A hot late summer day in Munich. In front of the war memorial in the Hofgarten, on the right the magnificent Bavarian State Chancellery, on the left the spacious Renaissance garden. Malek Mansour sits on a bench in the shade and talks about his first arrival in town. It was the beginning of August, in the fateful year of 2015 in Germany: there were no applauding people on the tracks, Chancellor Merkel had not yet said her infamous three words, nor had the Dublin proceedings been suspended by her. A month too early, Malek Mansour stood at Munich Central Station with five euros in his hand and bought a pretzel from it. The archeology student from Aleppo has been an FC Bayern fan for a long time, and he was particularly looking forward to the Allianz Arena,but instead he is now being taken to an initial reception center with more than three thousand other refugees.
Simon Strauss
Editor in the features section.
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He gives his Syrian passport to the officials, who relocate it in the heat of the organizational state of emergency. Disappointed by the failure of the sacred German bureaucracy, he has to wait six days before moving first to a Karlsruhe concert arena, then to a former barracks in Sigmaringen and finally to a sports hall in Nürtingen. While serving food, he met his future girlfriend there, and during German tutoring he met an older gentleman who was a member of the FDP and who ran an owner-run department store nearby. Two Germans who volunteer for the integration of the refugees and are very successful, at least in Mansour's case: Soon he is pronouncing his German words in Swabian, receives residence status, lives in a small apartment and neatly separates the rubbish.
Humbug and hillbilly
In March 2016, in a town hall, he meets the woman who has changed his life through her politics like no one else: In the context of the Baden-Württemberg state elections, Chancellor Merkel speaks in Nürtingen, and the astonished Malek Mansour is in the audience. In the meantime he “works” in a bakery for an unlimited period and, together with his girlfriend, has self-published a little book that tells open-heartedly about the various stages of his escape. It does this in a language that confidently uses idioms and idiosyncrasies of German without appearing nerdy or clever: Terms such as “humbug”, “hillbilly” or “anger” appear in Mansour as well as various proverbs: “If you you think it doesn't work anymorea little light comes from somewhere ”or“ wherever you are, be the soul of your place ”. The book has a pleasant parlando tone, tells in simple, accessible words about the little-known details of an escape via the notorious Balkan route: For example, that the smugglers waive the fees for the man who controls the rubber dinghy, or that the German police stations really do the same before there are body searches on the naked body.
Appoint as citizen ambassador
The booklet should be distributed in schools across the country and Mansour should also be invited to readings and discussion groups. Because he embodies the best of what can be described with the term “refugee”. Now that politics and society are again looking anxiously to the Middle East and especially to Afghanistan, where scenarios of new, revolutionary waves of refugees are being drafted, now that the so-called willingness to help is very high again - only to be very small again after a few months to become? -, now this country should deal with people like Malek Mansour. Appoint him as a citizen ambassador who can serve as a role model for others who follow him with his unconditional discipline and independence. Of course, successful integration always has something to do with education. To be able to write a bookyou must have had a chance of being educated. But in addition to his skills, Mansour also has experience - experiences that connect him with a whole generation of young people who came to Germany in difficult, sometimes soul-damaging ways and now want to stay here. They depend on advocates - not only in the milieu of the old, but also of the new Germans. Mansour would be just right for it.but also of the new Germans. Mansour would be just right for it.but also of the new Germans. Mansour would be just right for it.