The B. family fled the town of Liberoza after only three days - in fear of neo-Nazis, says the single mother of Enisa B. for Deutsche Welle (DW). What really happened in that small town in the far east of Germany?
The dream of a better life took Enisa B. with her four children to a German province. At the end of July this year, they moved from Berlin to Liberoze, a small town with about 1.400 inhabitants in Lusatia, about thirty kilometers from Cottbus. But their dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
"We arrived there on July 27. It was a Thursday. It all started a day later, on Friday evening. The children were already asleep, and suddenly someone started knocking on the window. I thought it was some drunk. But he wasn't drunk He raised his hand and shouted at me: 'Heil Hitler!' I was petrified with fear," Enisa told DW.
As she later found out, it was her new neighbor. After the first shock, she managed to regain her composure: "I tried to calm him down. I closed the window and went to the front door to talk to him. I didn't dare to leave the apartment. And he shouted 'Heil Hitler' again and raised hand, showed me that greeting of theirs."
As Enisa continued, she asked him why he came and what he wanted from her. "He told me: 'This is my city! Pack your things and go to your country, where you came from!' He started shouting, he was quite hysterical. I just wanted him to calm down and I told him that tomorrow I will pack my things and go back to Berlin."
After that he just threw "OK" – and left. Enisa locked the door. She says that she did not close her eyes that night.
She didn't know what to do. She thought it would all settle down. But nothing calmed down. A day later, it was Saturday, the janitor stopped by to do some other things in the newly renovated apartment. His daughter was with him.
"She asked my daughter if she wanted to come over to their place to play a little. I told her that I wasn't sure, that I didn't know the people in that place, that I didn't know anyone."
After the shock of the previous evening and the episode about which she had not told the children, Enis was afraid that something might happen to her daughter. She still allowed her to leave, but only on the condition that she doesn't stay with her new friend for long.
Sometime around XNUMX:XNUMX in the evening, her daughter called her and her mother told her to go home.
"I told her to go down a street that is lighter, there is another one that is darker. She tells me 'OK', and she starts walking. When, suddenly she calls me and says that there is a group of people standing on the street. I just told her that they he doesn't even look to continue towards home. And then the connection ended..."
Fear of neo-Nazis
As she tells DW, two men, her relatives, as she says, were visiting Enisa B. at that time. She asked one of them to go meet her daughter, and her son went with him. They left, and Enisa continued with chores around the house. Another man was with her. At one point, she didn't know why, she looked out the window towards the street and saw her children and a relative running towards the apartment.
"And behind them ran a group of people chasing them. They had some kind of chains in their hands. I jumped out of the window, I had nothing in my hands. I started running towards them. I told my daughter and son to enter the house and they lock themselves. Fortunately, my neighbors from the first floor also heard that something was happening. They also ran out into the street and started shouting in the direction of that group to leave us alone, that I was a single mother. Then my second came cousin, he had a hammer in his hand, and they started running."
After that, together with their neighbors, they literally barricaded themselves in the apartment, in fear of another attack.
While talking about these events, Enisa B. occasionally pauses. She says that even today she is shaking as those images pass through her mind, all that she experienced with her family just a few days ago in the far east of Germany. She claims that the attackers were local neo-Nazis who, as she assumes, wanted to intimidate her family and force them to leave Liberoz. The neighbors, she says, told her that Saturday evening that they had known for a long time about the man who was knocking on her window, and about the group of younger people who were chasing her children on the street.
"They told me that two families of neo-Nazis live in the town. And that their grandfathers were also Nazis. So where did I come from? Why didn't anyone tell me, why didn't they warn me?"
Asylum in Berlin
Enisa B. is from Tuzla. She came to Germany with her three daughters, who are now 16, 13 and 12 years old, in 2015. She applied for asylum. In the meantime, she met a German, got pregnant with him, had a fourth child and stayed in Berlin. However, the relationship did not last long. As he emphasizes, he is still on good terms with the father of his son, now seven years old. They see each other regularly, he visits them, takes care of their common child. She is no longer in contact with the father of her three daughters, with whom she was married in BiH.
