CAUGHT BETWEEN LESBOS, CHIOS & BRUSSELS (Satis Shroff)

Caught Between Lesbos, Chios and Brussels (Satis Shroff)

In the winter of 1944-45
Twelve to fourteen million German refugees
Were underway,
From Eastern Europe.
They fled to avoid the Red Army,
Or were banished from former territories,
Where the German Wehrmacht had carried out
A war of destruction.
Ten million German refugees went to the Federal  Republic,
Four million to the German Democratic Republic.
Not all were welcome,
Although even private persons were obliged to help.

Today many Germans help the refugees with open hearts,
And lend a hand to those who've fled from war.
How the European Union handles the issue,
Is another matter.
People suddenly become statistics.

'Deportation! Athens! Freedom!
This is the cry of the illegal refugees
In the hotspots of Lesbos and Chios.
The Greeks in Athens and Frontex's plan
Is to bring over refugees from Greece to Turkey.
72000 Syrians are to be settled in the EU:
In Germany, Netherlands, France and Finnland.
The talk is about a refugee packet.
Former East Bloc nations say: nyet!

The refugees have found a voice,
And developed a dynamic of their own.
They want to be ferried to Greece,
Not Turkey.
Amnesty says:
'The deal between the EU and Turkey
Is to be observed with a critical eye,
For Syrian refugees have been sent home by Ankara.
In the west Turkish Dikili
Hundreds of Turks protested against migrants
Who come from Greece.

The Balkan route has been closed,
Even Estland, Latvia, Austria are putting up
Tall barbed-wire walls,
Scared that Russia might send Muslim refugees their way.
In Germany 20,000 new refugees were registered.
The numbers are showing a downward trend.