The gates of Europe are firmly closed in 2020, leaving only a few loopholes. At few places refugees do manage to cross the borders. On is the Greek Aegean island of Lesvos, which has become a focal point of the eastern Mediterranean migration route. The largest refugee camp in Europe, is located in the island. Conflicts emerge on the spot. At the end of February 2020, parts of the island's population turn against refugees. Raphael Knipping and me were on site for a month and put together a long-read, multimedia reportage, that can be accessed freely.
By 2023 the newly planned “Closed-Control Access Center” on the island, funded by the European Union, is still to be finished. Thousands of refugees still live in the makeshift Mavrovouni camp. At the building site, located on the middle of the island right next to a dumpster, a dystopic future takes shape. At the same time left-overs from so called pushbacks can be found at several places across the island. Copies of passports and medication spread in the woods are the left-overs of the atrocities commited by the so called “masked men”.
