Nearly a decade after Syrian’s civil war escaped, Rahef Alashar sat on his couch in a leafy suburb Berlin Sipping Arabic Coffee spicy with cardamom.
When she, her husband and her three daughters reached Germany as refugees, they quickly adapted to their new country: learning language, finding jobs and going to school.
“It was a lot of hard work, but I am proud of what we have achieved,” 44 -year -old Alashar told The Associated Press in an interview recently.
Earlier this year, the whole family became a German citizen and bought a house with a good garden.
“we are German“52 -year -old Basamam Wahbeh, husband of Alshar, said.
His family arrived amidst the influx of migrants from war -torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who took refuge in Germany, reaching a peak of over 1 million in 2015. The arrival of so many shelters in the same year stressed the resources of the country and brought out the result that Germany is still wrestling with wrestling after a decade, especially with grazing.
Even though the integration of the family was a success in the German society, it was not without sacrifice. He and many others had to leave his homes, culture and language behind, sometimes they had to excuse the dear traditions.
Germany opens its doors
As on August 31, 2015, as Europe Till then it was faced, which was then called a refugee crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders of Germany to migrants. Facing criticism at home and abroad, Merkel promised famous citizens that “we would manage it.”
Refugees Initially it was welcomed with applause as they reached the train stations. German families opened their homes for months because overwhelmed cities fought to find housing.
In large -scale attempts, schools and community colleges created thousands of “reception classes” for integration classes for children and adults, so that they could help them study German, get jobs and find homes in their new country.
Jonas Vidner, an expert at the Berlin Social Science Center, said, “A lot of things worked surprisingly well.”
He said that the employment figures of the migrants broadly compare with the Germans, the politicians worked quickly to help the local communities integrating the new arrival and offer money quickly and “civil society was very involved since the beginning and has really achieved great things.”
According to the federal statistical office, Germany became the top asylum destination in Europe, its total population increased by 1.2% – the most since 1992 – due to immigration.
Over time, as more asylum arrived in search of better possibilities, not necessarily running away from danger, immigration boom promoted economic concerns and zenophobic anger among some Germans.
Start a new life in Europe
Prior to the wrath of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Wahbeh family’s life was good. He worked in a company for many years that made cookies, chocolate and juice, while his wife raised his daughters. But as the war intensified, there was a concern about the safety of his family.
In December 2012, a bomb hit the oldest daughter Raja’s primary school while she was in class. She was not injured, but close calls convinced her to leave.
“No more school. We have to leave,” Alshar told her husband.
Alshar and Wahbe said that the new beginning in Germany was difficult: they did not know the language, the winter was much colder than the house and the authorities did not initially recognize their university degree.
Determined to succeed, he enrolled in German classes and initially took an internship to come to the market. Alashar, who is a civil engineer by training, got a stable job in the Ministry of Transport and placed his three daughters in a good high school.
“I am really proud, and I was lucky for the good people around me,” the Germans who helped him as refugees and became good family friends, said Alshar. But he also faced enmity as a foreigner, especially to wear hijab.
End of polarization
Anger over the migration has inspired the rise of a distant option for the German party, or AFD, which will be the second largest party if the election is held today according to the election. Somewhere else voters in Europe are rapidly empowering far-flung nationalist parties that promise to ban immigration.
“This is a highly controversial political issue and has repeatedly provided ammunition to distance,” Vidner said.
In a recent survey, asking that Germany convened with the influx of around 1.5 million refugees between 2015 and 2020, “only 21% replied” well “, 41% said” less good “and 37% said” not at all. ” Data were collected by RTL Germany from 22 to 25 August by the Foisa Institute. He questioned 1,006 people and the margin of error was Plus/Minus 3 percent.
During the German election campaign earlier this year, AFD candidate for Chancellor, Alice Waidel called on the boundaries for large -scale exile of unwarded migration and refugee, which made it clear that he had no problem with a politically charged word. ,
Although many Germans have expressed their displeasure in protest against AFD’s anti-immigration stance, Chancellor Frederick Merz from Center-rights Christian Democrats also campaigned on the promise of ending “uncontrolled migration”. Once when the new government was in power, it quickly promoted border control to curb the migration in Germany and started accelerating the exile of disarmed and criminal refuge.
Alshar said that she is watching The Rise of the Right of the Wright with anxiety, but at the same time she does not want to intimidate herself because she feels that her family has done everything right, even though it was not always easy to integrate in German society.
Adapt for a new house
The Germans asked her more than once whether she was forced to wear hijab. In an appointment on a construction side outside the Berlin, the ilasar was shown a middle finger.
Looking at a picture of her arrival in Germany – after a Odissi from Damascus to Lebanon, Egypt and finally Berlin – wearing a white headcharf tightly stuck around her face, Alshar stopped, ran a hand through her long, chesting brown hair and said that two years ago decided to remove the hijab.
“It was difficult … because I wore a headcharf for more than 30 years,” he said.
His three daughters do not want to wear hijab. In contrast, they look German, feel German and speak German without an pronunciation mark.
The 20 -year -old Raja has terminated high school and is applying to 17 -year -old art schools, will start his senior year after a 17 -year summer vacation and 13 -year -old Ranin, who was elected class representatives last year, will soon be in the eighth grade.
The king said, “Many of my friends did not even know that I am from Syria and was surprised when I told them.”
Parents are grateful to Germany to give them a place to reconstructive and relieved that their daughters have integrated so well, although Alshar said that it is important for him that his family still speaks Arabic at home, watchs the Syrian TV series and celebrates Muslim holidays.
Despite the fall of Bashar Assad’s rule last year, he has no plans to return to his country. But Alshar said that she and her husband would always be Homik for Syria.
“I don’t want my daughters to be grown up with this spirit of homes because it will always make them feel as if they are not being fulfilled,” she said.