report
The Bavarian community of Hebertshausen has taken in more than five times as many refugees as planned in the past few months. Hardly anyone there is worried about that. Why?
Inside the former supermarket in the municipality of Hebertshausen in the Bavarian district of Dachau, security men separate beds with construction fences, arrange tables and push chairs across the floor. Outside in the parking lot there are other men in dark uniforms, others in jeans. They all await the arrival of a bus – again. The bus brings around 50 refugees to the community’s initial reception every two weeks. From here the people will later be distributed to other accommodations throughout the district.
Images of arriving buses and overcrowded initial reception centers have preoccupied states and municipalities all over Germany in recent weeks. All over the country, mayors and district administrators are sounding the alarm and writing fire letters because they can no longer accommodate the refugees.
The accommodations in Hebertshausen, half an hour’s drive from Munich, are also full and more and more people are coming. There are currently 234 refugees living here – around 190 more people than the small town with its 6,000 inhabitants would actually have to accommodate according to the distribution key. But no one here sounds the alarm.
Alio Diallo found work in Thomas Polz’s bakery.
fates, challenges – and opportunities
Richard Reischl is the mayor of the community and a CSU member. On this Thursday morning, he greets the arriving men who slowly get off the bus with their luggage. He wouldn’t be worried if he knew that some of the new arrivals would stay in Hebertshausen longer, he says in an interview with ARD magazine Monitor. He sees the fate of people, also the challenge of integration, but above all one thing: the opportunities.
Opportunities in Hebertshausen mean above all: work. For Aliou Diallo, this work often begins at 3 a.m. Diallo came to Bavaria from Senegal and is now training to be a baker.
His boss is Thomas Polz. He also sees immigration as an opportunity to counteract the ever-increasing shortage of skilled and unskilled workers. Polz now employs 90 people from 14 nations in his bakery. He says it doesn’t matter that many of them speak poor German when they start working: “In the trades, you learn with your eyes.”
The working hours are not a problem for Diallo, he says. Before he escaped, he was a fisherman and took a boat out on the Atlantic at night. Now he and several other refugees bake bread, cakes and pretzels in the bakery for the residents of the community. This is vital for the family business: “We wouldn’t exist anymore if we didn’t employ so many people from other countries,” says junior boss Simon Polz.
The local help group takes care of it
According to Mayor Reischl – like Diallo – around 90 percent of the asylum seekers living in Hebertshausen are in educational programs or have already been put into work. They work in the community supermarket, in the butcher shop, at the horse farm. In addition, many of the refugees now do voluntary work, play in the football club and help with the renovation of public playgrounds.
The goal must be to employ people and integrate them into the job market as quickly as possible, says Peter Barth. Barth is chairman of the local helpers’ group and does what Mayor Reischl imagines would actually be a state task: he takes care of things.
The pensioner rides his bike every day to one of the community’s asylum accommodations, helps the residents with official letters, inspects apartments, accompanies them to doctor’s appointments or supports them in looking for a job. Barth is the refugees’ first point of contact and something like their most important lobbyist in the community.
If you ask Hebertshausen’s residents about living together with the newcomers, many point to Barth’s voluntary work and the group of helpers: “They’re doing quite well,” “they’re taking care of it,” they say. You rarely hear anything bad.
Richard Reischl, the mayor of Herbertshausen, sees the fate of the people and also the challenge of integration – but he also sees the opportunity.
Sinking Crime figures
Refugees find a future in Hebertshausen not only in the bakery, but also in other industries where workers are needed throughout Germany. Turyale Perzadah came to Germany from Afghanistan in 2015 and now works in a retirement home in the Dachau district. He has a permanent employment contract and earns his own money.
Mayor Reischl says that there are also concerns in Hebertshausen about the increasing number of refugees and the many young men who are walking through the town. There are fears here too. But despite the many refugees, the crime statistics have been falling for years. And that, emphasizes the CSU politician, brings the refugees the necessary social acceptance, improves their lives and relieves the burden on social security funds.
Reischl is therefore calling for compulsory work for the new people in town – even for those who actually have poor prospects of staying and should be deported, like Sane Sadibou. Sadibou has so far only been tolerated in Germany and is threatened with deportation. Because he is not allowed to do a regular job, he does voluntary community work at a cemetery in nearby Dachau. Here, Sadibou clears graves of leaves and trims hedges – for just 80 cents per hour.
Sadibou is also involved in operations by the volunteer fire department in Hebertshausen. He is always looking to do something and want to help, says Sadibou. The residents of Hebertshausen appreciate his commitment.
AfD significantly below National average
Mayor Reischl admires the commitment of the volunteers in the community, the hard work of the refugees, and the openness of the entrepreneurs. But he sometimes despairs of the asylum laws and his own party. Instead of using immigration constructively, the mood is being created in the CSU. Just like with the Union in the federal government.
“The fact is: Friedrich Merz, like Markus Söder, is no more successful in reducing the numbers of the AfD, but quite the opposite: the numbers are increasing nationwide, just like in Bavaria,” says Reischl.
In Hebertshausen, where the AfD received 10.4 percentage points in the state elections, well below the average in Bavaria, refugees are not seen as a threat to internal peace, but as an opportunity. The mayor concludes that this is probably what sets this community apart: the pragmatism, the calmness. Don’t let yourself be guided by fear-mongering here. “We have our own experiences,” said the CSU politician.
Monitor will report on this topic on October 12, 2023 at 9:45 p.m. on ARD.