home Bleak Friedland camp of late settlers. Friedland: "Gateway to Germany" for Russian Germans What used to be at the site of the Friedland camp

Friedland camp of late settlers. Friedland: "Gateway to Germany" for Russian Germans What used to be at the site of the Friedland camp

The first goal after returning to their historical homeland is the distribution camp for the center - the city. It opens doors for various categories of migrants: refugees, Jews, former USSR.

How to get to Friedland

By plane it is convenient to fly to Hannover, then go by train to Göttingen and then a few minutes by train.
But if you fly to Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main or Dresden, the journey will not be much longer.

German rail connections are excellent, trains run quickly and frequently. Pay attention to the ticket price and arrival time.

Arrival in Friedland, building number 16 in the background, where interviews are taking place.

It is inconvenient to get from Russia by trains. The Berlin - Kassel - Friedland route is two transfers in Germany. For a traveler loaded with things, it is hardly the best option to jump around the stations.

Services of private companies provide maximum comfort. Arrivals will be met at the airport or train station and taken directly to. A transfer from Hannover costs approximately 200€.

TRANSFER TO FRIEDLAND

Get to Friedland in comfort! A Russian-speaking driver will meet you at Hannover Airport, help you load your luggage onto the bus and take you directly to the gates of the camp for migrants in Friedland.

ORDER A TRANSFER

If you are interested in how to get to the camp of late settlers cheaper - choose a bus. The time is longer and the least convenient.

What is waiting for you on the spot

The task of Friedland is the initial registration of newly arrived Germans and resettlement throughout the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. The average stay is 3 days.

Plan of the camp for late settlers in Friedland

Working days are from Monday to Friday, but the settlement of new residents on the weekend is not a problem. Arrive on Sunday, and from Monday to solve cases - a good option. The registration procedure takes place in building No. 1.

When in the Friedland resettlement camp you will receive a sheet with appointment hours, questionnaires to fill out, a room key, a pass card to the dining room for the family. Everyone is given gifts from charitable organizations - clothes and dictionaries.

It is not necessary to live in the camp. rent a hotel or stay with friends/relatives if the person agrees not to be late.

If knowledge of German does not allow you to communicate freely, you can take a relative or acquaintance who speaks the language for an interview. No one will be sent back for ignorance of the language, and it is absolutely necessary to understand exactly what officials are saying. It is definitely impossible to answer what questions are asked - everything is personal.

Check-in, document checks, medical procedures

Arriving Germans are accommodated in buildings No. 5-7. The dining room is located in building No. 4 (at the entrance they check the presence of a card and put a seal).

Dormitory room at camp in Friedland

Rooms and linens are clean. Not a hotel, but they don't do the weather for a couple of days. Near the door to the room hangs a sign on which they write the name of the family, the number of residents and the date of arrival.

In building No. 16, late settlers undergo a check of papers and personal data indicated in the questionnaire.

What documents do you need to prepare for the first appointment:

Completed questionnaires
Aufnahmebescheid
Passports and birth and marriage certificates of family members

The questionnaire indicates the desired place of residence in Germany, which is discussed at the second interview.

Residents of the Friedland camp are given x-rays during their stay. On the appointed day, the group is collected in the morning and taken by bus to Göttingen, where medical examinations are carried out.

An example of lunch in the canteen of the Friedland camp

About health insurance and assistance

From the moment of arrival until distribution, all necessary medical care is provided free of charge. After registration for permanent residence in the first 78 weeks, the AOK regional fund is responsible for health insurance, regardless of status and benefits.

Further, state insurance for the unemployed is paid by the state.
Employees may stay further in AOK or change companies at their own discretion.
Entrepreneurs choose between private and voluntary insurance.

Registrierschein

After passing the interviews in the Friedland resettlement camp and signing the distribution documents, a certificate of registration and free tickets to the place of residence are issued.

In the dormitories of the Friedland camp, children's corners were made for playing in bad weather.

Persons with §4 born before 1956 are entitled to a one-time compensation - Eingliederungshilfe. The size varies depending on the date of birth and is 2000-3000 €. You can receive money in Friedland or upon arrival for permanent residence.

