Two years after the attack on the country, almost one in three Ukrainians has found a job in Bavaria. But that also means: two thirds of those who can theoretically work don’t do it. Many have a good level of training.
Ukrainian doctor Viktoria Orinenko now works at the zoo. The mother of two elementary school-age children fled Kharkiv right at the start of the war. She left her husband behind – and her entire professional existence. In Kharkiv she worked as an anesthetist at the clinic. In order to be able to follow this in Germany, she would have to reach language level C1. Since the beginning of March, she has been making rolls at the Zoo Café in Hof and sometimes sits at the checkout. You can see this as a success: after all, there is now one less Ukrainian citizen’s benefit recipient in Hof, the city in which, based on the number of inhabitants, the most Ukrainians in Bavaria live who receive assistance. But it is also a terrific miscast. A wasted potential.