claim: A Syrian refugee receives close to $400,000 in benefits a year from the German government in order to take care of his wives and children.
origin: In October 2016, several publications drummed upÂ outrage over a Syrian refugee, referred toÂ only as â€œGhazia A.,â€ who was reportedly receiving close to $400,000 annually in benefits from Germany to support his four wives and nearly two dozen children. Although some outletsÂ publishedÂ theirÂ storiesÂ with headlines outright statingÂ that this man was already receiving that amount in benefits (for example: â€œGermany: Muslim Migrant with Four Wives and 23 Children Receives $390,000 a Year in Benefitsâ€) the number did not come from an official source and was not confirmed by the German government. Some sites did, however, makeÂ note of this lack of confirmation: < The family could be receiving more than Â£320,000 a year in benefits according to a financial manager on the Employersâ€™ Association website. There is no official confirmation on this figure. > Rumors about â€œGhazia A.â€ began with an article published by German newspaper Rhein-Zeitung on 1 August 2016. The newspaper detailed how the man, his wives, and their children wereÂ settled into several different municipalities near Montabaur and noted the difficulties they had adapting to their new communities, as well as how internal conflicts developed because only some of the family members couldÂ receive social benefits. The claim that â€œGhazia A.â€ was receiving close to $400,000 annually in benefits wasÂ derived by a third party who used the manâ€™s circumstances to calculate a theoretical number. Financial expert Hubert KÃ¶nigsstein looked at the manâ€™s unique circumstances and estimated the theoretical maximum amount the man could conceivably be receiving based upon that information:Â < It is interesting to note that you can have such a large family in Syria without the state giving anything â€“ while in Germany 4,000 women and 23 children can receive 30.030 â‚¬ = money (in 360.360 â‚¬). Before we go on in the text: interested readers can get the basis for my calculations upon request. Please note that someÂ details are not to be found, so that facts and costs were partly estimated according to life experience. > In other words,Â KÃ¶nigsstein estimated how much a man with four wives and 23 childrenÂ might receive in social benefits in Germany, not how much this specific refugee actually received.Â A municipalityÂ spokespersonÂ toldÂ German news service Deutsche WelleÂ that this isÂ not howÂ benefits work in Germany: the countryâ€™sÂ laws prohibit polygamy and do not allow someone to receive benefits for multiple families. Rather, Ghazia A. would have to select one wife and her respective children to be eligible for social assistance. However,Â the rest of his wives could apply for benefits on their own.