“Why should you go now?”: 120 Ukrainians should leave Berlin – but don’t get on the bus – Berlin
The Berlin Senate failed on Monday in an attempt to pick up refugees from a Berlin hostel in order to distribute them to other cities. 120 women, men and children from Ukraine had to leave the “Generator” hostel on the border of the Lichtenberg and Pankow districts in the morning. The State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) sends a BVG bus and translators. But the refugees did not get on.
Instead, they made their way to the hall of a free church community in the Allee der Kosmonauten – with a minibus rented from the church, the regular bus and train connections and sometimes on foot. The congregation will receive them in their hall.
The people come from different towns and villages in Ukraine and are connected through their free church community. “We all know each other here and feel at home. The community in Lichtenberg takes care of us. We’ve already found work, but we’re still waiting for the documents from the office,” says Viktoria Katnova, who fled Kyiv with her family.
They don’t want to get on the bus because they wouldn’t know what would happen to them and where they would be taken. “In any case, we won’t be going. We want to stay here, in Berlin.”
LAF will bring the refugees to Tegel for redistribution
According to the will of the LAF, the Ukrainians should have been taken to the arrival center at the old Tegel Airport in order to be sent on from there. An LAF spokesman said the refugees should be taken to Regensburg and Salzburg, for example. By registering, they would then also receive a work permit. They are currently only on the basis of the visa-free 90-day stay for Ukrainians in Berlin.
According to the so-called Königstein key, about five percent of the refugees should stay in Berlin. The remaining people should be distributed to the other federal states. There are only exceptions for Ukrainians who have permanent accommodation or direct relatives in Berlin.
Teachers, students and a microbiologist
The redistribution would take place nationwide, people could work in the trade, according to the LAF spokesman: “You don’t need a university degree there, you have to be able to get up at six in the morning. These are mostly farmers or farmers who are happy if their wives can work in a drugstore.”
According to Moritz Maier, representative of the aid association and the church community, the refugees are likely to have qualified qualifications. Among them are teachers, students and a microbiologist.
Berlin’s governing mayor, Franziska Giffey (SPD), in consultation with the responsible integration senator, Katja Kipping (left), had announced such share campaigns in the past few weeks. The CDU in Lichtenberg criticized the Senate for its supposed coldness to Ukrainian refugees.
The Petitions Committee voted for the Ukrainians to remain
The Christian Democrats in the East Berlin district are outraged. The affected Ukrainians are networked in Berlin, said CDU Deputy District Chief Danny Freymark. The Lichtenberg Free Church is also the partner congregation of the church to which many of the Ukrainians already belonged in their homeland.
“The behavior of the Senate administration makes me angry. Almost 120 Ukrainian refugees are said to have had to leave the city against their express will, despite staying in Berlin-Lichtenberg for weeks and being well integrated through the local free church,” said Freymark, who is also a member of the House of Representatives.
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Freymark points out that so many refugees from the war zone are still expected that the accommodations in other federal states will fill up quickly anyway: “The people affected have been living in Lichtenberg for two or three weeks, they have settled in to everyday life, they are over the church and clubs networked and registered with the social welfare office.
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Berlin in particular has become a destination for refugees within Germany. Recently, up to 10,000 Ukrainians arrived in the capital every day, often women and children.
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Senate chief Giffey had said that Berlin was trying to accommodate everyone. But other federal states would also have to take part in caring for masses of refugees soon.
“We have proposed through the Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives that the 120 affected be registered in Berlin and thus their stay is permanently secured,” said Freymark previously. “The Petitions Committee had agreed to this request across all party lines.” This has had no consequences so far.