This Syrian Refugee Arrived Without Speaking a Word of German. Now He's a Mayor.

Ryyan Alshebl fled Syria’s civil war for Germany without knowing a word of German. Eight years on, he’s not only fluent but also the recently elected mayor of Ostelsheim, a small town in the southwest.

“German society is ready to break new ground,” Alshebl, 29, told NBC News in a phone call this month.

But his victory was far from “a matter of course” in the town of about 2,500 people. The country struggles with small, but regular neo-Nazi gatherings as well as a surge in popularity of the Alternative for Germany party and other far-right political groups. 

Read more at NBCNews.com.