From camp to your home

The choice of federal state and city is limited by availability and budget.

The south and center of Germany are overpopulated with refugees.
Russian Germans are often offered the north of Germany.
You can get to the desired land if you have relatives who are ready to register you at home.

The result of distribution strongly depends on the official. Personal charm will have to be turned on at full strength. In the absence of a budget for benefits in the city, newcomers are denied in any case.

Iron distributed to the selected location if you own your own real estate in the country or voluntarily waive social benefits.

Become a German citizen

You are allocated a dorm room or social services paid apartment.

Next steps:

First of all, contact the mayor's office - Rathaus, and register in Germany.
A copy of the received confirmation of registration must be sent to the Friedland camp at BVA.
You will be sent a certificate of a late migrant - Spätaussiedlerbescheinigung, upon receipt of which, you become citizens of Germany.

It's time to issue German passports - the mayor's office is responsible for issuing them. But first, it is allowed to apply to the registry office - Standesamt for a change in the spelling of names and surnames in the German manner. The procedure is performed once free of charge, then the letter correction costs 200 €.

Important! Children born in the period between arrival in Friedland and receiving certificates of migrants by their parents do not receive German citizenship. Perhaps in the future the legal incident will be corrected, for the time being, it is better for pregnant women in the later stages not to leave before the birth in order to avoid bureaucratic red tape that takes several years. Entry with a newborn does not bring problems. The birth of a child after receiving a certificate by one of the parents also automatically gives the infant German citizenship.

Learn more about finance and housing

It's hard to get out of the hostel. You will be offered social apartments if there are free ones, but in most cases you will have to look for housing on your own.

The apartment must meet the conditions of payment for the poor. The specific sizes depend on the city, the Jobcenter is responsible for paying for housing, and Sozialamt is responsible for the unemployable. It is necessary to coordinate actions with the department. If everything complies with the rules, you receive guarantees for payment and can move out of the hostel.

With officials of social services it is necessary to communicate from the first day. Jobcenter issues questionnaires for registration at the labor exchange to able-bodied family members.

Those who can work are paid unemployment.
Those who are unable to work apply for benefits at Sozialamt.
Children under the age of 18 who have moved are entitled to the Kindergeld allowance.

Resettlement under §4 opens the right to re-credit the pension earned in the former USSR. To confirm the length of service, you will need a work book and a certificate from the PF from the country of departure on the amount of contributions paid. Papers must be given to the state pension fund - Rentenversicherung.

To transfer money, you need to open an account in a German bank.

Depending on the land and particular banking institution, it may be necessary to obtain a tax number. This issue is resolved at the city hall or directly at the tax office - Finanzamt.

After the completion of the procedures, 102€ will be credited for each family member. They partially compensate for the way to the camp for immigrants in Germany.

If you provide evidence of travel expenses above this amount, you can count on a larger reimbursement. Arrival by car is also subject to compensation. Keep proof of purchase of tickets, gasoline, any transportation costs to Friedland.

After the distribution and receipt of passports, it is allowed to move to any city at will. But the housing issue will have to be solved independently.
Social benefits and the right to attend integration courses are retained in full.
Beneficiaries need to make prior arrangements with the authorities of the city that is the purpose of the move in order to continue to receive social assistance and housing payments. An uncoordinated move is fraught with the loss of benefits.

Advanced training and German

If you immigrate with a degree in engineering, the camp will send you to the Otto Beneke Foundation. The organization issues a gratuitous scholarship to engineers who come from Eastern Europe. With this money, a technical specialist can improve their qualifications or retrain in a German way in one of the higher educational institutions with which the fund has concluded an agreement. Migrants under the age of 31 are assisted with the recognition of diplomas.

With a certificate of registration, you can take free integration courses lasting six months. For permission to take courses, contact the Office for Foreigners - Ausländeramt. If the distance to the venue is more than 3 kilometers, a free pass for public transport is provided.

The volume of courses is 600 hours (an additional module on the main life issues in the country is optional). The content roughly repeats the content of this site, only in German.

It is unrealistic for a working person to take courses, there is simply nowhere to take so much time.

