Crossing the Sea

There is a humanitarian catastrophe happening in front of our eyes: The Syrian civil war continues to claim hundreds of lives. Millions of Syrians are fleeing, some of them risk the transit from Egypt to Europe by boat. Each year, hundreds of people die during this endeavour, making the Mediterranean the most dangerous sea boarder in the world.

The journalist Wolfgang Bauer accompanied Syrian refugees: in their hideouts in Egypt, on the boat, on the streets of Europe. He depicts the fates that hide behind the abstract numbers, as well as the dramatic circumstances of their escape. Across the Sea. With Syrians on Their Escape to Europe is an authentic document and at the same time a passionate plea for a more humanitarian refugee policy.

»Bauer’s book … exemplifies the best qualities of immersive journalism … his brave investigation tells us an important truth about the refugee experience.« Daniel Trilling, Times Literary Supplement

»It’s not just the detail in this book that counts. It’s the anger.« Robert Fisk, The Independent

»Bauer excellently re-creates the predatory, tense world of these shadowy men … the people-smugglers.« Caroline Moorehead, The New Statesman

»An excellent book.« Melissa Fleming, Spokesperson and Head of Communications, UNHCR

»What Crossing the Sea does best is give a face to the dehumanised ›refugee crisis‹ that we read about in everyday news headlines … [W]hen there is a human face behind the news story, it is impossible to turn your attention away from it.« Hsiao-Hung Pai, Open Democracy

»Wolfgang Bauer is a sophisticated and conscientious reporter, an expert on the Arab Spring and its aftermath, and a brilliant writer.« Nell Zink
 

»A breathtaking reportage. [...] Wolfgang Bauer’s slender book is startling, because on the one hand, it’s a grippingly written reportage that creates a close connection to the people and their fates. And on the other, it’s an accusation: Bauer regards Europe and [Germany’s] federal government complicit with the suffering, since their principle of refusing to intervene has made matters worse. [...] ›Have mercy‹ - those are the book’s closing words. Nothing more has to be said. Wolfgang Bauer’s commanding, unsparing depiction of the refugees’ fates speaks for itself.« Tagesspiegel

»But the dead of the Mediterranean accompany us between the lines, and we can sense that this reportage can only be told because the main protagonists succeed. We so want them so succeed – as readers we do, at least. And as citizens? Here, in this anxious question, is where the political brisance of this brilliantly written, upsetting reportage lies.« Deutschland Radio Kultur

»An authentic document and a passionate plea for humanitarian refugee politics simultaneously.« Südwest Presse

»These books show that which is being blanked out by the media and politicians …« ORF

»Bauer impressively describes the obstacles and the insecurity that people have to struggle with until they even reach the ships to Europe.« Aachener Zeitung

» ... an impressive book ... « SWR

»[Bauer’s] report takes a look at the fates that hide behind the abstract numbers.« Moritz Pfeifer, ParisBerlin