GERMANY: For refugees in 'promised land,' life in Germany harder than expected

For refugees in 'promised land,' life in Germany harder than expected

Germany has registered nearly a million refugees this year, but language, housing, and employment present significant barriers to the newcomers' assimilation.

By Lucy Kafanov, Correspondent DECEMBER 2, 2015

BERLIN — When Ahmed Saadi Mahayni meets with newly arrived refugees in Germany, he often gives out three pieces of advice: Learn the language, try to have patience, and get ready for a lot of hard work.

“Many people think of Germany as the place where all of their dreams and hopes will happen if they just come, but I try to prepare them for the difficult reality that they will face,” says Mr. Mahayni, a counselor at the Workers Welfare (AWO) aid organization.

“Getting to Germany is just part of the battle,” he says. “The real challenges start once you arrive and try to make a life for yourself.”

Mahayni knows these challenges firsthand, having fled his native Syria in 2011 at the outbreak of a revolution that would devolve into a protracted and bloody civil war. He made his way to Germany, where he stayed at one of the refugee centers that AWO runs across Berlin until his application for asylum was approved. 

Because he spoke English and Arabic fluently, Mahayni began volunteering at the center, translating for refugees and the staff during the day while devoting his evenings to studying German. Eventually, the 39-year-old received permission to work in Germany and was hired by AWO full-time.

“I’m happy to have this job and to be able to give back to the people who come from my home country,” Mahayni says. “It is a way for me to integrate with this new life while helping others to do the same.”

Having registered almost one million refugees this year, Germany has emerged as something of a promised land: a place where desperate masses can find safety, stability, jobs, and a chance to start their lives anew. But as the number of asylum-seekers grows, so does the challenge of integrating them.

Those who have been in the country for a year or longer say the reality of life in Germany is far more difficult than they had expected, indicating that cases like Mahayni’s are the exception rather than the norm.

The language barrier

  

Laila Musa, a 21-year-old Syrian Palestinian refugee from Damascus, arrived in Germany with her father and two sisters at the start of 2014. Although Germany had just over 200,000 asylum applications that year, the influx strained the system and the family spent eight months waiting for their applications to be processed. It took nearly as long before they were able to enroll in government-funded language courses.

Ms. Musa says the delay increased their feeling of isolation, and while she’s making progress in learning German, her 56-year-old father is struggling.

“It is difficult for him to study at his age, and without the language there is no chance to work,” Laila says. “I try to stay positive, but it sometimes feels like we are separated by a big glass wall, where you can see this beautiful potential life but you’re not able to reach it.”

For Laila’s younger siblings – aged eight and 15 – assimilation is likely to be easier. German law requires that children of asylum seekers be enrolled in school, where they are often placed in special “welcome” classes aimed at helping them integrate more quickly. But with more than 300,000 new students expected this year, German schools are struggling to cope.

Irina Wissmann, director of Berlin’s An der Bake Elementary School, had to hire a new teacher before classes began in September to accommodate 19 new refugee students. She says that integrating them into regular classrooms can take six months to a year.

“Most speak different languages, and some students have been out of school for quite some time because of their situations,” Ms. Wissmann says. “Some of them also have trauma, so it is very difficult for them to adjust.”

Housing hard to find

Finding a place to live is another challenge, especially for those who have been in Germany too long to qualify for a bed at one of the refugee reception centers. Berlin was experiencing an affordable housing shortage even before the arrival of thousands of migrants. Rents are rising while construction has been slow to catch up, making it difficult for refugees to find places of their own.

In cities like Berlin, refugees say the growing demand has created a black market for rent-controlled apartments, with unscrupulous brokers peddling leases for exorbitant fees.

Muhammad Al Zeen, a 25-year-old Syrian from Damascus, says he nearly signed such a contract. When he and his brother arrived in Berlin last year, they spent five months living with 200 other refugees in a cramped gymnasium. Although they qualified for government-subsidized housing, they struggled to find someone willing to rent to them.

“There are not a lot of places, and people don’t always want to rent to refugees because they think it’s a risk or they won’t get their money,” says Mr. Al Zeen. “We were lucky because some German friends helped us get a place, otherwise we would have had to pay a lot of money to one of the middlemen.”

Signs of a backlash

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to throw the country’s doors open this summer initially triggered an outpouring of public sympathy for the refugees. Many say the generosity of ordinary Germans has helped them face the challenges of adjusting to their new lives.