The history of the camp in Friedland

The camp was created in this town not by chance. It was built right after the war. We chose a place at the junction of 3 occupation zones: British, Soviet and American.

First, former prisoners returning from the USSR settled there.
Then they were used to accept defectors from the GDR to the FRG.
Since 1980, they began to resettle migrants from the Soviet Union, and then people with German "roots".

Previously, there were several such camps for the resettlement of ethnic Germans, but then the migration flow dried up, and this moment only Friedland remains open.

Frequently Asked Questions and discussion of the PP topic on the forum

According to the site www.tupa-germania.ru

The reception camp of the late settlers Friedland is located in small village, on the southern edge of the federal state of Lower Saxony in Germany. The camp is subject to the federal agency BVA. Late settlers who have received Aufnahmebescheid arrive at this camp for the initial registration and completion of the initiated procedures for the late settlers program.

Camp Friedland - personal experience

My arrival at the Friedland camp was in November 2014. During that period there was a huge influx of refugees and the camp was overcrowded. As a result, they could not settle me in the camp - there were no places. At the expense of the federal department, I was accommodated in a hotel, which was located in a neighboring town. In total, the procedures in the camp took about a week, after which I was already assigned to the city where I live now.

The Friedland resettlement camp welcomes new residents on weekdays and weekends. You can find the resettlement camp at: Bundesverwaltungsamt - Außenstelle Friedland, Heimkehrerstr. 16, 37133 Friedland, Deutschland. The registration itself and the working hours of officials are from Monday to Friday. You will have to communicate with officials and camp workers only in German. If knowledge does not allow this, you should think about a relative or acquaintances who can help in this situation. Understanding officials is simply vital.
You will be provided with clean bed linen, keys to the camp room, a leaflet indicating the authorities that you will need to go through. The Friedland camp of late settlers, of course, is not a five-star hotel, but it is quite possible to stay there for a couple of days. We will talk more about interviews, procedures and questionnaires below.

Fluorography

First of all, they are sent to a neighboring town for a fluorography. In the clinic in which we ended up, four people entered at once through different doors, so the queue went very quickly and did not cause inconvenience. You are alone in the room, so you calmly shoot up and go on. When finished, get dressed and go out to the others. Having finished taking x-rays for adults, doctors begin to examine children. Children are not x-rayed - they are examined by therapists, ENTs and other doctors. Upon completion, you will be provided with a certificate with the result of your examination and you will return to the Friedland camp

Primary registration

After that, you will have to visit the BVA federal office. It is located right in the Friedland camp. They will provide questionnaires in which questions are written in German (explanations to them in Russian can be found below under each question) - it is important to remember that it is necessary to fill out questionnaires exclusively in German. A rough list of questions looks like this:

FULL NAME
Age
Where did you come from
Education
Work experience (where and when and by whom he worked)
Relatives in Germany where they live
Religion
Where would you like to live in Germany

Questionnaires are handed over to officials and there are several hours of waiting. Further, they call to the official, questionnaires and documents are checked. They ask questions, but this is not just a sincere conversation - everything is entered into the computer.

Allocation to permanent residence

A few days later, I again had a meeting with an official of the federal department. It was already another official, and not the one who registered me. It turned out that they were looking for me since the morning, and I was at the hotel and did not know about it. In the office, an official asked me where I would like to live - in what city and land. I asked to visit my relatives in the city and he sent a request to that city for the possibility of receiving me, asking me to sit in the waiting room in the meantime. After an hour of waiting, I was again called to his office. On the table, he already had ready-made documents stating that I had been registered at the Friedland camp, sent to and sent to the hostel of the city where I was assigned. They settled me in the wrong city where I originally asked. Now I live 400 km from the city where I wanted to go.

The choice of city and land where they would like to live is limited - it all depends on the city's ability to accept you. There is a high probability of living where you would like, if you have relatives in this city and the opportunity to register you with them at least for the first time, not yet.

