I was taken aback by the Guardian article detailing the rise of attacks on refugees in Berlin. The sharp increase attacks on refugees and asylum seekers by 133% from 2023 to 2024 and the introduction of deliberate residential damage to the homes of refugees, including 34 refugee hospitalizations, demonstrates in stark ways how the Berliners are quickly growing impatient with refugees living in their city (Guardian).
The coinciding rise of German rightwing extremist crime rising by 17% and the growing popularity of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party are worrying.
Meanwhile, more specifically towards Ukrainians, their exemption from German asylum requirements make them a specific scapegoat for German targeting. Germany took in over 1 million Ukrainian refugees since the onset of the Russian invasion into Ukraine, and has spent tens of billions of euros on the integration of Ukrainian refugees.
In hosting the refugees, there are special exhibits that are touching. These include the air-raid bunker exhibition in Berlin and the ‘Unity Hub’ offered for Ukrainian refugees. Still, I can’t help but think whether or not these offerings to Ukrainians are ultimately resulting in a feedback loop of violence against them.
The Unity Hub, for instance, comes with it a sense of normalcy with educational and career opportunities (Kyiv Independent). For a people who has sought refuge in masses in a country frustrated with non-native-borns coexisting with them, I fear that offering those sorts of educational opportunities within Berlin may result in greater distasteful feelings of resources going towards refugees.
That said, the Ukrainians have survived worse than the German far-right when in Ukraine under invasion. Descriptions of Ukrainians no longer scared of the bomb sirens, and playing a twisted game of “Russian” roulette with bomb locations, potentially sacrificing their lives for the sake of a few more hours of ‘rest’ demonstrate the pain and fear the Ukrainian people have become accustomed to (Deb’s Substack). Therefore, I imagine Ukrainians, like many refugees, are willing to take that ‘risk’ of growing far right extremism within Berlin, to avoid the death and mass casualty that comes with remaining in their homes. Joy, remembrance, and opportunity become even more sacred in diaspora, even if carrying risk of antagonizing the AfD.
