Leaving the Islamic State - Life back in Germany | DW Documentary
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2022
- At the age of 15, Leonora Messing secretly left her home in Saxony-Anhalt. She’d planned her journey down to the last detail, traveling via Turkey to Syria. She had her heart set on marrying an IS fighter - a man she had never even met before.
She joined the Islamic State terror organization and married IS intelligence officer Martin Lemke, who was also from East Germany. Years of horror began - a life-and-death struggle. Leonora’s father, Maik Messing, a baker from the southern Harz region, did all he could to get his daughter out.
He suddenly found himself in touch with traffickers and talking to Al Qaeda -- a previously inconceivable scenario. He was fighting for his daughter’s life and gripped by constant fear; at one point he thought she might even be dead.
After seven years, Leonora returned to Germany. After a short spell in prison, she was eventually put on trial. Readjusting to life back in her home country was a challenge for Leonora and her family. Her traumatic experiences haunt her. A team of reporters documented this moving story about guilt, blame and second chances.
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The fact she can joke and laugh about her time in Syria. Withhout the smallest hint of guilt. Shows clearly the lack of personal responsibility she feels. My empathy for Mike is real
Let the liberal Germans have her. They love creating hardships for themselves.
She just needed to get out of the house
Even worse we have in Finland where minister Pekka Haavisto broke the law to get these ISIS fighters back to Finland where they did not even went to prison. One of them where a recruiter of ISIS...
What exactly is she guilty of? She left her backwoods rural home went to a big exotic city in a war zone and got hitched to a stranger. Sounds far more exciting than bumfck east Germany.
@@kubilay9873 You are right and some teens goes to shoot in their school... Crime is a crime being an ISIS is even worse than anything and as a Muslim you know this very well cause this organisation is black sheep of Islam.
My wife is Syrian. I am a Westerner. Knowing what I now know, this woman is no victim, she's a psycopath.
This woman was groomed as a teenager. I don’t know what she did there but please. She definitely also was a victim.
best comment here
@@lindalemoni5428 she wanted an Arab and to be different, the other wife’s name was Sherine, Arab, he, the German guy, was happy.
@@incogb6696 … what?
@@lindalemoni5428 you really didn’t see it?
This dad deserved a better daughter.
She is too privileged to return and super lucky to have a kind and warmest father in the world. Majority of us won't get such second chances and good fathers.
She doesn't deserve such a loving dad !
*Exactly who do you think gave permission for her to be married at 15?* Women and girls have ZERO say in determining the circumstances of their lives including who they *have to* marry.
The girl doesn't seem to get it, she seems to be playing a heroic role in her movie, all smiles. My respect goes to the father, huge respect.
I agree and I’m sorry to say that I recognise that idiotic need for fantasy at any cost in myself (as a 15 year old) I never went to Syria but I definitely did romanticise a hell of a lot of things. (Heroin being one of them unfortunately! 🤣) but I totally agree she’s just not getting it. 💔
Unfortunately in the West there is a sense of entitlement, especially in young people, that they are allowed the most egregious mistakes, just because they are young or naive or stupid - personal responsibility for one's own actions and being guilty for it and atoning for it is seen as irrelevant and redundant. Anyone who believes that this girl didn't know just how evil the Islamic State was and that seems to be the whole of Germany is simply being stupid. It isn't easy for a 15 year old village girl to impulsively go from Germany all the way to Syria, crossing borders illegally with dangerous escorts, without a backward glance towards her Dad shows an absolute coldness of heart, that a psychopath would be proud of. She's good at it - at fooling the world and herself. At least, she isn't Syria's problem anymore. I hope someday Germany gets to experience the full blown Islamist terror that Syria had to endure, fighting the most evil psychopaths, who were foreign citizens. Hopefully, Putin will teach the EU a lesson that puts to rest the entitlement culture of the West.
And if she was crying you'd say she was faking. There is no right way for people like you.
@@janewright315 she is faking it and she is a great actress - fooling the world and herself. You don't understand the psychology of the average 15 year old girl, especially, a white, Christian girl - such girls don't voluntarily leave loving homes to go to war - torn Syria traveling thousands of kilometers, without any hesitation like Leonara has, to join one of the most extremist Islamist terrorist groups. She was an avid social media user, so she had seen IS videos online, which would clearly show what IS was all about. She arranged to go there and meticulously executed the plan, without a single thought for her father. It clearly shows her INTENT & her ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT to the Islamic State. The German taxpayers want to pay for such women and rehabilitate them - then, I wish they would take all the women & kids from Al Hawl camp and give them asylum in Germany. Why just leave them there, just because they aren't Germans?
No one knows what she is thinking, but smiling when talking about trauma is a thing. If she would be smiling because of the trauma (her body splits emotion from memory), then its not so fun. But of course no one knows.
I think she deserves a second chance under the eye of the police.
As a German, I can tell by the way she talks that she obviously isn’t the brightest candle on the cake. So do not expect any remorse. I only felt for her and her children when she was talking about them. But I salute to her father! The guts he had to put himself in danger to save his daughter is beyond imagination.
You are being replaced. Enjoy.
The father should battle the government next to stop immigration so more things like this won't happen..wonder how many isis supporters and jihadis live in Germany now with citizenship..
I would disown her. Yes I would. Full stop.
of course she isn't the brightest. She is east german...
@@pmays4 you mean that she being replaced by her new step mom?.. if yes i agree wth you 1000%. her father loved her previously, but she run away, now papa got a new girl.. now get lost you ungrateful child! lol
An intelligent, caring father who has a moron and insensate for a daughter. I really feel sorry for him.
And who do you think raised the daughter to be like this?
@@JustMe-hg5bq Nature over nurture. You can have several children raised identically and they turn out different. Plus, the zeitgeist does the "raising" too, and so do the schools.
She was a *child* when she was married and indoctrinated. *Who gave permission for her to marry at 15?* How much autonomy do you think women and girls *actually have?* NONE.
