Senator Kipping: Berlin faces a historical challenge

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  A woman from Ukraine sits on the floor in the Berlin Central Station talking on the phone after fleeing the Ukrainian war zone.

• Lost in thought, a girl plays with a stuffed animal in Berlin Central Station after arriving from the Ukrainian war zone.

• Personal hygiene items and baby food are available at Berlin Central Station for arriving refugees from the Ukrainian war zone.

According to Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Services, Katja Kipping, Berlin must prepare for a significant increase in the number of refugees from Ukraine.

"Yesterday, five direct trains came from Warsaw with a total of 3000 to 4000 people in one day," she told the Integration Committee in the House of Representatives on Thursday (03 March 03, 2022). "On Monday we accommodated 350 people using our existent structures, on Tuesday 1400 - from one day to the next, the number increased by a factor of four." On Wednesday, according to preliminary figures, there were 1700 people looking for accommodation, although 1000 of them had been taken to other states, Kipping said. "Berlin is facing a historic challenge."

«The extent is inconceivable»

"The impressions and numbers we have so far here in Berlin is only the top of the iceberg in terms of how many people are fleeing," the senator stressed. "The extent is inconceivable. It is probably the largest refugee movement in Europe after World War II, with its own rapidly shifting dynamics," Kipping said. "We are in contact with people on the Polish-Ukrainian border, who report that there are queues for days. And the people waiting in line won't all stay in Poland."