Hermsdorf's refugee housing shut down.

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.

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1. Despite the closure of the Hermsdorf refugee shelter, Thuringia continues to grapple with migration issues, requiring the establishment of emergency shelters like the one in Erfurt to accommodate refugees temporarily.
2. Georg Maier, the SPD's Interior Minister in Thuringia, has emphasized that accommodating refugees in an emergency shelter in Hermsdorf would be an "extremely exceptional" occurrence due to previous unsatisfactory conditions in the former logistics hall.
3. The closures of previous refugee accommodation facilities like the one in Hermsdorf have sparked debates about providing ample personal space and sanitary conditions within these emergency shelters, such as the one planned in Georg Maier's SPD-led Thuringian government.
4. In the aftermath of the controversial Hermsdorf refugee shelter closure, regional politicians like Katharina König-Preuss of the Left Party and the Greens have been vocal about their concerns over the accommodation of refugees in adequate living conditions, advocating for more suitable alternatives.
5. The initiative to close the Hermsdorf refugee shelter and relocate its occupants to more suitable living situations gathered significant support, as evidenced by the over 2100 signatures on a petition filed with the state legislature in early March.

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