Anti-Semitism row over Muslim rappers dominates German headlines

Internationally, Germany has often been lauded for its reckoning with the Holocaust – its so-called Erinnerungskultur, or culture of remembrance.1 Whether this at times gushing praise of Germany’s historical conscience is fully warranted is another matter.2 (The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party has, for one, always demanded that the country stop banging on about…

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Bavarian state government orders that crucifixes be displayed in all public buildings

Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU), conservative sister party to Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has governed its home state of Bavaria since 1946. The only interruption to the party’s rule was a three-year spell by a Social Democrat in the 1950s, by now long forgotten. In particular, the CSU prides itself on having been…

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German writer Feridun Zaimoğlu takes a swipe at identity politics, Islamic associations

In an interview with Qantara magazine, German writer Feridun Zaimoğlu takes stock of the country’s heated, at times hysterical debates on Islam and identity. He criticises both Interior Minister Seehofer’s identitarian overtures that come at the expense of Muslims living in the country – and the position taken by many Muslims themselves. In particular, he…

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German policy-makers contemplate hijab ban for girls under the age of 14

The state government of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), the most populous of Germany’s 16 federal states, is contemplating following the Austrian lead and banning girls under the age of 14 from wearing a hijab. The proponents of this prohibition have been vague on where it is supposed to apply. Some have spoken of a potential ban…

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Old and new forms of racism in Germany: Ethnic hatred and Islamophobia revisited

Are the rising levels of Islamophobic hate crimes in Germany indicative of a new form of racism? Yes, says Yasemin Shooman, researcher at the Technical University of Berlin and director of the Jewish-Islamic Forum at Berlin’s renowned Jewish Museum. ‘Immigrant’ = ‘Muslim’ The backdrop to Shooman’s argument is the de facto Islamisation of immigration debates. While…

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