But there are signs of an anti-refugee backlash: Far-right attacks on asylum seekers and shelters has more than tripled from last year, while calls for immigration restrictions are growing louder in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

Although Ms. Merkel has so far refused to cap the number of refugees Germany accepts, her government has taken steps to curb the flow by tightening asylum rules, speeding up deportations of rejected applicants, and limiting family reunions. Under intense pressure to deal with the crisis, she helped seal a deal with Turkey this week that seeks to reduce the number of refugees arriving on European shores. 

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He, who saw good deeds, will not  reap in sorrow 

GERMANY/ISRAEL: The KaDeWe department store in Berlin.Dreamstime

The KaDeWe department store in Berlin. Dreamstime

European Commission adopts guidelines for labeling products from Israeli settlements

Netanyahu to EU: Shame on you for decision to label settlement goods

Europe's largest department store, the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, has removed Israeli products from the shelves following the European Union's decision to label Israeli products from the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel published on Friday, the store's spokewoman, Petra Fladenhofer said: "Only after fixing the labels, we'll return the products to our shelves." She did not elaborate on what kinds of products were pulled.

In contrast, another large department store, Galeria Kauphof, did not pull Israeli products from its shelves. A spokesperson for the company - which has several braches around Berlin, including one in Alexanderplatz – told Der Spiegel that the store's "sales policy" is not influenced by politics or religion, and that it was not responsible for labeling products. The store sells Israeli products made in the West Bank and the Golan Heights such as SodaStream, Ahava consmetics and more.

The old, lavish KaDeWe department store is located in west Berlin, and was opened in 1907. It occupies 60,000 square meters and eight floors, and houses 2,000 stores selling hundreds of thousands of products.

In 1926, the store was sold to a Jewish-owned company, Herman Tietz. The company renovated and expanded the store, but in 1933, after the Nazis rose to power, it was forced to sell the store to German owners.

The current owner of KaDeWe is a privately-held Thai firm named Central Group.

Earlier this month, the European Commission adopted the Notice on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

The guidelines state that the EU does not recognize Israeli sovereignty beyond the June 1967 borders, regardless of the status of those territories according to Israeli law, and that it is interested that EU legislation and regulations reflect this position.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the decision, saying it was hypocritical, constitutes a double standard, "and focuses only on Israel and not the 200 other conflicts around the world."

According to Netanyahu, "the EU decided to mark only [goods made by] Israel, and we are unwilling to accept the fact that EU labels the side being attacked by terror."

GERMANY/ISRAEL: Merkel to warn Netanyahu: Promote peace process or face world seclusion

Prime minister to meet German chancellor in Berlin on Wednesday evening.

 

 

 

By Barak Ravid | Dec.05, 2012 | 1:02 AM

With Israel and European Union states embroiled in a diplomatic crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday night in Berlin.

Merkel, who has had a rocky relationship with Netanyahu over the past four years, is expected to stress that the Israeli leader must choose between promoting the peace process, including establishing a Palestinian state, or facing international seclusion.

Despite the diplomatic crisis and the tension with Netanyahu, Merkel insisted on holding the government summit with Israel in Berlin. A senior German official said that Merkel had never considered a sanction as severe as halting the supply of nuclear submarines to Israel, since "as far as she's concerned, Israel's security is sacred."

The official added that the government summit was Merkel's idea of cementing and constitutionalizing the German-Israeli relationship so that it is not dependent on the politics of either state.

This main issue of this year's government summit is science. Leading scientists from both countries are scheduled to join senior ministers.

Netanyahu arrives in Berlin less than one week after the United Nations General Assembly recognized Palestine as an observer state. In contrast to recent years, Germany refrained from assisting Israel's diplomatic efforts at the UN. The chancellor was raging at Netanyahu's conduct and decided, at the last moment, to abstain instead of voting against the resolution. Netanyahu reacted angrily to Germany's vote, and his national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, had a heated phone call with Merkel's senior adviser, Christoph Heusgen.

Merkel reversed course on the UN vote for at least two reasons. First, for four years she has repeatedly requested gestures of goodwill from Netanyahu on the settlement issue - but he has refused. Second, Merkel apparently felt her support was being taken for granted and used as a tool to manipulate other European states on the Palestinian issue.

Der Speigel reported on Monday another possible reason. On the eve of the vote, she received a phone call from Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, musical director of the Berlin Opera. Barenboim, known for his severe criticism of Israel's policies in the Palestinian territories, requested that the chancellor not oppose the Palestinian move, and noted that the resolution mentions the two-state solution and Israel's right to exist.

From the start, Netanyahu and Merkel have clashed on the question of settlements. Merkel apparently often felt she was misled by Netanyahu, such as when he leaked specific parts of their conversations and did not fulfill promises on the Palestinian issue.

