Oliver Pieper
DW
February 11, 2026
Nearly 6,000 Syrians in Germany have applied for voluntary return to Syria in 2025. But with security concerns lingering and reconstruction slow, Syria remains too unstable for most refugees to consider going back.
Harasta, a suburb of Syria's capital Damascus, has been almost fully destroyed
Image: Nahla Osman
Last year, 5,976 Syrians applied for voluntary repatriation to Syria, which was funded by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), submitting all the necessary documents. Of these, 3,678 of them have already gone back to their war-torn home country.
For German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, this is proof of the migration policy that he has been promoting. "Those who have no prospect of staying receive targeted support for their voluntary repatriation."
This "targeted support" includes the cost of the flights and €1,000 (ca. $1200) per adult and €500 for minors. BAMF relaunched the program for Syria a year ago, after it had been suspended because of the war in the Middle Eastern country. The number of people wanting to return has increased since the ouster of dictator Bashar Assad at the end of 2024.
In a press release, the BAMF wrote: "A total of 16,576 people have been helped to return to their country of origin or a third country willing to accept them. This represents a significant increase in the number of departures compared to the previous year, when 10,358 people left the country. In 2025, the majority of voluntary departures were to the countries of origin Turkey, Syria, the Russian Federation, Georgia and Iraq."
Devastating humanitarian conditions in war-torn Syria
But is this voluntary return to Syria a success story? The leader of the Left Party, Iris Schwerdtner, points out that Syria is still experiencing conditions resembling civil war and that Germany should not be deporting anybody to the country nor encouraging people to go there voluntarily.
She says all debate on this issue is totally "inappropriate at the moment."
Sandra Lorenz, the head of communications at Johanniter International Assistance, an aid organization that works with partners in northwestern Syria, told DW that she could understand why people wanted to go back to their homeland.
"We see this with Ukraine too, that people still want to go to their villages despite the attacks. That's completely normal," she said. "But the situation they are getting themselves into must be clear. In many areas, the infrastructure has been completely destroyed. And the people who live there today keep being displaced by ongoing fighting."
Lorenz said that the situation in the cities of Aleppo and Afrin, which were largely destroyed, was of course different from the situation in the capital Damascus. But the humanitarian situation was similar everywhere and very difficult overall, and there was an enormous need of reconstruction, also because of the devastating earthquake of three years ago. Johanniter International Assistance is particularly providing support to restore infrastructure and supplying hospitals with fuel, drinking water and medicine.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people who are dependent on food aid, and who need support to regain access to water, decent housing and an income," Lorenz said. "In Syria, like in other war zones, the situation is just not the same as it was 14 years ago. And I can only hope that people have done research into this, that they have spoken to someone, that they have somewhere to go or acquaintances they can turn to for a start."
Last year, 5,976 Syrians applied for voluntary repatriation to Syria, which was funded by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), submitting all the necessary documents. Of these, 3,678 of them have already gone back to their war-torn home country.
For German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, this is proof of the migration policy that he has been promoting. "Those who have no prospect of staying receive targeted support for their voluntary repatriation."
This "targeted support" includes the cost of the flights and €1,000 (ca. $1200) per adult and €500 for minors. BAMF relaunched the program for Syria a year ago, after it had been suspended because of the war in the Middle Eastern country. The number of people wanting to return has increased since the ouster of dictator Bashar Assad at the end of 2024.
In a press release, the BAMF wrote: "A total of 16,576 people have been helped to return to their country of origin or a third country willing to accept them. This represents a significant increase in the number of departures compared to the previous year, when 10,358 people left the country. In 2025, the majority of voluntary departures were to the countries of origin Turkey, Syria, the Russian Federation, Georgia and Iraq."
Devastating humanitarian conditions in war-torn Syria
But is this voluntary return to Syria a success story? The leader of the Left Party, Iris Schwerdtner, points out that Syria is still experiencing conditions resembling civil war and that Germany should not be deporting anybody to the country nor encouraging people to go there voluntarily.
She says all debate on this issue is totally "inappropriate at the moment."
Sandra Lorenz, the head of communications at Johanniter International Assistance, an aid organization that works with partners in northwestern Syria, told DW that she could understand why people wanted to go back to their homeland.
"We see this with Ukraine too, that people still want to go to their villages despite the attacks. That's completely normal," she said. "But the situation they are getting themselves into must be clear. In many areas, the infrastructure has been completely destroyed. And the people who live there today keep being displaced by ongoing fighting."
Lorenz said that the situation in the cities of Aleppo and Afrin, which were largely destroyed, was of course different from the situation in the capital Damascus. But the humanitarian situation was similar everywhere and very difficult overall, and there was an enormous need of reconstruction, also because of the devastating earthquake of three years ago. Johanniter International Assistance is particularly providing support to restore infrastructure and supplying hospitals with fuel, drinking water and medicine.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people who are dependent on food aid, and who need support to regain access to water, decent housing and an income," Lorenz said. "In Syria, like in other war zones, the situation is just not the same as it was 14 years ago. And I can only hope that people have done research into this, that they have spoken to someone, that they have somewhere to go or acquaintances they can turn to for a start."
German support to rebuild hospitals
Nahla Osman, a lawyer and the vice president of the Association of German-Syrian Aid Organizations (VDSH), was part of a delegation that went to Syria, which included representatives from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German association for international cooperation, or GIZ), the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and KFW, a German development bank.
"In Harasta, a suburb of Damascus, there is not a single house that is habitable or meets the minimum standards for living in," Osman told DW. "More than 80% of schools in Syria have been destroyed. And at the same time there is a real shortage of everything, especially medicine and medical equipment. The health minister told us that some pieces of equipment existed only once, sometimes twice in Syria."
One of Germany's priorities when it comes to reconstruction aid for Syria is helping to get Syrian hospitals back on their feet. During the delegation's trip, an agreement to this effect was signed with five clinics.
Osman said that she did not understand the debate in Germany about Syrians returning to Syria.
"Most Syrians are integrated here, they speak German and work," she said. "Many do dream of going back, but not under the current conditions of course."
In her view, the debate is not very nuanced and is argued along the lines of "all Syrians should go back, pick up a shovel, and rebuild the country. That's not how you conduct a debate in a country of immigration."
This article was translated from German.
Oliver Pieper Reporter on German politics and society, as well as South American affairs.
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