Ten Years On: Memories of Germany’s 2015 Migrant Crisis

TDT | Manama

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The images remain etched in history: exhausted men and women carrying their belongings, trudging across central Europe in early September 2015.

Many were heading to Germany, where then-Chancellor Angela Merkel decided on September 4 to keep the borders open amid a growing migrant crisis. Within months, Germany welcomed hundreds of thousands of people, mostly fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan—a move that would later spark widespread debate in the country.

Syrian refugee Asmaa Hweja, 53, remembers the journey vividly. An engineer by training, Hweja fled the Syrian city of Homs with her two children, then 13 and 15, as the civil war intensified. Their 12-day journey was harrowing.

“At one point, we were crammed into a completely sealed vehicle with so many people, like animals,” she recalled. “I thought we would die because there was no oxygen.”

From Turkey, the family crossed by dinghy to a Greek island and then traveled along the Balkan route. By the time they reached Austria, Hweja’s feet were swollen and her shoes destroyed.

Arriving in Berlin, she faced the daunting task of rebuilding her life from scratch. “I had to learn the language, care for my children, and handle all the administrative procedures,” she said. With social services overwhelmed, she remembers waiting six to seven hours for appointments, sometimes starting her day at 4 a.m.

Yet, amid the struggle, she recalls the kindness of German volunteers who brought food and drink to refugees.

Today, Hweja is a German citizen, working full-time at two refugee aid associations. Her children are studying, and she reflects on her journey with pride.

“Thank God, I think I made it,” she said with a smile.