Shahd Najeeb thought she had left the nightmare behind.

More than a decade ago, she fled Syria during the civil war, escaping the violence of Daesh fighters and eventually finding safety in Germany. She and her husband, Mahmoud Hmouech, built a new life in Rostock, raised two children and found work.

Now, as the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gains ground in eastern Germany and immigration again dominates political debate, Najeeb fears that the country she came to call home may no longer want people like her.

"When I think about the time we left Syria, I still don’t know how we managed to get through it,” Najeeb told Reuters at her home in Rostock, on Germany’s Baltic coast. "It was like a nightmare.”

Najeeb and Hmouech fled Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria and rebuilt their lives in Germany. Hmouech works in a barber shop, while Najeeb serves meals at local schools. Their children, aged 4 and 6, play around the family’s small apartment, where drawings cover one wall and toys are stacked in the corners.

"We are grateful to the German people for welcoming us and giving us peace and security,” Hmouech said. "The work we do is a small way of showing our gratitude.”

They are part of a large Syrian community that has grown in Germany since the country welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees during the Syrian war. About 972,000 Syrians were living in Germany at the end of 2023, according to Germany’s Institute for Employment Research, including about 712,000 people registered as asylum seekers or refugees.

But for some, a sense of belonging has become more fragile.

Reuters spoke to 20 people from migrant backgrounds in Rostock and nearby Schwerin. Many had lived in Germany for years, and some had become German citizens. Several said they had experienced more anti-immigrant abuse in recent years, ranging from insults and muttered remarks to demands that they return to their countries of origin.

One woman said a neighbor poured foul-smelling water on her from a balcony.

Several interviewees, including people working in healthcare, tourism, education and food services, said they would consider leaving Rostock or Schwerin if the atmosphere continued to deteriorate.

‘This country is for Germans’

Najeeb, 38, studied physics in Baghdad and later worked as a jewelry designer in Syria. She remembers one incident in particular that made her question whether she and her family truly belonged.

After picking up her children from school, she stopped at a grocery store. An elderly man in a wheelchair, she said, began shouting at her.

"This country is for Germans,” he yelled.

"The pain I experienced in Rostock is a new kind of pain that I have never felt before,” Najeeb said.

"You feel the injustice because you have done nothing wrong. I worked hard to build a life for myself and then someone comes along and treats you like garbage,” she said, her voice cracking.

Her son asked why the man was insulting her and what she had done to him.

Najeeb did not know how to explain it.

She told him the man might be unwell.

Her experience comes as the AfD has gained significant support across eastern Germany. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where Rostock and Schwerin are located, the party has emerged as a major force ahead of the state election. Earlier this month, it won its first major regional election in Saxony-Anhalt.

The AfD says it supports immigration by skilled workers but wants tougher action against people who have no legal right to remain in Germany. Its rhetoric around migration and its calls for "remigration,” a term used by the party in discussions about returning foreigners to their countries of origin, have nevertheless intensified concerns among some migrant communities.

During a televised debate this week, Social Democratic state premier Manuela Schwesig said the party's statements were creating fear among foreigners who work and contribute to the economy.

AfD candidate Leif-Erik Holm rejected that characterization and said the government was responsible for failing to control illegal immigration and deport more people who have been ordered to leave.

The debate reflects a broader tension in eastern Germany, where political concerns about migration are colliding with a need for workers.

A workforce Germany needs

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, like much of eastern Germany, faces an aging population and low birth rates. Around 50,000 people with a migration background work in the state, according to the Reuters report.

Syrians are also increasingly part of Germany’s workforce.

Germany's Federal Employment Agency reported about 287,000 employed Syrian nationals in September 2024, including 236,000 in jobs covered by social security. It said Syrian employment had increased by 23,000 over the previous year.

The figures also show that integration into the labor market tends to improve with time. Research by the Institute for Employment Research found that Syrian refugees who had been in Germany for seven years had an employment rate of about 61%. Among those who arrived in 2015, the rate was about 60% in 2022.

The picture is not uniform. Overall employment among Syrian nationals remains below that of Germany's foreign population, partly because many Syrians arrived relatively recently. But official data show a clear rise in employment as people spend more time in the country.

For people like Najeeb and Hmouech, however, belonging is about more than employment.

Some Syrians still hope to return home if conditions improve. Others have put down roots in Germany and now see their future there.

For Najeeb and Hmouech, Germany is where their children are growing up.

That makes the changing political climate deeply personal.

Hmouech said he does not want his children to grow up believing that the society they call home rejects them.

"At the end of the day, family comes first,” he said.