“The war made sure everyone knew, but Syria has been a dictatorship for some time,” Rosh says. So in 1999, he fled his country. “Because I was making theatre about the Kurdish cause. And I was talking Kurdish. That’s both banned in Syria. Still is. Because of the war, there is now an area controlled by the Kurds, but whether it will stay that way is the question.” He is horrified to see his country torn apart by civil war since 2011. In retrospect, I think: rather dictatorship than war. Because the latter destroys more; it killed a lot of people and that is a loss you can never turn back.”
Because he had a cousin living in the Netherlands, he chose this country. Here, he stayed in numerous asylum seekers’ centres while waiting for a residence permit. When he got one, he was finally allowed to learn Dutch. He took classes in Dordrecht, where he lived nearby in villages such as Strije and Hendrik Ido-Ambacht. He also started working for local TV there and made many short films.
Rotterdam
The love for theatre and film brought him to the International Film Festival (IFFR) and the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam. “That’s how I got to know a lot of people in Rotterdam. For me, a city is not the stones, but the people living in it. So it was logical to live in Rotterdam. It came naturally; the city chose me.” To this day, he loves the city. Certain places have even become his haven. “When I don’t feel good, I go for a walk by myself, for example in the Kralingse forest. That makes it feel like home.” But of course that also happened through culture and people. For instance, he joined theatre groups, where he learnt Dutch really well.
Identity
Despite having found his place in Rotterdam, he also retains habits from the culture and religion he grew up with. “I came here with a baggage from the years I grew up in: my identity. That included culture, food, clothes and more. Then I came here and learnt things that also shaped me. For instance, I have now also made it my own to be direct and practical, as we are here in Rotterdam. But I still eat Syrian, still talk Kurdish and Arabic, still have Syrian friends and still listen to Syrian music. I still follow all the developments in the Arab countries.” Through all these different kinds of identities, he asked himself who he was. “For someone who has lived his or her whole life in one country, this question is a luxury. That person knows his or her identity. But I, as a foreigner, am forced to ask that question and seek an answer to it. And he found it. “I am Syrian, Kurd, filmmaker, refugee, Muslim, Arab ánd Rotterdammer.”
This, then, is his advice to other newcomers. “Keep the good of the baggage you already have and add the good of another country or culture.”