Kassel / Frankfurt (dpa / lhe) – When Feras Rashid arrives in Germany in autumn 2015, he had a 22-day escape behind him. The now 29-year-old fled Aleppo in Syria at the time. The state in the Middle East has been at war since 2011. Rashid belonged to the Kurdish minority there. “I am threatened with military service,” says. “But I didn’t mean to kill anyone.” He also decided to flee.

Via Lebanon and Turkey he reached Greece by rubber dinghy and then on the Balkan route via Budapest to Bavaria, where he was finally picked up. Rashid first came to reception centers in Bayreuth and Gießen and was finally housed in Schwarzenborn in the Kassel district.

In his home country, the graduate in finance and economics had left behind his family and his job as marketing and sales manager for a limited commercial enterprise. In Schwarzen, he found himself in a tent camp for 500 people, which the regional council of Kassel had just set up in cooperation with the city, the Bundeswehr base there and the regional aid organizations.

“That was a shock at first. Twenty men in a tent and it was very cold even in summer,” Rashid remembers. On the run, you don’t have time to rest for weeks – and then you sit in a tent in Schwarzenborn without anything to do.

But Feras Rashid was not discouraged. He completed a language course, started studying at the University of Kassel, and worked at the supermarket checkout on the side. Today he has a master’s degree in digital business, lives with his wife, whom he was able to catch up, and his four-year-old son in Kassel. Since the beginning of the year he has been a trainee at Kassel Transport and Supply Company (KVV) and a member of the smart city team of the company that wants to advance the digitization of the city.

“I’m hoping for a permanent position, my wife would like to work as an engineer,” says Rashid, who recently applied for German citizenship. “We want to give something back to the region.” He and his wife were very grateful for the support they had received, even if there were of course difficulties. “It was clear to me that some people do not accept foreigners. But if you want, if you work and integrate, you can do anything.” He was able to build a new life here. “Who knows what else would have become of me.”

Feras Rashid is a “successful model”, says Kassel’s district president Hermann-Josef Klüber. “He managed to fly and gain a foothold here. It was a path with many obstacles. He overcame them.” Klüber met Rashid in Schwarzenborn in 2015. “That was a problematic location, the war that was born out of necessity, in order to secure a tent roof over their heads as quickly as possible,” remembers the district president. Remoteness, cold and the proximity to the local military training area would create uncertainty.

After the death of a resident due to a previous illness, there were riots and a police operation. Rashid mediated between refugees and authorities, recalls Klüber. The residents were moved to permanent accommodation within 14 days, and the tent camp was closed again after seven weeks. Feras Rashid came to a new reception facility in Kassel – and stayed.

There are many examples of successful integration, says Timmo Scherenberg, managing director of the Hessian Refugee Council. At the same time, however, there is also a large group of refugees who need more support. “These are actually people who could do it well, but for whom the disintegration policy has made it difficult.”

Accommodation is one of the greatest obstacles to integration. There is a refugee who lives in communal accommodation for years, sometimes under difficult conditions. “Some share a room with several other residents for years. There are people there with mental health problems. People who sleep during the day and party at night live next to the trainee who has to get up early in the morning,” says Scherenberg.

The situation is exacerbated by two factors: “Those who go to work have to pay a fee per person in the accommodation; in the case of a family of five, deaths can easily cost 2000 euros for two small rooms, which can be higher than a rent.”

In addition, the residence requirement stipulates that refugees retain their residence for a period of three years in the country to which they were assigned during the asylum or admission procedure. “Only then does the right integration begin in another location. In terms of integration, the worst thing you can do,” says Scherenberg. With work bans, deportation pressure and the accommodation in the last few years, people and society are no favors in the long run.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211214-99-372939 / 3