Sonnenale is known locally as “Arab Street.”

A “mini-Syria” made by Syrian refugees in Germany

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Syrian refugees have been able to change the cultural make-up of the German capital in a way the country has not seen since the 1960s, when Turkish workers poured into Germany. .

Berlin has become a haven for these immigrants, but homesickness still lives in their hearts.

In Tormstrasse, just over 10 kilometers northwest of Sonnenallee Street, many Syrians remember the community centre, where they had to register when they first arrived in the country.

Many restaurants, barber shops, and Syrian and Arab shops are spread in this area now.

al Arab street

Sonnenallee Street, known locally as "Arab Street", has become the closest thing to home for many Syrians, where they can buy halal meat, fresh pistachios, and sweets stuffed with cream and walnuts from their local vendors.

Women can get clothes for veiled women, and go to hairdressing salons designated for women only.

Men can pray in mosques and gather in cafés that bring back a sense of home.

political symbol

Sonnenallee Street is also a political symbol for Berliners who bid farewell to their Chancellor Merkel these days. This street has remained one of the most prominent symbols of her legacy and represents the ongoing challenges of integrating refugees into German society.

On this street, storefronts display signs in German and Arabic, and shisha smoke rises, and the Arabic language mixes with German and English in its space.

A wide range of restaurants, bakeries and cafes are located in this street, serving food from Syria, Turkey and Lebanon.

The smell of home

The street became a beacon of cultural pluralism, a magnet for students, artists, creatives and even low-income Germans, and as a result helped create the right environment for integration.

This makes sense when comparing this area to many other European cities, such as Paris, where immigrant neighborhoods are pushed into the suburbs.

The result remains a diverse demographic landscape, a multicultural mosaic, and a seed for social and cultural change.

While Sonnenallee has always been home to ethnic minorities, especially Lebanese and Turks, it now looks like a “miniature Syria,” where many immigrants have been able to find work in the restaurants, shops and travel agencies that line the leafy street that was once divided by a wall. Berlin.

For those who miss Syria, a quick visit to this region brings them closer to the tastes and smells of the homeland.

Yaman Azimah, a 21-year-old Palestinian who moved to Berlin from the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus when he was a child, says: “When you set foot on the street, you forget that you are in Germany.”

"It is just like home," says the barber Hamad, 27, who was born and raised in a refugee camp in Damascus.

"We know how to trim and shave beards better than the Germans," he adds.

difference of opinion

The views of Ibrahim Muhammad, 49, and Muhammad Mando, 55, illustrate the cultural divide. As they chatted outside a shop selling baklava and other Syrian sweets, the two men said they came to Germany in 2015. Muhammad learned German while he did not. Mendo learns it.

Mohamed says he hopes to become a train driver, sees that his mastery of the language allows him to pursue German politics and has opinions about which parties are running.

He thinks the SPD is good because it wants to raise the minimum wage, and he sees the Greens' promise to impose speed limits on motorways a good thing, too.

As for Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union, he says, "It is not as bad as some think, after all we were allowed to come here."

Worry

Mando, an unemployed carpenter with kidney problems, says he is so worried about his wife and four children who are in Jordan that he doesn't have time to learn the language or integrate.

Whenever he felt lonely, he went to Sonnenallee "just to see people", and friends from different parts of Syria, with whom he had ties over the past few years.

"This street reminds me of the old days in Syria," he says.

At the same time, like many Syrians, he has come to appreciate the many things Germany has to offer, such as his free dialysis treatment and freedom of expression, although it took him three years to finally understand the meaning of freedom of expression, due to his upbringing under the regime. dictatorial.

It's a similar story for other Syrians in Berlin. Berlin is a haven, but the allure of home is never far away.

feeling lost

Mustafa Naim, 28, who works for a security company, remembers how lost he was when he first arrived here.

He says that that period was dark, but he says that he does not intend to return to Syria, and he is grateful for what Germany offered him, but he does not see a future in Berlin for himself or his future family, and he dreams of obtaining German citizenship and living in Cairo.

"There is a difference between children who grow up to the sound of the call to prayer and those who grow up here," he says.

Abd al-Karim al-Absi, 26, nodded in agreement. Although he cherishes his experience in Germany, including a newfound appreciation for other cultures and women's rights, he draws a red line in raising his family in a non-Muslim country.

"We found here a new culture, a new language and a new system, but I don't want my young daughters to date or my children to drink alcohol," says Al-Absi.

Invitation to merge

Merkel's refugee policy dominated the last election campaign in 2017. While she eventually won, support for her conservative ruling bloc waned, helping the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party get 13% of the vote.

Immigration briefly returned as a controversial topic in Germany after the chaotic departure of America and NATO from Afghanistan dominated the news for the past two months, but the topic of refugees has disappeared as the debate returns to core topics such as climate change and the country's recovery from the epidemic.

However, the issue of immigrants could present a challenge to the next administration.

There are still concerns about what is going on in Sonnenallee and the level of participation among its new residents, says Markus Zener, professor of journalism at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.

"It would be better if the refugees were more integrated, so if they speak German, they can be part of our German culture," he adds.

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