Germans open hearts, homes for refugees

KERPEN-MANHEIM, Germany: Arson attacks and unruly protests against the 450,000 refugees crowding into Germany this year have dominated the headlines as the country struggles to cope with a record-breaking influx of asylum-seekers fleeing war, violence and famine. But there is another story in Germany that is getting far less attention: The millions of Germans who are opening their hearts and homes to help the tired, poor and huddled masses from the Middle East, Asia and Africa find shelter and perhaps a new life in a country that won’t stop trying to atone for its Nazi past. The tensions between opponents and helpers of refugees in Germany, which is taking in more than any other European Union nation, is a microcosm of the struggles over the issue dividing Europe and especially at the flashpoint of violence in Calais. This veritable German ghost town of Kerpen-Manheim — all but abandoned after utility RWE bought it to tear it down for a future 400-meter deep open-pit mine — has become a temporary home for 80 refugees from Somalia, Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. Local authorities rented some of the condemned buildings from RWE to shelter refugees until their cases can be examined, a process that can take months or even years. It is one of the myriad of creative solutions Germans have come up with to handle the crush of refugees — twice as many as the 200,000 last year. “It’s always small numbers of extremists setting fires who get the attention,” community leader Wolfgang Esser told Reuters in Kerpen-Manheim, where most of the 1,000-year-old town’s 1,600 residents have already left the shuttered red-brick buildings. “But the truth is that there are lot more people in Germany working against the arsonists and anti-refugee protesters. There are a lot more people in Germany eager to help refugees.” One of the countless unsung volunteers in Germany, Esser has been collecting furniture, clothing and household goods donated by other Germans to distribute to refugees. He also organizes youth soccer and sports for the children of the newcomers. “Sport is the best vehicle for integration,” he said, noting some volunteers are teaching refugees German while others here help them deal with the maze of German bureaucracy. The sight of asylum-seekers laughing, riding bicycles or waiting for a rare bus on the tidy if empty streets of Kerpen-Manheim mark a striking contrast to scenes of smoldering, burned out refugee centers in towns such as Troeglitz and Remchingen. -arabnews