Arrived?
A refugee tent is not a home; it is noisy, cramped and makeshift. People share fears and hopes in a limited space. In Germany, every refugee is entitled to at least 4.5 square metres. The tent reflects these dimensions. Here you find data on the situation of refugees around the globe as well as on the situation nationwide and in southern Germany.
In addition, headlines and articles from newspapers show how people talk about fleeing, camps, and integration. The tension between concern and compassion makes it clear how complex, controversial, and consequential this issue is. Everything is real, but not always balanced.
Tent wall left side:
The Idea Is a Citizens’ Petition: Neighbours Collect Signatures against Planned Refugee Accommodation
‘100 refugees in a former factory building in Meersburg: Neighbours of the property in Dr-Zimmermann-Straße think this is too much. They are currently collecting signatures against the planned conversion of the building. If the required 7% of eligible Meersburg voters sign, the petition will be handed over to Mayor Robert Scherer. A referendum could then follow… Initiators fear a social hotbed and noise pollution for the neighbouring building with senior citizens’ flats and assisted living.’ – Südkurier (08.02.2024)
Developments since 2015
Significantly more people have fled to Constance since 2015. In 2014, there were only 289 refugees living in the city; by 2024, there were already 3,353. The largest increase was seen in 2015/2016 and 2022: In these years, a particularly large number of people seeking asylum came from war zones such as Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. Other groups come from Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, Gambia, and Somalia. Constance plays a central role in the district and takes in a significant proportion of the region’s refugees.
How tolerant is Constance really? People from Constance with a migration background talk about their experiences with discrimination and racism
‘You’re not German’, ‘Africans stink’, or ‘You refugees should go home’ – Residents of Constance with a migration background are regularly confronted with statements like these… For example, Zahide Sarikas, Constance city councillor (SPD): ‘… I don’t look native, I come from Turkey and I’m a German citizen. Discriminatory emails tend to refer to my political activities: “A Turkish woman wants to represent me politically, she should go back, there are enough Germans who can do that.”’ – Südkurier (03.09.2018)
Fundamental Rights Violated in Refugee Accommodation?
‘Freiburg/Mannheim – Due to possible violations of fundamental rights in a refugee accommodation facility in Freiburg, four asylum seekers from Ghana and Senegal, in cooperation with the Society for Civil Rights, have filed an urgent application with the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg… According to the application, the house rules severely infringe on fundamental rights: Visits are prohibited, rooms and bags are searched, and even prayer rugs and rice are banned. The Ministry of the Interior cites security reasons.’ – Zeit Online (16.03.2021)
Lake Constance-Upper Swabia Region Overburdened with Young Refugees
‘The number of unaccompanied refugee minors in the Lake Constance-Upper Swabia region has risen significantly. The municipalities are struggling to organise accommodation for all of them… According to a spokesperson, 33 young refugees came to the Lake Constance area last year. This year, the number has more than doubled… Special accommodation for minors is not always possible. There is a shortage of living space and also a lack of qualified personnel to look after them.’ – SWR (08.09.2023)
Mould and Rats: Local Councillors Denounce Conditions in Refugee Accommodations
‘Stable refugee numbers, untenable living conditions: The administrative committee has discussed efforts to integrate them and pointed out serious shortcomings in a follow-up accommodation centre in [Salem]… The residents had been instructed and a cleaning plan developed, but in addition to the usual hygiene deficiencies, there were also glaring structural defects: “There is no ventilation in the bathroom and you can imagine what it will look like after 20 years.” Volunteers asked the administration to exert pressure on the landlord.’ – Südkurier (05.11.2024)
The Perspectives of Refugees
Refugees want to live in safety and to have prospects for the future. Many learn German and want to work. Ukrainians are granted temporary protection status without an asylum procedure and are quickly permitted to enter the labour market. Their residence permits have been extended. Refugees from other countries often have to wait a long time for asylum decisions and face uncertainty. But refugees who complete an apprenticeship or work as a skilled worker can receive a longer residence permit.
