Kreuzberger Himmel: The Berlin restaurant transforming the lives of refugees

The founders imagined a place where Germans could meet refugees eye to eye. Hazel Sheffield reports

Friday 25 January 2019 17:35 GMT
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Andreas Tölke, second from left, with asylum seekers that have worked at Kreuzberger Himmel
Andreas Tölke, second from left, with asylum seekers that have worked at Kreuzberger Himmel

Alaa Akad knows she is one of the lucky ones. The 40-year-old woman in a headscarf and winter coat sits across the table at the Kreuzberger Himmel, a restaurant in Yorckstrasse in West Berlin. She explains that many wives and children never make it out of Syria, where conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced 6 million.

Akad’s husband left their home in Damascus first and travelled over land and sea to Europe. He later sent for his wife and their young son. Akad had an office job in her hometown, but in Germany she has found work working for Kreuzberger Himmel as a pastry chef.

The job has given her security, but also a connection to a community of people with similar experiences and the support of a team of volunteers, she explains. She apologises for her English, explaining it has got worse since she has been learning German. It is her son who has really excelled at German and at school, she says. It is on him they pin their hopes.

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