"I have no idea who the chancellor is": German IS fighters: From the caliphate to the Kurdish jail

Numerous former IS fighters from Germany are still in Kurdish prisons in Syria.

"I have no idea who the chancellor is": German IS fighters: From the caliphate to the Kurdish jail

Numerous former IS fighters from Germany are still in Kurdish prisons in Syria. The Federal Republic does not care about them. Visiting someone who has been squatting in a dark cell cut off from the outside world for years.

In northern Syria, the sun shines for more than eight hours a day on average, but none of this gets through the long and dark corridors of Gweiran prison. The little light comes from lamps on the ceiling, the bare walls are as gray as the bars and cell doors. The prisoners, who share a cell with up to twelve other prisoners, see nothing of this. When the guards lead the inmates out of their cells, they are blindfolded and their hands are tied behind their backs.

Islamic State soldiers who arrested the Kurdish fighters of the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces, after the collapse of the terrorist force in Syria, are being held in Gweiran prison. There are thousands, they come from all over the world. It's been a long time since a journalist has set foot in the desolate corridors of Gweiran prison, let alone German officials. A man from Frankfurt who was part of the IS for years is also being held here. We are not allowed to write his real name, we call him Serdar. Like his fellow prisoners, he was arrested by the Kurds in March 2019, according to the German.

The soldiers lead Serdar into a white, unadorned room for the interview. His faded Nike tracksuit is as colorless as prison. Serdar's face shows that he probably hasn't seen sunlight in years. Since his arrest, he has had no contact with either his family in Germany or his wife, whom he married while he was with IS. He doesn't know whether she or their three children are still alive. Serdar is completely cut off from the outside world, he says. "I have no idea who the Chancellor is at the moment. I also don't know whether the 2022 World Cup took place or anything else. I've had no news for four years," reports Serdar.

He describes his story before his arrest as follows: In 2015 he traveled to Syria via Italy and Turkey and joined IS there. His first stop was an inn for foreign jihadists. Serdar was injured in an American air raid and had to walk around on crutches. He lived mainly in Raqqa in northern Syria. "I've never worked or done anything. What can a man on crutches do?" he laments.

Serdar claims he never fought, but IS records list him as a soldier. The Frankfurter says: "I only lived there. I was a resident. A resident of the Islamic State."

But Serdar is well known to the German security authorities. According to ntv information, he is being investigated for his activities in the caliphate. Should he return to Germany, the handcuffs will probably click at the airport. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, all Germans who have lived in IS areas for a longer period of time are under special observation and "in the special focus of the law enforcement and security authorities".

When asked whether there were plans to bring the former fighters back to Germany in order to try them here in court, or whether this had already happened in part, the ministry replied: "The federal government has no men who are believed to have fought for IS brought back from north-east Syria." The reason for this is as follows: "For male adults, local criminal prosecution claims against IS supporters can exist."

It is questionable whether the Kurds want to assert their criminal prosecution claims. There they currently have completely different concerns, Turkey has been attacking targets in northern Syria for months. "The attacks by Turkey are making our situation with the IS prisoners more difficult. On the one hand, we have to protect our families and children and then we have to take care of the IS," says an SDF commander. And further: "There are states that are not even interested in bringing back their citizens, they do not want to take responsibility and are not cooperative." If states cannot take in their IS prisoners directly, then they should at least give the Kurds financial support, says the commander. It's a very difficult situation that you can't handle alone.

Unlike male fighters, Germany brought women who had joined IS back to Germany - provided they wanted it. There were a total of seven such repatriations, in which the federal government brought 27 women, 81 children and one adolescent from north-east Syria to Germany.

Aylin has to stay put in Syria. We also changed her name. Although Aylin was born in Germany and grew up in Hamburg, she never acquired German citizenship. She never felt it was necessary, as a Turkish woman with a permanent residence permit, it never made a difference, she tells us. It's a decision she now regrets. "I want to get out of this captivity," says Aylin.

She, too, followed the dream of the caliphate and traveled to IS territory. There Aylin married a German Kosovar, the two have three children together. Her husband died in 2017. Since a failed attempt to escape from Syria, Aylin and the children have been in the Roj camp, which is also under Kurdish control in the north of the country. Tents are lined up here, fully veiled women with small children are walking across the street. The biggest victims of the situation are the smallest inhabitants: the children. You are in this situation through no fault of your own; a normal childhood is out of the question. Only a soccer field in the middle of the camp offers some variety in the dreary everyday life.

The camp is the involuntary home for the wives and widows of IS fighters and their children. Although they are not held in prison cells, the area is surrounded by a high fence. Armed SDF fighters patrol the camp. "I want a better future for my children. They should be free and see the world," Aylin complains. But only one person is responsible for the poor future prospects of her children - she herself.

In the Kurdish jail without sunlight, we ask Serdar if he regrets having joined IS. He thinks for a moment, then exhales loudly. "No comment," he snaps out sourly. He wants to give the impression that the situation leaves him cold. But in his face you can see how annoying this question is.

The federal government suspects that more than 200 people from Germany are in prisons in Syria, Iraq or Turkey. Many of them in a Kurdish prison. They are people like Serdar or Aylin and their children. People with whom Germany leaves the Kurds alone.