Final stage

The last thing I visited in the Friedland late settlers camp was the Jobcenter. There, they also brought me a certain questionnaire, which I later gave in my city at the Jobcenter. So they began to accrue the "allowance to the late migrant" to me. Later, I informed the camp management that all the procedures were completed and I was given 110 euros - partial compensation for the cost of the flight to Germany. They also bought me a train ticket so that I could get to the city. In the morning I handed in the keys to the room, received a few more documents and went to the station. This was the end of my stay in the Friedland resettlement camp.

"Two questions on camera?" - a DW correspondent addresses a group of people. "No, no, no. No way!" they answer. Russian-speaking guests of the last camp in Germany for ethnic Germans - the so-called late settlers, located on the border of the federal states of Lower Saxony and Hesse, unanimously refuse to give video interviews. They are afraid.

Some say that they are afraid of trouble for their relatives in Russia, others do not want their friends to know that they moved to Germany at all, others justify themselves by saying that, they say, "my mother does not know that I smoke." It takes an hour to persuade someone to shoot.

step in new life

There really is nothing to be afraid of though. Those who ended up here in Friedland have already taken a decisive step into a new life. The camp for refugees and late settlers is considered the "gateway to Germany" - today all Russian Germans returning to their historical homeland pass through it. For the last five years their number has been steadily growing.

Spending a few days here immediately after their arrival in Germany, they undergo a medical examination in neighboring Göttingen, receive documents and find out the destination - the federal state in which they will start a new life.

"Where?" - this question is greeted by everyone who leaves the officials in the waiting room on the second floor in the building of the local branch of the Federal Administrative Office, located right on the camp site. "Thuringia!" - someone answers, and a sigh of sympathy spreads through the hall. Because Thuringia is the former GDR, this is not considered very good. But the southern or western lands - Bavaria or North Rhine - Westphalia - are better.

"The old people used to leave, now the youth are running"

The R. family also wants to go to Bavaria, to Munich. Retired parents and a medical daughter who taught at a medical institute in her homeland. "You know what kind of science we have - none," says the mother. The daughter is silent and sighs.

The father says that the work of his public organization, dealing with German-Russian relations, became impossible because of the law on "foreign agents". "So, can you give an interview to a media company that almost ended up on the list of "foreign agents"?" - the correspondent of DW asks. Everyone is laughing. "No, by no means. No interviews are needed," is the answer.

The floor-to-ceiling wall in the waiting room is decorated with children's drawings. The sun, the rainbow, the names of the cities from which its new inhabitants came to Germany.

Nearby, the Trudnov family, parents and two twin sons, is waiting for their entry with the official. They arrived in Germany from Kaliningrad, literally the day before yesterday. And this family can be considered typical representatives of the last wave of emigration of ethnic Germans from Russia - almost all of their relatives have already moved to Germany. In the spring of 2016, they also decided to move. “We have been visiting relatives every year since 2002,” says Larisa Trudnova. “We really like Germany.”

From the German bureaucratic machine, they have the most best experience: "Everything is done quickly, the queues look large, but they move quickly. And the children did not have time to get tired." The Trudnovs hope that their children will receive a good education in Germany and find employment in German-Russian relations. Which, according to the spouses, will improve sooner or later.

Moving to Germany without culture shock

Camp director Heinrich Hörnschemeyer has been working here since the summer of 1991. Since 2000, the point in Friedland has become the only one in all of Germany where ethnic Germans from the countries of the former USSR, primarily from Russia and Kazakhstan, are accepted and distributed among the federal lands. The director says that the demographic composition of Russian Germans in last years changed a lot. During the main wave of repatriation in the early 1990s, families of up to 20 people came to Germany, in which there were representatives of several generations of ethnic Germans. For most of them it was the first visit to Germany, and "we could see them from a mile away" - by traditional costumes. "In those days, young people didn't wear jeans," he recalls with a smile.

In the latest wave of immigrants - people who have relatives in Germany and a clear idea of what awaits them in the country and what they want. Camp residents don't smoke where it's not allowed and show up on time for appointments with officials, says Hörnschemeyer.

"They are much better prepared, they don't have any culture shock," says Hörnschemeyer. The story of the mass migration of Russian Germans to Germany, he says, is a success story.

