The willingness to donate to the Ukrainians is great.

The refugee helper Diana Henniges from the Berlin association “Moabit helps” feels this too.

But three to four times a week, she estimates, her organization receives monetary donations that she and her fellow campaigners refuse to accept.

In the subject line, requests such as "Only for real Ukrainians" or "Only for whites" appear, says Henniges: "We then refer it back, usually with a statement." It's incidents like these that bring back memories.

David Lindenfeld

volunteer.

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If you ask her about 2015, when mostly people seeking protection from the Middle East came to Germany and took advantage of her association’s humanitarian aid, Henniges speaks of a great deal of solidarity, but also of a “massive threat” that existed at the time.

Security precautions had been taken, the State Criminal Police Office had to protect her and her fellow campaigners.

At that time there were burglaries and threats, the addresses of helpers were partially blocked for security reasons for the registration information.

Today the situation is “completely different”: numerous volunteers are once again helping the refugees.

Again there is a "huge solidarity" of the civilian population.

But this time there is hardly any sign of resistance and hatred.

There seems to be a broader consensus in society that people from Ukraine should be admitted unbureaucratically.

And many things seem possible that have not been possible in recent years.

An employee of an authority, who does not wish to be quoted by name, describes it as follows: "When we wanted to reactivate a closed container accommodation for Afghans after the Taliban took power, there was resistance from the population.

Donations are now being thrown at Ukrainians.”

Has society meanwhile “experienced with refugees”?

Aid organizations say that the commitment of the civilian population and the solidarity are comparable to 2015. Nevertheless, there are significant differences: Many things are more structured today than they were then.

The willingness to engage in dialogue is greater;

from Berlin it is said that there are fixed contact persons.

Ulrike Kostka also noticed the better organization on the part of the administration.

She is the director and chairwoman of the Caritas Association for the Archdiocese of Berlin and in 2015 she was involved in creating an exchange forum for politics, aid organizations and other relevant actors, which is now back.

Kostka regularly discusses refugee work with the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey (SPD).

improvements,

such as the establishment of security zones at train stations, she attributes to the fact that society has now "experienced with refugees" - not to increased care, the origin of which is the origin.

Germany learned a lot from 2015.

But not everything seems to be explicable with a learning effect, as a statement by Giffey made clear after a federal-state meeting in mid-March, which caused displeasure and irritation among many refugee helpers.

When she spoke about the differences compared to 2015 and explained that the starting conditions for successful integration were better due to the residence and labor law requirements, she said: "We hear from the Ukrainian community that many who arrive here are not as First ask the question: Where can I apply for benefits?

Instead, the first thing to ask is: How is it that I can work?” The Governing Mayor of Berlin gave the impression that those who arrived in Germany in 2015 were only concerned with receiving benefits.