Chinese tourist loses wallet, ends up in German refugee home

BERLIN — A Chinese tourist who lost his wallet in Germany signed the wrong paperwork and ended up being placed in a refugee home.

Christoph Schluetermann, an official with the German Red Cross, which runs the home, told news agency dpa on Monday that the man “set machinery in motion that he couldn’t get out of.”

The unidentified man’s troubles started in early July when he lost his wallet after arriving in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart. Officials have figured out that, instead of going to police to file a stolen goods report, he somehow ended up at an authority that presented him with an asylum application.

From there, he was sent to Dortmund in northwestern Germany and on to the refugee home in Duelmen. “He simply did what he was told,” Schluetermann said.