00:00Germany without doctors from Syria? By now, hard to imagine.
00:05About 7,000 physicians from Syria now work in Germany.
00:09They help keep the healthcare system running.
00:12I treat over 1,000 surgical patients here every year.
00:16If half of these doctors return to Syria,
00:18Germany's healthcare system will suffer significantly, without question.
00:24Many of those doctors are torn.
00:26They're badly needed both in their new home and their old one.
00:29We all want to rebuild our country.
00:31We must all participate and cooperate with each other.
00:36And now, as German politicians debate whether refugees from Syria should go back,
00:41the doctors are asking themselves a painful question.
00:44Are we still welcome here?
00:46We meet two doctors who live in different cities in Germany,
00:50Cuxhaven at the North Sea coast and the capital Berlin.
00:53One of them is Ammar Djabur.
00:55We visited him in Cuxhaven.
00:57In 2013, he fled Syria.
00:59He had joined the protests against former President Bashar al-Assad.
01:04We just stood there with signs saying that all we wanted was a little democracy and freedom.
01:10It didn't even take ten minutes before we were followed.
01:15And they just arrested me.
01:22Because of his story and qualifications, Ammar was able to get a visa for Germany quickly.
01:27Together with his family, he's built a new life here and become a respected eye doctor.
01:32My connection to my work is excellent.
01:36The same goes for my patients.
01:38But when I take two weeks off, I really miss work.
01:41I like being around people.
01:43But lately I've been feeling very unwelcome in this country.
01:47What bothers him is the recurring debate about migration, generalizing and lacking nuance in his view.
01:54At the moment it feels like every week or every two or three weeks you hear comments targeting migrants.
02:01Even as a migrant who has a German passport, you feel like a second-class German.
02:06Recently German Chancellor Friedrich Merz added to this unease.
02:12He declared that since the war was over, Syrians could now return home.
02:16Drawing criticism even from within his own conservative party.
02:20The civil war in Syria is over.
02:23Syria needs all its strength and above all Syrians to rebuild.
02:27And that's why there will certainly be many who now leave the country voluntarily.
02:33So far, the government is also thinking about returning Syrians who have committed crimes or are seen as having difficulties integrating.
02:43Ammar is already a German citizen, so he wouldn't be affected by any deportation decisions.
02:49But would he return voluntarily?
02:51In October, Ammar visited Damascus for a medical conference and saw the situation in Syria firsthand.
02:57Large areas without water, electricity or hospitals.
03:01This is the street where we used to live.
03:04There are cities that have been completely destroyed.
03:07They are no longer habitable.
03:09And that's what makes a voluntary return to Syria impossible at this stage.
03:14Basel al-Sayed works as an oral surgeon in Berlin.
03:17He moved to Germany back in 2003.
03:20And after the outbreak of the civil war, he never returned.
03:23He's also bothered by statements by the German Chancellor.
03:26Mr. Merz is trying to get a few more votes.
03:31But he's making another mistake because this atmosphere of hatred, this right-wing extremism, is rising again.
03:38He goes from mistake to mistake.
03:41Basel al-Sayed is also the vice chair of the Association of German-Syrian Aid Organizations.
03:47He distinguishes between two groups of Syrians now affected by the current debate over returning home.
03:53The group that's affected, the new refugees here, are a little afraid.
03:59Because they have nothing to go back to.
04:02They left all their possessions behind in order to find a way for themselves and their families here in Germany.
04:12I, or the other people who have established something here, might like to go back to Syria.
04:17But we have other fears.
04:21Doctors like Ammar and Basel fill vital gaps in Germany's healthcare system.
04:26Syrians make up the largest group of foreign doctors here.
04:29What would happen if they really decided to return to Syria?
04:33This could have very serious negative consequences locally and in small towns and rural areas.
04:44But we mustn't just focus on doctors.
04:49Many Syrians work in nursing or healthcare professions, or in areas that are part of critical infrastructure.
04:58Ammar is not ready to return permanently just yet, though he's working on ways to help his country.
05:05We're organizing a second conference and a humanitarian mission in southern Syria to operate on more than a hundred patients free of charge, funded by donations here in Germany.
05:17What both doctors hope for in Germany is a constructive fair debate on migration, so that they and people like them can once again feel they truly belong.
05:28Thank you very much for that!
05:30Thank you!
05:32Thank you!
05:34Thank you!
05:36…
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