"People know what to expect"

“Resettlement in Germany can no longer be compared to jumping into cold water, as it was in the 1990s. People know what awaits them,” agrees Joachim Mrugalla, who runs the local branch of the Federal Office of Administration.

He explains the growth in the number of migrants from the former USSR observed over the past five years in a simple way. Since 2013, a new law has been in force in Germany that softens the conditions for the entry of families of ethnic Germans.

If before moving was possible once and with the whole family at once, now the relatives remaining in Russia can reunite with those who have already moved to Germany. Moreover, the language barrier has been lowered for them - the mandatory German language test can be retaken several times. More and more people use innovations, so the number of migrants is growing.

Context

The camp in Friedland is designed for 800 places. About a third of them are reserved for late settlers, the rest - for refugees and other categories of migrants. Accommodation and meals are free. Settlers spend no more than a week in this place before dispersing throughout the country.

Just over 7,000 people passed through Friedland last year. This is almost a fivefold increase compared to 2013. But mere trifles compared to the millions of people who arrived here in the 1990s.

“Then ten people could spend the night in one room - and no one was indignant,” recalls the director of the camp, Heinrich Hörnschemeyer, with a smile.

15 km from German city Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, there is a small locality, which plays the role of the first harbor for all those who seek salvation and protection in Germany. By the beginning of the 2000s, this place was practically empty, and it was decided to transform its territory into a memorial museum. But by 2014, the situation had changed dramatically, and today the settlement that once lost its significance is once again overflowing with refugees and migrants in need of asylum. Knowing what the Friedland camp is today will be useful to anyone who plans to move to this part of Europe as a settler.

How did the camp come about?

The appearance of a place of temporary residence for migrants in this particular part of the country is not accidental. The camp was founded at the very end of World War II. It was here that three zones of occupation touched: Soviet (Thuringia), English (Lower Saxony) and American (Hesse). If we add that the most important railway lines for that time between Kassel and Hannover passed between the three of them, then we can say that the place where the settlement was founded was predetermined.

The idea of setting up the camp was put forward by the British troops, who chose the territory of the research laboratories of the University of Göttingen. The Friedland camp for settlers began operating on September 20, 1945. AT different years it has been used for different purposes:

the first inhabitants were liberated prisoners who were returning from the USSR;
this was followed by defectors from the territory of the GDR to the lands of the FRG;
in the 80s of the last century, Soviet migrants settled in Friedland;
later - "Russian Germans".

In the middle of the 20th century, there were a considerable number of such places of settlement of late settlers. But due to the fact that their flow has gradually decreased, today only Friedland remains active.

How can I get to the camp

There are several ways to get to Friedland:

by plane to Hannover, from there by train to Göttingen and then a little more to the final destination by train.
on railway. This way to arrive from Russia is not the most convenient: only in Germany you will need to make two transfers - in Berlin and in Kassel. Considering the number of things that a migrant can have, it becomes clear that the option is not easy.
flight to Hannover, then by taxi to the camp. Such a pleasure will cost about 220 euros.
by bus from the Russian Federation - the path is the longest and not the most comfortable.

Alternatively, you can contact intermediary companies that provide resettlement services in Germany, meet you at the airport, and then take care of all the transfer concerns.

What awaits the migrants in the camp

The main goal pursued by the work of the camp is the registration of new arrivals and their resettlement throughout the German territory. The period for which newcomers can be accepted is 3-4 days. This time is sufficient for the following procedures:

verification of available documents and compliance with the data in the questionnaire;
carrying out fluorography;
passing interviews with representatives of the employment center.

In order not to get confused in the upcoming actions, the refugee receives a special leaflet containing the schedule and venue of certain events.

All this period the migrant lives in the room allotted for him. Immediately after arrival, new tenants are issued coupons to visit the dining room. And although publicly funded food is not varied and complete, it is enough to satisfy basic needs. There is a shop on the territory of the settlement where you can buy the missing products.

The main problem of asylum seekers is ignorance German language. To this end, it would be good to enlist the support of relatives, if they are available in Germany. If not, the state is ready to help by providing an interpreter.

During the identification and registration process, the migrant has the opportunity to change the spelling of the surname and name according to the German model.

