Refugees arrive at the train station in Saalfeld, central Germany, on Saturday
For weeks while they traveled a punitive road, Europe cast a cold eye on their unwelcome progress. On Saturday, for the first time since fleeing their troubled homelands, they could set foot in their promised land — and it came with a German face so friendly that it brought some newcomers to tears of joy.
More than 7,000 Arab and Asian asylum seekers surged across Hungary’s western border into Austria and Germany following the latest erratic policy turn by Hungary’s immigrant-averse government. Within hours, travelers predominantly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who had been told for days they could not leave Hungary were scooped from roadsides and Budapest’s central train station and placed on overnight buses, driven to the frontier with Austria and allowed to walk across as a new day dawned.
They were met with unexpected hospitality featuring free high-speed trains, seemingly bottomless boxes of supplies, and well-wishers offering candy for everyone and cuddly toys for the children in mothers’ arms. Even adults absorbed the sudden welcome with a look of wonderment as Germans and Austrians made clear that they had reached a land that just might become a home.
In Munich’s central station, the first arrivals from Hungary received cheering and applause. Many who had endured nights sleeping on crowded concrete floors at Budapest’s Keleti station appeared disoriented as Germans approached them holding trays of food. The youngest brightened up as teddy bears were offered as gifts.
“We are giving a warm welcome to these people today,” said Simone Hilgers, spokeswoman for Upper Bavaria government agencies tasked with providing the migrants immediate support. “We realize it’s going to be a big challenge but everybody, the authorities and ordinary citizens, are pulling together.”
A total of about 6,000 people had come through Munich by Saturday evening, Hilgers said. All were given food and drink, and most were housed in temporary accommodation.
“I’m very glad to be in Germany. I hope that I find here a much better life. I want to work,” said Homam Shehade, a 37-year-old Syrian shopkeeper who spent 25 days on the road. He left behind his parents, a brother, wife, a 7-year-old boy and a 2 ½-year-old girl. He hopes to bring them all to Germany. Until then, he said: “I hope that God protects them from the planes and bombs. My shop was bombed and my house was bombed.” Shawn Pogatchnik and Frank Jordans, Budapest
merkel to hold crisis talks as migrants stream into germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel planned to discuss Europe’s migrant crisis with her coalition partners yesterday, as Syrians, Iraqis and others fleeing war and persecution streamed into Germany for the second straight day. The Christian Social Union, the socially-conservative wing of Merkel’s center-right bloc, has criticized the decision to open Germany’s borders to migrants and refugees stuck in Hungary, the dpa news agency reported. Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democrats, the third member of Merkel’s three-party coalition, urged swift humanitarian help for those trekking through Europe in search of a better life. “No decent person can remain cold and dismissive in the face of such suffering,” said Thomas Oppermann, a senior Social Democrat. German officials have been particularly angry at Hungary for encouraging migrants to keep traveling westward, instead of providing them with adequate shelter and the chance to apply for asylum there.
No Comments