Turkish backed Syrian rebels enter the own of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.
Ryyan Alshebl fled Syria’s civil war for Germany without knowing a word of German. Eight years on, he’s not only fluent but also the recently elected mayor of Ostelsheim, a small town in the southwest.
“German society is ready to break new ground,” Alshebl, 29, told NBC News in a phone call this month.
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But his victory was far from “a matter of course” in the town of about 2,500 people. The country struggles with small, but regular neo-Nazi gatherings as well as a surge in popularity of the Alternative for Germany party and other far-right political groups.
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