大象传媒

Amid the 2015 migrant crisis, when millions of refugees were seeking safety in Europe, Germany鈥檚 then Chancellor Angela Merkel took an extraordinary step. While many other European countries were trying to limit the numbers seeking entry, she unilaterally decided that Germany would take in more than a million asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East. She famously declared, 鈥淲ir Schaffen Das鈥� - We can do it.

Now, almost 10 years on, many from this generation of refugees are living settled lives in Germany. Between the length of their stay, and a recent liberalisation in German citizenship law, they are now overwhelmingly eligible for citizenship; giving them both a more permanent feeling of safety, and a vote in where Germany goes from here.

But it is a fraught time to become German. The AfD, a far right party harshly opposed to immigration of all kinds, is rising in popularity, especially in the former East. German identity has never been straightforward, with many Germans associating it with the nationalist legacy of Nazism and Hitler.

Damien McGuinness heads out across Germany, meeting former refugees now on a path to citizenship, and finds out what this piece of paper means to them.

Presenter: Damien McGuinness
Producer: Jeanny Gering
A Whistledown production for the 大象传媒 World Service

(Photo: Refugees (immigrants, migrants) wait in front of the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSO) in Berlin, Germany, 2 December 2015, to register for support services. Credit: Kay Nietfeld/EPA)