Devon Williams

Berlin Project Memo (Draft)

 

For my Berlin project, I want to focus on how Syrian women have chosen to integrate (or not integrate) into German culture and belonging, examining first a woman centered community garden in Neukölln as a location starting point. I am interested to know if religion shapes this process of integration either positively or negatively as well as the initial immigration process itself. I do not want to enter into reporting assuming this to be a specific issue, however, so I will shape this angle based on conversations I have with women I meet in the garden and asking them what their lives look like in Berlin and what impacts their sense of belonging and self there.

 

This primary reporting site is the Hevrîn Xelef medicinal-herb garden, run by Flamingo e.V. on the former St. Jacobi cemetery in Neukölln. Flamingo is a Berlin-based nonprofit association that focused on support for refugee women, created the garden in 2019 as a transcultural women-centered space connected to the women’s village Jinwar in northeastern Syria, creating a haven of culture, language, and gender for this migrant population within Germany. The garden provides community members with gardening experience, horticultural knowledge, exchange, remembrance, and support for women with experiences of migration and displacement across all places of origin. The garden is also currently the basis of the Humboldt Forum exhibition Dara Tûyê – The Mulberry Tree: Feminist Voices on War and Gardens, which runs from Nov. 29, 2025 through Aug. 30, 2027 and focuses on women, displacement, violence, healing, and cross-border solidarity.

 

Syrian women are my chosen population because they are the subject of diverging German policy. In 2025, it was reported that 7,548 former Syrian citizens were naturalized in Berlin, meaning that Syrians were the largest immigrant group receiving citizenship that year. In contrast, the federal government has recently been promoting return to Syria for some of these immigrants. Chancellor Friederich Merz met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on March 30 of this year, with Merz stating that changing conditions in Syria meant protection needs would have to be reassessed and to emphasize creating a realistic plan for Syrian return. On September 21, 2026, the Interior Ministry echoed that Syrian protection statuses could be reviewed in the medium term if conditions continued to stabilize yet also stressed that removal decisions remain ‘individual.’

 

This parallel drives me to the question of how Syrian women approach integration after spending years learning the language and building lives in Berlin while German politics are increasingly discussing the possibility of a return to Syria.

 

The recent suspension of ordinary family reunification policies under Section 36a for people with subsidiary protection beginning July 24, 2025 through July 23, 2027, which could make family separation extremely urgent and difficult for those currently residing in Germany, would also be a possible topic of interest to explore within this framework of gender, religion, and race in Berlin. Access to integration courses was also curtailed when in December 2025, BAMF stopped granting new voluntary admissions to specific categories of migrants without an automatic entitlement. Berlin’s Senate Commissioner Katarina Niewiedzial said in February 2026 that this could eliminate roughly 8,000 places in integration courses in the city. 

 

In terms of religion, I want to ask Muslim and non-Muslim Syrian women what role faith plays within their community in Germany, whether that is in insular Syrian immigrant communities or the broader multicultural landscape of Berlin itself. I want to investigate if presenting visibly Muslim impacts these migrants’ interaction with the largely non-Muslim city and what support Muslim immigrant institutions and centers of faith provide for those living within that culturally foreign context. I would like to speak to people who vary by age, religious affiliation, profession, family situation, length of residency in Germany, and immigration status if possible.

 

My plan during the trip to Berlin would be to interview many women with differing backgrounds at the garden, and use those conversations to hone in on specific issues most pertinent to them at this specific moment in time. I would then speak to immigration advocates, researchers, women’s and faith organizations, and government officials to contextualize these personal stories within the current policy of German immigration.

 

Sources Seeking to Contact

 

News Sources

  • Halasz, Gabor. “Antrittsbesuch von al-Scharaa: Umstrittenes Treffen und eine Zahl, die Schlagzeilen macht.” Tagesschau, 30 Mar. 2026.
    Article
  • Intemann, Gabriele. “Regierung will sparen: Freiwillige Integrationskurse eingestellt.” Tagesschau, 12 Feb. 2026.
    Article
  • Mackenzie, James. “Germany’s Merz Says Berlin Will Work with Syria to Return Refugees.” Reuters, 30 Mar. 2026.
    Article
  • Matschurek, Sönke. “‘Ich fühlte mich sicherer’: Was die Kürzung bei Integrationskursen für Berlin bedeutet.” Der Tagesspiegel Checkpoint, 16 Feb. 2026.
    Article
  • Moulson, Geir. “German Lawmakers Vote to Suspend Family Reunions for Many Migrants.” Associated Press, 27 June 2025.
    Article
  • rbb24. “Statistisches Bundesamt: Mehr Einbürgerungen in Berlin und Brandenburg verzeichnet.” rbb24, 3 June 2026.
    Article
  • Vogt, Luisa. “Ein Ort der Trauer, der Heilung und der Stärke.” Good News Magazin, 19 June 2026.
    Article
  • Whittle, Helen. “Germany Suspends Refugees’ Family Reunification.” Deutsche Welle, 27 June 2025.
    Article
  • Zimmermann, Jan. “Neue Lage im Heimatland: Immer mehr Syrer verlieren ihren Schutzstatus.” Tagesschau, 16 Aug. 2026.
    Article
  • “Bundesamt für Migration stoppt seit Dezember 2025 Zulassungen für Integrationskurse.” n-tv, 4 Feb. 2026. AFP/Correctiv reporting.
    Article

 

Primary and Official Sources

  • Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. “Einbürgerungen auf Rekordhoch.” Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg, 2026.
    Official statistics
  • Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. “Was ist ein Integrationskurs?” BAMF.
    Official explanation
  • Bundesregierung. “Pressekonferenz von Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz und dem Präsidenten der Arabischen Republik Syrien, Ahmed al-Scharaa.” 30 Mar. 2026.
    Official transcript
  • Bundesregierung. “Regierungspressekonferenz vom 21. September 2026.” 21 Sept. 2026.
    Official transcript
  • Federal Foreign Office. “Important Information: Suspension of Family Reunification with Beneficiaries of Subsidiary Protection.” 2025.
    Official notice
  • Flamingo e.V. “Heilkräutergarten Hevrîn Xelef.” Flamingo e.V.
    Project page
  • Flamingo e.V. “Über Flamingo e.V.” Flamingo e.V.
    Official homepage
  • Humboldt Forum. “Dara Tûyê – درخت توت – The Mulberry Tree: Feminist Voices on War and Gardens.” Humboldt Forum, 29 Nov. 2025–30 Aug. 2027.
    Official exhibition page
  • Land Berlin, Commissioner for Participation, Integration and Migration. “Bund stoppt Zugang zu Integrationskursen: 8.000 Kursplätze weniger in Berlin.” 13 Feb. 2026.
    Official statement
  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Information on Syria.” UNHCR Germany, 10 Aug. 2026.
    UNHCR guidance
  • Germany. Aufenthaltsgesetz [Residence Act], §104(14). Federal Ministry of Justice.
    Official statutory text