The new German willingness to help – and why it makes us so happy
Bringing the Refugee Crisis Home in Berlin – The New Yorker
Three weeks after his Berlin apartment was photographed for a lifestyle magazine, Andreas Tölke turned his home into an emergency shelter for refugees. Tölke, a journalist specializing in architecture and design, spontaneously took in three Egyptians, a Bosnian teenager, and a Moldovan. Since then, he has hosted 38 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Albania, assisting them with bureaucratic tasks, taking them shopping, and helping them integrate into Germany. The willingness of Berliners like Tölke to help reflects a larger cultural movement that critically questions government policies and responses to the refugee crisis.