The willingness to help of Berliners is unbroken. But among the tireless volunteers, there may also be people with bad intentions. Volunteers at Berlin Central Station are now urgently warning of possible attempts at abuse.
By Mary-Lou Künzel, Axel Lier and Katharina Metag
In the past few days, a few men, apparently under the pretext of offering accommodation, have specifically asked for young women or women with children, reports a volunteer. Unconfirmed rumors are even circulating on social networks that money is said to have been offered for the mediation of such women.
“We sometimes noticed individual men who were distributing sweets, but when we spoke to them, they disappeared,” says the helper.
The supporters of the refugees are now sharing warnings in several languages on social networks such as Twitter or Facebook. The information is intended to sensitize refugees and supporters and prevent the plight of women and children traveling alone from being exploited by potential abusers or even pimps. “We are now paying more attention to this and, if in doubt, call the police immediately,” said the helper.
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The federal police responsible in the main station and the Berlin police are aware of the warnings, but so far no specific cases have been reported, said their spokesman when asked by the BZ.
The sensitization of the helpers sometimes also causes misunderstandings, as the tweet from a male helper shows, who reported with shock that he was sent off at the main station.
The terrible case of little Mohamed shows that the danger is nevertheless very real. During the 2015 refugee crisis, the four-year-old boy disappeared on October 1 in front of the central contact point for refugees at Lageso in Moabit. His mother had lost sight of him in the crowd. Shortly afterwards, images from a surveillance camera showed the missing child holding the hand of a stranger.
The recordings finally transferred child murderer Silvio S. (32). He had kidnapped, abused and killed the boy. The man from Brandenburg then confessed to the investigators the murder of six-year-old Eilas from Potsdam, who had been missing since July 8 of the same year.