More than 10,000 war refugees from the Ukraine come to Berlin every day. But where should they go? The BZ visited Berliner with a lot of heart and commitment.
Nico Stegemann (47) is running at full speed. For days. He’s just stacking empty suitcases, clothes and prams in the van. Every evening around 6 p.m. he drives to the main train station to hand over the things for the refugees. Also moving boxes full of sandwiches. Sometimes 3,500 pieces, sometimes 7,000. “Six minutes – then they’re gone,” says Stegemann.
Stegemann bought water for 350 euros on Friday because there was none left. And in the evening another emergency operation, because at 10 p.m. a train with 150 babies was expected.
Together with his friends, the Lehmanns, the Pankower also spontaneously rented a small guesthouse in their neighborhood, cleaned it and now eleven people from a family from Kyiv are sitting there making new sandwiches. The mood is pragmatic, relaxed. It is inconceivable that these people just fled from bombs and even came under fire, as they say.
“We cry at night, the children shouldn’t notice anything,” says kindergarten teacher Marina (35).
Her twins Veronika and Viktoria (3) romp around the boarding house in a good mood in penguin costumes from the clothing donation, while their father defends Kyiv with a gun.
“On the phone, our men tell us they can’t tell us everything, what’s happening is too bad.” Fear for your loved ones? “Very. But someone has to defend our country.”
Maybe the perfect world works, maybe 11-year-old Mohammed is just acting cool. “I have no problem,” he says, preferring to immerse himself in the virtual world of a computer game with his buddy Andre (8).
Grandmother Valentina (77) actually wanted to stay in Kyiv, she was persuaded by her daughters and in the excitement forgot her diabetic equipment. The Stegemanns have organized a helpful doctor and also a walking frame.
Otherwise almost an impossible task, without German health insurance. Nico and the others from the newly founded association “Family Courage” (for donations in kind, time, space and knowledge: [email protected]) scoured classified ads for buggies, shopped away at discounters for toothbrushes and toiletries.
Why are they helping? “We were at the main train station, tears came to my eyes immediately,” says Nico’s wife Clarissa (40). “We just had to do something!”
It’s hard to explain why someone helps. It’s even harder to explain why someone doesn’t help. But the volunteers are always mistrusted. Allegations that they wanted to enrich themselves or worse.
“We were mistaken for human traffickers at the train station,” says project developer Luca Bauernfeind (35). He sounds something between outraged and amused. Bauernfeind, his business partner Hagen Kahmann (55) from the Kauri Cab Group and the gallery owner Karl-Friedrich Krause (62) spontaneously each took 50,000 euros of private money to convert a commercial area in Spandau into accommodation for refugees and to make a bulk purchase of furniture .
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“I think: property also obliges. The housing industry has the power to help, and we want to encourage others to do the same,” says Bauernfeind. A bunk bed is still lost between the half-finished plasterboard walls. “But the room will be ready tonight,” promises Krause.
The residents will paint themselves. “First do it and then see” is Krause’s motto. He used to organize camps in crisis regions. They already have space for a good sixty refugees. There should be at least 100 places.
They expect an average stay of three months until an apartment is found. Doctor Saafa (24) is probably gone earlier. “I wanted to bring my mother safely, I’m officially on vacation. But when my hospital calls, I go back to help.”
Donation offers, for example professional washing machines or kitchen equipment, drying racks and a projector, which can also be borrowed, at [email protected]