The smell of rotten, boiled eggs stands out in Kateryna’s memory of her six months living at a refugee camp in Berlin.
“When you peel them, the smell is horrible,” she said. “The yolk is black.”
She has a collection of photos and videos of inedible food on her phone that she says was served to Ukrainian refugees at the camp set up at the former Tegel airport. Sliced bread black with mould. Small white worms crawling on a yogurt cup.
But the food, and subsequent stomach issues she said some developed, was only one of the issues plaguing the camp.
With the two-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine approaching, Kateryna is one of more than a million Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Germany hoping to restart their lives. That process, though, has been more confusing, stressful, and lengthier than she anticipated.
The 38-year-old and her two teenage daughters shared a room with up to a dozen people, with only a thin curtain separating their unit from hundreds of others. Bunk beds lined the walls, draped with clothing and sheets for some semblance of privacy. After her daughter’s phone and passport were stolen, they started taking turns leaving the room.
“There is no such thing as safety here. Every day we are on edge because we don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring us,” Kateryna said. Global News is not using her full name because she fears reprisals from camp management.
More than 4,400 refugees and asylum seekers live in the former airport and large white tents erected on the runway tarmac, according to state officials.
While Germany has welcomed Ukrainians and committed billions in support for Ukraine, thousands of refugees are stuck in limbo, caught between a strained immigration system and a housing crisis in the capital city.
