Thousands of Syrians poured onto Germany’s streets when they heard of the fall of the brutal regime that had ruled Syria for decades under and his father, Hafez al-Assed, before him.
But now, a week after rebel forces seized the capital, Damascus, many of the Syrians exiled in Germany are asking themselves what’s next for and for themselves and their families.
Anas Modamani: ‘I will stay’
Anas Modamani was 17 when he fled Syri’s civil war and the fear of being drafted into Assad’s army, ending up in Berlin.
A selfie he took with then German Chancellor in 2015 went viral as a symbol of Merkel’s decision to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants into Germany that year.
During his time in , he has never given up hope that Syria would be free of Assad, he tells DW.
His reaction to hearing of Assad’s downfall? “Oh my God, it’s finally over. I could hardly sleep … I’ve been watching the news non-stop.”
Modamani is confident that the situation in Syria will now improve and that the country will return to normal.
“But I will still stay in Germany,” he says. “I’ve built my life here over the last 10 years.”
He now also holds a German passport, one of the 214,000 people in Germany with a Syrian immigrant background.
Modamani studied business communications in Berlin and now works as a freelance journalist, including for DW.
When he looks at his picture with Merkel, he reflects on how warmly Syrian refugees were welcomed back then. “When you said, ‘from Syria’, people would smile. And now I often feel that we are no longer welcome.”
The fact that so soon after the fall of Assad has frightened many Syrians.
Kefah Ali Deeb: ‘We must rebuild our country’
Syrian Kefah Ali Deeb fled to Germany in 2014 after being jailed four times for protesting against the government; in 2011, pro-democracy protests demanding an end to the authoritarian practices of the Assad regime led to the forming of opposition militias and the start of a fully fledged civil war in 2012.
But Ali Deeb, an author, activist and artist, says one thing is certain — the 42-year-old wants to return to her homeland as soon as possible.
“At the moment, I’m planning that with my husband,” she tells DW on the phone. “Because even after 10 years [in Germany], this is still not home yet. I was always depressed.”
“We still cannot get any information on our beloved ones who have been in prison for 10 or 12 or 14 years. We don’t know anything, if they are survivors or if Al-Assad killed them.”
Ali Deeb hopes that Syria’s widely documented history of torture and summary killings will soon be addressed.
“Because this is the only way that justice will be real. To release our anger, and our sadness. I would love to be part of that,” she says.
“It’s very difficult to [start] again from nothing. But still, it’s our country, it’s our home. We have to do something to rebuild our country.”
With her desire to return, Ali Deeb seems to be in the minority; surveys of Syrians in Germany show that the majority of them want to stay where they are.
Ali: ‘I want to integrate’
Ali, who doesn’t want to give his surname, is among those who want to stay in Germany. DW meets him in the town of Bonn in western Germany, at a facility for migrants where 540 refugees are currently living, including 145 from Syria.
Ali, from Damascus, says it is “good” that Assad’s regime has falled. But even though he has only been in Germany for just over a year and hardly speaks any German, Ali wants to stay here.
“I want to integrate,” he says, adding that he has already found a job and is on his way there.
But will these more recent arrivals also get a chance to build a new life in Germany? Germany’s Office for Migration and Refugees has received 72,000 new asylum applications from Syrians in 2024.
Following the fall of Assad, however, asylum applications from Syrians currently aren’t being processed.
Man Achorr: ‘Everything was destroyed’
For the moment, Syrian Man Achorr can’t imagine going back. Just two months ago, the 47-year-old took the plunge into self-employment and opened his own small supermarket in the south of Bonn.
Tins of tomatoes and hummus, sacks of bulgur and chickpea flour are stacked in six rows in his stores. He also sells fresh vegetables and Arabic bread. About half his customers are Arabs, he says, pointing out that anyone who misses Syrian cuisine can find the right spice mix at his store.
Achorr is from Ghuta near Damascus. Seven years ago, he and his brother fled to Germany via Egypt.
“My four children go to school here and speak fluent German,” he says. He’s happy that Assad, who has fled to Russia, is no longer in power.
“I hope the war is over now for good,” he says.
But in the course of the civil war, “everything was destroyed” in his hometown, long a refuge for radical Islamic militias. He hopes to visit his parents in Syria, but not immediately.
“Slowly, slowly,” he says. He first wants to wait and see how the situation develops.
Tareq Alaows: ‘Germany could support Syria’
It is far from certain that peace and freedom will prevail in Syria. That is why, says Tareq Alaows, discussions about the deportation of Syrians back home are nothing more than “electioneering on the backs of the refugees.”
Alaows, who came to Germany from Syria in 2015, is now an activist with the human rights organization Pro Asyl. He had hoped to become a member of parliament in 2021, standing for the Greens, but withdrew his candidacy after receiving threats.
Sending people back to Syria in the current situation is not legally possible, says Alaows.
“For repatriation, it is not enough to say that asylum applications won’t be approved, but it must be determined whether Syrians can be guaranteed a safe return. And nobody can guarantee that now.”
In recent days, Alaows says that he has received hundreds of messages from people in the Syrian community who are worried. They fear that they will now be deported, even though they have been living in Germany for years.
Alaows hopes that German politicians will now focus on helping to rebuild Syria. And, he says, Germany could take on a leading role in the international criminal prosecution of those responsible for the Assad dictatorship.
“Germany, with its history, has experience with working through the past and could provide support here,” he says.
This article was originally written in German.
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