German MP Invited Asylum Seekers to Live At Home With His Family

Martin Patzelt with Haben and Awet from Eritrea (Picture: ARD TV)

Among Europe-wide hostility towards asylum seekers fleeing north Africa for Southern Europe - One German MP has taken a different tack.

Martin Patzelt, a member of the ruling Christian Democrats Party, has invited two young men who fled conflict-ridden Eritrea to live with him and his family.

Haben, 19, and Awet, 24, had crossed the Mediterranean from Libya in a small wooden boat and met the Martin Patzelt at his local church.

The pair have been living in Germany for 18 months and are learning German with the Patzelt family.

They are now awaiting the decision on their asylum application are taking part in work placement schemes, reports the Daily Telegraph.

He told German ARD TV: ‘Partnership, providing shelter, looking after people, welcoming them – these small bridges help to give refugees a face and a name, so that they emerge from the anonymous mass of asylum seekers

‘If more people did that… we’d be on a good path.’

Mr Patzelt believes that initiatives such as his would end the ‘polarisation and hostility’ a growing number of Germans are feeling towards immigrants.

Simply put, Bravo