Rostock, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, has been home to Shahd Najeeb and Mahmoud Hmouech for more than a decade. The couple fled Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria during the civil war, built a life in northern Germany, raised two children aged 4 and 6, and found everyday work — he cuts hair in a barber shop, she serves meals at local schools. It is exactly the kind of integration story Germany hoped for when it welcomed hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the war. Yet Najeeb now says the hostility she has felt in Rostock is a pain unlike anything she experienced fleeing Daesh.
Her unease reflects a wider mood. Reuters interviewed 20 people from migrant backgrounds in Rostock and nearby Schwerin, and several reported more anti-immigrant abuse in recent years — insults, muttered remarks, demands to go home, and in one case a neighbour pouring foul-smelling water from a balcony. Some, including people working in healthcare, tourism, education and food services, said they would consider leaving the region if the atmosphere worsens.
The politics behind the tension are moving fast. The far-right AfD has become a major force in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the state that contains both cities, ahead of its state election, and recently won its first major regional vote in Saxony-Anhalt. The party says it backs skilled-worker immigration but wants tougher enforcement against those without a right to remain; its talk of "remigration" has nonetheless alarmed migrant communities. State premier Manuela Schwesig argued the party's rhetoric is frightening foreigners who work and contribute, while AfD candidate Leif-Erik Holm blamed governments for failing on deportations.
What makes the standoff awkward is the economic reality. Eastern Germany faces an ageing population and low birth rates, and roughly 50,000 people with a migration background work in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. About 972,000 Syrians lived in Germany at the end of 2023, and the Federal Employment Agency counted around 287,000 employed Syrian nationals by September 2024 — a rise of 23,000 in a year. Research also shows integration deepens with time: Syrian refugees who had been in the country seven years had an employment rate of about 61%.
For travellers, this is a reminder that the political climate in parts of eastern Germany — a region that includes popular Baltic coast destinations like Rostock — is visibly tense around migration, even as local economies depend on migrant workers. For anyone with roots there, or considering longer stays, the story is more pointed: people who have lived, worked and paid into the system for a decade are questioning whether they are still welcome. As Hmouech puts it, he does not want his children growing up believing the society they call home rejects them.