For months, Germany has once again been heatedly debating refugees, border controls and refoulement. After a knife attack in the city of Solingen in August 2024, the debate has become more polarized than ever before. While political measures are being considered that seemed unthinkable just a few months earlier, such as deportations to Syria or Afghanistan, the everyday challenges and fates of those directly affected by these policies are in danger of being completely ignored.

At the end of July 2024, I spent two weeks in Suhl, where the largest initial reception facility (EAE) for refugees in the state of Thuringia is located. Here, around 800 people are living an isolated life on hold under precarious living conditions. Visits are prohibited, even for journalists. However, an asylum procedure assistant granted me access to the camp. For two weeks, I was allowed to look behind the fence and got to know the residents and their struggles.