Editorial: Germany has much to teach U.S. about refugee aid

FREYSTADT, Germany – I have been spending the last few months in Germany, and have been in awe how local volunteers here in a small, Sandpoint-size village near Nuremberg have taken care of 100 or so refugees with regards to housing, schooling, German lessons and other forms of integration.

Talking to refugees from Syria, Iraq and Iran, the thing I hear most is that they are so happy to finally be safe. A Syrian mother of four told me how they had walked two months, leaving a bombed-out house and dead relatives behind. One 16-year-old doesn’t dare to go outside because she was abused in a refugee camp in Hungary. Young men look forward to work, instead of being drafted by ISIS.

ISIS is behind the regular suicide bombings in their countries, so the uproar about those in Paris on Nov. 13 was a surprise to the refugees. They made it very clear that they are fleeing from ISIS, not promoting the terrorist organization.

I do have to say I am appalled and ashamed to hear the anti-refugee sentiments in the United States, and especially proposals in the Sandpoint City Council to ban refugees. Germany received 7,000 refugees a day in the summer months. Yes, the government and local agencies have been overwhelmed. It is a logistical nightmare. But never did I hear an equation of refugees with terrorists, except from members of ultra-right parties with ties to neo-Nazis.

Memories keep surfacing here of the steamship St. Louis, which was full of Jewish refugees when it was denied permission to enter the United States. The fear then was that Nazi spies might enter the country.

The ship returned to Europe. Many passengers were subsequently killed in concentration camps.

The reality today is that several hundred suspected terrorists are already living in Germany, where they are under surveillance. Apparently, 6,000 German girls have given up their freedom and life to join ISIS. It is these people, who know the infrastructure and habits of their targets, that are likely strike. Most activity in Europe has originated in France and Belgium, where refugees and immigrants have long lived without any major integration. Germany has a long history of welcoming and integrating immigrants. In fact, it has the biggest quota per capita even before this wave of refugees.

Germany will never be the same after this influx of foreigners. It will take some getting used to, especially in rural areas where farmers have lived for generations in all-white communities. But it is exactly here in southern Germany that communities everywhere have done an admirable job integrating refugees and establishing fruitful relationships as fear of strangers and their habits has been dispelled by personal contact and compassion. My sister-in-law told me of a Syrian family that has been very active in their small village, offering traditionally cooked food at fairs, and sharing their culture in a staunchly Catholic area.

Young men here in my town have been working out in the local gym and playing soccer. My brother reports staunch conservative Bavarian men talking to blacks. This kind of integration that could prevent more people from joining ISIS or other terrorist groups cannot be done only by one country. It is indeed a global problem, and we all have to participate.

Refugees who could be accepted in the United States have to go through a two-year process before they can even enter. In the meantime, thousands more are waiting in dismal transfer camps in Germany, or refugee camps in southern and eastern Europe. They did not just come because Germany opened its borders, they keep coming because life in their countries is unbearable.

This is the biggest refugee wave since WWII, and it was caused in part by American and European policies in the Middle East. The least we can do is open our doors to the few that will ever make into the U.S.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer is a doctor of naturopathy practicing in Sandpoint. She was born in Germany.