@@ileanamuntean7338 *And who gave permission for her to marry at 15?* If you believe that little detail doesn’t matter, you understand NOTHING about the status of women and girls in these societies.
She's not even going to prison??? Unbelievable
We believe into reintegration before punishment, especially for minors who are first time law offenders. Educating them to do better and guiding them back into society by court ordered classes, therapy etc. We don't live in the middle ages handing out Draconian sentences
@@sh1yo7all well to pontificate but applying kid gloves and social justice approaches to a cult that doesn’t care a hoot will only end in Europe going back to the dark ages!
Neither do other blind faith people (in christian god, alternative medicine, conspiracies etc.) even though they are corrupting their children and children of others (I should know since fixing the logic of my daughter, bringing class mates messed up logic from the kindergarten first and now from the first grade, is not a rarity...).
So if we tolerate incompatible-world-views-inside-single-head-but-somehow-rationalizing-it inside EU anyway... Why would we imprison somebody that even tried to do us a favor and attempted to live outside EU?
She was 15 and groomed. It would be a different story if she was 17 or older or participated in daesh. Now kids who did that, straight to jail.
@@sh1yo7so you believing in reintegration a serial killer rather than giving him a "draconian sentence"?
The German Version is longer with more Details.
Her IS-Time-Husband purchased a yazid woman as a slave for 800$ in 'bad condition'. Leonora and the other wifes got the task to get the woman to recover for resell at higher price. The journalist later tried to Interview that now free yazid woman, but she was too traumatized to speak... They followed up on her fate and she is now recovering with her kids in Canada, at least.
Just wanted to mention her here as well, as those fates are worth being mentioned.
she is the only responsable for what happened to her. But the fact she been seen things is stranger to believe some kind of innocent in her. She went voluntary none one force her. What she really was expected?
Where can I watch the German version?
@@edwigedjossou6726NDR "Leonaora - einmal IS-Terror und zurück" There are 3 parts á 30min if I remember correctly
my mom being part yezidi and it breaks my heart what i always here about the conditions and hardships we didn’t deserve it
Thanks
I'm an Iranian woman, I may not know how it feels like to live under ISIS rule but I know what political Islam does to a society. I just want this to be over. I'm done with Islamism and all its apologists. No ideology and metaphysics is more important that freedom and dignity and life of an individual. I have an I will fight all my life against dogmatism and I hope more people realize this truth before it's too late.
Shut up
Iranian women have shown so much courage...
(Islam is a tragedy, ever since it was designed for Muhammad's cruel and lecherous self-gain, no matter how much we try to gentrify and remake it in a modern humane way that actually cares about all our fellow human beings and their inner feeling and experiencing. Inventing a human-styled "Allah" is the worst way of obscuring the Divine, just like it would be if I'd pretend that you are whatever I say/write about you in a book, instead of who you really are inside, mysterious as that may seem.)
Salutations 👍👍
Wow a Shias women is talking about Islam 😂
@@Vdhdns do shias have no right to talk about Islam?
my heart breaks for her father, hope he heals from the pain and struggle he went through and that his daughter doesn't create any problems in his life and that he lives a happy life.
Is she real German or Syrian living in Germany??
@@BigJuicyManreal german
Very unlikely.
She is an evil little thing. Maybe she can change? The dead by ISIS have no such luxury.
She left as a stupid, impressional girl & came back as an ignorant young woman & mother. Yes, she went through things most of us will never go through. But what her father & the rest of the family went through was just as awful. She's been back in Germany now for several years. I hope some day she'll stop thinking that what she did was "just a mistake" & realize just how bad her decisions were. They were right in getting her somewhere else to live though. I hope the other family members have gotten some kind of help. Mike, you're the epitome of what a Daddy is. And that's the highest compliment I can give a man. I'm so sorry Leonora put you through this. I hope you can find a way to forgive her completely some day. I just don't see her comprehending what you went through. Wishing you all peace in your future.
Now, she will shave her head and fail at art.
I think in her case her brain won't allow her to process what she did yet, because if she faced it and took responsibility, her mind would break in a thousand pieces. It's a defense mechanism, you're detached from your actions so you can go on with your life. But no one can escape forever, and sooner or later she'll have to face what she participated to.
@@tommythecat4961 Yep!
She did those things to herself!
What amazes me is the sense of entitlement all these people have when they realize they messed up and eventually want to come back. Absolutely shocking.
Then why her daughter go to Syria
She doesn't have any regrets
Facts. Money talks and it helps if you have a reporter friend.. 😅
You’ve never done anything you regret? Lucky you. You should run for Pope.
@@northerngirl4666 joke's on you. Not even the pope is a saint!
I don’t understand why would someone leave such a loving father and this beautiful peaceful village. This is beyond my understanding 😢
Anyone can get manipulated
Humare States mein bhi aise kahaaniya bahut hai phir due to society families prestige, culture bahar nahi aathe ..... Fact is some really feel guilty for what they have done and some regrets returning back .
If it was my father he would definitely want me to spend me life time jail . Or he would wanted me never to be returned.
Brain wash by those prey on innocent !
That handsome man and his peepee>beautiful life in germany for her lol
As a father of two girls I understand the father's agony, but is very hard from the society point of view to forgive this, she has no remorse, she will do it again, sad
It is exactly like the parent of school shooter who supports their child in court.
She was 15 when she joined isis lol. You mean to say people don't so dumb things when they are 15?
@@Godzillamonstrosity I agree, I've done stupid things myself, but they are tiers of stupidity, and this girl went all in, not this
It was and is always just about her. She did not even mention the suffering she had caused to her father or the brutality and destruction of life she witnessed in Syria...and that the destruction was made possible because she aided and abetted terrorists. That in that moment, she was no better than the other IS terrorists who beheaded and burnt people alive. Absolutely horrible that she didn't feel an ounce of remorse and never asked for forgiveness.
I think a lot of things were edited out.
she did talk about the pain she caused her father. In the camp where she saw a video of him with other IS wives.
