Review by Sabine Kleyboldt on Jabbar Abdullah's "Raqqa am Rhein"
Syrian archaeologist Abdullah writes about his new home in Cologne “I promise you that I will become a good refugee” by Sabine Kleyboldt, Catholic News Agency The Rhine reminds Jabbar Abdullah of the river of his childhood: the Euphrates in Syria. This makes it all the easier for him to feel at home in Cologne. However, the road to get there was long, as he describes in his book. Cologne/Aleppo (KNA) “Goodbye, my Euphrates, my good friend, please stay alive, at some point, I hope, I will come back to you.” In 2012, Jabbar Abdullah said goodbye to his home of Raqqa on the Euphrates River with almost poetic words. The Assad regime forces the student to flee because he spray-painted “Freedom for Syria” on house walls. Eight years later: "I like Cologne, I'm on the Euphrates. I'm on the Rhine... I live here and want to continue living here like everyone else." The archaeologist has now found a new home in Cologne – his “Raqqa on the Rhine”, as he...
