Public statement by a group of refugees from the initial-reception facility Eisenhüttenstadt

Dear Public,

we are following the news here. A lot is spoken about us. Now we would like to speak to you ourselves. We fled from war or extreme violence. We have reached Germany to look for safety and become part of this society.

Most of us live in the so called „Dublin Polen Zentrum“ and shall be deported to Poland. We want to explain to you, why Poland is not safe for us.

Poland does not want us. Prime Minister Tusk and others said that they don’t want refugees deported from Germany. A lot of us had to live in Asylum Prisons with 4-5 fences (with electric and barbed fences). There was a time limit, when we could leave the room to get some fresh air (only with guard). One of us had a baby, there were other pregnant women and minors without parents in the asylum prison. We did not get a fair trial in prison. All this led to risk of suicide, some of us had survived suicide attempts and depression.

If we are deported to Poland, the risk for us to go again to prison is very high, said polish border police.

We have experienced more harm in Poland. Most of us had to cross the border from Belarus to Poland. In the border forest we experienced extreme violence. Friends have died in the forest from pushbacks which caused malnourishment and dehydration. We were hit, phones were destroyed, dogs were biting us and due to pushbacks we could not ask for asylum.

Some of us were already deported to Poland. There polish border police said to them: „Go to Warsaw on your own to claim asylum!“. But how do we cross distances of up to 600 km to reach a camp without money or a ticket ? One person among us reports: „One Polish police dropped me off 300m away from a highway stop. i should ask a truck driver who is heading to Warsaw. The police men gave me a map and drove away.“

Living in the „Dublin Polen Zentrum“ we face problems such as:

On our Plastic Card is a „D“ that stands for ‚Dublin‘, Everybody knows that we are the future Poland deportees. We are treated differently than the others in camp. We feel segregated in the Dublin-Camp. It is shameful for us. We are forced to move into a special area and we have even less privacy: Everyday there is room and sometimes even cupboards checking by social workers or security. The doors are not possible to lock and most of our cupboards are not possible to lock which resulted in our belongings constantly going missing. We face pressure from the camp administration to return to Poland. We get a prohibition to leave the camp from 10 pm to 6 am. So we are in house arrest. We don´t get any financial support in form of pocket-money. Some of us are living here since 3 months without receiving money. We are not able to finance lawyers, clothes and other stuff needed.

There are women among us with babies that absolutely need support. Migration office does not allow us to leave Eisenhüttenstadt. We are suffering and are in constant fear and anxiety of deportation, because of frequent, unannounced police visits.

We ask the public to support us with this:

• - no restriction of movement for the city of Eisenhüttenstadt only
• - a fair asylum procedure that considers and proves the inhuman treatment in Poland, especially the thread of being imprisoned in Poland
• - Abolish deportation center. Poland is not safe.
• - normal accommodation with other refugees, the separation means fear, control, confrontation with the police at night and on a daily basis
• - remove the „D“ on our plastic cards
• - no cut of the social money
• - freedom of movement and no prohibition to leave the camp at nights

We ask the public to stand with us. We wish for change.

Eisenhüttenstadt, June 5th 2025
https://www.fluechtlingsrat-brandenburg.de/oeffentliche-stellungnahme-zum-dublin-zentrum-von-einer-gruppe-gefluechteter-menschen-aus-der-erstaufnahmeeinrichtung-eisenhuettenstadt/