Last week, German chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that it is time for Syrian refugees in his country to return home. An estimated 1.3 million refugees have arrived in Germany since Syria’s civil war began 14 years ago. Now that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has fallen and a new government is in place, Merz says Syrians must rebuild their country just as Germans did after World War II.
The Bulletin sat down with Russell Moore, Mike Cosper, and CT contributing writer Ken Chitwood, who is based in Germany, to learn more about the country’s demographics and deportation plans. Listen to the whole conversation in episode 223. Here are edited excerpts.
Who is Friedrich Merz, and how is he similar or different from his predecessor, Angela Merkel?
Ken Chitwood: Merz and his center-left, center-right coalition came together in the wake of a coalition that Angela Merkel led. Part of their platform addressed rising public concerns about the immigrant population in Germany—perceived fears about public attacks, housing strains, public finances, and other issues connected to immigration.
At the same time, the far-right alternative for Germany capitalized on those fears and concerns. Friedrich Merz felt he needed to head them off. To do this, he adopted more and more of their language and now is putting that into policy with his coalition government.
A lot of people remember when Merkel addressed the nation and said, We can take in a million Syrian refugees. We can give them a home here in Germany. That has come to haunt Germany in some ways. Many feel we still can offer that invitation, and that’s driven both left and right politics, including the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Russell Moore: Christianity tells us how to respond to refugees, but it doesn’t necessarily craft exactly what the refugee policy ought to be. This is why sometimes communities struggle to figure out how to balance care of refugees without overburdening the system. Sometimes that’s a legitimate need-and-prudence sort of conversation. In this instance, you must also ask the additional question of whether Syria has changed enough that refugees going back would be safe.
Mike Cosper: I think part of the reason we’ve arrived at this place is a fundamental failure of assimilation. At the beginning of this process, I think there was this assumption that if Germany welcomed the stranger, they could integrate them into society and show them the benefits of the West. Germany has a massive welfare state, and they’ve been extremely generous to these refugees. Germany has had a labor shortage, so refugees who could fill some of the labor needs were seen as a potential benefit. Even conceptually, it wasn’t just purely an act of mercy.
I think they didn’t understand how powerful culture is, particularly when a large population comes into the country and lives in isolated enclaves. Assimilation becomes that much more difficult. Though it has been overstated by some in the right-wing, many folks who fled Islamic radicalism found themselves in communities with a reactionary spirit to the libertine West, and that anti-Western spirit turned them into Islamic radicals.
Germany has seen these terror attacks, often one-off things where a person pulls a knife in public and starts randomly stabbing people. You can imagine that being extremely unsettling. The far-right has really preyed upon that as well.
Chitwood: It’s important to know that attacks of this sort predated Merkel’s original statement. Many Syrian refugees are now German citizens; there is a longer dialogue around these issues. A lot of these individuals are not just critiquing the West as a whole but the German asylum system itself, the limitations placed on their ability to work and contribute to the workforce. Germany places limitations on where they can live and how they can connect with German neighbors.
I live in Eisenach, a town of 40,000 in the geographic center of Germany, in an apartment building with Nigerian and Albanian neighbors. I was talking today with Syrians and Iraqis, and we don’t feel here locally that we have an integration problem on either side. There are differences in how we approach religion, language, or food, but there’s been a rich exchange there as well. That’s where the church comes in.
The church has been transformed over the last several years because of this surge in refugees. Reports suggest that now half of European churches have at least 20 percent of their membership made up of people with a migrant background. It’s changed the way we do church here in Germany as well, whether that be Protestants, Catholics, or evangelicals. Churches also have critiqued the asylum system and deportations, offering church asylum and helping those navigating the system and the realities that they face back home.
The realities of home are becoming a particular pain point for Syrians who do not feel that their country is ready for them to move back, as much as they may or may not want to. Merz’s recent language has been met with fear among Syrian Christians and other Syrians here in Germany. His own party has also critiqued him, saying Syria is not ready for this. It’s not the same situation as Germany after World War II.
Germany has a significant aging population. Ten thousand Syrians are working in German hospitals. Germany has the only G7 economy that’s shrinking. It would seem that Germany needs immigrants to flourish.
Chitwood: This morning I drove outside my city, which I don’t do very often. I walk everywhere: My bakery, grocery store, and hairdresser are all around the corner. But to go to a doctor this morning, I had to drive about 40 minutes from home. It doesn’t sound like a big burden, but we have a doctor shortage in our part of the country. It’s difficult for me to get appointments at a doctor’s office in my city, and that’s true across former East Germany. Some of our doctors are from Palestine, from Syria. We appreciate them; they mean we get better health care. We’d feel the pinch across all sectors if our Syrian neighbors left.
I’m not a big advocate of the economic argument to be hospitable to migrants, but it’s part of the equation and certainly speaks to those who may not be moved by humanitarian reasons to see people avoid speedy deportation. Many people still await decisions on their asylum applications and cannot work. They would love to go into the workforce. I know several Nigerian Christians who have been waiting for years to be able to work. They’re still not able because their asylum cases haven’t been decided.
There’s also the neighborly angle. These are people who are part of our cities, churches, and communities now. Since Merz’s announcement, my neighbors have expressed fears for all of us. We’d lose connections and neighborhoods we’ve built over the last decade if they left.
Merz desires to incentivize people to leave on their own, but Syria is a complicated place right now with a fledgling government. Is it a good place to return to? What is the real possibility of rebuilding at this time?
Cosper: It depends on who you are. Many refugees that fled the Syrian civil war were Christians, and the situation for them right now is still precarious. Some of that is less about religion and more about ethnic identity, which inside Syria is a very complicated thing. Syria is a diverse place. Those who would like to or would be capable of contributing to building a new area, by all means, incentivize them to go. But if this is pursued too broadly, you may send some people right into the jaws of serious ethnic conflict that has erupted since the regime fell.
Moore: We actually don’t know what Syria is going to be. Everyone is inhaling right now and hoping against hope for the best. Unfortunately, we also know there’s a dark history with which to contend, and who knows if hope is going to hold?
Cosper: Yes, the president put on a suit, but he was a member of al-Qaeda. We’re in a place where we don’t have great faith and confidence that it’s a new day for the country.
Chitwood: The day that Syria was liberated, Syrians of all stripes here in Eisenach celebrated: cars going up and down the road, Syrian flags, music.
I went to get a haircut the next day because that’s where I talked to people from Syria and Iraq, Yazidis and Kurds, and people of all types coming from those conflict zones. As much as they celebrated the day before, the next day the sentiment was “We don’t know what comes next.” That feeling has persisted: simultaneous celebration at what could be but simultaneous apprehension about what they don’t know. The vast majority don’t want to head home right now, regardless of whether they are Christian or Yazidi or something else. They’re uncertain about their country’s future. They hope for the best, but they know they have it good here in Germany and want to remain.
Cosper: I’m glad you mentioned the Kurds and the Yazidis, especially. The Yazidi community in Syria and Iraq was brutally devastated by ISIS and ISIS-associated affiliates and other terror groups. They have been a profoundly persecuted minority across the Middle East. One would hope that whatever policy emerges here will take that into account.
Moore: These are complicated policy decisions, but we must remember that these are either our brothers and sisters in Christ or our neighbors in our mission field. These are real human beings. While most people are powerless to do anything about what’s happening in Germany, you can reach out locally and care for refugee communities in your own neighborhood. You can pray for a peaceful and stable Syria.
