Nariman Reinke is a soldier in the German army (known as “Bundeswehr”) and as part of her service, works directly with refugees, providing aid and help with integration. She is Muslim, of Moroccan descent, and her parents were once immigrants in Germany. Her comments on Facebook recently went viral as she defended the rights of refugees who many feel have been unfairly blamed and scapegoated for a New Years Eve series of sexual harassment incidents in the city of Cologne. [German Police have since announced that 35 suspects are in custody, 32 of them from North Africa].
“The decision to take refugees remains right – despite Cologne….The events of New Year’s Eve have nothing to do with our own values and our demands on ourselves,” Ms. Reinke posted. “Either we believe that the protection of persecuted is right or not. To throw everything out, because one thousandth of refugees have conducted criminal acts, would expose our value system as hypocrisy.”
