Brave new world.

• Author: Eddy, Melissa
• Position: INTERNATIONAL - Young Muslim refugees in Europe

Young Muslim refugees from the war-torn Middle East are desperately trying to escape and build new lives in Europe. Will they succeed?

In the summer of 2015, Ahmad Dandoush, now 23, crammed himself, along with his brother and two dozen others, into a rubber boat designed for eight people. They set off from Turkey, heading across the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean for Greece.

The Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis who were packed into the tiny boat were fleeing violence and upheaval in their homelands. Each had paid $1,000 to smugglers, hoping to reach Europe and its promise of a new life. Dandoush, who grew up in the Syrian city of Latakia, was running from that nation's civil war, which has killed close to 500,000 people and caused millions to flee for their lives.

"We all knew what happened to other refugees, that some had died," Dandoush recalls. "We just wanted to get to Greece alive."

When they reached the shores of Lesbos, Greece, Dandoush was among the first to spring from the boat--his first step on a three-month-long journey across Europe by train, by taxi, and on foot. By the time he arrived in Germany last October, the trip had taken him through five countries--Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria--cost him $3,000, and left him 20 pounds lighter.

Dandoush is one of nearly 900,000 migrants who've made their way to Germany in the past year seeking asylum (protection given by a government to a refugee from another country). They're part of the biggest refugee crisis that Europe has experienced since the end of World War II. Germany, with its strong economy and generous social welfare benefits, has been a top destination choice for the migrants, who are mostly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

A Warm Welcome & Then Backlash

Initially, Germans welcomed them. But integrating these new arrivals, most of whom are Muslim, poses one of the biggest challenges the country has faced in decades. It wasn't long before a backlash against the migrants began. There were more than 1,000 attacks on refugee shelters in 2015, including 92 incidents of arson. And far-right political parties that call for closing the door to more migrants have been gaining in popularity. Those groups have targeted Muslims with their rhetoric and held sometimes violent demonstrations against the influx of foreigners.

Fears of Muslim newcomers have been heightened by terrorist attacks carried out in Europe by the Islamic State, a radical group also known as...