The country’s central initial reception center in Suhl has been working at full capacity for weeks – a result of the war in Ukraine. That should change in the coming weeks.
Suhl/Erfurt (dpa/th) – With a view to the end of the year, the Ministry of Migration wants to distribute significantly more refugees than before from the Thuringian initial reception center in Suhl to the municipalities. The aim is to accommodate around 260 people per week in cities and communities from October, said Migration Minister Dirk Adams (Greens) of the German Press Agency. In the past few weeks, a maximum of around 150 refugees per week have usually come from the property to other places. “We will now distribute again very intensively,” said Adams.
It is necessary to significantly reduce the currently high occupancy rate of the facility until shortly before Christmas. This can be done together with the municipalities. According to the minister, the state wants to create a buffer in the absorption capacity in Suhl with the help of greater distribution. This is necessary because there should be no transfers from the initial reception center to the municipalities between Christmas and the beginning of the new year.
Around 900 people are currently housed in Suhl. Just before Christmas, that number must have dropped to around 200 to 300 in order to be able to go several days without distribution at the end of the year, Adams said.
However, many municipalities in the country have been saying for weeks that there is no longer enough living space for refugees.
The initial reception facility in Suhl is the central object of the state for the accommodation of refugees in the first days or weeks after their arrival in Thuringia. In addition to Ukrainian war refugees, who usually spend only a few days there, according to Adams, the area is currently primarily home to asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria.
Representatives of the city of Suhl have been at odds with the facility for a long time – also because in the past there have always been conflicts between the residents themselves, but also with the neighborhood. Adams said no such incidents have been reported to him at this time.
With a view to 2022 as a whole, Adams assumes that around 10,000 more refugees will have come to Thuringia than in 2015. A total of around 40,000 people seeking protection are expected.