New Accommodations: Fruit Farmer Fears Violence – District Lacks Alternatives
‘Twenty-four unaccompanied foreign minors are soon to be housed in Berg-Köstenbach (Friedrichshafen)… The planned accommodation is surrounded by the fruit farm of a well-known farmer in the region. He feels disproportionately affected. He fears negative effects for his farm shop as well as noise pollution, and refers to cases of violence in connection with young refugees… The suburb of Berg has roughly only 20 inhabitants and experts agree that the potential for violence increases significantly when young people live in close quarters.’ – Schwäbische (24.04.2024)
Conditions in Refugee Accommodation Centres
Many refugees in the region initially live in shared accommodation. In such accommodation, several people share bedrooms, kitchens. and sanitary facilities. As there is not enough space there, additional emergency accommodation had to be set up in sports halls or temporary halls. At the end of 2023, for example, 392 people were living in such emergency accommodation in the Lake Constance District. In Constance, a temporary tent hall was dismantled again at the beginning of 2025 because the numbers temporarily decreased.
Deportations in the District of Constance
When asylum applications are rejected, the people concerned often have to leave Germany again. In 2024, 141 people in the District of Constance were scheduled to be deported. However, 121 of the deportation attempts failed, for example, because the people could not be found. Some deportations are controversial: In 2023, hundreds of people protested in Constance against the planned deportation of a well-integrated Gambian trainee.
Constance: Massive Brawl between 40 Refugees
‘A massive brawl involving 40 people broke out in a refugee centre in Constance on Tuesday night. As the police reported in the morning, the participants attacked each other with objects such as fire extinguishers, plates, and clothes racks following an initial clash between an Albanian and an Afghan. Three people and a security guard were slightly injured… The causes of the dispute are still unclear. Around 50 police officers with several police dogs succeeded in breaking up the fight.’ – Tagesspiegel (01.11.2015)
Challenges with Refugees
Cities and municipalities are facing major challenges due to the influx of refugees. One of the biggest difficulties is the lack of housing: In Constance, the housing stock was almost fully occupied even before 2022. The provision of places in day-care centres and schools and caring for refugees also require a lot of additional staff and money. In March 2024, the Lake Constance District declared that it would no longer be possible to provide sufficient and humane accommodation from April onwards without additional support.
Tax Money Scandal at Lake Constance: District Administrator Wastes 800,000 Euros on Zero Refugees
‘An incredible case of taxpayers’ money being wasted at Lake Constance. The district administration in Friedrichshafen wanted to house refugees in a former hotel and spent 800,000 euros on it, but not a single asylum seeker ever moved in. Scandal number two: The mismanagement was supposed to be swept under the carpet! … A nine-year lease was signed for the “Adler” hotel …, with a monthly rent of 6400 euros plus ancillary costs. Only after the contract was signed did the authorities realise that escape routes and fire protection walls were missing, among other things.’ – Bild (30.07.2023)
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Natural Disasters as a Cause of Displacement
More and more people are fleeing not only war, but also the consequences of climate change. More than three times as many people are forced to flee due to natural disasters as due to war. Droughts, floods, landslides, typhoons, and hurricanes are destroying livelihoods, especially in the Global South. In 2024, around 35.8 million people worldwide had to leave their homes due to natural disasters. In the Philippines, the tropical storm season hit many areas hard. In Central Africa, too, millions lost their homes due to flooding.
Internally Displaced Persons
The majority of refugees have fled within their own country. At the end of 2024, there were more than 73 million individuals worldwide who had been displaced within their home country. Internally displaced persons are people who have not crossed an international border while fleeing, but remain in their country of origin. Since they formally remain in their home country, they often receive less international attention and assistance, but in many cases live in conditions that are just as precarious as those of refugees abroad.
Hostility Towards Refugees
Refugees in Europe have not only become perpetrators, but also frequent victims of hate crimes. In Germany, the Federal Ministry of the Interior recorded 2,271 attacks on refugees and their accommodation in 2024. Such hostile attacks and a heated atmosphere in the neighbourhood make it even more difficult for refugees to settle in and can undermine integration efforts.