@@felix6587 Right and it caused her to denounce IS while she was in a camp full of still radical IS women who wanted her dead and put a bounty of $70,000 on her.. That tells me that she has remorse.
Does anyone know if both the kids made it? I didn’t understand if the baby had died or not
@@richardlug6139Yes but wasn’t that after her story was published worldwide and she was already getting attention from the west along with her father’s efforts to save her? She knew she was on her way out.
She has a wonderful father. She has the privilege of making serious mistakes without fearing the loss of his love and care.
An anomaly among parents. God bless him for standing by her side despite her fatal mistakes.
Amen
Very sad for the father. She too is going through hell for a one single mistake.
Some would call such enabling bad.
Exactly, me I would be killed if I tell him I don’t want to wear hijab anymore.
What a self-entitled and self-absorbed woman. I feel sorry for her family.
A 15 year old child commits a stupid act and finds herself in hell.... with no way to get out, for years in grave danger. Obviously suffering from ptsd it will take her time to recover. A lack of emotion is a coping strategy.
Don't be so judgmental
@@yuditilany Exactly!!! She was vulnerable, young, in the wrong hands.
@@yuditilany with people like you, there will never be justice in this world
@@yuditilany "commits a stupid act". sure, she spat gum on the sidewalk apparently. like me when I was 15.
@@CaptainObvious0000 It appears you have no idea about PTSD and what it does to people, as can be clearly learned from your statement...but some humanity towards other people is always a good idea...
The German court should not have let her off so easy. How quickly the public becomes indifferent to atrocities.
Crazy that she's allowed back. Clearly a legal loophole that shouldn't exist. She made her bed yet refuses to sleep in it.
Yeah it's a privilege to be born in Germany, the country she turned her back on and which is expected to care for her problems she's having because of her decision.
Also making a decision as teenager to join ISIS and returing home as soon as it's not serving your expectations about your own life there, is just possible I guess, if you have someone at home with money and contacts.
Hear her spoken I don't think she's aware how lucky she can be & privileged she is that she got out there and others been cleaning up her mess so she's having a second chance and is able to live in safety.
She's German. For her crimes she should be tried and indicted IN GERMANY. Why should she stay in Syria? She is not Syria's problem, why should the country just abandon THEIR citizens in Syria??? Let Syria recover, that starts with countries claiming THEIR nationals and charging them IN THEIR COUNTRY.
@@myno36so she should just be given a pass?
Come on she was just 15. These extremist groups target teenagers because they are easily impressionable and know nothing about the world yet
she is from germany .. and i think her father has enough money ..
The entitlement and abject lack of even an inkling of a sense of personal responsibility for one’s own actions is ASTOUNDING
And where is her second child? She allowed herself to have children in that horrendous place?
@@juanitarichards1074 Allowed? you say 'allowed?"
@@louetteduvall4118 Yes, she sneaked away to Syria and married an ISIS fighter ...........nobody forced her to go there and do that. She kept her plans secret from her parents for a year before she left, giving them no clue where she went. She got herself into this situation,
Exactly
@@juanitarichards1074 I think you skipped through a part of the video Juanita, watch again. Her second child died quite tragically
What do you mean “a war not for her to fight”? She made a choice so it became her war! No pity for her but all my sympathy for her loving father ❤️
But she was young and stupid like we all were!
I agree the war became hers when she went to it.
My Sympathy for the people that they killed,torture and rape long live kurdish people
She was secretly groomed as a young teen. Teenagers rebel add the absence of a mother who most likely would've picked up on the sense that a snake was lurking in the back ground. It's not a cut and shut case.
You know, she was “groomed”. Okay. Well there are people living in dictatorships that are propagandized daily since birth and still realize that it’s wrong. She lived in peace, in a Christian country and a democracy where everyone around her was available to talk about these issues. She chose to listen to one person telling her the opposite. It’s not like she was in a cult family she made a very free decision
“DO YOU THINK YOU DESERVE THAT”
The best part of this entire video
And I would have been completely supportive of her and she getting a second chance if she had shown a tad bit of REMORSE
You want self-flagellation, not remorse.
As a South African, and christian, my heart goes out for her father..this is qhat unconditional love is..a love of a parent with no condition..yes, she did wrong, but forgiveness is the healing part of it..the father has peace now to know his daughter is safe..
So much for forgiveness where these terrorists for children brutally kill other humans,what about that...!?
This is the first good answer. we are all sinners and need to be forgiven...
Today you forgive one.
Tomorrow you forgive 10.
Day after tomorrow you forgive 100.
After a year you start forgiving 1000.
Then the forgiving count increasing day after day.
Forgiveness just give you power to correct a wrongdoing. But we all have to realize some point that humanity and nature also has it's own limits. You can't just correct all the wrongdoing of the world. Sometimes you have to be cruel for a better world. BeCause some wrongdoing never going to be justifiable by any excuses. Today she's German girl so German govt. accepted her in their own society.
But, the innocent lives lost, the souls faded away in syria, iraq in the war, whom are going to take responsible for that?
Is this girl? Daesh? Or german govt?
Or you would like to forgive all? 😠
The Germans are very trusting (or naive) people to let her back. Isis women did unimaginable punishments on the girls and women captured by militants. When they lose power they can just run home like this and pretend to be changed. I don't believe it, for the sake of all who have been tortured and killed, someone needs to prioritize justice in this crazy world.
What did they do for example? Can't find anything on google
Trust me we Germans would love nothing more than for her to rot away in some Syrian jail.
Germans did let millions of illegal refugees into EU and create a shitshow, also lobbied for dependent on Russian gas, so yeah, naivety is harmful.
RB
Top comment 🌹
@@sandrineroesch8706 Full of prejudices yes
The lack of self-awareness and remorse is astounding with this girl... I almost didn't believe her tears, either.
She's deconstructing. A lot of people are like this after leaving cults, there's something infantile and uncaring about them. It takes a while, sometimes years, to wake up.
@@aurus6483 She's also young and immature. I agree, it will take a while for her to get the full picture
@ابوعمر agree
Remorse can take many forms. It doesn't have to fulfill your culturally biased criteria.
