Refugees in Cologne: Per Aspera Ad Integration

In 2015, on the New Year's Eve, the western German city of Cologne witnessed a series of robberies and sexual assaults conducted by small groups of aggressive men, allegedly of Arab and North African origin.

BERLIN (Sputnik) — As the current year is nearly over, a RIA Novosti correspondent arrived in the city to find out how it is preparing for the celebrations of the forthcoming holidays and to estimate the process of migrants' integration into the German society.

New Year is Coming

The old Cologne Cathedral, which was founded in 1248, sets the fashion of the city's architecture. The cathedral dominates the central part of the city and the city's square, where the local residents prefer to celebrate holidays. People used to march there in carnival processions, to congratulate each other and to set off fireworks. Up to the last year.

The last New Year in Cologne resembled the previous ones apart from hundreds of filed police reports about threats, sexual assaults and robberies during the celebrations.

Since then, local police have been severely criticized for their response to the 2015 attacks, when the officers almost stayed away from the attacks and robberies.

"No, everything is calm now. Everything took place a year ago, yes? They [police] are trying hard now. They are trying mostly to avoid such incidents in future," John, a trader of Indian origin, said.

The issue of safety is still very sensible issue for Cologne residents and almost everyone recalls the events of the previous year.

"Of course the number of crimes has increased here after the arrival of refugees. But it has grown everywhere, but now it is the most safe place," Lucas, a student, said showing an almost empty square with five police vehicles located nearby.

Answering a question, the student said that he would come to the square to celebrate the forthcoming holidays, adding that he had not come there before.

High-Rise

Local civil service responsible for accommodation and integration of migrants in the German society is located in one of the highest buildings in the city. The Integration Point center is created for refugees, who could apply for social benefits because of unemployment is located on the fifth floor.

In the elevator I was accompanied by some 10 foreigners, but only one of them left the elevator on the fifth floor, while the rest were heading to the eighth one, where everyone with a residence permit could receive 180 euros ($200 at the current exchange rates) per month as a welfare benefit for having a child.

On the 14th floor, the Integration Point held its presentation for media outlets, to reveal the details of work with refugees.

"People, who have registered in Germany in the agency responsible for foreigners' affairs as refugees, come to us. Even if there are no decision about granting them an asylum yet. We speak about a number of issues — unemployment benefits, the issues related with academic certificates and study of German language," Andreas Hartmann, who worked in the Integration Point, told reporters.

He added that there were some 20 personnel in the center that could provide applicants with free help if migrants were able to show necessary documents.

Long Queue to Safe Future

Following the presentation, we moved down to the fifth floor and saw a long queue of young men, which ended near the door with the words "Family and Children" on it. Near the door there are several benches, where we could see children and women.

"This is an office, where migrants can receive initial consultations. When people come here, they could know time, when they could be received and other details," Hartmann said us.

He added that all the consultants in the center could speak English, but there were also people, who knew Arabic, while some migrants also came with their own translators.

According to the official figures, which were provided during the presentation at the 14th floor: 70 percent of refugees were men, 80 percent of all refugees were of working age. At the same time total number of unemployed refugees in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, where Cologne is situated, has grown in 2016, while the majority of them show readiness to work in low-skilled jobs.

At the same time, there are about 13,500 refugees in Cologne and up to 80 more come to the city every week, some 2,500 of them are registered in the Integration Point center and 76 of them have already been employed.

Motivation + Language + Hard Work = Bright Future

One of people, participating in the presentation was Qudratullah Khotak, an Afghan national, who told us his own story of integration.

The 23-year-old man, has already been in Germany for two years, but his family is still in his native country. He participates in a special job-training program of the Ford-Werke car producer, which is headquartered in Cologne. Ford-Werke's program dubbed Einstiegsqualifizierung (EQ) provides motivated people with the chance to intern at the factory and get a job there.

The Afghan man with a wide smile and a scar on his face said that he succeeded to participate in the EQ after he had successfully passed language and professional tests. He added that he had not learned German language in Afghanistan.

"No, I have learned it here, in two years. Frankly speaking, I have finished several language courses. I know Pashto, it is the native language of my mother, Dari and English, because in Afghanistan I helped US military with translations," the refugee said.

He added that despite his language abilities he liked that he was involved in a profession related to the engineering and hoped for a bright future.

"I want to finish the EQ successfully and if I am able to receive a place at the program of Ford's job training, I would do it with pleasure to become a master here. Actually I will have a lot of possibilities after graduating the program — I would be able to apply for university or somewhere else," Khotak said.