"Life in Berlin was not easy. As a single mother, I had to do everything myself. I didn't even know German well then, I hardly understood anything, and someone always had to translate for me, for example when social workers came."
For a while, Enisa B. lived in a home with her children in Berlin, and then she found an apartment in the Schönevajde neighborhood, on the southern end of the German capital.
"It was a small apartment, with two rooms. A kitchen, a balcony and those two rooms, with four children. But that was better for us than living in a home."
Life in an expensive city
She spent seven or eight years in Šenevajde. She received social assistance. The children started school, but the apartment was cramped, says the 33-year-old. They had neither space nor peace for assignments and studying. She tried with the help of the competent city services to find a slightly larger accommodation, but she did not succeed. Berlin is expensive, the housing situation is tense.
"And then a colleague told me to look on I-Bay, that they also offer apartments there. And that's how I found an apartment. I immediately called the man who was renting it, he immediately asked me when I could come by and see what the apartment looks like ."
Enisa traveled to Liberose. She immediately liked the apartment. Everything was renovated, lots of space for children: four rooms, two bathrooms, garden. She also liked that settlement. It was not as noisy as in Berlin – a small and quiet place, he says.
"But if someone had told me that something like this would happen to me, I would rather have continued living in those two rooms in Berlin. In Schöneweide, no one has ever said anything ugly to my children and me. I can't sleep at night, I'm awake until three or four in the morning. And then I wake up at six."
Not only Enisa was traumatized, but the children also experienced a shock: "My seven-year-old son is now afraid to go to the toilet by himself. He pees his pants because of fear. Because of fear. I always have to be with him."
For Enisa B., Liberoze is a finished story. Already on Sunday, only three after she moved to that place, she picked up her children and returned to Berlin. And on Monday, she went to Liberoze by herself, went to the police and reported what happened. In the meantime, she also gave a statement.
Two versions of the story?
A representative of the Southern Brandenburg police department confirmed to the RBB TV station that due to suspicion of racist attacks and threats to a Bosnian family, "several investigative procedures" have been initiated.
The investigation is still ongoing, and the German authorities are targeting a group of six young people who are accused of racially insulting a minor in the center of Liberoze, as well as threats, and there is also suspicion of causing bodily harm.
In addition, the 45-year-old man who knocked on Ennis's window, and who is accused of using unconstitutional symbols, is also being targeted by the German judiciary. According to local media from the east of Germany, he is known by the nickname "Hitler" in Liberoze.
An investigation was also launched against two men from Enisa's circle, her relatives, as she says.
"We need to clarify what really happened," said a police spokeswoman.
According to her, the statements of the members of Enisa's family and the group of younger men about what happened in the center of Liberoze differ significantly.
The dpa agency writes that the police are investigating the allegations that one of the two men physically assaulted the young people. He was, as further stated, reported on suspicion of causing injuries.
Martin Veselija from the organization "Opferperspektive", which helps the Bosnian family, is not surprised.
"In numerous cases of right-wing violence, there is an attempt to replace the roles of the victim and the perpetrator. They file reports in order to divert the focus from what they have done," Veseli told RBB.
A few days ago, his organization published information about the case on Twitter, after which numerous German media reported on it.
The rise of right-wing violence
Although the police investigation is still ongoing, many users on social networks express the opinion that the "Liberosa case" is only a reflection of the current situation in Germany regarding the increase in the rate of intolerance towards foreigners.
The number of politically motivated right-wing crimes thus increased significantly in the state of Brandenburg in the first half of 2023. According to official data, the Ministry of the Interior of Brandenburg registered 1.049 cases from January to July. That is about a third more than in the same period last year.
In the whole of Germany, in 2022, according to the data of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order, 23.493 right-wing motivated crimes were registered, which is an increase of seven percent compared to the previous year. The number of left-wing politically motivated crimes amounted to 6.976, i.e. 31 percent less than in 2021.
At the mention of those figures, Enisa B. says in an interview with DW that she currently has other concerns. Her family is now accommodated in one home, in a room with five beds. They are at the beginning again, he is looking for a new apartment in Berlin. Although she is exhausted and tired, she says that despite the nightmare of Liberoze, she still dreams of a better life for herself and her four children.
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