It is commonly known in Berlin that Merkel has no illusions regarding Netanyahu's intentions as far as the peace process goes, and no longer believe he will surprise anyone with a sudden change of direction. Apparently, as far as Merkel is concerned, Netanyahu cares more about tactics and political survival than about a long-term strategy that would secure the future of Israel and the Jewish state.

Netanyahu should expect to hear some unequivocal messages concerning the punitive measures Israel announced against the Palestinian Authority, as well as his plans to promote construction in the E-1 area, which would connect Ma'aleh Adumim settlement with Jerusalem, and to add 3,000 units in the West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.

In contrast to France and Britain, Germany did not summon the Israeli ambassador; Merkel apparently prefers to hold a tough discussion directly with Netanyahu. The chancellor is expected to demand that Netanyahu cancel the settlement decision, or at least commit to freezing its implementation immediately after the elections in Israel.

Merkel is expected to tell Netanyahu that he must choose between promoting the peace process and establishing a Palestinian state, a move that would secure the existence of Israel as a Jewish democratic state, or continue expanding settlements, thus leading to the transformation of Israel into an apartheid state that is isolated internationally.

 The boy who cried wolf!

 

MICHAEL HOFFMAN: The Hoffman Wire

The Hoffman Wire

December 3, 2012 

www.revisionist history.org

Günter Deckert will serve five months in a German prison for translating a history essay

By Michael Hoffman

http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2012/12/researcher-gunter-deckert-sentenced-to.html

 Gunter Deckert

In the World War II revisionist history movement in Germany, Günter Deckert is among the most hard-working and humble of its martyrs.

I say "martyr" because any resident of Germany who persists in actively and publicly doubting the existence of execution gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau -- the holy relic of the West's most sacred religion (Holocaustianity) -- will be fined and likely imprisoned.

Günter Deckert has been to prison before in Germany for this reason and he is about to be imprisoned again.

His "crime"? Translating from Italian into German historian Carlo Mattogno's treatise, "Auschwitz: The First Gassing" (überarbeiten, deutsche Endbearbeitung/ -fassung). 

The following was received from Mr. Deckert:

Friends, Comrades and Fighters for the Truth in World War II History,

The time has come! I must soon enter prison to serve my 5-month sentence although my constitutional appeal has not yet been decided.  I am to report to the prison on January 2nd, 2013. The release date will be June 2nd...

..."What does not kill me, does make me stronger!" With this in mind, my best comradely greetings and loyalty to our kin and people.I wish everyone a very good year of 2013 full of success and the best health possible.

Günter Deckert 

E-mail: guenter.deckert@gmx.de  

With those words Mr. Deckert prepares to surrender five months of his life to the German state that is called "democratic" by the U.S. government, the U.N. and the European Union, and which scruples to lecture Muslim nations on the pressing need to allow more freedom to their citizens. Fortunately, Muslims are increasingly aware of this hypocrisy and, unfortunately, it has only stiffened their resolve to enforce the repression of freedom of speech and press in their own nations. The Chinese Communists must also surely be aware of the German repression of revisionist thought criminals. "Example," observed Samuel Johnson, "is always more efficacious than precept." In other words, practice what you preach. But in addition to Germany, the governments of Canada, Australia and many European nations such as Austria, France and Switzerland, do not, and the world is made darker as a result.

Günter Deckert, a good and decent man, is again being tosssed into a dungeon with little or no protest or media publicity. The machinery of the German inquisition operates in near total silence and obscurity. Historians, researchers and scientists in Germany are imprisoned for blaspheming the Holy People's relics and it is all done with hardly any notice taken. Consequently, we know that this inquistion will grind on, and because it is in the German nature not to complain, the real, excruciating cost to Mr. Deckert and his family, their suffering and privation, will not be advertised on a poster soul.

What is called western civilization is actually western syphilization, and sometimes this writer finds himself ardently desiring that the Muslim invaders would arrive all that much sooner to scourge the golem of Europe, Canada and Australia, as God has so often in the past used hostile aliens to punish his people for their betrayal and idolatry. 

Make no mistake, the adoration of the gas chamber idol is no less an abomination in the eyes of the Most High; particulary in light of the fact that the organized denial of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ has never been more prevalent — a denial which is perfectly legal in every nation of the dishonorable western world.

__________________

Today's Hoffman Wire column is online here:

http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2012/12/researcher-gunter-deckert-sentenced-to.html

GERMANY/ISRAEL: German writer Gunter Grass criticizes Israel in new poem

Nobel Prize literature laureate, declared 'persona non grata' by Israel over a poem criticizing its stance on Iran, lauds nuclear whistle-blower Vanunu as a 'hero.'

