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Salzgitter am Abyss: This is how the city is struggling with immigration!
Salzgitter is the focus of a ZDF documentary that highlights the challenges posed by high levels of immigration and integration.
Salzgitter am Abyss: This is how the city is struggling with immigration!
Salzgitter does not have a particularly good reputation in Lower Saxony – the region is often described as a “problem city”. A central concern, how news38 reported, is the high level of immigration, which, combined with inadequate support from the state and federal government, is causing a great stir. A current ZDF documentary highlights the difficulties the city is struggling with. The discontent is spreading: many residents feel alienated in their own city, which is due to the dilapidated infrastructure and the challenges in the education system.
Teacher Kristina Scholz from the lake primary school is particularly critical. She experienced the refugee wave of 2015 first hand and is disappointed with the way things were done back then. Language skills are often severely limited in their classes; only three children speak German as their native language. In order to design suitable lessons, teachers not only have to work with simple language, but also with symbols. All of these obstacles not only hinder integration, but also lead to the formation of parallel societies, which in turn endangers the mixed society.
The challenges of integration
Salzgitter faces a major task: In some parts of the city, the proportion of foreigners is over 30 percent and the immigrants mainly come from the Middle East and North Africa. ZDF describes how the Syrian refugee Haytham Allafi, who came to Germany in 2015, opened a fashion store in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt. He fled Syria to provide better medical care for his two disabled daughters. Despite the family atmosphere among the Syrians in Lebenstedt, Allafi reports that contact with other population groups is limited.
Society in Salzgitter continues to be characterized by the high number of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Before 2015, around 120,000 Syrians lived in Germany, now there are around 975,000, of which around 250,000 have applied for German citizenship. Despite these significant numbers, integration often remains a challenge: overburdened authorities and an exhausted welcoming culture are just some of the hurdles that migrants have to overcome.
Integration as a task for society as a whole
To improve integration, measures and policy approaches are needed. The BAMF has published the EMN Germany paper, which deals with the integration of migrant women. The study highlights areas such as education, language, employment and social participation. An important finding is that the employment rate for women from third countries is only 44 percent, while for men it is 67 percent. Language skills and child care are two major factors that hinder integration.
In order to advance integration in Salzgitter, more support is required from all sides. Teachers face a challenge: finding the balance between integration and cultural exchange. It remains to be hoped that through joint efforts and a good hand in shaping integration in the city, a positive change can be achieved.