Movements between countries. - Hermsdorf's refugee housing shut down.
The contentious Hermsdorf refugee shelter is now shut down, as revealed by the Thuringian Interior Ministry. On Friday, the ministry decided to discontinue the usage of a former logistics hall as a refugee accommodation, and by morning of the same day, the last occupants had departed. In response to the situation, Thuringia's Interior Minister, Georg Maier of the SPD, declared that accommodating any more people at the facility is not desired and would be an "extremely exceptional" occurrence.
Initially, the state government designated the use of this logistics hall strictly for exceptional cases and a temporary solution for a few days. The residents lacked ample personal space, and the sanitary conditions were unsatisfactory. However, numerous refugees arriving in Thuringia at specific intervals caused a significant increase in the number of people staying in the hall beyond the expected duration. Sometimes, over 500 people resided there.
The Left Party state legislator and refugee advocate Katharina König-Preuss previously denounced the shelter as the "Hall of Misery." Likewise, the Greens, who had held the office of migration affairs for an extended period, condemned the conditions inside the hall. In early March, a petition was filed with the Petitions Committee of the state legislature, urging the "closure of the camp and prompt relocation of the people to a more suitable living situation." The initiators of the petition claimed that around 2100 people had signed it.
