In Syria, the Christian minority was long left in peace by the Assad regime - but they are between the front lines in the civil war. Germany is considering offering them a safe haven. Germany taking in Syrian Christians - it would be an act of humanity. This is how the chairman of Chancellor Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats' parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, described it to the "Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung" daily. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich agreed in the newspaper to grant refuge to Syrian Christians, because they face "persecution of the highest order."

Christians under pressure

Christians have lived in the area of ​​modern Syria since their religion came into being about two thousand years ago. The Syrian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest churches. Some of the faithful still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Christians have always played a clear role in the present-day Syrian Arab Republic. In the 1940s, for example, the country had a Christian prime minister, Faris al-Churi. [Link]