Their story is a tale about befriending the other even as one in four people in the town voted for the far-right Alternative for Germany in recent elections.

It is also evidence that beneath the fears fanning the populist flame in Europe’s biggest democracy, the integration of hundreds of thousands of migrants is quietly working, one village at a time. Across the country, more than one in three are now employed, government statistics show.

Four years after the Syrians arrived, Golzow has changed — for the better, most seem to agree.

Empty apartments have new life in them. At the annual sunflower fair, Arabic pastries sit next to German apple tarts. When the school caretaker needs help sweeping up leaves, Fadi, Ahmed and Mahmoud, the Syrian fathers, are among the first to volunteer.

One villager, whose own grandchildren live hundreds of miles away, has taken three Syrian children under his wing, teaching them how to fish and swim. The children call him “Opa,” German for grandfather.

It wasn’t always like this.

When Mr. Schütz first gathered villagers to explain his idea to bring in Syrians, there was a lot of skepticism.