 

By Ofer Aderet | Sep.29, 2012 | 3:46 PM

After drawing fire for criticizing Israel's stance on Iran in a controversial poem earlier this year, prominent German writer Gunter Grass confronts Israeli policy in a new poem, in which he lauds Mordechai Vanunu, a former nuclear technician imprisoned by Israel for years for revealing details of Israel's nuclear program to the British media.

Blogger Comment: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Why are they against Iran's nuclear project?! 
 

In April, Israel declared the Nobel Prize literature laureate Grass "persona non grata" after he published a poem saying it threatened world peace in its standoff with Tehran and that it must not be allowed to launch military strikes against Iran.

Grass’ poem entitled “What must be said” drew strong criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well. "His declarations are ignorant and shameful and every honest person in this world must condemn them," Netanyahu said.

 

Grass's words were also denounced by mainstream political parties in Germany, where any strong condemnation of Israel is taboo because of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust.

In a new poem, part of a collection released ahead of Grass's 85th birthday and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the German writer calls Vanunu a "paragon" and a "modern-day hero."

Relating to Vanunu, Grass writes that only "heroes such as that are needed in the word, which utters words of peace while planning destruction." The poem details Vanunu's life story, beginning from his childhood in Beer Sheba, through his studies at the yeshiva, his work at the Dimona nuclear reactor, and finally his conversion to Christianity.

The Nobel laureate describes how Vanunu was seduced and kidnapped by Israeli agents abroad, after which the former Dimona worker was charged with espionage and placed in solitary confinement for 18 years.

Grass calls Vanunu a "righteous man, who has remained loyal to his country the entire time," comparing him to the Biblical Joseph, who was thrown into the cistern by his brothers.

Grass, who is most famous for his 1959 novel "The Tin Drum," denies he is anti-Semitic. He has urged his countrymen for decades to come to terms with their Nazi past, but his moral authority has never fully recovered from his admission in 2006 that he once served in Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS.

Blogger Comment: It is well documented that Jews also served in Hitler's Military apparatus. 

Click here 

Click here

Click here

And there are many more 

GERMANY: Muslims and Jews Circumcision!

Jewish, Muslim leaders blast German court's decision to outlaw circumcision

 

District court in Cologne says practice constitutes physical harm against newborns after Muslim doctor botches circumcision of four-year-old.

 

A German court has sparked outrage among both Jewish and Muslim communities in the country after it ruled that circumcision was illegal.

The controversy began after a district court in Cologne deemed the practice illegal, constitutes physical harm against newborn babies and is defined as "irreversible damage against the body." The court further stated that freedom of religion and the rights of the parents of the circumcised cannot justify the practice itself.

The ruling was passed after a botched circumcision by a Muslim doctor on a four-year-old boy in Cologne. The boy was rushed to the emergency room after he bled for two straight days. Upon hearing of the incident, German authorities decided to sue the doctor.

  

After lower court rejected suit on the grounds that the circumcision took place with parental consent and was based on a "traditional ritual belonging to the Muslim community," the authorities appealed the ruling to the district court. The latter ruled that doctors could only perform circumcisions for health-related reasons. The district court justified the ruling by stating that it was for the "good of the child who would be able to decide for himself which religious community he or she would belong to."

The doctor was acquitted, as he acted out of innocence and due to the fact that the legality of the act was unclear.

The Hamburg-based Financial Times Deutschland, which revealed the controversial ruling, stated that thousands of children are circumcised in Germany, and until now, the concept of circumcision was somewhat of a legal "gray area", as no court had ever convicted anyone for carrying it out.

"This ruling has enormous significance for doctors," said Professor Holm Putzke, an expert on law from Passau University in Germany. "For years there has been a call to ban circumcision for religious reasons. The court, as opposed to many politicians, was not afraid of criticism that its ruling was anti-Semitic or harmful to religion."

Putzke further stated that the decision "may not only influence future rulings, but also brings about a change in the worldview of religious people regarding basic rights of children."

On the other hand, Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg of the Brussels-based Rabbinical Center of Europe harshly criticized the ruling, saying that it "is fatal to freedom of religion, contravenes the EU's Convention on Human Rights, to which Germany is subservient and harms the basic freedom of religion enshrined in the German constitution."

Menachem Margolin, Director of the Rabbinical Center of Europe called the ruling a "brutal attack on freedom of religion," adding that a "public relations campaign in cooperation with the Muslim community will do away with misunderstandings and will prevent both conscious and unconscious harm to freedom of religion in Europe."

