The storied city of Weimar, Germany population 65, , absorbed refugees in a year. Our journalists spent months on the ground examining integration from all sides. That is where Anas, his wife, Aya, and their young son, Zaid, settled β in a dim top-floor apartment in one of the better-maintained buildings among hundreds of white-walled housing blocks. Like others, he hoped to take advantage of free language lessons and quickly land a job. But also like others, he found German difficult and was frustrated by the bureaucratic hurdles and internships most newcomers must clear to hold a job in Germany.
They have no logic. Refugees are required to take roughly hours of classes in German language and cultural orientation in exchange for benefits. At the end, if they pass a language test, they are eligible to hold a job and remain in the country permanently.
In the first six months of β the most recent available figures β , refugees were enrolled in integration courses across the country, of them in and around Weimar. Nearly 64 percent nationwide passed the test needed to continue studying or pursue vocational training. Anas was an accountant in Syria but gave up on that career in Weimar. Instead, Anas was one of 18 refugees paired with 18 Germans in a summerlong course helping them become workshop leaders, a potentially lucrative field as demand rises for programs related to the refugee experience.
With wide, sensitive eyes framed by thick-rimmed glasses, Anas is perpetually alert for an opportunity to press his case that the Muslim world is woefully misunderstood here. Be cool, be easy. But many of us cannot. The workshop grew out of a question-and-answer session that Eric Wrasse, 41, organized at a Weimar youth center in November It turned out that German high school students had a lot of questions for the newcomers, starting with the basics: What was daily life like in Syria?
How difficult was the journey to Germany? At least back in Syria, he said, one could pay a little money and get to the head of the line. Anas echoed the guide about the sluggish and inscrutable German system. After being invited to present his workshop to a civic education group in France, he applied for permission to leave the country and was told by the German authorities that a decision would take a couple of weeks.
