Reception camp for refugees in Nostorf-Horst
First, a bit of information about the camp itself. The camp has three residential buildings (houses), each with about 60 rooms. Families get a private room, singles live in groups of 3-6. After simple calculations, I estimate that the camp can hold between 400 and 500 people.
The people here are multinational: Arabs, refugees from Africa, Albania, Serbia, Ukraine. There are Chechens, Azerbaijanis, many Roma, and some Indians. At the time of our stay, there were about 30 Ukrainians.
It all started on Thursday, April 30, when my wife and I arrived from Ukraine in Bremen. We chose this city because I have a friend here. In Bremen, we made an oral application for political asylum. Since it was evening and the next day was the start of the weekend, we were told to come back Monday morning. On Monday at 8 a.m., we were already there, they received us, asked where we were from, and immediately issued a referral to the refugee camp in the village of Nostorf-Horst. They explained that Ukrainians are accepted there. Then they gave us travel tickets, and by 9 p.m. that same Monday we arrived at the camp.
Camp grounds in Nostorf-Horst
Buildings on the camp grounds
Around the buildings in the camp
there is a fairly large green area
Internal residence document for the camp
Emigrant passport is issued with a three-month visa
Bulletin board: life in the camp
for refugees is in full swing
Asylum seekers on the grounds
of the camp in Nostorf-Horst
The guards let us in and asked us to wait. Then an employee came, for some reason made an inventory of the clothes we were wearing, handed us forms with our last names, and led us to 'house No. 1.' There they gave us bed linens, a blanket, pillows, two towels, and personal hygiene items (two bars of soap, two shower gels, two toothbrushes, two tubes of toothpaste, and two rolls of toilet paper). Then they took us to a room that, to be honest, first made a bad impression.
We were warned that breakfast is at 7:30 and we would be woken up at 7:00. The next morning, after morning hygiene, we went to the dining room. The dining room was quite large, but despite that, a queue formed anyway. Breakfasts here are not varied (just like lunch and dinner). For breakfast and dinner, they usually give a few pieces of cheese, sausage, yogurt, butter, some fruit (in the morning), cucumber/tomato (in the evening). You can choose tea, coffee, or milk. I'll tell about lunch below.
On the forms they gave us earlier, they marked that we had received breakfast, and immediately the employee took those sheets and said that after breakfast we needed to go to the info center. About 30 people had already gathered at the info center, and everyone was given forms where we had to write last name, first name, country of origin, marital status, which relatives we arrived with, whether we had relatives in Germany, and what language we prefer to speak.
Then we were divided into groups and sent for a medical examination. By the way, the medical facility and the administration building are also on the camp grounds. They measured our blood pressure, gave two vaccinations (you can refuse vaccinations, but I wouldn't recommend it, because they try to do everything by the rules), listened to our breathing. After a while, they gave us medical books and internal residence passports (where they later record information about receiving various services: pocket money, hygiene items, meals, etc.).
On the morning of the third day at the camp, we received an invitation for an interview scheduled for 9 a.m. Everyone was gathered at the entrance of the administrative building and directed to the waiting room. Tension was felt everywhere, because no one knew what they would ask. Couples were called separately. An interpreter speaking your language simply comes in and invites you to a separate office.
It turned out to be a primary interview, and actually it's not that scary. They ask very ordinary questions – for example, where you came from, what date you left your country/arrived in Germany, how you traveled, whether you have passports, whether you had a German visa, which relatives stayed in your home country, whether you have relatives in Germany, whether you sought asylum in other EU countries. They ask permission to enter personal information into the database, as well as permission to take fingerprints.
When they asked if I consented to the processing of my data, I joked: 'Are there other options?' To which they replied that if I refused, no one would hold me back; I could leave and seek asylum in another country.
All our answers were printed in Russian and German, one copy they kept and one copy they gave us. Then we were invited to the fingerprinting room and immediately given emigrant passports with a three-month visa.
After all the stress, it was time for lunch. For lunch, they offer three side dishes to choose from – for example, rice, pasta, or potatoes. For Muslims, there is a choice of poultry or beef.
Notably, we only get all useful information from compatriots; camp employees prefer to simply post messages (in small font) on the bulletin board. So after lunch, we learned from compatriots that with the emigrant passport, you can get pocket money at the cashier. After standing in line for about an hour, I received 234 euros for the family! Not bad, but for some reason singles get 134 euros. I don't understand their math!
Now with such money and having an emigrant passport, we can leave the camp. True, the nearest store is about 6 km away, and everyone gets there however they can. Near the camp there is a bus stop (one-way fare about €1.30), some have bicycles, some walk.
The next morning we had our last planned event, as it turned out. We were taken to the nearest town for a fluorography. I remember this episode especially. Ordinary drivers (there were three of them, we were taken in three buses of 8 people each) decided they were 'generals'. In my opinion, they would do anything to be in charge. They lined us up in a row, in pairs, against the wall – each in their own way. It all seemed funny, but actually it was hurtful. By the way, here you will repeatedly encounter a dismissive (to put it mildly) attitude from the security service. They don't even try to hide their dislike for people like us. Not so for the employees of the Bundesamt, on the contrary, they smiled and were polite.
One day after breakfast we 'went to town' for the first time, as they say here. After making the necessary purchases, we returned satisfied and in a good mood. I note that on the camp grounds there is a kiosk that opens twice a day for two hours, and on Saturdays it opens once for several hours. The kiosk has everything necessary: tobacco, cigarettes, personal hygiene products, chewing gum, ice cream, water, sugar, salt, etc. The prices are slightly higher than in the store, but not by much, and tobacco products cost the same everywhere – their prices are regulated by the state.
The camp has a children's playroom, a room for sports, and a laundry room. There is also a separate building with several rooms where you can watch TV, play table tennis, and there is a football field and a playground. Around the buildings there is quite a large green area.
In the houses designated for living, on each floor there are two toilets and two shower rooms. One wing of the building has the men's toilet and shower, the other the women's. Cleaning is done twice a day, so there is relative order in terms of cleanliness.
You can use phones and other gadgets, but one of the downsides is that there is no Wi-Fi, which is common in Europe. I also note that drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden here. However, no one is searched at the entrance, and bringing a couple of bottles of beer from the city is not that difficult. And in the evening, walking past the rooms where residents from Asia and Africa live, you can even catch a whiff of marijuana.
On Saturdays and Sundays no activities with emigrants are held here, and I decided to ask an employee if friends could come and take us for a break. It turned out that this was forbidden, and we were naturally upset. But that same evening our friend called and said he was standing at the camp gates, that I should pack my things – he was taking us for the weekend! How surprised we were that it was actually allowed, and the camp worker had lied to us. Why? Leaving our internal passports with the guards, we went to the nearest campsite, had a fun two days there, and distracted ourselves from our problems.
When we returned, at the entrance we were told that our passports were with the house master. Then we discovered that our room was locked (here they don't give out keys and rooms are never locked from the outside). The house master opened the room and said that the passports were with the senior, in 'house No. 3'. We headed there, anticipating an unpleasant conversation. But it turned out that our worries were in vain; they gave us our passports and said that in such cases we just need to inform him in advance.
Now having passed the initial stages, we are waiting for distribution, which is called 'transfer' here. According to the old-timers, from the moment of arrival to the transfer takes about two weeks. So to be continued…
Vladislav LIPINSKY.
Photo by the author.