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Berlin – 12-square-meter rooms, open at the top, with 14 residents each, men, women and children mixed together, dirty toilets and showers, too hot in summer, bitterly cold in winter, no privacy. And rents like in a luxury hotel.
What is currently happening at the former Tegel Airport in Berlin, in the largest refugee and migrant camp in Europe, is madness. The migration policy spokesman for the Berlin Greens, Jian Omar (39), calls it a “money-burning machine”.
In 2020, the last plane took off from Tegel Airport. Then came a corona vaccination center. Then the refugees and migrants. Four fifths of them were Ukrainians, as well as Iraqis, Afghans and Syrians.
View into one of the “rooms” that are open to the sky. Each person here has to pay around 250 euros in tax money per day
Accommodation costs as much as in a 5-star hotel
Around 5,000 people now live there in 45 lightweight halls that look like tents from above. The number of residents is expected to grow to 8,000. The camp, which is run by the German Red Cross on behalf of the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAS), costs almost 500 million euros in taxpayers’ money per year. That’s up to 250 euros per resident – per day. For that amount, each individual could be accommodated in a luxury hotel.
Jian Omar has often been to the camp, which is sealed off by security forces and fences, for his political work. He always had to register for these guarded visits; journalists are also only allowed in for guided tours.
“Tegel costs ten times as much as other accommodations that have much better standards,” Omar tells BILD.
The fact that it could probably be done much more cheaply is also shown by the following: He reports that numerous employees, including many security guards, were standing around doing nothing during his visits.
Due to a lack of space, the tents are in a chaotic state
“Backdoor financing”
The “Spiegel” researched for months and found that the company estimates that each security guard will receive 24,000 euros per year – a low salary. Ultimately, however, 155,000 euros are paid – from taxpayers’ money.
Omar says: “The state-owned Messe Berlin receives a commission of 15 percent for all the security guards they bring in. Without Tegel, they would have major financial problems. So it’s also a backdoor way of financing.” Often, it’s subcontractors of subcontractors that work there.
Green politician Jian Omar in front of the former airport
Women complain about harassment
900 school-age children are housed in a kind of camp school and have little opportunity to integrate outside. Women complain of sexual harassment by security forces and other refugees.
Omar: “There was also a mass brawl between the security service and Kurdish refugees. A Kurd told me that there were Islamists among the security guards who called Kurds infidels. An Arab had heard the Koran being chanted loudly, and a Kurd asked him to do it with headphones. Things escalated. There was then a raid and it turned out that a third of the security guards did not have the necessary papers.”
The residents come to and from the camp by bus. Everything is strictly guarded
“Give me 100 euros and I’ll live like a king”
BILD spoke to people living in the tents at the bus stop that takes them in and out of the camp. Among them are young men like Dave (22) and Issa (18) from Ukraine, who think that everything is fine, there is enough food and a bed. Others, like Ilya (25), also from Ukraine, see things differently. “Give me 100 euros a day and I’ll live like a king in Berlin. And not with dirty toilets and bad food,” he says. The food, for which the job center deducts 180 euros a month, is almost inedible.
He tells of a woman from his 12-square-meter box who found a hotel that was willing to take her in for less money. This was prevented by Tegel management. “You can’t even find a way to leave Tegel and live somewhere else. You get the impression that they are forcing you to live here because they are obviously getting money,” he says. “My stay here in Tegel is indefinite.”
Ilya in front of the bus to the camp
Insulted as a Christian
Ukrainian D. (35), who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, reports intolerable conditions. Theft, gangs, threats. He lives in the camp with his wife and baby. “My family is Christian, we have to listen to insults from Muslim neighbors day and night,” he says. Life there feels like prison, and he prays every day that the war in Ukraine will finally end and that he can return to his homeland.
Healthcare is particularly problematic. “Medicines are very rarely administered. My wife was ill for four days, but only when she was already doubled over in pain did they give her tablets. And so for all illnesses, all they say is that you should drink more water,” says D.
Vika (55) from eastern Ukraine also landed in Tegel. She is wearing a floral dress and speaks good German, which she taught herself. “Some women are harassed, some go out with men for money, that’s a problem. And the alcohol!” she says.
“Many lie on the bed and do nothing”
She has been in the camp for four months and has not yet received a residence permit. “Many lie on their beds and do nothing, cannot attend a German course without these documents, are not allowed to work,” she says. Only the Roma among the Ukrainians have come to terms with the situation. She herself would prefer to wash dishes, look after old people, rent a small room for herself.
She also believes that the camp administration has an interest in keeping people there for as long as possible. “250 euros a day for us?” she asks. “Where is this money?” She thinks that if Germany is not able to properly integrate the Ukrainians, they should consider only taking in people from the Ukrainian front-line regions.
In addition to people, dogs and rats, cats also live in the shelters
Politician Jian Omar himself came to Germany from Syria as a student. He knows what it is like to arrive in a foreign country and have to find your way around. He says that for much less money, much better places for asylum seekers could be created in Berlin. “Especially for women, children and the elderly, it is a huge challenge to live here. You have to spend months, if not years, here,” he says.
Dave and Issa from Ukraine say that everything is fine. Dave says: “We are accepted here, fed and given accommodation. What else does a person need?”
Half a billion euros already planned for 2025
The state-owned Messe Berlin told BILD: “Due to the high number of people arriving in Berlin fleeing the war in Ukraine, Messe Berlin 2022 was commissioned by the State Office for Refugee Affairs to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.”
When asked by BILD, the German Red Cross referred the matter to the State Office for Refugee Affairs. They said: “The aim of the administrations dealing with the Tegel complex is to dismantle the emergency accommodation as quickly as possible.”
In the camp there is tent next to tent
That doesn’t seem to be working: Half a billion euros have already been made available for Tegel for 2025.
