Abstract

The year 2015 was exceptional in terms of arrival of refugees both in Austria and Germany. About 600,000 persons crossed Austria on their way to Germany and other EU-destinations, about 90,000 filed an application for international protection in Austria and more than 476,000 asylum applications were made in Germany. In both countries, the regular accommodation system could not handle the high numbers of refugees and emergency camps were hastily put up, often aligned with an outstanding engagement of the civil society. Since then, most emergency shelters have been closed down and the public mentality has turned from enthusiasm to skepticism. Many refugees have also made sobering experiences as they found themselves ‘stuck in reception’: While both Austria and Germany aim at quick decisions and seek to keep the liminal period of reception as short as possible, in practice administrative and legal procedures often take more time. Against this backdrop, the article analyses the experiences of refugees whose asylum application has been pending for more than six months or who found themselves in a prolonged state of reception as they cannot return to their countries of origin. Departing from a comparative overview of the politics of dispersal as well as the multilevel systems of reception in Austria and Germany, the article sets out to examine how refugees deal with their long-term reception constellation and the lack of capabilities that it entails.

摘要

就难民抵达奥地利和德国而言，2015 年是非同寻常的一年。大约 600,000 人在前往德国和其他欧盟目的地的途中穿越奥地利，大约 90,000 人在奥地利提交了国际保护申请，在德国提出了超过 476,000 份庇护申请。在这两个国家，常规住宿系统无法处理大量难民，紧急营地被仓促建立，通常与民间社会的积极参与保持一致。此后，大多数紧急避难所已经关闭，公众心态从热情转为怀疑。许多难民也有发人深省的经历，因为他们发现自己“被困在接待处”：虽然奥地利和德国的目标是快速做出决定并寻求尽可能短的接收时间，但实际上行政和法律程序往往需要更多时间。在此背景下，本文分析了庇护申请已等待六个月以上或因无法返回原籍国而发现自己处于长期接收状态的难民的经历。本文从对分散政治以及奥地利和德国的多层次接收系统的比较概述出发，着手研究难民如何处理他们的长期接收星座以及由此带来的能力不足。这篇文章分析了难民的经历，他们的庇护申请已被等待六个月以上，或者由于无法返回原籍国而发现自己处于长期收容状态。本文从对分散政治以及奥地利和德国的多层次接收系统的比较概述出发，着手研究难民如何处理他们的长期接收星座以及由此带来的能力不足。这篇文章分析了难民的经历，他们的庇护申请已被等待六个月以上，或者由于无法返回原籍国而发现自己处于长期收容状态。本文从对分散政治以及奥地利和德国的多层次接收系统的比较概述出发，着手研究难民如何处理他们的长期接收星座以及由此带来的能力不足。