Protecting People – Not Just Borders
‘The EU is aware of what is happening at its borders. It does not turn a blind eye when refugees die. It takes a very close look. This is not a case of negligence. This is deliberate killing. For years, people have been dying on their way to Europe. They drown in the Mediterranean, bleed to death at border fences …, freeze to death in the mountains … Yet the European public still does not seem to be fully aware of the scale of this catastrophe. We are complicit in one of the greatest crimes in post-war European history.’ – DER SPIEGEL (20.04.2015)
Refugee Drama on the Border between Poland and Belarus
‘Cold, hunger, pushbacks – lured to Belarus with false promises, migrants are trapped on the EU border with Poland. Along the densely forested border, people from Syria or Iraq are repeatedly stranded – often half-frozen or starving. The Belarusian military drives them across the border, and the Polish authorities send them back again. Hundreds wander through the forests in the middle of winter in a desperate search for help.’ – MDR (30.12.2021)
Roaring Crowd Blocks Bus Carrying Refugees
‘A scene filled with hatred: In a town in Saxony, a screaming crowd blocked the path of a bus carrying refugees and chanted slogans for over an hour and a half. The police are investigating. The faces behind the bus windows are filled with fear. A boy is clearly close to tears, a woman wearing a headscarf shouts and spits at the window from inside. You can’t hear them – the shouting outside is too loud.’ – DER SPIEGEL (19.02.2016)
Security in Germany: What lies ahead after a year of terror?
‘Ansbach, Würzburg, Hanover, Essen, Berlin: Islamist terror gripped Germany in 2016 like never before. No sign of relief is in sight… The country experienced its first suicide bombing when Syrian Mohammad D. blew himself up in Ansbach, Bavaria, on 24 July 2016. Fifteen people attending a festival were injured. D. was 27 years old. Another depressing first for the Federal Republic was that the attacker had come to Germany as a refugee.” – Tagesspiegel (26.12.2016)
Causes of Displacement
By the end of June 2024, approximately 122.6 million people worldwide were displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. This figure represents an increase of 5.3 million compared to the end of 2023 and continues the upward trend that has been going on for over a decade. The main causes of this increase are ongoing conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Ukraine.
Crime Statistics
The Federal Criminal Police Office’s crime statistics for 2024 show that immigrants, including asylum seekers, persons entitled to protection, and tolerated persons were disproportionately recorded as suspects in Germany. Although they make up a smaller proportion of the total population, they were conspicuously well represented in the statistics for particular offences. They were registered especially frequently for violent offences such as bodily harm, robbery, and sexual offences.
Berlin’s Interior Senator Admits to Failures in Crime Scene Investigation
‘Amri, a rejected asylum seeker, shot and killed a truck driver in Berlin four years ago, on 19 December 2016. He then drove the truck into the city centre and across the Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This resulted in eleven more people being killed and more than 70 injured. The Tunisian was able to flee to Italy, where he was shot dead during a police control.’ – DIE ZEIT (17.12.2020)
Stabbings in Reading: Man Motivated by ‘Religious Jihad’
‘On 20 June 2020, 25-year-old Khairi Saadallah stabbed three men to death and seriously injured three others in a park in Reading. He believed that he was carrying out an “act of religious jihad”. Saadallah came to the United Kingdom in 2012 as an asylum seeker from Libya. His asylum application was rejected, but efforts to deport him failed due to the uncertain situation in Libya, which was in the middle of a civil war.’ – BBC (05.01.2021)
Host Countries and Countries of Origin
Most refugees come from Syria (6.3 million), Venezuela (6.2 million), Afghanistan (6.1 million) and Ukraine (6.1 million). The main host countries are Iran (3.8 million), Turkey (3.1 million), Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million) and Uganda (1.7 million). Roughly 71% of refugees live in low- or middle-income countries, often in countries neighbouring their countries of origin.
Longer in Germany than You: Many New Migrants Have no Manners, Say Long-Established MigrantS
‘“My neighbour is Polish,” says Sevim Taskin, who lives in Wuppertal – in which 44.9% of the population has a migrant background… “Today: disaster. Only young men. They come from war-torn countries… Since they’ve been here, people have also developed feelings of hatred towards us.” … On the steps in front of the station: Syrians. “We live in a home,” they say. One of them says: “My city lies in ruins … I want to build my future here.” … In Wuppertal, it is clear that there is a distance – not between Germans and migrants, but between old and new immigrants.’ – DIE ZEIT (13.03.2025)
Fire at the Moria Refugee Camp
‘For years, the EU has tolerated the misery at the Moria refugee camp. Now, following a fire, the camp lies in ruins – and, with it, Europe’s asylum policy. No one can claim to have been unaware of the situation. The disaster… has been escalating for months and years and has now reached its tragic climax. Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos, was not just any camp. It was here that the European Union wanted to reinvent its refugee policy… None of this has ever come to fruition.’ – DER SPIEGEL (09.09.2020)