Status: 03/16/2023 11:23 am
400 refugees should be housed in the 500-inhabitant village of Upahl. Massive protests followed. Where does the rejection come from?
By Mirco Seekamp and Eike Koehler, NDR
“What kind of crazy thought is that now?” thought Jan Achilles from Upahl when he first heard that 400 refugees were to come to his village of 500 inhabitants. In Upahl there is no supermarket, no doctors and no good connections to the larger towns. Nevertheless, the district council decided to build container accommodation – and only informed the villagers about it a week later at a so-called citizens’ dialogue in the gym in Grevesmühlen. “We haven’t been spoken to yet. That’s what makes us all so angry,” says local resident Petra Mathieu.
District Administrator Tino Schomann suggested the area in Upahl where the containers should stand, because the area belongs to the district itself. “If I don’t get any land and can’t use any buildings, where should I leave the people?” asks the CDU -Politician. However, here in Northwest Mecklenburg it’s not about a lack of space. The area is one of the most sparsely populated districts nationwide.
In the end, Schomann also admits that the actual reason for the large accommodation in Upahl is the fundamental rejection of refugees: “The acceptance is different than eight years ago.” Therefore, he had to take the district’s own area, for which he determines the use, he says. According to Schomann, the fact that people do not want to take in refugees is due to crises such as Corona, the war in Ukraine and inflation.
The rejection increases
However, it is not his responsibility to restore the acceptance of his citizens, but that of the federal and state governments: “As long as the governments do not act here, we will end up getting more and more rejection.” However, Schomann himself apparently does not try to enlighten people or to start a conversation with them about who is coming.
The rejection of refugees does not only exist in Upahl. It has increased again nationwide. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, attacks on refugee homes have increased again for the first time since 2015. In 2022 alone there were 121 cases. That is 73 percent more than in the previous year.
It was foreseeable that the mood in Upahl would get so hot, says Miro Zahra, member of the district council. “One could certainly have prepared for this situation in good time,” accuses the Greens politician District Administrator Schomann. He reacted far too late. She herself voted against the construction in Upahl in the district council. Integration is not possible like this, she says. Zahra also accuses the district administrator of having accepted racist statements: “Racism is also open and it shouldn’t have been like that.”
Racist statements
At the demonstrations, one can hear more and more often that the people from Upahl and the surrounding villages are not simply protesting against the construction of the containers, but are loudly underlining their protest with racist statements. Nobody here knows who should really come, and yet the rejection is great. “Think of our children,” reads protest posters in front of some houses in the village.
“People are radicalizing without wanting to,” admits Jan Achilles, who is now building a protest sign himself. Achilles and many villagers say that being confronted with a fait accompli has made them lose faith and understanding of politics. “Then you’re in such a bubble and you don’t know what to believe anymore,” says Achilles. However, they cannot explain why this becomes open racism.
Construction halt since March 3rd
Anika Sommer tries to justify her neighbors’ rejection with the small proportion of foreigners in the region. She would also like to help with the accommodation: “I have no prejudices at all and I would be the last to say no, to help in any way.”
Actually, the containers should have been in Upahl for a long time, but construction has been halted since March 3rd. The community’s attorneys sued because they were not involved from the start. In addition, there is no building permit.
How things will continue in Upahl is unclear. As long as this has not been clarified, the refugees will remain in temporary accommodation in a gym in Wismar. Mustafa says: “Let’s hope they give us a chance and don’t immediately judge us.” It doesn’t look like it at the moment.