from working for the six to nine months it
takes to learn German, we accustom them
to it,” she says.
Yet to Nour’s husband Yousef, the
lengthy integration period is a boon for
displaced people looking to start over
again, and one of the reasons so many peo-
ple want to come to Germany. “It’s not an
immediate push to go to work,” he says.
“It helps refugees stand on their feet, and
then it offers them jobs. This is why refu-
gees prefer Germany.”
TAIMAA ABAZLIachieved her dream of
celebrating her daughter’s first birthday in
Germany, to a certain extent. There were
no cousins darting around stealing candy,
but there was cake and little foil tiaras for
the guests, fellow refugees from Azerbai-
jan, Afghanistan and Iraq, all living in the
camp Taimaa and Mohannad call home.
They understand that Germany is not a
paradise. But they chafe at the idea that
when it comes to where they will build
their life and raise their children, they
have no choice in the matter. After all,
Mama Merkel invited them to Germany,
not Estonia. But Stamp, of the state min-
istry for migrants, holds that while asy-
lum from war and persecution is a human
right, “there is no human right to choose
the area where one gets that protection.”
Migration experts suggest that one
solution to so-called asylum shoppingis to require that all E.U. member states
offer the same package of benefits, from
housing to welfare payments. But that
overlooks the intangibles that mark
the difference between a temporary
refuge and a home. “In Germany, you
know that some people hate you,”
Taimaa says. “But the government and
the country want you there. You feel
protected.” —With reporting bySIMON
SHUSTER and NATALIJA MILETIC/
BERLIN; FRANCESCA TRIANNIandLAMIS
ALJASEM/GELSENKIRCHEN;andABEER
ALBADAWI/KUSEL ▶For more on these stories, follow
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