People are very fearful about coming forward to the status schemes or the compensation scheme, because of the traumatising nature of their experiences, so that it still feels too raw to be able to approach the Home Office.
"It's the images that they've seen. The sounds of the car as it was coming towards them. The smells. Not being able to sleep. Basically, all of this is difficult for a person to grasp at first. In victim counseling, you have to try to absorb these feelings," Marco Vogler, the Catholic state police chaplain of Saxony-Anhalt, told DW.