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Anas Modamani (23) was one of the million refugees and migrants who arrived in Germany during the migration crisis of 2015.
Just two weeks after his arrival in Germany from Syria in September 2015, the asylum reception center where he lived in Berlin was visited by an entourage of black cars. Several men in suits, bodyguards and a woman in a turquoise suit jacket emerged.
– When she came, I was sure she was a famous actress. I readied my cell phone and thought: I’m taking a selfie! Afterwards, I asked him who he was, says Anas Modamani in fluent German.
Five years after the world-famous selfie at the asylum reception center, NRK meets the Syrian refugee in a coron newspaper, that is, via video link, in his kitchen in Berlin.
– It’s a bit funny, but the truth is that I didn’t know who it was, but I was lucky. It was a selfie with the Chancellor himself, laughs Modamani.
FIVE YEARS LATER. Anas Modamani in video link with NRK from her kitchen in Berlin, five years after she became known for taking a selfie with the most powerful woman in the world.
Photo: NRK
– We can do it!
A few weeks earlier, the same woman had said the historic words: “We have done it!” – “We can do it!” during a press conference in Berlin.
The backdrop was a stalemate, with hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees stranded on the streets, many of them in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, as the EU began to close its borders.
Merkel’s words opened the borders of the EU and the flow of migrants and refugees moved quickly north, towards the promised land of Germany.
Among them was Modamani, who had fled Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, due to the civil war in Syria.
He was accused of being a terrorist
– It was fantastic at first. The Germans were waiting for us at the train stations. They applauded. They smiled at us. It was like coming home. People helped us, many brought us hot food and clothes. And then a little later, everything changed, recalls Modamani.
Because open borders ultimately led to an overloaded reception system, a divided EU that has yet to agree on how to distribute asylum seekers among themselves, and a divided town where parties strongly critical of immigration gained support. growing throughout Europe.
Modamani himself noted the change in mood about how the image of him and Merkel was being abused.
On social media, he was wrongly accused of being behind terrorist attacks in Europe.
– Many wrote nasty comments about me. For example, you must return to your home country. You killed people. You should die in prison. It made me very sad, because I came here because I was looking for safety, he says.
In 2017, he sued Facebook, asking them to delete the photo of him and remove the fake news. The trial received a lot of attention, but Modamani lost the lawsuit.
He has Merkel as his heroine
Now, however, he is well established and integrated with work, girlfriend and studies in Berlin.
Her Syrian family, on the other hand, have not seen her since she fled in 2015.
– The Bashar al-Assad regime has been looking for me and I can no longer find my family in Syria. I hope that one day I can meet my family again, but it is difficult, says Modamani, who has just extended his stay in Germany for two years.
Although he does not yet have a permanent residence permit in the country, he is eternally grateful to the leader of the country.
– Merkel will always be a hero to me. She made the right decision by allowing us to be here. It changed my life, just as it changed the lives of thousands of Syrians and refugees. I have great respect for Ms. Merkel, says Modamani.
See the full story about Anas Modamani on NRK Urix
