Refugees: German cities are reaching their limits | Germany | DW

Gymnasium in Herzogenrath-Merkstein with stairs and entrance on the right.  In the front there are two rows of windows, one above the other.  The facade is white but shows clear traces of dirt and the red sand of the sports field in front and scribbles in black paint.

A sharp wind blows across the empty sports field on the outskirts of Herzogenrath-Merkstein, a small community in western Germany. A few brown leaves are swirling across the fairly green grass of the soccer field, the reddish sand of the running track is wet. Someone painted SVS Merkstein, the name of the local sports club, in black paint on the once-white plaster of the gymnasium.

There is currently no gymnastics here. Ukrainian war refugees are accommodated in the hall. Temporary space for 80 people was created with partition walls at the beginning of August. Now this room is full. Just like all other accommodations that are available for refugees in Herzogenrath.

Gymnasium in Herzogenrath-Merkstein with stairs and entrance on the right.  In the front there are two rows of windows, one above the other.  The facade is white but shows clear traces of dirt and the red sand of the sports field in front and scribbles in black paint.

Gym in Herzogenrath-Merkstein

disappointment in the church

The refugee counseling team sits a good kilometer from the hall in the Protestant Lydia congregation. Pastor Frank Ungerathen has just informed his staff that a second gymnasium is to be set up this week. He learned this from the city’s social welfare office, which is responsible for taking in and caring for the refugees.

A deep sigh escapes the four women at the table. They had hoped that things would not go back to what happened in the 2015/2016 refugee crisis, when people also had to be housed in gyms and even tents. But there are simply no vacant apartments in the small town with around 50,000 inhabitants.

Pastor Frank Ungerathen, Mahkameh Robatian (back, center), Michaela Lee (right), Olga Meier and Anastasya Zlobino (front, from left) are standing on the steps in front of the entrance to the Protestant Lydia congregation in Herzogenrath-Merkstein

Refugee counseling around Pastor Frank Ungerathen: Head Mahkameh Robatian (back, center), Michaela Lee (right), Olga Meier and Anastasya Zlobino (front, from left)

“The market is empty,” says Mahkameh Robatian, who heads the advice center. Private offers to take in war refugees are also rare. “People often turn their backs on the high prices for gas and electricity because it’s too expensive for them,” says Olga Meier, who works on a voluntary basis.

Overwhelmed helpers

Ever since Russia invaded the Ukraine and the first war refugees came to Germany, the staff at the refugee advice center have been on the job non-stop: they hold talks, telephone authorities, help fill out forms, organize language courses, look for apartments, organize cooking classes and meetings Coffee and cake. They encourage, advise and comfort – if necessary, even look after the children.

The entrance to the SVS Merkstein.  A gate and gatehouse line the site.  A soccer field and the red sand of a running track can be seen in the background.

Due to a lack of space, a second gymnasium has to be set up for refugees

A job that is taken for granted by the church employees, and yet it is “constantly overwhelmed,” as Pastor Unrathen puts it. He himself has less and less time for his actual duties as a pastor. He receives around 60 inquiries a day in a chat group in which the war refugees are networked. “You were all sick in the summer,” he says to the group, and the women nod. “At some point the body will no longer cooperate,” says Mahkameh Robatian.

Integration needs at all levels

A town like Herzogenrath normally receives 50 to 60 new refugees every year, the pastor calculates. “In three months, 400 war refugees came from Ukraine, and we are currently at 530.” There are also around 850 people who have fled from 20 other countries. “Some now have a job, many don’t – and the need for integration doesn’t stop there.” .

Is the state failing a bit in refugee care? “I would say: yes,” says Robatian, meaning that cities, communities, but also aid organizations are left alone by the federal government to deal with the tasks. “In the social welfare office here they are also at the limit, they constantly work overtime, and it gets on the bones of the employees there too,” adds Pastor Unrathen.