@@MesfinG such as?
I have zero sympathy for her. I made mistakes as a teenager, I think everyone did, and I still do today. Mistakes, I feel, are an opportunity to grow. But it never crossed my mind to join an effing Islamic group and put myself, my family, and everyone around me in danger because of my ideology. In my opinion, she should be in jail for aiding terrorists. I feel for her parents and children, they certainly did not deserve this. What a sad story...
Joining IS is a serious mistake by itself, but even if you assume she was manipulated and was still a teenager at the time, I didn't see any expression of guilt or anything about what she did and through what she put her family through all those years. It looks like she still isn't mature enough to reasses the consequences of her actions. Her remarks on the whole situation are only about her experience and it seems she still has mixed opinion on it even when only focusing on her experience of the situation, while it appears that she is absolutely unaware of how her actions affected the whole family, especially the father.
We usually do not put minor first time law offenders in jail, since the goal of the German justice system is reintegration into society... Also you can cry forever jailtime to all offenders, but you know who is paying for that? Everyone, as it is funded by taxes. Reintegrate them and make them work is more suitable to society as a whole, unless they are deemed a continued threat to public order.
@@sh1yo7 lol she isn't working, from the documentary we learned that she can't even keep up a daily routine! You pay for you daily with your taxes, she now gets money for the children, health insurance and "Arbeitslosenhilfe". Germany should have left all ISIS followers in the Middle East, where they wanted to be until their side lost
This is like joining a far right party
@@sh1yo7 the german system is trash then
This girl does not deserve a second chance..
Leonora's extraordinary privilege is laid bare here; she had the luxury of leaving when she realised how horrific life under Daesh was, and a father who fought to bring her home. All I can think about are the ordinary Syrians and Iraqis that lived - and died - in abject terror, under the oppressive rule of Daesh for as long as it lasted, with little recourse but to become refugees in the pursuit of safety. The wars that have laid waste to entire societies, the human suffering that continues to this day and the millions of stories of trauma that will remain untold. 💔
First get rid of Islamic Terrorist. Things will get better in Muslim world also.
Well the Syrians and Iraqis love radical Islam so they got what they wanted
Islmaic countries facing their own religions vulgar, hateful, and violent ideology born of supremacism, fear mongering, denigration, and hate of the non muslims is poetic justice. These people come to the West and continue to look down on the Western way of life.
Daesh practices Islam by the book. The ideology of Islam itself is the one who keeps groups like this from poping out everytime..soon we will have the same in Europe just wait a few years
You're a great writer
i felt this doc was more about a father’s love for his daughter than anything else. Mike is an exemplary case of unconditional love - I would love to join him any day at his bonfire and to help around his farm.
I would too. He has since been blessed with a sister for Leonora. I wish him every happiness.
Me too.
ya kind of white washes everything, doesn’t it?
@@junehoneymanhislop4881 I hope the sister will be a better daughter to him
Preach, heterosexual, white woman!
I don't understand why so many are duped that it's a religion of peace 🤦
My heart goes out to this Daddy and all he has been through for such an ungrateful child. It was a blessing for this family to “bury” their daughter by planting a tree because the daughter they loved had truly died when she left her family the first time. I’d never hurt my Daddy like that ever in a million years! Yes my Daddy always came first just us kids did with him♥️
The daddy somwhere failed her
Are you kidding me? SEND HER BACK and don't ever let her back. This is ridiculous.
It's not for you to decide. Everyone deserves a second or even a third chance. 😮
@@paulheydarian1281Keine 2. Chance für so eine.
Exactly! She knew exactly what was going on there, AND WHAT SHE WAS GETTING HERSELF INTO. I'm SHOCKED they didn't renounce her citizenship or leave her there
@@paulheydarian1281 why didn't Germany pardon their serial killers then?
Western is a joke ...
She is not a kid... Let her be there
I would have loved for this documentary to ask many more questions. She was in front of the camera but we got almost no information at all. What were her motivations to leave? How was the travel organized? How did she live her first weeks there? What kind of relationship did she have with the husband? What was like a normal day for her there? What happened when they first tried to rescue her? What happened to the other two wives in the end? What happened with the little child? How much time did she spend in detention in Germany? Did a psychologist talk to the children? What were the little child's health problems? Are they resolved now? Does she have PTSD? What struggles does she deal with now mentally? Also...what happened to this girls mum? Why is she not in the picture.. at all? Does this girl have any Muslim relatives? It could have been a really interesting documentary, but I found it shallow. That father and the journalist, though, were so brave! The amount of suffering caused is wild...
Her baby survived and seems to be fine (it's implied in the documentary). "Does she have PTSD? What struggles does she deal with now mentally?" Some of those matters are private matters that she might not feel comfortable sharing with the entire world, especially the ones regarding her children. "Why is she not in the picture.. at all?" She is separated from her father and I imagine she probably did not want to be part of the documentary. You cannot show somebody's face without their consent. Some of your other questions probably weren't developed due to time constraints. I imagine the original documentary that aired on german TV after she was captured probably contains more information.
There is another documentary about this girl.
@@user-lv3ws2iv2k noone cares
@@user-lv3ws2iv2k thanks for the extra info
Exactly. She doesn't say anything. Probably still a radical on the inside. She just talks daily usuals. Very disappointing. And it makes me to have no empathy for her. She seems so spoiled
If I were born in that beautiful village with that loving father, i will praise God everyday for the life He has given me.I only feel for her father.He is truly a very loving parent.
Every parents nightmare. I feel so sorry for Mike. Unbelievable what a father does to get back his child. How could she do that to him?
Sorry for the father .Zero sympathy for her. Already, living off the generous welfare system. Entitled kid, that should spend 15-20 years in jail, at least.
She's German citizen.
@@terhgasabeha9552 unfortunately, and a former terrorist
@@terhgasabeha9552 yes some people living free for welfare while all working.. she dont deserve it ..
Anybody can get recruited into a cult, even the best of us, so I hope you keep that same attitude when it's you or your children.
