In memory of John William, a refugee who lived one and a half year in the deportation camp Halberstadt and died on 04th of April 2004

Memorial vigil from 29th 2 pm to 30th of May 2006
30th of May 2006 Demonstration in Magdeburg

For the Shutdown of the Deportation Camp Halberstadt

The fortress Europe is growing outwards and inwards. After the desparate “attack” of refugees on the Spanish exclaves Ceuta and Melilla, its fortifications have moved as far as Mauritania and Algeria. The number of refugees who manage to get to Europe is decreasing, so that more and more refugee camps are shut down, as for example in Saxony-Anhalt. But the deportation camp of Saxony-Anhalt in block A of the GU-ZASt in Halberstadt is growing. The building is one of the barracks of a former military complex which is now used as “Gemeinschaftsunterkunft – Zentrale Anlaufstelle (GU-ZASt - collective accommodation camp for refugees who have just been transferred to Saxony-Anhalt).

The establishment of those deportation camps, which are officially called “Central Departure Institution” (“Zentrale Ausreiseeinrichtung)“, but also “Central Deportation Point” (“Zentrale Abschiebestelle“), means another deterioration of the living conditions of an increasing number of refugees in Germany. In the deportation camp Halberstadt, all five floors in block A are filled with refugees by now. According to the low standards for the accommodation of refugees in Saxony-Anhalt, one hundred refugees can live on one floor.

The alleged aim of a deportation camp is the “voluntary” departure of refugees who can not be deported after their asylum application has been rejected. Officially this is to be achieved by “intensive care”. But in reality, the aggravation of their living conditions, psychological pressure and social isolation are the reasons why so many refugees flee from the camp. Most of them, however, prefer to live in illegality rather than return. Only this way the government of Saxony-Anhalt can clock up 50 per cent of the refugees in the deportation camp sooner or later “voluntarily” leaving it.

There is no time limit for the stay in the Central Deportation Point. Transferred to Halberstadt, the refugees lose the social contacts they had at their former residence. Establishing new contacts is hardly possible because the camp is situated 7 km outside Halberstadt. The refugees receive no money and are not allowed to work. Residence permits (so-called “Duldungen”) are valid for only one or two days in most cases, maximum two weeks.

Living in the deportation camp has often adverse health effects. The lack of perspective and private sphere and the social isolation lead in many cases to psychological problems, as insomnia, depression, headache. A psychological care does not exist. Physical illnesses occur as well, while there is almost no medical care. The canteen food on which the refugees must live is low in vitamins and fibre. A refugee, who recently went to court to bring an action against his transfer to the deportation camp, fell ill with diabetes during his stay.

For old people among the refugees who have problems just to climb the stairs and so all the more are unable to get to the town 7 km away from the camp, the deportation camp becomes a prison. Moving them to lower floors was all the GU-ZASt administration did for them. They have no right of adequate medical care, like all refugees in the deportation camp. Refugees who are “obliged to leave” get a medical treatment only if it is “absolutely imperative”, and sometimes, in practice, not even then.

This explains how it was possible that John William, who died of a brain disease in 2004, had not been treated adequately, despite severe symptoms, for more than one year. Already in 2002 he had tried to see a medical specialist because of symptoms of paralysis. The Landkreis Anhalt-Zerbst refused on the grounds that there would be “no indication of a de facto existing” disease in his medical certificate. Besides these symptoms, John William suffered from nausea, weakness and pains. In summer 2003 he began to lose the sight of his eyes. In the end of 2003 he was in hospital for a short term, but was discharged and came back into the deportation camp at Christmas, althought he could not eat nor see and was only skin and bones. There he remained until a friend called the ambulance because of the state of his health in the beginning of 2004. After that he was in several hospitals and was finally brought to the university hospital in Halle/Saale. At this time he was already in a coma.

On the 04th of April 2004, John William died at the age of 49 years in an old people's home. He was buried, according to the Ausländerbehörde Anhalt-Zerbst, in an anonymous urn. Neither his lawyer was informed, nor his friends or his family in Sudan.

From Monday, 29th of May 2006, to Tuesday, 30th of May 2006, there will be a memorial vigil in memory of John William in Magdeburg. Following that, there will be a demonstration for the shutdown of the deportation camp Halberstadt on Tuesday.

One day before the demon­stration, on Monday, 29th of May 2006, at 17:00, there will be a public hearing about the deportation camp Halberstadt at the Eine-Welt-Haus (Schellingstr. 3-4), with representatives of the Linkspartei/PDS, with Andrea Würdinger, speaker of the RAV, and others.

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