no not yet. the industry is controlling your thoughts on the great books of the 20th century. present day hoaxes. regular. badgering ignorance starts you may 3rd. a growing number of christians from the middle east now live in germany. kirk has been here for decades he was born in southeastern turkey. but in recent years many have come from syria where christianity is fast disappearing but it is not the 1st time this has happened in the middle east in my view that there are always wars and in the end if the christians lose the fairly our lives kurt is seeking to help i

he's come to syria to find out what he can do to alleviate the situation and to encourage the last remaining christians not to leave. while his journey succeed. his 1st destination a clinic in the town of sadat in western syria he hasn't come empty handed this ambulance is as good as new one final check. e.c.g. monitor is there ever so i found that you. know that us to just get it in a few minutes paolo's card and heinz now will hand over the vehicle. it was transported from germany by ship. the ambulance has been completely renewed thanks to 30000 euros in donations. volunteers worked on it for 2 years members of

a catholic association in germany also helped find sneath is one of. us. a qualified paramedic he goes through the equipment on board with one of the doctors at the clinic. the hospital's own ambulance was destroyed by islamist militants. many of those who donated to the new vehicle were initially concerned about giving money to a country ruled by a dictator but in the end the desire to help in the face of human need prevailed you mention here people here have suffered a lot and had a lot stolen from them you can see the state of the previous. pieces by almost from militants in court. or this is what's important for us is to help. whether there's an autocratic governments in power or a free to elected parliament. what have you. the ambulance is ready

to go staff at the clinic are delighted. they say it will help save lives. it's very much needed because the next time spill is 45 kilometers away and we have no specialist doctors here every time we need to transfer patient we need a vehicle but there just aren't any often you can't even order a private car the end violence will serve more than $15000.00 people not just here inside out but also the surrounding villages. the ambulance is the 1st major project for polio skirts small aid organizations he knows what it is to flee fighting he was a refugee himself when he came to germany in 1980 this is a big moment for him. this is a cup when i see that bust up ambulance. i can't put into words how happy and proud i am that these people now have this samuel and this.

used to be home to many christians the same as quickly shared with other syrians back in germany hide their ambulance. all with their own ax fall. in germany where. rania fled syria 4 years ago and now lives in germany she works for the aid organization which is why she was given special permission by the german immigration authorities to return here just for a few days. time for another quick photo for friends and donors back in germany. for. the ice and. suddenly a man comes by on a moped the group knows him or her newman was previously a refugee in germany to. how you know you well. know it was those who are shutting her noon and bites his old friends back to his house. because he. fled

syria to escape the islamic state group rather than the assad regime he and his family faced no problems when they return. now he works as a self-employed car mechanic. that. he and his wife and children are living here sharing with another family. they hope it's just a temporary solution. rania wants to know if shanti and his family need any help the she can't understand why they return voluntarily i think less us and you know what made you leave germany and come back here when. i came back because i wasn't doing well mentally. and that i had no work and nothing to do i just spent 24 hours a day thinking about everything. i need work to distract me and pass the time while i was in germany but my thoughts were here in the side of my market is i'm not

planning to return there's nothing here for me that my son says mom i'm not going back i'm studying i'm working i don't want to lose my future my daughter is doing her high school diploma aren't you worried about your family and children if the ins return fire is you guys mother thought. no it's completely safe here. would watch my mind that there were bomb attacks yesterday or the homes is completely safe syria is completely safe right through to iraq is the father would you go back if the militants returned. to germany probably. rania asks his daughter lane if she wants to go to germany yes she does she tells us she loves going to school in germany lane shows us around the home and this is the living room she says. that this is the bedroom for the entire family. this is the end this is the kitchen where they all cooked

together. is not typical most christians aren't keen to return to syria. the assad dynasty has ruled the country since 1971 the personality cult surrounding the president is all too evident and so more the scars of war. there are roadblocks everywhere. and. journalists are not allowed to move freely in syria. at least one person from the information ministry escorted us whenever we felt for security reasons we were told. that. the capital damascus is still a bustling center of life all of here is calm here and relatively normal. but

appearances can be deceiving. the old city which remains largely intact has numerous control posts and a host of security officials who we are not allowed to film. the fear of terrorist attacks is very real and there is also rampant inflation the war and international sanctions have driven crisis through the roof the syrian pound is constantly losing value. even the man selling sweets deals with huge bundles of money. that's one of our sanctions the problem i ask because yes they're driving up the prices says this trader. it's a crisis with no wind in sight for syria's war weary population. not far from the market is the official residence of the head of the syriac orthodox church. paulose and members of his a group international society of oriental christians are here to talk to the

