Buses with war refugees came to Berlin on Friday. Some came barefoot, without warm clothing. Other buses have even come under fire in Ukraine.
“I wake up with it and I fall asleep with it.” Red Town Hall boss Franziska Giffey (43, SPD) is like many at the moment. But she also says: “I can’t remember that Berlin stood together like that.”
Arrival at bus station (ZOB). 21 buses with war refugees were expected on Friday. By 11 p.m. the night before, 25 Malteser helpers set up tents for the initial medical check and care.
Among the first patients: a woman with deep vein thrombosis in her leg and a woman whose cesarean section it was just two days ago. Some buses could not be fully loaded because they were under fire. Conscript bus drivers can no longer get out of Ukraine, Polish colleagues take over at the border.
The Maltese have now stocked up on transport boxes for cats and dogs because pets are brought along.
Giffey hears sad descriptions. Some refugees come in shoes without soles, without warm clothes. What they have with them is in a 20 liter backpack.
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If there is a suspicion of corona, the helpers immediately do a quick test. The government is demanding that the federal government organize the distribution to other federal states – 10,000 Ukrainians were expected in the capital on Friday alone.
Where do extra beds come from? Giffey also wants to use the Schmidt-Knobelsdorf barracks (Spandau) and above all some of the 43,000 hostel and simple hotel beds.
When she had just become mayor of Neukölln in 2015, she had to clear gymnasiums for refugees.