Daddy has a bakery so he and the mother have to pay for the welfare the daughter recieves
Islamic state members do not deserve forgiveness, their crimes are too terrible. I feel awful for her father, he deserved a better daughter...I hope he can eventually find peace.
Exactly
get the point
Exactly, we will never forget the beheadings, rape and sexual slavery they practiced, following their Islamic religion of course, this should never ever be forgiven.
I 💯 agree with every point. I also fell that Any western countries that allow IS members to return will most likely regret it
@@redlady8296 those who were not adult when they went there should be treated fairly as any teenager who commits a crime in his country. Why would you want to punish them more than they deserve as by law?
Most who went there were duped under the guise of defendung oppressed Muslims in Syria.
The leaders of ISIS are the ones who should get punished as we should punish any cult leader who brainwashed their followers.
This girl was a child and should have a second chance. Did she commit a crime while in the organisation? Apparently she regretted her actions and escaped thanks to her caring father.
Ps: modified to correct typos.
IM SO GLAD TO SEE HER FATHER HAPPY 😊, I BEEN FOLLOWING THIS STORY SINCE THE FIRST UPLOADS ON UA-cam AND BEEN PRAYING FOR HIM 🙏🏾
she is sooo lucky to have that lovely man as a father i hope she honors him
" In 4 months in Germany, I had to fill out more paper work than I had in 6 years in Syria".
As someone from Syria, I feel disgusted and appalled by the cold blooded psychopathy on display here. Your ex-husband/ lover helped turn Syria into the most hellish place on Earth killing and destroying the lives of millions of Syrians, a process that YOU willingly participated in and were part of. And now one of your take home messages is how the paperwork situation is better over there.
I didn't see any regret about what she had done to herself, her kids, or her father. Only regret that it didn't work out the way she wanted
Great, she is now thinking as every other western girl
Exactly
This girl was in Syria for 6 years and she’s expected to come back home and live a normal life and sit around the village people in a camp fire?! You’ve got to be kidding me. Before sitting around a camp fire she needed to sit with a therapist. I feel for her even if no one else does. I hope she gets the help and healing she so desperately needs.
Edit: just realized this was posted a year ago. I hope Leonora, her father, and family are doing better now.
I know! She was literally a child when she left. Imagine going from a tent city where you had a 70k bounty on your head, barely kept your kids alive, knowing the people in your home village already hate you, joining your dads new family. I'd be a shut-in too. She went through extremely formative years in a traumatic environment, of course she isn't going to act what most people would deem "proper" on her arrival back home.
Her father lives in a small village of 200 people. Remote, quiet & surrounded by idyllic countryside. A perfect setting to readjust to civilised living. Leonora said herself that none of the mothers in her daycare group held any ill-will. Her father put her in the care of the welfare authorities for mental and social support. What more do you think she needs? She is most fortunate she is not in jail and that her children survived her stupidity.
She's owed NOTHING by anyone. Nothing. At. All.
she should be in prison
One thing she never said was SORRY to her father
Just imagine being that father, I salute to that brave, courageous and loving soul…how much he went through for no fault and still had a smile on the face.
fathers weak
@@danos3284 troll
@@kerrycavanaugh4268 Interesting collection of films on your channel. Thanks for uploading.
@@danos3284 *LOL! = DANOS SPEAKS LIKE A BOSS. DANOS KNOWS ALL! ALL HAIL DANOS!*
While she moves on with her life, the people who lived in Aleppo cannot. As someone with Armenian family, whom suffered under IS as well, she doesn’t deserve the privilege of moving on after what she supported
Yes!!!
Exactly
Yes I believe US only took person back - Jihadi Jack!
Agree 100%
Couldn't agree more. While she's getting to live a safe, happy life now, the victims of the terror group she chose to support will never get that same luxury. She chose to join a terrorist group, the victims didn't choose to be born into a civil war, or part of marginalized communities in Syria.
I honestly feel terrible for Leonora's father, and I understand that he is going to naturally prioritize the well being of his daughter over strangers, but the German government should have never let her return.
The emotional journey of Leonora Messing and her family, from darkness to hope, is truly heart-rending and inspiring. This documentary showcases the resilience of the human spirit and the power of family love. Thank you for sharing this powerful story.
This is what you call unconditional love....I wish I had a father like Maik!
what's wrong with your father?
She entered into this willingly. This wasn’t a child who was raised in IS and brainwashed. She chose it. Being a teen doesn’t make you innocent, you’re not *that* naive. She deserves imprisonment, or being left in Syria-but I know her father would be heartbroken.
Her poor father. He didn’t deserve this.
Edit: “killed in a war not hers to fight.” Bro, it *is* her war, it’s the war she chose. She supports the fight. *She* left.
I also feel horrible that her father had his fresh start. They were ready to move on and have a baby. A fresh start. And then she barges in with her own problems and kids. My heart really breaks for him.
Prison time AT LEAST for her. How can the journalist be so sympathetic to her???
How can the journalist be so sympathetic to her???
Hmmmm, White privilege?
She should never have just been allowed back without dealing with the consequences a custodial sentence should be automatic, her poor dad my heart went out to him ,what a very selfish and entitled girl she chose what she did and turned her back on her family ,and when it wasn't what she expected weeping and whining to come back ,the fact she can laugh and joke about it all disturbs me
Actually it does make you waaaaaay more vulnerable and naive; your cortex it is almost not distinguished from the one of a child. You are a child in developtment at 15 so that is a logical excuse for her choice.
She did not understand what she did....
I don't believe she didn't know what isis was doing to people!
When you are young and in puberty you do the most stupidest things.
@@Wombat7777777 and you're held accountable for them. If I murder or grape at the age of 15 I'm likely to do it again
Genau so.!!!
@@Wombat7777777 Being young and stupid is a valid excuse for stuff like drinking to much alcohol or spray painting a building. It‘s NOT an excuse for becoming a literal Terrorist.
@@Wombat7777777 oh that's how I remember my old days, young dumb and free and loving the terrorists.
