MAINZ, Germany — After Ryyan Alshebl fled Syria’s civil war, he arrived in 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, adding that his victory was far from “a matter of course” in the town of about 2,500 people.