The images have gone down in history: lines of exhausted men and women carrying their belongings on their backs, trudging through central Europe in early September 2015.

Many were headed for Germany, where then chancellor Angela Merkel decided late on September 4 to keep open the borders in response to the migrant crisis.

Within a few months, Germany had welcomed hundreds of thousands of people, most of them fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan -- a watershed moment that would prove deeply divisive for the country.

Some of those involved at the time -- as refugees, officials or volunteers -- have shared their memories with AFP.

- The refugee: 'I made it' -

Syrian Asmaa Hweja, 53, is proud of how far she's come since arriving in Germany 10 years ago, but reliving her 12-day

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