It took only a few hours after the fall of Bashar al-Assad for some German politicians to begin suggesting it was time for Germany’s million Syrians – many of them refugees from the 2015 war – to consider returning home. But many of those same Syrians have built lives in Germany and have no intention of returning. Employers, trade unions and business associations are now speaking up to stress how much they are needed in a German economy facing deep labour shortages. „Telling people who are employed that they should go back to Syria is absolutely incomprehensible to me,“ said Ulrich Temps, managing director of a painting and varnishing company. „We have taken on the task of training and turning them into skilled workers,“ Temps told Reuters of the 12 Syrians he has hired within his nationwide workforce of 530. One of those is Mohammed Redatotonji, who came to Germany in November of 2015 as a Syrian refugee. He now lives in the northern city of Hanover with his wife, who joined him later via a family reunification program, and their three children. „I am integrated here in Germany and I have completed my training here,“ said Redatotonji, who was just out of high school when he left Syria. „I see my future here.“