Helping Refugee Kids Adapt to School Life in Stendal
In the heart of Saxony-Anhalt, a unique asylum reception facility has been operating since May 2024. Housed in an old DDR barracks of the border troops, this facility, known as the initial reception facility, was established with the aim of providing a safe and supportive environment for asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable children.
The facility, run by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, has been accommodating children from various countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Russia, and Africa. The children, while residing in the facility, are not subject to the school attendance obligation, but instead, they attend a learning workshop. This workshop, seen as a "soft bridge" into regular school life by integration experts, is not a school, but a project aimed at being a contact person for the children and teaching them about German culture and school behavior.
The day in the facility is structured through the Learning Workshop, with a digital module included to enable continued contact with the children after they leave the facility. The learning workshop is funded by the state's social ministry via the integration guideline, amounting to 387,000 euros annually for both Halberstadt and Stendal.
Upon leaving the facility, children are either returned to their home country or distributed to municipalities and attend regular schools. The facility can accommodate asylum seekers for a maximum of six months. Particularly vulnerable people, mainly children, have been accommodated in this facility for the past year.
The local immigration authority of the district of Stendal is the performing authority at the facility. However, the facility is still seeking staff, with numerous positions, including management, yet to be filled. Volunteers are also needed to engage with the children, offer sports activities, and develop other leisure activities at the facility.
In August 2025, a second state reception facility for asylum seekers was established in Stendal. The facility, like the one in Halberstadt, is funded by the state's social ministry via the integration guideline. The number of asylum lawsuits is increasing in Saxony-Anhalt, and Justice Minister Franziska Weidinger advocates for faster procedures to relieve the courts.
Caritas is involved in asylum procedure counselling and the learning workshop at the facility. Currently, 423 people are in the asylum seeker accommodation in Stendal, 195 of whom are children and young people under 18 years of age. The second state reception center for asylum seekers after Halberstadt, operational since May 2024, is located in Dresden.
The facility in Stendal was planned to accommodate traumatized, women, and children, particularly in need of protection. The aim of the facility was to be prepared for the asylum seekers coming to Saxony-Anhalt, as declared by the then Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht in 2015. The facility continues to strive towards its mission of providing a supportive environment for asylum seekers, especially children, as they navigate their new lives in Germany.
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