PressSplit
“You can’t put a container settlement like that in the middle of a new development,” complained some of the 150 residents who attended. © bb
District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) and Mayor Stephan Keck (SPD) probably did not expect such angry reactions when they invited people to a site visit in Kirchheim in a container village.
Some of the 150 or so residents who came protested loudly against the 32 two-story containers on Schlehenring for 192 refugees. “Nobody wants a facility like that in front of their house. And we’re all afraid of the knife attackers,” said local resident Reinhard Bauer.
The district and the municipality had invited people to visit the container facility in Kirchheim. The accommodations should be ready for occupancy shortly, and the response on site was great. Many residents were not only angry that such a large container village had been built right between two rows of new buildings. They were annoyed by the “lack of transparency from the district office and the municipality.” Other residents distanced themselves from this protest.
Numerous opinions were expressed: “I know exactly that Syrians and Afghans are coming in,” said one woman, and some of those standing around agreed. “A daycare center was once planned here – now we have a refugee village,” said Helga Bauer. Her neighbor is very afraid for herself and for the many Kinderwho live on Schlehenring. “There are a bunch of young men who are bored and don’t know what to do all day.”
Loud interjections
District Administrator Göbel and Mayor Keck did not have an easy time defending their arguments. Again and again they were interrupted loudly by hecklers. “We have a lot of refugees in Germany and in the Munich district. That is a fact. We have received a lot of support from politicians in Berlin and München the task of looking after them. It costs huge sums of money, I don’t enjoy it – but I have to do it,” said Göbel. The district took in around 3,000 refugees in 2015 and 2016. “Even then we said that we were reaching our limits. Now there are 8,000 refugees and we have to make room for 2,000 more in 2025. We now have 266 properties in the district and urgently need more and new ones,” said the district administrator.
Container settlement should have been finished long ago
In Kirchheim, the district initially rented the property on Schlehenring until the end of 2025, then extended it by a year until the end of 2026. “We would have liked to have had it for longer, but the local council rejected it.” Due to problems with the construction company, nothing has actually happened for a long time. The container settlement should actually have been finished and occupied long ago. Now they are finally ready, the only thing missing is the playground in the middle of the containers, and from mid-October only Ukrainian refugees will move in. “Around 95 of them have been in the Hotel Dormero for a long time, others will join them. We have space here for 192 refugees, if 80 percent of the spaces are occupied, we speak of full occupancy,” said Göbel.
Instead of a kindergarten, the containers were placed in the settlement. They are due to be occupied from mid-October. © bb
Until the end of 2026, “only Ukrainians” will come
Many of the protesters did not want to believe Göbel’s statement. “There are bound to be busloads of Syrians and Afghans coming,” shouted one woman. “I promise you – and I keep my promises – only Ukrainians will come here until the end of 2026,” stressed Göbel. A woman replied sharply that if other refugees than Ukrainians showed up here, “then our protest will be very different to today.” Keck added that there was a unanimous municipal council decision that it would end on December 31, 2026, and that the municipality would thus meet its required quota, “that is our solidarity.” A man from the back row asked what would happen in 2027 if the war did not end. “Then we will have to find something new or build something ourselves,” replied Göbel.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Munich District Newsletter.)
At the meeting, one man complained that his expensive home would lose a lot of value because of the refugees and asked: “How can you put that in a new development?” Stephan Keck said that many had argued similarly about the asylum seekers’ accommodation in Räterstrasse in 2015, “and it has been proven that the value of the surrounding houses has not fallen.”