I watched her father years ago while he was trying to find her and when he did he tried to get her back home. And it didnt happen as planned. Always wonderd what happen to this man and his daughter. So glad he got her back home with him where she belongs🥰
I don’t know how to process this video. I have no sympathy for the girl, but every word Maik speaks is a deep, deep lesson in fatherhood and unconditional love. I hope my children never do such things. I hope I can be as much of a man as Maik in the face of nothing short of his world crashing.
Mein Mitleid für die Tochter hält sich in Grenzen.
The world would be a better place without her, she is a terrible human being.
Ich habe keine.
@@user-nw9xn9jo8j Ich auch nicht.
Mit sowas ist Mitleid unnötig.
@@fraeuleinvonundzhu Ja, weil das ein Tier ist.
She had many opportunities to leave when her dad paid the smugglers. She opted not to leave ISIS. Only when she was in the detention camp did she pursue going back to Germany. She is selfish and insincere.
On what basis do you make that vicious assumption? Would you like others to judge about you on baseless assumptions?
@@erikthehalfabee6234 3 of my familys who were trying to flee to london crossing libya looking for a better life trying to provide for my sick mother poor relative got slaughtered wearing orange pajam/suit in libya beach i guess thay was assumption to you right.... 30 of them were killed that day including my family they didnt have second chance not even younger brother who was 15
@@lovereligion2258 why should UK pay for your messed up country and family?
Do you all have so many children, that you can't afford their living?
Weird questions, right?
Go back where you belong!
@@lovereligion2258 I'm so sorry...
@@tidi4898 i was expecting her to explain what had happened and why she couldn’t escape but she didn’t. I wonder what really happened
What that poor dad had gone through is really huge....
Does this disturbed woman know her father is an angel? Who else would put up with years of this madness. Gd bless him.
This is a very interesting story. But I see absolutely no regret for anything she has done except for herself. What an amazing father how lucky she is.
I wished that she would explained what happened during the rescue missions
The daughter should have died honestly. She is too naive and extremely selfish.
This girl impressed me as being a not-very-bright sociopath.
Look at who IS were. They were muggers, pimps and drug dealers in Europe. So targeting weak people was always their career choice. She isn't bright but should understand criminal responsibility just fine, and yet she doesn't. She's profoundly immature.
Teenagers are all sociopaths. The frontal lobe fully develops at 25.
She’s just German, they don’t show much emotions doesn’t mean they don’t have them
@@snezhananikolova1971 Really? I lived in Germany for a few years and plenty of Germans are nothing like this.
@@snezhananikolova1971 said a Russian lol
Hard to say what would happen without her father being such a good man. I don’t think I would’ve said by My Daughter what happened to Syria and many places was sheer terror! I don’t think I could forgive that.
Something tells me she is not as innocent as they are trying to make her out to be. Also, how does your 15 year old convert and you have NO IDEA for a whole year? strange.. many questions here unanswered..
Exactly. She was young but it was very well established how brutal ISIS were and the atrocities they committed by the time she got involved.
Jer ovaj snimak izgleda kao namestaljka
@@GhastlyCretin85 agree!!
@@edikaramuratful mislis? nisam sigurna, al' vidi se na njoj da nije andjeo..
@@IvaK2458 It's not a setup. This is a very serious news provider.
It's disgusting that after so much suffering and destruction she will be able to live her life as if nothing has happened.
If she would be your child what whould you do?
@@Bianca-Crystal
Denounce
@@Bianca-Crystal if Ted Bundy was your child what would you do?
Sorry but I can’t find a shred of sympathy for her, she acts as if she’s been kidnapped there and not went willingly. I also can’t see true remorse. I’m only sorry for her family for what she put them through.
I'm curious why they released the initial story about her while she was still in the camp. Clearly that was extremely dangerous for her.
What a remorseless and entitled person, she doesn't deserve all this and I feel sorry for all the pain she caused to people including her dad. Salute to her dad for keeping up with such a brat. Give it a few years when another thing comes up and she will again join the IS and do more atrocities as she got away the first time.
I would have left her
Most of ISIS brides are like her.
You should really see interrogation video of Indian Isis brides by NIA(National Investigation agency) made public.
She was young. You can't expect sober decisions from a teenager. Besides, her parents had just separated
@@akotheffie8087 I just wondered if the victims need more sympathy if the so-called "teenager" are forgiven. I feel for her father, but de-radicalization is really hard in terms of young adults, so I would not feel for her. The fact is that when you look behind those attacks carried out by isis, someone is brainwashed to a certain extent that they didn't care about any other things anymore except for their extreme religious beliefs. Instead of feeling sorry for someone who has already committed crimes, maybe analytic and prevention works should be done in advance before everything is too late. I hope there will be fewer and fewer people who are misled into the abyss of terrorism because they never even realized how they hurt innocent people who have no power to protect themselves in those sudden deadly attacks. By saying this, I am not trying to be judgmental, but as a family member whose be-loved ones are victims of extremist attacks back in Belgium in 2016 in Brussels, the scars are forever there, and all of us can just move on with grief. I am sorry if this long comment disturbs you, no means to offend anyone.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Why wouldn't anyone comment on how great this documentary and his journalism were?
all of their journalism is exceptional...
I don't think this documentary was good at all. It was far too vague we didn't hear much about anything that happened to her during her time away.
@@joanieellen6969 I would assume for legal purposes and brevity, she couldn’t disclose further information
@@joanieellen6969 He clearly states that another documentary was presented in Germany & online while she was still in Al-Hol. That one might have been more detailed (although, there must have been safety concerns. Clearly it wasnt the best idea since it put her & the innocent child at risk by the still-radical women in the camp).
because it’s boring (kinda) and white washes the situation
I do not feel sympathy for these women that aligned themselves with monsters.
Does she really believe that she can join the Islamic State and then leave it after that and come back to Europe?
Does she really believe that the Europeans will just forget about it?
