Fearing For His Life, a Christian Refugee in Austria Returns to Syria, Where It’s Safer

A young Christian from Syria fled to Austria to escape persecution. When he arrived in Europe, he found himself forced into the company of “refugees” who supported the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. He had to keep his Christian faith a secret, or risk being killed. Eventually he returned to Syria, where he felt he was more likely to be safe.

Anton, who translated the German video report below for subtitling, includes this introduction:

A Christian Syrian refugee, Spiro Haddad, recalls his illegal journey to Austria.

On the way, he is met by people who openly confide their allegiance to ISIS and Al-Nusra. He doesn’t feel safe in Europe, so he returns to Syria.

The ISIS and Al-Nusra followers remain and want to Islamize Europe, and convert the churches into mosques.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00   We meet Spiro Haddad in a suburb of Damascus.
00:03   Last summer, the 25-year-old decided to escape with his friends,
00:08   via Beirut and Istanbul to Izmir. A video-selfie is a reminder of the Aegean crossing.
00:13   On to Austria, he wanted to stay there.
00:17   But then came the first doubts. I left because of my family;
00:21   we are Christians and lost everything in the war.
00:24   I was scared when I saw how many of the refugees openly pledged to Al-Nusra and ISIS.
00:30   He spent €3,000 on smugglers to get there.
00:34   These photos are reminiscent of the optimism he had at the time.
00:38   Then he was separated from his friends.
00:41   Alone on the refugee route he was afraid to confess to being a Christian.
00:44   The memories of Hungary returned too, which he could not get out of his head.
00:49   We were treated worse here than in Syria. So I did not have this picture of Europe.
00:54   The interrogation by the police, the German shepherd dogs, the barbed wire.
00:58   All this has played into the hands of the radicals.
01:01   Now, the leaders tolerated only their own opinion.
01:04   They would soon make mosques out of the churches.
01:07   I had to speak as they spoke, I could not contradict them.
01:12   I had hoped for freedom in Europe. Now, here on the track,
01:16   the people I had once fled from were making the decisions.
01:21   He consulted his mother and then spoke to the authorities in Austria.
01:25   They did not take him very seriously. He could not go on like this and decided to return.
01:31   His mother is glad that he is back. Actually, he had wanted to fetch her.
01:37   Spiro is now working on television again. War, ISIS, refugees are also the big topic here.
01:44   His colleagues say there are many like him, but hardly anyone is ready to talk.
01:49   It is not good that Europe is open to all.
01:52   ISIS and Al-Nusra want to destroy everything, even with you.
01:55   If you do not understand that, I’m pessimistic for the future of Europe.
01:59   A year ago he could not have imagined that he would be here in Damascus, despite the war,
02:04   and that he would feel safer here than on the refugee route in Europe.
02:08   [Music]
 

10 thoughts on “Fearing For His Life, a Christian Refugee in Austria Returns to Syria, Where It’s Safer

  1. We have a popular Russian-speaking social network Vkontakte.
    If the Muslims provoke some “blasphemy” they write candidly about their goals. II wonder who inspired them with confidence that we could not resist them?
    Russian youth is also different. For example, my daughter says: Mom, how are you not ashamed to be such an intolerant Islamophobic?
    Some young people are very radical and inhuman-intolerant. Even I’m scared.
    I think that this problem should have been solved 30 years ago by strict birth control in the middle East and Asia. Now, the system went into a nosedive.

  2. Interesting footage of Damascus/Damas. One might be forgiven for thinking that now is the time for many hundreds of thousands of Syrians to be packing their bags and heading home. But one would be failing to understand the truth and reality of our planned demise and the coming destruction before the birth of the Wonderful New World of the Brotherhood of Man.

    Déjà-vu all over again.

  3. The Syrian government was always protective of Christians and other minorities in the predominantly-Muslim country. It’s simply a fact that Muslim countries cannot be democratic and free. It’s a contradiction in terms.

    Ashamed as I am of US actions, the US sponsored terrorist rebellions against the Syrian government, on the grounds that it was not democratic but authoritarian. One cannot get rid of the feeling that the US government was under the influence of the same neocons who pushed for the devastation of Serbia and Serbian Bosnia. Israel also had issues with the Syrian government, quite legitimate issues involving Syria’s friendly relationship with Iran. But, the US government should have left Israel and Syria to settle it between themselves.

    • One cannot get rid of the feeling that the US government was under the influence of the same neocons who pushed for the devastation of Serbia and Serbian Bosnia.

      Yes. Blue believers, graduates of Georgetown’s foreign service mill, are deeply ensconced in our State Dept. The mess made in Bosnia emerged from this phenomenon.

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