Last Sunday afternoon, I took the train from Flensburg to Copenhagen. Already entering the Flensburg station I was overwhelmed by the situation: The hall was a makeshift welcome centre, volunteers organised the refugees’ basic supply with food and all kinds of other things. The atmosphere was impressive. A young girl, completely unimpressed by the hustle, was drawing squares on the floor with chalk, across the entire hall. I approached the platform and saw that wooden barricades blocked the access to the Copenhagen train. Only showing my ticket allowed me to enter.
There were many refugees on the train, all going to Sweden. Opposite me sat two young men from Somalia. I started talking to them; they wanted to go to Göteborg. Cool, I thought, I will take them to the connecting train in Copenhagen, as I was to cross the Öresund as well. We talked about Germany, Sweden and football. Five minutes later we stopped at the first station in Denmark – Padborg. During our conversation the Somalis had just committed a crime by crossing the border. Welcome to Schengen-Europe. The Danish police boarded the train with an interpreter. They checked the whole train and all refugees had to get off, also my two Somali co-travellers. Allegedly, they had to be registered before they could continue to Sweden. I don’t know. So, I continued my journey alone and faced two empty seats, where my fellow travellers could have arrived together with me three hours later in Copenhagen. I hope they are all right.
Experience of this border
Location of border
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Padborg, Denmark