patriarch about new projects like. the ambulance for saddam was just a start. and they've waited weeks for this appointment with the patriarch. they make not c s i from the 2nd meet them in person. with. the patriarch is the spiritual leader of millions of syriac orthodox christians all over the world. he has no illusions about the future of christians in syria as he tells us in a rare interview. if i have to look at it as the christian situation in syria i would say that numbers have almost. been reduced by half unfortunately. those who are still here some of them are still looking forward to leaving syria. in this in such situation

we believe that it's important for us to strengthen our presence and i would contribution to syria because of the. you know the decrease in numbers we have to double 0 if it's and to be stronger in our situations in order to. prove ourselves as citizens and also to be able to help that it's of the syrian brothers us is that really with what many centuries all over. the. audience here at the cathedral of st george in damascus the psalms are sung in aramaic the language spoken by jesus christ the syriac orthodox the nomination sees itself in the tradition of the early church the 1st christians came to damascus 2000 years ago. patriarchic not he was our friend has been in office since

2014. even at the height of the syrian civil war he stayed mostly in damascus. he rejects criticism from the west that he and his church have sold out to the assad regime. we have been in contact with many politicians and leaders in the west and i'm sorry to say that they have failed to understand our situation they have followed the mainline politics of the west. they look at christians in particular as collaborators as people supporting this regime or that and this is not the case of course it hurts us to see people in the west accusing us of office standing on the side while we think they are on the wrong side of history. so why does the

patriarch believe the west is on the wrong side of history on syria for more insight we meet with. a german expert on eastern christianity he spent years living in the middle east and knows many of the church leaders personally. mark undersea in those fields all of it was patriarch is just taking care of his flock. and it's quite simply the case that all the christians in syria believe that the conditions they've experienced on the bashar al assad and his father before. good as it gets in a state like syria. those into the abyss to move on there's always the fear that if things change fundamentally in this situation for the christians could look very differences that for example if radical islamists like the muslim brotherhood kinds of house. so preventing their top priority. in the newsletter you victims to see. kurt prefers to stay out of politics

he just wants to help his fellow christians in their time of need. when the people talk a lot but they don't actually do anything to help it as someone who has been through these things i see it as my duty and my calling to help and support people in a situation like this so help and. running as focus is elsewhere right now she's longing to see her parents again and is planning a visit her family lives quite a distance from damascus. i haven't seen them for 4 years. i feel like my heart has stopped beating. heart. we had north to visit rania's parents. while some areas have been reduced to rubble others remain untouched protected by checkpoints. our destination is

an area known as the valley of christians in the province of homs where ronnie is mother and the entire family are waiting expectantly the war torn rania's family apart her parents village hasn't been destroyed but it was behind the front line meaning rania was cut off from her family. because heck you know it's incredible to think she's on her way here. given i'm so happy. because. this is the most of the i'm very happy about that any mother in my position when i'm happy to see her daughter again it's been 5 years since we've seen her that she had to flee we were very worried about her she left on her own and has been through a lot. for the past week they've been waiting impatiently for rania to reach them.

that. for years the only contact they've had with their daughter has been on the phone. and my darling. oh we're so happy that she came back and you got to take you and your children.

i'm so happy to see my mother and father my uncles and and all my friends i'm going i'm very happy. about it your ma. only just got out of homs in time. she lived near here in the city of homs together with her husband and children along with many other christians she never wants to come back here again. this neighborhood can only be accessed with a special permit from syria's military intelligence service palms was a center of the uprising against assad. the city came under rebel control the christians suffered greatly and during the long government siege

to retake the city conditions were desperate. since 2017 the whole of homs has been back under government control. nature is gradually taking over. most residents were able to escape many now live in germany. but a few have returned and are now living in the ruins. it's mainly the older generation that have come back to their former neighborhood like swat and her husband she says holmes was like hell on earth. out of the good when i came back i didn't recognize our apartment ever. thing was burned up destroyed or had collapsed so it makes me sad at 1st i fainted at the sight i was as white as a sheet looking at all this houses apartments everything gone they left nothing. to

look at. what my. sue want witnessed terrible things but still she's hoping that her neighbors will return and things will be as they were before. there was a woman who just wanted to cross the street with her children they attacked them and shot them all day had they shot the woman her husband and the children what can i say seeing the bodies lying on the street was terrifying just as they had is that it. can she ever forgive the murderers. not among them no i'm not forgiving them it's impossible i would somehow that he forgive everything but what happened here i wasn't normal with that we saw things with her own eyes said she could never have believed me has just not been there

weren't even many birds even the birds fled from those gonna feel you. had with me . a few minutes drive away is the manzanar church and important syriac orthodox cathedral this site is said to have been a place of christian worship for 2000 years. the building was severely damaged in the fighting but has since been restored. the church is seen as an anchor by many oriental orthodox christians follow skirt included. this is my identity. throughout history we oriental orthodox christians have never had a state that represented us politically or practically so the church was always the

