Description

From Raqqa on the Euphrates to Cologne on the Rhine - the arduous path from war and repression to freedom

Raqqa am Rhein is an autobiographical story about departure and arrival, about destroyed dreams of freedom and hopeful new beginnings. The focus is initially on memories of a childhood and youth marked by the dictatorship, near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa and everyday life in a village community on the Euphrates. The author later describes the first peaceful protests in 2011 at the University of Aleppo as well as their brutal suppression by the Assad regime. Authentic eyewitness reports also offer unembellished insights into the unscrupulous methods of the Syrian secret services and into life under the arbitrary rule of IS in Raqqa after 2014. But Abdullah also reports on his new homeland Germany. He describes the first steps in an initially foreign society and language in detail and humorously. The author questions the common concepts of integration and origin, reflects on the concept of freedom and also offers some surprising changes in perspective.

Text excerpt:

"Two years later - I was now working at the Romano-Germanic Museum and was in the process of restoring one of the towers of the medieval Cologne city wall - several patrol officers suddenly rushed towards me and explained that someone had reported me as a terrorist. I just smiled at that too. A colleague from work later explained to me that I had to get used to such things, after all I was not only a foreigner but “also a Syrian”. So I smiled. I have no idea why people smile so much in times of war and soldiers, flight, dictators and right-wing extremists.

I promise to be a good refugee so everyone will accept me. One who eats pork, who gets drunk in the bars every day, who is against the building of mosques and for a headscarf ban, one who whitens black bodies and prevents black bodies from being on the streets, in schools and at universities another language is spoken than just one. And which gives many seats to the right in parliament and ministries.”

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Read by Thomas Roth
audio sample:

Article about Jabbar Abdullah in the Kölnische Rundschau

Reviews:

The book presents complex issues in a clearly understandable, in some places even poetic language, using various stylistic devices. At the same time, essential historical and current aspects of both countries are addressed, with the intention of bringing the cultures closer together. Abdullah does the same as a curator in regular literary and art projects. The author allows closeness, is honest and authentic. He takes clear positions without being distracted by his surroundings. “I like Cologne, I’m on the Euphrates. I'm on the Rhine. I mix with him. I live here and I want to continue living here like everyone else." Despite many dashed hopes and disappointments, "Raqqa on the Rhine" is an appeal to freedom and living (together)."

- Natalia Almuiña Fernández