Family worry for their future after being moved to eastern Germany

A Syrian refugee family who fled from war-torn Damascus have spoken of their worry that they will not be accepted in eastern Germany.

Khawla Kareem, 44, and her four children made the perilous journey across Mediterranean on a rubber dinghy, through the Balkans at the mercy of human traffickers before taking a minibus through Austria to get to the promised land of Germany.

But after arriving at an asylum centre - a former army barracks used by the Soviets and the Nazis - they fear what there new life will be, AP reports.

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Bleak: Mohammed, Yaman and Reem Habashieh (left to right) and their mother Khawla Kareem arrive at a asylum center theyíd been assigned to in Chemnitz, eastern Germany

'I heard from people that the place where we are going to in eastern Germany is not good,' Mrs Kareem said, 'and the people there do not accept foreigners.'

The sinister barracks, surrounded by towering fences topped with barbed wire in a depressed part of Germany, gave the Habashiehs their first inkling that the land of dreams may not be all that they had hoped for.

Widow Mrs Kareem arrived there with daughters Ragha, 11, and 19-year-old Reem, as well as sons Mohammed, 17, and Yaman, 15. Her husband died three years ago.

The latest leg of the Habashiehs' odyssey began in the afternoon in the German capital.

Having received their papers, stamped with passport photos, a new address and train tickets, they boarded a red double-decker train on Wednesday that wound its way south to Chemnitz.

They brought what they could carry - three huge black suitcases, plastic bags stuffed with shoes, winter coats and toys, as well as two umbrellas - all the new belongings they have amassed since arrival in Germany.

When she found out her family had to leave Berlin for eastern Germany, the mother-of-four was so worried that she considered tearing apart their papers and filing a new asylum application, in the hope of getting relocated to a better place.

'But then I was telling myself that I don't want to do anything illegal, that this is our fate, that we will persevere until residence will be granted,' she said. 'And then I can pick the best place for my children also for schools and to go to universities.'

Long journey: Raghad Habashieh and her mother Khawla Kareem sit in a train in Berlin that brings them to Dresden from where they continued their journey to Chemnitz

New start: The Habashieh family board the train a train in Berlin that brings them to Dresden from where they continued their journey to Chemnitz

Foreboding: The asylum centre in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, was once used as a barracks by the Soviets and the Nazis

When they arrived at the centre, the guard told them through gestures that the centre was full.

A bus picked them up and drove them about an hour away, to a cavernous hall filled with hundreds of asylum seekers.

Inside, black cots had been set up behind white sheets, a hopeless effort to grant some privacy.

Nobody told them where in Germany they were. It was only with the help of the GPS on her smartphone that Reem, the oldest daughter, finally found out they were somewhere on the outskirts of Dresden.

They still don't know how long they will have to stay there.

'We have no idea what will happen next,' Reem said. 'It's a nightmare.'

While the majority of Germans have been giving the recent floods of refugees a warm welcome, a vocal minority has been staging violent protests in front of asylum homes, especially in eastern Germany.

Earlier this year, Saxony's capital of Dresden saw weekly rallies attended by tens of thousands of people protesting the perceived Islamization of the West.

Germany is expecting as many as a million refugees by the end of this year, with hundreds of thousands coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

In September alone, Germany could re-home more than 100,000 asylum-seekers.

Full: A guard informs them that the centre was full and the family were moved to a hall with hundreds of asylum seekers about an hour away