Eight gyms are occupied in Aachen

Things are no better in Aachen, 20 kilometers away. At the beginning of August, the mayor of the city, Sibylle Keupen, pulled the emergency brake and announced that she would temporarily not take in any new war refugees or other asylum seekers. All emergency shelters are occupied, including eight gyms.

Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen stands in front of the town hall in Aachen.  She is wearing green pants, a white shirt and a black jacket.  Her gray hair is cropped short and she wears dark-framed glasses.

Sibylle Keupen, Lord Mayor of Aachen

Most of the more than 4,000 Ukrainian refugees who are registered in Aachen and receive financial support have found private accommodation. This is also due to the fact that Aachen had a comparatively large Ukrainian community even before the war. Of the approximately 2,800 people who are housed in city apartments, dormitories, collective accommodation, but also in gyms, around 960 are Ukrainian war refugees, the others are asylum seekers.

Water damage in containers

Mostly Africans, a few Syrians and a few Ukrainians live in a container village that was built in 2016 on a former sports field in the south of Aachen. The small rooms with their own cooking facilities, shower and toilet are popular because they offer privacy. There is space for a maximum of 120 people, but a third of the containers are leaky and therefore uninhabitable. Attempts are currently being made to reseal it with tar blankets.

Aachen City Hall is working flat out to convert vacant commercial properties into accommodation. In late autumn, at least that’s the plan, at least the gyms should be free again and the refugees should have moved.

Municipalities feel left alone

“We are now in a situation where we are realizing that this war will probably last a long time and the people will stay here and they need something other than a gym,” says Sibylle Keupen. “These are families, they are different ethnic groups, different age groups that meet there, that’s also a social explosive force that we have to moderate. And if we don’t have smaller accommodations, it’s very difficult.”

View between two rows of blue painted containers set up in blocks.  The doors are closed.  A paved path runs between the rows of containers, with individual chairs standing to the right and left

A Dutch company builds the containers and also rents them out to students in their own country

The Lord Mayor supports the demands of the German Association of Cities and the Association of Districts for a refugee summit. The federal government must better control the distribution of people across the country and also step in financially. Aachen made an advance payment of 15 million euros, says Keupen. “We definitely have to get reimbursed.”

Just accommodation is not enough

But that’s not all for the local politician. “We need an orderly system to really – and that’s the important thing for me – not just to give people a roof over their heads and a bed, but more. You need a place at school, you need a place in a daycare center, you need There is also psychosocial care, especially when it comes to families and children with war trauma.”

All things that are just as scarce throughout Germany as living space, for which the refugees are competing with the rest of the population. Also in Herzogenrath-Merkstein. “We can launch an appeal again to find private accommodation,” suggests Olga Meier in the round of refugee counseling. “It’s better than not trying.”

Even small successes motivate

The others nod in agreement, even if the hope is small. “Most landlords immediately say no or hang up when they hear about refugees,” reports Michaela Lee, who is actually responsible for administration at the advice center. “I’m always really happy when I find an apartment for a refugee,” she says. “Or an apprenticeship after I’ve written hundreds of applications.” That is her motivation.

An elderly woman is standing in a living container with two beds and a cupboard.  There is a table in the foreground and a chair against the wall to the left.  In the background is the exit and the kitchenette

A maximum of two people can be accommodated in the containers, in which Ukrainian women also live

In such a moment, one feels effective and no longer passive, explains the pastor. This also motivates many people to volunteer. But even there there are limits. “We have been assigned 25 Afghan local workers, and they need incredibly time-consuming support that cannot be done on a voluntary basis.”

With one’s back to the wall

Pastor Ungerathen is currently negotiating with the city about additional staff for refugee counseling. But there, too, the funds are lacking. The operation of the two gyms alone devours “a six-digit amount”. In Herzogenrath, too, one hopes for help from the federal government. “There must be more money and jobs,” says the pastor. “The municipalities have their backs to the wall.”


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