A Syrian family's life in Germany after fleeing Syria 10 years ago

It's been a decade since tens of thousands of refugees crossed into Germany in the late summer of 2015 after then Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the borders.

"We can do this," the conservative politician told her constituents on August 31, 2015, though few could predict that by the end of 2016 around 1.1 million asylum seekers would have entered the country - many from war-torn Syria.

Rehab Daioub, her husband Walid Aljawabra, and their three children Suhir, Ayman, and Adham, were among those fleeing the Syrian civil war back then.

A dangerous journey over the Mediterranean

Daughter Suhir, 30, and son Ayman, 25, have now lived in Germany for nearly a decade. After a dangerous escape across the Mediterranean, the two reached Germany on December 31, 2015. Two years later, the rest of the family joined them with the help of private sponsorships.

They fled from dictator Bashar al-Assad, who waged a brutal war against his own population, killing and torturing many of his fellow citizens. The possibility of dying during the escape was high, Suhir says. However, the possibility of dying in Syria was just as high.

Number one goal: Safety

"Safety above all else, and then building a future," says Daioub, 61, adding that this was all that mattered. She sits with her family on a large corner sofa in the living room. Their flat is located in a quiet residential area in the far north of Berlin.

When they arrived eight years ago, only Germans lived there, said son Adham, now 25. Today, the area is more diverse. The living room is modestly furnished, but colourful Christmas baubles still hang from the ceiling in the middle of summer – a leftover from the Advent season. Daioub pours black tea and shows family photos. These are memories of a time before the war broke out – happy moments in their homeland, Syria.

"I can't imagine living in Syria again because I've built a life here and worked long and hard for it," says Daioub's daughter Suhir.

Education, Work, Citizenship

Suhir and her brother Ayman completed vocational training in Germany. She is a medical technical assistant in functional diagnostics in a hospital, while Ayman is a media designer at the public broadcaster SWR. Their brother Adham earned his German Abitur, after his final examinations after secondary school. He is studying at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences.

All three have their own flats, speak fluent German, and have obtained German citizenship. Suhir even ends one of her sentences with the Berlin slang expression "wa?"

Their parents also learned German and found work. Their family has never received social assistance, which Daioub emphasizes is important to her.

Daioub works as a school assistant, and her husband is a cleaner in a hospital. In Syria, she worked in a chemical factory producing fertilizer, while her husband was a petroleum engineer.

"Of course, we feel homesick, but when we compare our lives to those of people in Syria now, we are very grateful," says the mother of three.

"Germany is now like our second home."

Family Reunification Essential for Integration

The family's great fortune is that they are together. This has a significant effect on integration, said Katrin Albrecht, managing director of Refugee Sponsors Syria.

"Family reunification is very important," Albrecht said. The prospects of staying improve significantly when there is a social and emotional environment. "They are motivated to prove to their family that it works. And even if it doesn't work, the family is there to provide psychological security."

The Berlin-based organization supports Syrian refugees in bringing family members to Germany through private sponsorships. The staff also help find flats, arrange German courses, and assist with job searches. Since 2015, the organization has helped around 300 people enter Germany with a visa, including Daioub and her family. Rehab is now friends with her guarantor, Bettina Bachmann.

Some 4,100 visas through sponsorships

A taxpayer in Germany provides a sponsorship declaration and guarantees that no state aid will be claimed for five years. Since 2013, nearly 4,100 people have been admitted to Berlin through this process. Nationwide figures are not collected by the Foreign Office, according to a spokeswoman. All living costs are privately financed, and the organization does this with the help of donations.

But since late 2024, private refugee sponsorships are no longer possible in Berlin. Albrecht says this option no longer exists in the other federal states either.

Has Germany succeeded?

Many Syrians have integrated very well into Germany, Albrecht said. Some have truly excelled and are an asset not only to society but also to the labour market.

But she says whether Merkel's "we can do this" promise has been fulfilled depends on the person being asked the question.

But that's missing a key point, she says. By taking in more than a million refugees, Germany has saved thousands of lives.

"We managed that." But, she adds, even after 10 years, more needs to be done.

Family reunification halted

But things are different these days. The German Parliament or Bundestag has decided to stop family reunification for refugees with limited protection status for two years. This primarily affects people from Syria. Albrecht considers the decision fundamentally wrong.

"These are the good integration stories," she says of people who have their families with them. "Others have a much, much harder time."

Daioub is still moved to tears when she thinks about entering Germany and reuniting with her children: "It was a dream."

Return Not an Option

Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the Federal Office for Refugees has been organizing voluntary returns to Syria since mid-January. According to preliminary figures, there have been 804 returns so far as of May 31. At the end of 2024, 975,000 Syrians were living in Germany, according to the federal government.

For the Daioub-Aljawabra family, returning is not an option. Their future is in Germany.

"It was a great challenge to rebuild our lives. The language is difficult, we are not young, and yet we managed it," says Daioub.