For example, "Ivan" can become "Johan", and "Stepan" - "Stefan". Please note that you can make changes and refuse the Russian patronymic (it is not accepted in Germany) for free only once. All further attempts to make adjustments, even if it is only one letter, will cost 200 euros.

Concerning national composition camp, today it accepts not only ethnic Germans. In 2009, the first refugees from Iraq arrived here. In 2013, Friedland became a haven for the first Syrian migrants. Today, this organization is working beyond its capabilities, providing a roof over the head of people from Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria.

How is the distribution for permanent residence

The final stage is the distribution already for permanent residence throughout the country. Only in recent years, this procedure began to be carried out taking into account the wishes of the settler. Previously, he had no choice and had to put up with any decision of the commission.

To get to the right place, a beginner only needs to indicate in his profile the region and even the locality in which he would like to settle. However, no one can guarantee that this desire will be satisfied. But in any case, officials are trying to meet the applicant halfway.

The migrant receives a document with his new data, which will serve as his identity card. Together with him, the late migrant is given tickets to the place of new residence and 102 euros for each of the family members. This amount will at least partially compensate for the funds spent on the way to Friedland.

It is important to understand that the resettlement camp in Germany is the primary reception point for those in need of help. The document that is issued to them after registration only confirms that they arrived in the country legally, were registered and are ready to move permanently to the region of their choice. The very process of legalization and recognition of a candidate as an migrant or refugee begins already at the place of his permanent residence.

What is the Otto Beneke Foundation

Migrants who managed to get a higher technical education before moving to Germany have special privileges. In particular, a diploma in engineering allows a newcomer to receive a referral to the Otto Beneke Foundation.

The main mission of the Foundation is to provide a special non-refundable scholarship to engineers who came from Eastern Europe. The money received allows you to retrain or improve your existing qualifications. This makes it possible to adapt as much as possible to the German labor market and get a good position with a high income.
Foreign specialists are undergoing retraining in one of the German universities, with which the Fund has signed a corresponding agreement. In addition to this project, the organization supports various educational programs allowing migrants to arrange their future in new conditions.

Rapid Integration Courses

Arrived at permanent place a new residence of a migrant is concerned about the speedy integration into a society that is still alien to him. Thanks to the help of the state, which undertakes not only the reception, but also their arrangement, the late migrant gets the opportunity, on the basis of his registration certificate, to take advantage of free courses that will help to assimilate with local population. The duration of the courses is 6 months. During the training, the beginner receives basic information on all aspects of life in Germany:

legislation,
features of the culture and traditions of the German nation.

The process of obtaining knowledge is divided into 6 modules. Each of them contains 100 hours of lessons. The entire course is divided into two main groups: language and indicative. Lessons in the first of them allow you to master German in the most necessary areas: a visit to the doctor, a telephone conversation, going to a cafe or restaurant. The orientation course introduces migrants to culture, legislation and other adaptation issues.

After the courses are completed, the student will have to pass the B1 exam and receive a certificate. If a migrant plans to enter a university, he will have to continue his education.

findings

Conceived as far back as 1945, Friedland today takes under its roof people from all over the world who are fleeing war and unfavorable living conditions.

Russian migrants can get here by direct bus or plane. The further route upon arrival in the country will have to be planned taking into account the composition of the family and the amount of luggage available, since there will be more than one transfer to be made.

Upon arrival at the camp, beginners can count on living space, food, and medical support. After registering and completing all Required documents, migrants are sent to their place of permanent residence, where they will start.

Camp Friedland: Video

Friedland is a small, very small town in Lower Saxony, only 14 kilometers from Göttingen. My relatives brought me there directly from the airport - so that, therefore, I would get used to it and complete all the necessary formalities.

I saw there a cluster of small one-story buildings yellow color, which were recommended to me in advance as barracks. The time was late, so they just gave me the keys to the room and a card, according to which food was supposed to be issued, and they told me where and when I should come in the morning for registration.

