Some background information on the "ZASt" in Oldenburg
and on camps in Germany in general:

In the year 1982 the German asylum procedure law ("Asylverfahrensgesetz") declared that asylum seekers should be ("Sollvorschrift") placed into camps. In 1992 this became obligatory. Before 1982 refugees were allowed to choose for themselves how and in which town to reside. They could also make the money needed for that, due to the then-existing work permit.
The reasons why refugees are placed into camps is admitted point blank. It was stated explicitly in an edict from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the purpose of camps is, "to make the asylum seekers want to return to their home countries" and "to antagonize potential further arrivals" (reference: Information Letter Foreigner Law ("Informationsbrief Ausländerrecht"), 11/12 1983). The former Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Lothar Späth (nowadays he works both as a manager of an east German company producing optic instruments and as a talk show host emphasizing the country's need of neo-liberal reforms), chose an expression even more distinct: "The bush telegraph in Africa will signal: don't come to Baden-Württemberg; you have to get into the camp there."
In 1991 the ”ZASt” (abbreviation for "Zentrale Anlaufstelle für Asylbewerber") of Blankenburg was established for 600-800 people. The mayor of Oldenburg holding office at the time, Mr. Wandscher, carried out an agreement with the minister for internal affairs in Lower Saxony, Jürgen Trittin (at present Germany's environmental minister), that by establishing the ”ZASt” in Oldenburg, the town would then not have to fulfill the normal refugee quota for the towns of Lower Saxony, because Oldenburg's ”burden” would be already big enough with the “ZASt”.

Camps have the quality to be "total institutions": They reduce the possible social interaction with the outside world for the people forced to live there; they restrict the freedom of movement with material obstacles like gates, fences, walls, and lattices, but also by a poor connection to public transportation. The administrative organization of life (being in one place continually and among a coercive collective) produces an ,artificial' world of its own in which the people's liberties are severely limited. Thus, the refugees are deprived of their right to self-determination.
This is surely also caused by the presence of all the relevant authorities on-site, i.e. within the camp, who maintain a grip on the inhabitants permanently. In the area of the "ZASt" of Blankenburg there are branches of the office for foreigners' affairs ("Ausländerbehörde"), the federal agency for the approval of foreign refugees ("Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge"), the Sanitary Board, the social welfare centre, and of the bureau of investigation ("Kriminalpolizei"). Furthermore, there are holding cells for prisoners to be deported, the Common Social Service ("Allgemeiner Sozialdienst") and Deacon's Relief Work ("Diakonisches Werk").
Moreover, one finds private security guards, who partly assumed police powers, which means they are able to arrest refugees, to detain, control and search them thoroughly. The police, the people running the camp and the groundskeeper are always authorized to enter the refugees' rooms. There is a guard at the entrance watching and controlling both inhabitants and visitors, when they are entering or leaving the camp. People trying to document the situation in the camp are often kicked out of the camp's area.
Besides a residence permit ("Aufenthaltsgenehmigung") or a very short-term temporary permit ("Duldung"), people living in the camp are given an identity card for the camp itself, including a photo and a number. This identity card has to be shown when they are checked at the entrance, or if a police raid takes place. In the card it is also registered when people come to the communal mess hall, when they are given an identification treatment and when they come for check-ups at the Sanitary Board.

If there are commons rooms for social purposes in refugees' camps (in Blankenburg there is not), they often are situated opposite to the rooms of the security guards, in order to keep the refugees under control. As a rule, they are too small (e.g. 30m² / 300 individuals) and insufficiently equipped. That's why they are not very inviting. This is the equivalent to denying the right of assembly and it promotes the isolation of each inhabitant. Thus, potential protests against being quartered into a camp are prevented because people can't contact each other.
In camps the principle of payment through material goods is predominating. In "ZASt"-camps inhabitants are forced to join the communal mess hall. Cooking on one's own is forbidden, mostly even if it is just a hot drink.
The residence permit during the asylum procedure (Asylverfahren) restricts the asylum seeker to the district of the referring authority on foreigners, which means that in the case of Blankenburg, the freedom of movement for its inhabitants is restricted to the city area of Oldenburg. The visitation of relatives or friends outside this district is allowed only by special permission.

On the one hand, in camps like the "ZASt" there is no privacy at all because of the narrow housing; on the other hand, the refugees experience total social isolation there. They are placed in rooms with several beds. Furthermore, there is obligatory checking-in ("Meldepflicht") as well as regular interrogations taking place by the staff of the Foreigners' Authority ("Ausländerbehörde") in order to put psychological pressure on the refugees and thereby make them want to leave Germany. Finally, one must not forget the regular checks by the security guards. Visitors of the "ZAST" have to deposit their identity card at the entrance. They are allowed to enter the area only if they give precise information about whom they are going to visit. It is written down when they come and go. As if this was not enough, the refugees also have to deal with their rooms being ransacked arbitrarily for papers, personal letters and other documents. Language analyses are carried out to identify what the country of origin is.
Several inquiries are proving that living in a camp is extremely bad for their health. For people, who survived torture, persecution and rape, the life in a camp, as well as the fact that they have to cope with the racist and sexist legal and social situation in the Federal Republic of Germany, causes a re-traumatization and brings back events that happened to them in the past. In this context the deficient medical and psychological care is worse than the grave. Basic medical care is possible only with the permission of competent authorities.

Living in a camp also means that among the people seeking asylum there (with all their different origins of class, country, colour of skin, gender, sexual orientation, age and so on), a situation is created which serves as a breeding-ground for all kinds of social inequality. Women living in the camp have to deal with sexual encroachments and offences every day. They have no zones of protection ("Schutzraum"). For example, the lavatories often cannot be locked up; and the staff of the security guard have a key to their rooms. As a rule, women are also responsible (or held responsible) for the children, which can turn out to be an additional burden while living in a camp. There are statements substantiating that women are sometimes knowingly housed together with men, because they provide a "certain internal peace".

For further information, we recommend the booklet "invisible walls" - provinzielle deutschen Anti-Flüchtlingspolitik (available only in German), made by the students' project group "Flight and migration" at the Carl-von-Ossietzky-University of Oldenburg. This booklet is, among other things, about the history of the Blankenburg camp, camp-policy in general and aspects of the current policy towards refugees. It can be ordered from the address of the Media Bus mentioned below.