paused, running her long chestnut brown hair, and it took years before removing the hijab two years ago.
“It was difficult… because I’ve been wearing a headscarf for over 30 years,” she said.
Her three daughters don’t want to wear hijabs. On the contrary, they look like German, feel German, and speak German without traces of accent.
Rajaa, 20, graduated from high school, 17, Razan began her fourth year after summer vacation, and 13, Ranan, who was selected to represent her class last year, will soon become eighth grade.
“Many of my friends didn’t even know I was from Syria and I was surprised when I told them that,” Rajaa said.
The parents were grateful to Germany and reassured that their daughters were very well integrated.
in spite of Bashar Assad’s government collapse Last year they have There are no plans to return to my home country. However, Al-Shar said she and her husband had argued that they were always homesick in Syria.
“We don’t want our daughters to grow up with this sense of homesickness, because they always make them feel that they’re not perfect,” she said.
