The Beacon
- THE STUDENT VOICE OE THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND SINCE 1935 -
October 1, 2015 • Volume 118 • Issue 5 • upbeacon.com
Students witness refugee crisis
Salzburg
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/ Kerstin Joensson
Refugees wait on a bridge after police stopped them at the border between Austria and Germany in Salzburg, Austria, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. UP students studying in
Salzburg have had the chance to witness this historic event firsthand.
Y THE BEACON
An organized chaos of aid
volunteers, grocery carts full of
food and supplies, a temporary
medical area and a swarm of
Red Cross workers greeted
sophomore Molly McSweyn
as she arrived at the Salzburg
train station to begin her year
of studying abroad.
Salzburg, Austria, a
storybook city just south of
the German border known for
being the birthplace of Mozart
and the setting for “The Sound
of Music,” is now receiving
international attention for
taking in and helping to
facilitate the movement of
refugees. As thousands of men,
women and children pour
into the city and throughout
Europe, the Salzburg study
abroad students have been
advised against taking
individual trips, but the gravity
of this historic migration is not
lost on them.
“Wow. It feels like, you
know, a first world problem,
‘Why can’t we travel this
weekend?’” McSweyn, a
communications major, said.
“And then it was like, no, this
is a moment in history that’s
very, very big and I think it was
a humbling experience when
you finally realized how big it
was.”
As the Salzburg program
began a few weeks ago,
increasing numbers of
refugees and migrants, mostly
fleeing violence in Syria and
Iraq, started to make their
way from Hungary through
Austria toward Germany and
the Scandinavian countries.
According to Germany’s
interior minister Thomas de
Maiziere, as many as 10,000
refugees arrive in the country
each day.
UP Director of Studies
Abroad Eduardo Contreras
explained that he is working
closely with the UP resident
director in Salzburg, Rene
Horcicka, as the situation
unfolds. They have requested
that Salzburg students not
travel internationally for now.
“My approach to working
with students abroad has
always been to assess the
situation with the local
partners who are there,”
Contreras said. “Based on what
the director there said, they’re
perfectly safe within Austria,
they’re perfectly safe within
the city of Salzburg.”
Together with 25 other UP
students, McSweyn attended
Oktoberfest in Munich,
Germany last weekend, against
See SALZBURG page 2
inis is one
от
tne most numming
experiences I have ever had in my life
Molly McSweyn
Background Info:
In 2011, peaceful anti-government
demonstrations began in Syria, criticizing President
Bashar al-Assad. Ibe Syrian government responded
by attacking citizens. The Free Syrian Army was
formed to fight back against the regime. The Sy rian
civil war has killed over 220,000 people, according
to Mercy Corps' website, and has destroyed basic
infrastructure in many big cities.
Most refugees from Syria live in Jordan,
Lebanon or Turkey, but the number of refugees
fleeing overseas to Europe is rising. Oue to the
unstable situation, it was easy for the Muslim
extremist group ISIS to expand its power in Syria
and Irag. There are also refugees and migrants
from Africa and the Balkans coming to Europe, but
the majority of people involved in the so-called
"migrant crisis" come from Syria and Irag.
Most refugees are hoping to begin anew in
Germany or the Scandinavian countries, which
means passing through Hungary and Austria on
their way north, including Salzburg on the border of
Germany.
European countries have reacted to the refugee
crisis in a variety of ways. Austrian Chancellor
Werner Eaymann was guoted in a CNN report saying
that Austria is working to find a humane and lawful
response. This is in stark contrast to Hungary,
which has received widespread criticism for its
behavior. Human rights activists told the BBC that
migrants in Hungary are being treated like animals.
The European Union has passed guotas in
order to split the large influx of migrants and
refugees between its members, and also agreed
to strengthen border controls. According to the
BBC, 108,897 Syrian refugees applied for asylum in
Germany alone.