Every European country has the ability to revoke a person’s citizenship and deport them if they’re deemed a danger to the state. Which an member of the Islamic state is in the highest regard.
Sad she was allowed back. Citizenship needs to be revoked for cases like this
She is German born from German father!
@@checkmat2444 she should stay and die in Syria if she chooses to join isis
@@checkmat2444 she HATES HATES HATES Infidels!!!!
@@gabrielekarl9278 lol
German citizenship is by right of blood
It's amazing the amount of love parents have for their children, and the distances they're willing to go for them.
Not all parents though!
@@Abcdxyz11534 true
Yes, but he needs to also look for reality. His daughter ran away at 15 and he figures “they can pick up where they left off” after 6 years. The authorities should NOT a have allowed that situation.
If they loved them, they wouldn't have forced them to live. Parents love themselves more than they live their children.
@@ranonampangom2185 As they should.
She's a spoiled brat and I feel horrible for her sweet father.
She's a disgrace
As a Syrian I can say people like her just made our life even worse!!!!!
Worse how?
Aren't you from same religion 😏
@@wiseworld3921
Hey friend 🍀
Just to help understand 😉religion is not a place so you can’t say "You are FROM the same religion "it grammatically wrong 😉
and again to your question my FRIEND , I am a Muslim and I don’t know what she was doing in her life 🤷🏻♂️ but one thing I am very sure about she needed therapy way before she go to Syria 😉.
And thank you again for your Smart question 🙋🏻♂️ "no offense "🍀
@@nhlanhlakesh3982
Didn’t you watch this Documentary !!!!
If you read the history of islam you'll see it, spread in history only through sword.
As much as I can understand that fathers love their daughters, I wished none of those who left Germany to join the Islamic State were ever allowed back in.
My Syrian friends that suffered atrocities at the hands of IS are horrified about their return too.
They all want to come back. ...AFTER ISIS had lost . Imagine if they had won....?
Agree !
exactly, they should realize just because something is 'in', doesn't mean that they should follow it.
And you have to Thank the honesty that this family shared with the world in this story❤Thank you for your honesty and truth ❤
Massive respect for the father and utterly disgusted by that girl.
Leonora was a young teenager who made an extremely poor decision. She still does not seem completely "normal" to me - there is a distance to her. The person I feel most badly for is her father. That poor man suffered, and I am glad the entire family are trying to get back to a relatively normal life.
I call bullshxt. As a teenager, you know right from wrong. I understand that at 15 , a child’s brain isn’t fully developed YET, but that doesn’t mean that a 15 year old doesn’t comprehend the notion of wrong from right. Leonora doesn’t deserve a second chance. As her father said, she VOLUNTARILY went to Syria. Who’s to blame but herself?
These conversion happens everywhere ..here in India there is a movie named kerala story they have shown the situation of india or rampant recruitment....offcourse not everything is true.
@@GabriellaGabrielleyou really don't understand how naive 15 year olds can be
@@GabriellaGabriellethe German justice system (especially for minors) is working towards reintegration into society not Draconian punishment. So without any prior conflict with the law before and having committed a crime at only 15 years old (barely legal enough for being tried at all) it was rather logic that it would end in probation. Also regarding her circumstance of having a support system and her own children to care for. We don't put people in jail for 50 years.
@@GabriellaGabrielle Luckily you're absolutely perfect and have never made any mistakes in your life.
its funny how the moment she finds dislike in something she sends messages like "dad please please please get me out of here", like YOU left. And the moment you don't like something you go off and complain but it's not like you were forced to go there? I feel bad for the father, he has consistent hope in her and it shows his undying love for her. Unlike the daughter who pulls threads to get her way.
He clearly should have been beating her more. And himself.
Yeah because of his selfish interest to protect her terrorist daughter he is putting the life's of innocent people in Germany at grave risk. Prayers to past and future victims !!
She was a child
@@fellith4295 she married an ISIS murdered. She didn’t get caught smoking or staying out late. Sure she got radicalized like all the nutcases watching MSNBC but her parents should have been watching out for her. They didn’t.
@@fellith4295 precisely my point. How can a child with a loving father want to leave, she fully knew what she was going into, so who is she to ask to come back?
I can't watch it further! That stupid girl is not to bear!! For her father all the respect!!
They should have kept her over there. She made her choice, she needs to deal with it.
Zero sympathy for leonora. But her father is amazing, and i hope he can live a long and happy life, despite everything he had to endure❤
That this woman is allowed custody for her children is beyond me. No matter on which side you stand as in seeing her as a radicalized teenager that went through severe trauma or as entitled brat with a lack of understanding and remorse for what she did.she shouldn't be in charge of raising these children.
??what??? did you even watch the video? the court literally agreed that it would be MORE of a risk on society to put those babies in the care of strangers due to there mental health issues
@@BigDaddy-nf5qh why? She’s literally an adult she can easily raise the kids.
@@BigDaddy-nf5qh why? Lol you are yet to give a logical reason. Did you even watch the video? The reason they were all kept together is because they all have ptsd from the bombings. So they all are “mentally ill” because of the trauma.
@@BigDaddy-nf5qh why? Again you say this yet you can’t give a reason lol. So because she made 1 stupid decision as a young teen she should not be allowed to have kids?
@@BigDaddy-nf5qh you still have yet to give a reason. How does this have to do with the safety of children? And for the record I’m not German I’m from NA……
I dont feel bad for her at all. I do feel bad for everyone else she endangered with her stupid and selfish actions.
As a parent I can only imagine the immense pain and suffering they lived through. As a citizen who strives to be good and fair it is completely beyond me why we spend so much time and money and effort to help those who have turned their back on their own country. It used to be called treason and there was a simple punishment for it. These days it seems like the more cruel and barbarous the act the harder the social media mob work to "fight for justice".
Simple punishment = hanged, drawn and quartered
Perhaps we've moved on?
@@sroberts605 "moved on" meaning "let it slide"? and that's good?
As a Muslim, my sympathy is for the Yazidi women persecuted by ISIS and for this girl's father.
