Refugees celebrate Eid Al Adha in Austrian castle

Bruckneudorf, Austria - The sumptuous Syrian dinner was prepared Abu Tayeb, a professional cook who fled his homeland.

Austrians in the village of Bruckneudorf came together with Syrian and Iraqi refugees to celebrate Eid Al Adha.
Tens of thousands of migrants have made their way from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and further afield in recent weeks, travelling up through the Balkan states and into Austria. Most want to go to Germany or Sweden as fast as possible. Others have decided they want to stay in Austria for good, and some of them are in Bruckneudorf.
"The Austrians are the kindest people," says Abir, a drawing teacher from the central Syrian town of Deir Az-Zour, who is sitting down to dinner with her 12-year-old daughter Rama and a crowed of fellow refugees.
"We knew that if the militants arrive in Deir Az-Zour, they will cut our throats. We had no food," Rama says. She is wearing a wooly hat made by a retiree in the village.
Their sumptuous Syrian dinner was prepared Abu Tayeb, a professional cook who, like her, fled his homeland. He hasn't heard from his family in the Syrian town of Deraa for six days.
Dinner is being served in the hall of a castle that once belonged to Karl the Great and the Habsburg Emperor Franz-Josef. Now it belongs to Sabine Schoeller-Lamberty, a 49-year-old woman who worked in advertising and real estate and did well enough to buy herself a 162-room castle, albeit one that needed some work.
Schoeller-Lamberty had offered to house refugees in some of her rooms. After all, she had 162 of them.
The authorities initially turned her down. The castle needed too much work, they said. But as demand began to overwhelm supply, they changed their minds.
With the help of volunteers, Sabine installed electricity in the refugees' rooms. Now 24 of them refugees are living there as they seek asylum in Austria.