The rooms there are for four people, with four iron beds and four lockers. But there are very few people (after all, almost everyone left the CIS before the mid-2000s), so I lived alone in my room all week, walked along quiet corridors, boiled tea in an empty kitchen. By the way, the kettles are fixed in place with some kind of locks: either so that they are not stolen, or so that they are not turned on in the rooms, violating fire safety rules. Apparently, the Germans do not really believe in the presence of legal consciousness among the newly arrived.

It seems that in the barracks people are grouped along ethnic lines. There are a couple of almost empty buildings for people coming from Russia and Kazakhstan (the latter are much larger) and there are a lot of other buildings densely populated with people with a less European appearance. Of course, blacks (from Somalia, from somewhere else) and, of course, Arabs (these are from Syria and Libya). They all meet three times a day at the same time, in the same place. At the entrance to the dining room, at 7.00, at 11.30 and at 16.30. They gather in advance, in a very dense crowd at the very doors, and when the guard opens the door (and he does this with an invariably squeamish expression on his face), they rush in, pushing each other away. In fact, there is enough food for everyone, and it’s not worth it (besides, the food is frankly bad), but people are still worried.

I can’t help but say something else about cultural features: next to the Friedland railway station, right on the pavement, during one walk I saw a pile of human excrement. Around - the usual German cleanliness, but here - this. I suspect that the culprit of the incident was not an indigenous person at all ... And a photograph of another "non-indigenous", namely a Somali, hangs in all administrative buildings. The man became famous for slaughtering someone right there in the camp, and has not yet been found.

But in general, refugees are a rather calm audience, and many of them try to behave correctly. For example, say "sorry", "thank you" or "hello" depending on the situation, in German or English. Do not climb ahead of their turn (well, almost never). And still there was only one unpleasant find, although I went around the whole town many times in an attempt to unwind.

True, most of the "settlers" are still very dissatisfied with the migration policy of Germany. Standing in a general queue, under advertisements in Chinese, Polish and four versions of Arabic, having looked at pregnant black women, whose skirts were clutched by a couple more children, at uncontrolled Arab boys running, screaming and studying with great interest the world, Russians (well, or "Russians", the devil knows) start conversations over food on a limited range of topics: "why do they let all these in?", "Look, what a mug!" and even "the German race has completely degenerated."

Refugees live in the camp, as I understand it, for a long time. There are also German courses for them. But the migrants live in Friedland for an average of four days until they issue required documents. First, registration. "First, you need to get familiar," experienced people say, following the established fashion, which is unpleasant for me - to insert German words modified in the Russian manner into Russian speech. Each migrant is given a "slider" with a list of all places and actions, and - the process has begun.

First you need to go to Göttingen for an x-ray. Of course, people with open tuberculosis are not expelled from Germany: they are sent to a specialized camp located somewhere nearby, and they are treated there. And then you have to go around five more rooms in the camp itself, and go into some more than once. It takes three days for this. Officials must record information about education and work experience, conclude an agreement for benefits, find out if there are places in the federal state where the migrant wants to go. By the way, I was not very lucky with this: my relatives live in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, but these lands are the most popular, and they were sent there, at least in those days, only if there were siblings or children-parents there. Uncles and aunts are not close enough relatives, alas. So I was offered a choice between Mecklenburg-Pomerania and Saxony. Upper, that is. I, of course, chose the latter.

Yes, I almost forgot: the favorite topic of conversation in queues in front of offices is German officials. This surprised me, to be honest. No one remembers the just abandoned Russia, where this is clearly worse, but they complain about the Germans. They work slowly, for show, not very friendly, do not accept at the appointed time. The last one is true, by the way. Moreover, it happened that they made an appointment for the early morning - at 7.30, for example, and made me wait until ten.

Here you go. They assigned me Saxony as a place of residence and asked me to stay in Friedland for another three days, until a place was vacated here. It was Friday-Sunday, so there was simply no one in the Russian barracks. At all. To entertain myself, I went to Göttingen, then went to Kassel, and on Monday at six in the morning I received a ticket when I was discharged from the camp and went east - with transfers in Schneewald, Halle, Leipzig, Dresden and Pirna.

Finally - photos from my building.

Next to each door, they write the names and number of people (top, of course; bottom - room number):