Can your sympathy change what she went through? Or can your sympathy change what other young generation will go through who will join Islamic state? The answer is No.... You know why ? Because of stupid ideology to rule the world
But I think it's good that Muslims speak out on the subject and condemn the actions of IS, there are far too few of them.
@@Habakuk_ just condemning won't change anything Muslims need to exclude the things which are not relevant at recent or modern times, actually they should think with their brains and not with Quran.
@@NiKhilShaRmA-hq2xx And so are you
@@diefaust4252 I do..
I do not trust this woman,she is not a child yet does not appear to have remorse.Her father has certainly proved himself as a good parent.Respect to him,he has succeeded in getting her back to Germany.I hope he concentrates,on his life now.
Strangely, people in the comments don’t want to see her remorse. She states her guilt and remorse over and over and over…. People just don’t want to hear it-/they’d rather have someone to falsely judge. She says she was wrong and feels guilty. What do people want~ for her to cut herself and bleed for them?
@@juneelle370 Well I grew up in Asia admiring the country that has people gutting themselves when they screw up, sooooo...
@@juneelle370 agree, I am wondering whether people even watched the documentary.
So true. She gave her father so much stress and grief and he had made a nice life for her but still she acted like a stupid fool. I don’t feel sorry for her, I only wish this father would have had a better daughter.
May God bless and heal this precious father, who clearly has been advocating for this daughter, and every precious family member of victims of this group.
She should stay in Syria
She got probation, and she got off easy…
My heart goes out to the father….
How about the poor victims of the satanic cult she supported?
I can almost guarantee that if she was a man she wouldn't have gotten off so easily. The fact that she is a woman who now has children and was tried as a minor even though she's 21 now is why she got off so easily.
My heart goes out to all of the victims.
In the USA a woman in a similar situation got 6 1/2 years.
I am lack of words. She doesn't deserve anything in return. Poor kids and family
She doesn’t look remorseful because she still hasn’t fully understood what did. And worse of all she is still in survival mode and she doesn’t even know it. That’s scary
Such an emotional story
What is this? Are the people she killed less valuable because they're Syrian? "She's been through war and terror"??? She is terror.
She killed someone? I didn't hear that.
@@loulabelleparsnips4127 maybe yes maybe not but she supported her husband ISIS ! wake up 🤦♀️
Woman are worth not much in ISIS. So why shall she has done much....
💯
I'm glad she is safe and back with her family. I won't be spending time with my family because they gave their lives fighting against ISIS. As a Kurd, I have never felt safe in this world but I'm happy for you. I hope you've learned your lesson and I hope you understand what the actions of people like you have done to people like me. You've ruined my life and taken away the people who I loved. I will live the rest of my life suffering because of your decisions and the actions of other Islamist terrorists.
You deserve to live a fullfilling, joyful and meaningful life, for you first and in spite of these bastards. She's safe because europeans are laxist with these terrorists yet it's "us" who pay both for that reputation (all muslims), and those who suffer directly from persecution (muslims not agreeing to their rules, christians,yezidis,etc) because they were in territories where conflicts are raging.
God bless you.
She should be in prison. She isnt remorseful and still brainwashed. Shes dangerous to her country and her own kids. That poor father. This girl is evil just look at her.
@Melanie Hale Thank you for your message. I’m not sure what to say either but I really appreciate your kind words. A part of me just wants love and peace again even though another part still feels very angry. I try to make good choices and use the right words but it’s a struggle.
Come to India.. we keep everyone safe... be it zoroastrians, bahais, etc.
@@sciencetastic2913 Since 2008 atleast right? I just watched a documentary on the Mumbai attacks. I don't think anywhere is safe in this world. Evil is everywhere we turn. The Pygmies are safer in isolation than any other area of population, that's saddening.
A father's love for his daughter is a blessing. God almighty loves all his children on earth with unconditional love❤ He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He is Holy and full of grace and mercy. Amen❤🙏🙏
What a wonderful father she has! Am I the only one wondering where her biological mother was in all this?
I pray for her past victims and future victims !!
While I'm all for giving her a second chance, I would never believe she was innocent. She knew what she was doing.
The fact that if she had opposed the Nazis and participated in the planning and execution of the Holocaust, she would have been forgiven, just as all the Nazis had been pardoned.
Hypocrisy and racism
Not a true statement.
Well said, she cried once....for herself, not for her father. She even put her kids under additional danger in the camp by "rebelling" before they were free. The audacity of calling herself a daddy's girl. Like so many females, she is void of true love, empathy, logic and accountability.
@@Cryptoversity Bruhhh how is that a female thing... smh
I really don't understand the mentality behind a teenager being drawn to that kind of stuff. Either Leonora was really unintelligent, or liked the idea of violence? I know all teenagers want to fit in but THAT way? I'm glad she's home and her father is a great father, but I really can't wrap my head around someone willingly joining ISIS.
Exactly. There is something really messed up in her mind, so I hope she can ACTUALLY heal and become a functional adult.
Forrest Gump has the answer to that.... "Stupid is as stupid does"
She was 15 years old! That is a child!
@@heinrichs5 There is no minimum age to become a terrorist.
She was 15 at the time she left - our brains are not fully developed until 25 years old, particularly the frontal lobe which aids in decision making. She’s not even 25 yet. Not that this is an excuse for her, but her brain is still growing. Obviously she isn’t great at making decisions.
She was in love with her father. When daddy remarried she punished him by marrying Isis soldier. She still seems to hold a grudge. I think she is mentally and in love with Father.
She doesn’t deserve her freedom
I feel so sorry for the future victims, of the sleeping terrorist organisations hiding in EU
Blood must be split to make Europe learn the hard lesson. Let Santa Muerte's hand brush against Europeans.
A very big step, the EU can do to stop terrorism is supporting the efforts of Exmuslims.
And the Schengen area only makes it worse for countries that still try to protect themselves. There you go, Poland, Hungary and Denmark!
That’s what the EU with your media gets for supporting ji hadis.
@@longdragon3 you’re quite a sick puppy!