The practical and legal significance of the ruling is unclear at this point, and no details were revealed about the future of the legal battle. 

Read this article in Hebrew
 

BLOGGER COMMENT

What about the botching of operations other than circumcision where parents' consent has  been taken....Are they going to be banned, too, or this is just a political game as a part of attack on religions everywhere like the attack on mosque minarets???!!

I did work in old folks homes, and I happened to find penises of circumcised males cleaner than uncircumcised ones where you have to push back the foreskin and clean underneath it.

GERMANY/SYRIA: Germany against military intervention in Syria

Germany against military intervention in Syria

Voltaire Network | 9 June 2012

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle reiterated Berlin’s opposition to a possible foreign military intervention in Syria, focusing on the fact that such measures might engulf the entire Middle East.

During a meeting in Doha on 4 June 2012 with the emir of Qatar, Mr. Westerwelle stated that Kofi Annan’s peace plan offers the best solution for the situation created in Syria. He also expressed Berlin’s disapproval of the position of some Western and Arab governments, including Qatar itself, promoting military intervention in Syria.

"We must avoid a conflagration that could set the whole region on fire. Considering the highly complex and dangerous situation in Syria, we must not create the wrong expectations, pretending that we could bring about a quick solution with a military intervention," he said before his five-day tour of the Middle East.

After Qatar, Guido Westerwelle visited the UAE, where he held talks with his counterpart, Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

In Abu Dhabi, the head of German diplomacy emphasized the importance of preventing the disorders occurring in Syria, which are beginning to spill over this country’s borders. He recalled in particular that clashes related to the Syrian conflict have already spread to Lebanon, where several people were killed during fights between pro- and anti-Assad groups.

SYRIA: Houla Massacre:

Houla Massacre:

 

Posted on May 29, 2012 by willyloman

by Scott Creighton

Despite the fact that their initial propaganda about the Houla Massacre has completely fallen apart after being exposed for the lie that it was, globalist powers in Great Britain have convinced their fellow NATO co-conspirators to expel their Syrian Envoys in what amounts to a pointless and desperate attempt to finger the Assad regime for their own terrorist destabilization efforts.

The UN Human Rights Council has stated that the “majority” of those killed in Houla were executed at close range, shot or stabbed to death. Robert Colville stated that “fewer than 20″ of the victims were killed by artillery or tank fire” and the rest were summarily executed by “pro-government militias”

What Colville doesn’t explain is

1.    How many does “fewer than 20″ mean? Does it mean 19 or does it mean 0. Both are “fewer than 20″

2.   How does he know if those killed by artillery fire were actually citizens? Could they have been terrorist fighters?

3.      Were any children killed by artillery or tank rounds? Were they all killed by “militias”

4. How does he know that the “pro-government militias” were actually “pro-government”? The fact that they are listed as militias means they weren’t wearing army uniforms.

The propaganda surrounding this heinous act is still taking shape. They are having to retool their stories as fast as they can but the fact remains their first story has fallen apart in front of them.

Yesterday the early lie was that the Russians blamed Assad for the deaths of the 108 civilians (and we still don’t know how many were actually civilians and how many were terrorist fighters). As that lie started to unravel they needed something else to occupy the MSM headlines so the British came up with expelling the envoys.

Seems like everyone in Russia gets it, not just Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“What are the US and NATO doing? They are provoking disturbances in the country, they are looking for artificial opposition, are financing and arming it and killing civilians with their own hands and then they are laying the blame on the official authorities as was the case in Iran, for example. All this ends up with troops being brought in so as to ‘defend’ civilians.”  Vladimir Zhirinovsky Russia’s Lib Dem leader

Lavrov said yesterday that he was concerned by certain foreign powers trying to use this atrocity to foster support for a full on military intervention in Syria. According to SANA news agency, he also took exception to the head of the fraudulent Syrian Transitional National Council apparently calling on “all opposition” inside Syria to continue the terrorism until the Security Council is forced to attack.

“Lavrov denounced Burhan Ghalion’s statement in which he openly called on all Syrian opposition factions to continue what he called “the liberation strife until the Security Council agrees on military intervention.”

Lavrov pointed out that Ghalion’s statement is a direct provocation for a civil war, adding that such acts contradict with Annan’s plan which stipulates for unifying the opposition to start dialogue with the authorities, not unifying the opposition to start a civil war.” SANA

Any question as to Ghalion’s connections, he’s French and here is a picture of him back in Nov. of 2011

Dr. Bashar Al-Ja'afari, 

in response to UN resolution on al-Houla Massacre. 
28 May 2012