A decade after fleeing his bombed home in Aleppo, Ahmad Al Hamidi has a new life on the pleasant shores of Lake Constance and now finds himself in an election race that represents both sides of the Syrian refugee story in Germany.

Mr Al Hamidi is one of the 2015 generation of Syrians who arrived to an Angela Merkel-era “welcome culture”, has put down roots with his wife and two children and is now a German citizen. He is running for the same seat in parliament as Alice Weidel, the leader of an anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which made its name by riding a populist backlash against Syrians, refugees and Islam.

As they face off before a February 23 election, Green party candidate Mr Al Hamidi told The National he plans to “concentrate on facts and constructive solutions, instead of turning to fear and division” in the election. While he believes it is too soon to talk about returns to Syria, the far right is mocking up posters for “AfD Airlines” flights to send migrants home.

'Diversity as a strength'

Mr Al Hamidi, a lawyer at a migration and integration office, is putting his expertise on those issues at the heart of his campaign for the German Bundestag. “We must encourage a dialogue that is based on respect and understanding, in order to create an inclusive society that sees diversity as a strength and not as a threat,” he said.

He describes his own life as a “kaleidoscope of change”. After the war forced him out of Aleppo, the city of his birth, Mr Al Hamidi and his family fled Syria to the Mediterranean and reached Friedrichshafen in the far south of Germany. They were just one family among almost 900,000 people who sought protection in Germany in 2015.

The experience “taught me empathy and understanding for refugees and marginalised people”, said Mr Al Hamidi, 42. “From my own experience I know the challenges of alienation, and the strong will that migrants have. These experiences allow me to build bridges between cultures and use the potential of diversity in politics.”

In his campaign literature, he recalls how the works of German poets and composers fuelled his love of music and literature as a child. Today, he is a German citizen. But he recognises that not everybody integrates so well. After a resurgence in Syrian arrivals since 2021, a backlog of asylum claims has built up, and thousands of people are currently in limbo.

Migration debate

Compared to 2015, fewer Syrians now receive a full three-year refugee permit, with many instead given one-year “subsidiary protection”. Under pressure from the far right after a spate of extremist incidents, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government – which included the Greens – tightened border controls and brought in tougher laws on asylum and deportations. They also offered a route to a German passport after years for particularly well-integrated migrants, but the AfD and the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) – who shun their former leader Mrs Merkel's policy in favour of a tougher line – want to undo that.

Having experienced 2015's “welcome culture”, Mr Al Hamidi says a lot has changed since then. Refugees are often met with initial enthusiasm, but deeper integration and acceptance “requires continued effort and, above all, time”. He says true a welcome culture means “long-term recognition and appreciation” for people’s commitment to integration.

Mr Al Hamidi sees a need for improvement in “sensitising society” to migration and would like to see new arrivals taught about unspoken German customs, perhaps in brochures in their own language. “With behavioural norms we’re often talking about things that are not written down anywhere, but which often cause great irritation when people unknowingly violate them,” he said. “German society could also learn more about the lifestyle habits of refugees, to develop more understanding of their conduct.”

The Christian Democrats won the Lake Constance seat at the last election in 2021. While Ms Weidel would almost certainly be elected via the AfD's party list if she fails to win the seat directly, that looks unlikely for Mr Al Hamidi who sits further down the Greens' list.

Ryyan Alshebl, a fellow 2015 refugee from Syria, was elected mayor of a small town in 2023. Another, Tareq Alaows, mounted a short-lived run for parliament in 2021 but pulled out because of racism and threats. But Mr Al Hamidi is not hiding away from his backstory as he campaigns for a more welcoming policy.

To ease the asylum burden, he wants to address the root causes of migration and open up more legal routes for workers. “If we bring more fairness into the asylum process, it will also help us, on the other side of the coin, to counter the skilled labour shortage,” he said.

The AfD takes a much harder line. Its manifesto calls for a total “change of course” towards Syrians in which some would be deported and others encouraged to leave voluntarily. Ms Weidel's Lake Constance branch seized on a local court case involving a Syrian knifeman to launch a broadside against the refugee population.

After a judge warned the knifeman that his actions could damage the “good name” of Syrians in Germany, the local AfD branch said it had “heard nothing” of such a reputation. It said it would “happily help to restore that good name by ensuring that such Syrians can no longer walk around freely in Germany in future, but return home to Syria”.

Mr Al Hamidi says that is a question for another day. “The situation in Syria is not yet safe, even if it’s certainly better than under the Assad regime,” he said. One in eight Syrian refugees living in Germany were born in their family's adopted homeland, and almost one in four even never knew prewar Syria, analysis by The National reveals.

“When and to what extent Syrian asylum seekers should return there – that question doesn’t arise at the moment,” Mr Al Hamidi said. “I’m sure that can happen at a later point. At the moment the conditions in Syria are not right yet.”