A four-star hotel in the German town of Halle (in Saxony-Anhalt, the former DDR) was abruptly converted into “refugee” housing. Hotel employees and business owners received little or no information about the closure beforehand, and many were taken by surprise, finding themselves locked out and suddenly unemployed.

What is notable about the following German news report is the restrained response given by most of the people interviewed. There is simmering anger in their voices, but they are at pains to emphasize that it is not directed at the “New Germans” who are getting off the buses and moving into the hotel. Presumably they are angry at their elected political leaders and the bureaucratic functionaries who serve them, but these newly-unemployed citizens are careful not to voice any specifics in that regard. Perhaps they don’t want to ruin their chances of getting another job.

Many thanks to Nash Montana for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

0:06 Welcome to Exact.

0:09 Taken by surprise, and marooned, that’s how the employees of the Hotel Maritim feel now in Halle

0:14 The hotel has been made into an accommodation for refugees.

0:17 The employees learned from the media that the hotel shut down operations,

0:21 and as of today, most don’t know what is going to happen to them now.

0:26 From a four-star hotel to a refugee reception center. Our reporters are on location:

0:34 The Maritim hotel in Halle, last Thursday. Police cars are positioned.

0:37 Employees are gathered at a side entrance.

0:42 The hotel has ceased all operations effective immediately.

0:46 They just, they made this all, without consultation with us, right over our heads

0:53 Visitors, and people who own businesses in the hotel, are dismissed and told to leave.

1:00 Yesterday as I came in for the late shift, I learned that from today, I am not allowed to enter

1:06 my business anymore and that I cannot serve any more customers.

1:11 Since last week, nothing is how it used to be here anymore. In one heave-ho action,

1:16 they transformed a four-star hotel into a refugee center.

1:20 Employees only learned of this from the media at the beginning of September.

1:24 The Great Refugee Crisis. It arrived in the midst of the Maritim staff.

1:29 Andreas Lehmann is the puzzled chairman of the workers’ council.

1:36 We accompany him on his last day to his place of employment.

1:40 He has worked in the Hotel industry for 37 years. He was the night-shift auditor

1:44 at the hotel reception. Now he’s out of work.

1:50 ”Yes, I am angry, that my employment has been terminated. I don’t know…

1:58 I am seething. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act.”

2:02 Last Thursday he met with his colleagues at the hotel that now isn’t one anymore.

2:08 About fifty colleagues have gathered. Britt Heidenreich is there too. It is her birthday today of all days.

2:14 She is 42 years old; for 25 years she worked at the Maritim as a waitress.

2:20 The sudden closure took her completely by surprise, like everyone else.

2:25 ”I don’t think anyone expected this. Until the 5th of September

2:29 when we had to learn of this through the press.

2:32 How do we deal with this… We are trying to process it, we didn’t want to believe this

2:37 for the longest time, but meanwhile… this is the bitter truth.”

2:42 ”Employees were informed from the very beginning of the repurposing of the hotel, and they were offered

2:48 compensatory places of work,” says the Maritim Corporation when being asked.

2:54 But obviously this had never reached the employees, they feel marooned.

2:59 Michael Schwammberger has worked at the hotel since 1985 as a chef.

3:04 ”I don’t have anything to say, it’s all done.”

3:09 ”How do you feel treated by your employer, how long have you worked for them?”

3:14 ”41 years. 41 years. I started here as an apprentice when I was 16. And now they pull the rug out

3:22 from underneath our feet. Just like that.”

3:26 The staff walk away to a worker’s assembly meeting. But there they also won’t learn what is going to happen with them now.

3:33 They are angry that now suddenly they hear everywhere that the hotel wasn’t profitable anyway.

3:38 The Hotel Maritim, built in 1968, had always been regarded as a modern carte de visite for the city of Halle.

3:46 310 single rooms were considered hard to manage, and with a revenue goal of €3 million

3:52 per year, money was strictly budgeted.

3:56 But from now on, the Maritim Corporation will earn €3 million with refugees every year.

4:00 A three-year rental contract has been signed with the county of Sachsen-Anhalt.

4:05 The county was desperately seeking for refugee facilities.

4:10 ”They say they were under pressure, but I have to say, they made these problems themselves.

4:15 That we have to suffer for these problems created by politicians… that’s very sad.”

4:19 Politics under pressure. How much so shows in the tempo.

4:24 On September 10th, the contract was ready to be signed. On October 1st, the first refugees arrived

4:30 A hotel was transformed into a temporary address for refugees.

4:34 But when the first buses arrived, the welcome was scornful.

4:43 Protests. The usual suspects. People hiding behind banners,

4:47 not facing the reality of a world full of refugees.

4:52 17,000 asylum seekers were taken into Sachsen-Anhalt county alone this year.

4:57 The Center for refugee processing in Halberstadt is hopelessly overwhelmed.

5:02 The hotel is supposed to bring some relief. It has been planned that up to 700 people will live here.

5:07 This has nothing to do with luxury accommodation in a four-star hotel.

5:13 The small one-bed rooms are being occupied by up to five people.

5:17 Rumors that the refugees are enjoying an exclusive kitchen are propaganda from the Internet.

5:24 While the refugees move in, the business owners have to say goodbye to the hotel.

5:29 The proprietors of the hair salon and the beauty salon were caught off guard as well by the closing.

5:35 Since the 1st of October, the clientele can’t come back onto the property.

5:38 The salon owner Karin Lüschke feels completely let down by politicians and the Maritim Corporation

5:44 ”Nobody helps. Nobody cares. We have nothing to say.

5:49 They do everything for the refugees, which doesn’t mean I’m angry at the refugees, in no way,

5:54 but they should’ve treated us differently.

5:57 They should have talked to us differently. Not from one day to the next.”

6:01 Also finished are the infant swimming courses at the hotel’s own swimming pool.

6:08 The trainer Kathrin Zäh rented space here, but she is out of work as well now.

6:14 She is disappointed, but she’s not angry. Especially not at the refugees.

6:18 ”Oh well, this is certainly a difficult situation, for Germany to find adequate housing

6:24 for the refugees, where they can live under humane conditions.

6:29 But on the other hand, that people are being put out in the street,

6:34 unemployed, that other people who helped build this hotel, like the swimming pool,

6:38 that they can’t use these structures anymore,

6:42 to figure out the situation, I’m sure it was hard.

6:46 I just find it disappointing how hastily everything went down.”

6:50 This kid and his family from Iraq know nothing of the frustration behind the curtains.

6:55 What takes place in and at the hotel is being watched closely

6:59 by Helmut Geier, directly opposite.

7:03 The 80-year-old has seen a lot as a seaman for the German Marines.

7:07 But what happens right now in front of his own door, it touches him.

7:13 ”I am just happy that these people have a place to sleep, yes? I mean, they have been

7:18 fleeing, doesn’t matter where they come from, but at least now they have sort of arrived somewhere.

7:26 I think that’s pretty nice.

7:29 Refugees need help, and they need a place to stay.

7:32 But for the Hotel staff anger and frustration remains that neither the Hotel Corporation nor the politicians

7:36 made an effort to talk to them honestly and promptly.

7:42 A few weeks ago, before the staff had gotten a taste of the refugee crisis,

7:47 when some of them were housed as guests. Andreas Lehmann and his colleagues

7:51 would’ve been willing to engage in helping.

7:54 ”Surely we could’ve found a solution where we could’ve helped with the care for refugees,