Fleeing Syria, Arriving in Berlin

Fleeing Syria, Arriving in Berlin

I am from Homs. This is the first city that was destroyed by war. My husband’s apartment was destroyed, my parents’ apartment was destroyed as well. Many men and women were kidnapped from Homs by al-Assad’s[1][AH1]   groups. Because we are religious, we were perceived as enemies of al-Assad. The war in Syria is not a religious war, but people were divided in this way. My parents and siblings stayed in Syria. We keep in touch through WhatsApp and FaceTime.

We have compared between Sweden, Holland and France. We read that there is more work in Germany than in the other countries. Here you can also study and learn German faster. That is why we went to Germany. Germany has a very good reputation in Syria: All great things are Made in Germany. That’s why we thought that there is perfect work here.

In Berlin we registered in a city hall. They gave us a certificate so we could sleep in a hotel. We lived in the hotel for a year, on Antonplatz close to Schönhauser Allee. […] Then my husband and I looked for an apartment. That was very difficult in Berlin. I wanted to move to Munich, but I think it was fate that we found an apartment in Berlin after all. I love Munich – Munich is more European than Berlin, Berlin is more multicultural. But Berlin is also great. I am not thinking about moving to Munich at the moment. In Berlin I heard about many new ideas: for example about gender and LGBT activism. I was very closed to this topic. But I met with people who were completely different than I had imagined.

And that is an advantage. The disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time.