Will Syrian refugees stay in Germany?

DW (English)

After the fall of Bashar Assad’s dictatorship, it is still unclear how Syria will develop. There are currently 974,000 Syrian nationals living in Germany where they have built new lives after fleeing civil war.

Transcript

00:00Geis Dayob fled the war in Syria with his family in 2014 and found a new home in Magdeburg.

00:07Germany gave me everything. In Syria before, it was bad. I didn't have much. I couldn't do much.

00:14So from our perspective, Germany is our home. It's our second home, you could say.

00:25After starting work at a distribution center, he opened the Dr. Otto DIY workshop in 2019.

00:32Back then, he was working on his own. Today, he's an employer.

00:39I have one person working for me, so I can just order the parts or make an appointment.

00:45And my employee can just get on with things.

00:48We also opened a car dealership. I have an employee there, too.

00:56So we feel like things are always moving forward.

01:02Back in 2020, many things were still new to the parents, but their children already felt at home in Magdeburg.

01:10Rosa was born in Germany. The children only know Syria from their parents' stories.

01:16Madi Dayob was only three when he left Syria.

01:20I have a few friends who speak Arabic, but I mostly speak German at school.

01:28Now a teenager, he prefers to spend his time after school in the workshop. Cars are his great passion.

01:35After graduating from high school, he wants to study electrical engineering and then take over the workshop.

01:43The dream is actually to expand the workshop and make my father proud of me.

01:48It's his dream and my dream that I take over the workshop.

01:54Going back to Syria is out of the question for the family.

01:58Assad is gone. That's very good. But for us, Magdeburg is home.

02:06Two of my children were born here. I know a lot of Germans.

02:10We want to stay here. We don't want to go back to Syria.

02:16Gays Dayob wants his children to get to know his hometown in Syria.

02:20He's looking forward to vacation there and a reunion with his family.

02:25With the car repair shop and used car dealership, he's made a dream come true and ensured financial security for his family.

02:33Now he only wants one thing above all else.

02:37Getting German citizenship is very important for us, of course.

02:42I don't know why it's not happened yet. We're still waiting.

02:48The family's application was rejected this year.

02:52But they want to apply for German passports again next year.

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