highest authority that has always represented us and so it's my identity. that. very often it's the churches that have been rebuilt 1st in syria without a church many see no hope of returning. follows continues his journey to the column on mountains near the lebanese border. the road passes through terrain that has remained unchanged for centuries. eventually we reach a small mountain village. home to an ancient christian community. the war came here to. in september 2013 are not militants of the al qaeda affiliated al nusra front

invaded the village days of fighting ensued between the militants and the government troops. buildings and artifacts dating back to antiquity were badly damaged some were directly targeted by the militants. right now things in manila are quiet. sure. harlow's has arranged to meet professor knees are zob or he's a well known artist who has studied the history of syria including this special place called. ok. he says that even during those terrible weeks back in 2013 there were courageous people who helped their neighbors. when the militants

and the muslim residents from the village of. help the christians of mali. for some even hit the christians in their homes a few minutes of. this relatively peaceful coexistence between diverse cultural groups set syria apart before the war that is the 4th could you imagine syria without this diversity these different religion it's really the shorty if you don't plan which. syria has 18 different religious denominations i'm definite groups. that mr adversity is one of his most outstanding characteristic. of the dimension how he looked around damascus and. other things how you expect them to be. if. i thought i would only see both are images dealt with because. everything we saw in europe was dark and hopeless. but what i've noticed here now

is that there is hope. and hope. but i do see that some people are fearful and this an angst. and when i stand here i see the monastery on the one side that has been repaired i make last but on the other the hotel that still stands in ruins. this is why so there are 2 different pictures this is for me and it's not easy for me to imagine that all this will stop at some point. although i sincerely hope it will. but i would like europe to come and see where their own oil is how life here is and to newegg despite everything despite the sanctions passed by cultivated europe with all respect come and see how life syria is. looking at the destruction and the still relatively tense situation it's hard to

imagine that this was once a popular tourist destination. footage from a german broadcaster dating back to 2001 shows the hotel in the village as it was a lively and beautiful place. visitors would come from all over the world to see them our sark it's the one of syria's oldest surviving monasteries with its famous icons and ancient altar. the rule. is one of the last remaining villages where aramaic is still spoken the language of jesus christ this is the lord's prayer in aramaic of honor. which get the sh'ma he said in. just going you know. it's me wish more head out of. the holy omaha hopefully that was 20 years ago what happened to the young woman did

she survive the war. after months of research we find she's still here when the islamist militants came she head in a cave now she's happy to show us around the monastery and church. of them at the missy his is one of the oldest altars in christendom what the runabout has broken that you can still see the cracks but our guys stuck together some of them busy when we came back after madeleine was liberated we found it in 3 or 4 pieces that at about. order has been restored in the church and the dome rebuilt. who. i.

really. no walk oh oh. oh. home. oh really. just. another sizable christian community is located in northern syria right near the turkish border. this footage was filmed in july 29th team before turkey invaded the area. it's a predominantly kurdish region the kurds have long strived for political autonomy

and traditionally oppose the assad regime. the footage shows many images of. the jailed founder of the kurdistan workers' party or p k k both turkey and the west see the p.k. k. as a terrorist group the turkish government views the local kurdish administration and all kurdish fighters as terrorists. in october 21000 turkish troops and allied militias invaded northern syria among them turkish back to jihadists. in the chaos there were many reports of islamic state militants escaping from kurdish jails. the local christians found themselves with nowhere to turn. caught up in the fighting targeted by the islamists but not natural allies of the kurds either. the escape

route to europe via turkey was blocked by the walled off border. from gibbs and you've got there's no hope of escaping from this area that was designed to be the fault of turkey has been closed for a number of years it took a medically sealed loss and so the christians are forced to stay where they are it gets woman that's a blood was isn't. but what will the christians do if the situation in northern syria escalates. gets woman's if they're forced to flee and then obviously they will somebody else will be inside think that could happen in the next few years.

i'm scared that of a war that's hard and in the end it's a me you're not allowed to stay here and more than was injured that. are you familiar with this. with the smugglers with clients. what's your story ready. i mean when i was a women especially in victims of violence. take part and send us your story we are trying always to understand this new culture. and i think in a turn i think yes you want to become a citizen. in 4 migrants your plan. form for reliable information.

this is g.w. news wyvern from berlin tonight in germany a call for a harder longer coronavirus walk down the head of germany's conservative c.d.u. party and a possible chancellor candidate says tougher restrictions would slow the 3rd wave of the pandemic and be a group gentil more people are vaccinated also coming up tonight a setback in the fight for gender equality in india why the couvade 1000 crisis is hitting india's working women harder than men and tensions mount in eastern ukraine after russia.