05 March 2016 In 2006 and 2007, Wolfgang Schäuble (at the time Minister of the Interior) and then-German President Christian Wulff both asserted that ‘Islam is part of Germany’. These statements led to acrimonious public debates about German national identity and about whether the fact that Muslims lived in Germany also meant that Islam was…
05 March 2016 According to a new representative survey, 67 per cent of Germans believe that the integration of refugees into German society is manageable – with the significant addition that 52 per cent assert that a positive integration will only be possible if the numbers of refugees is limited from now on. 55 per…
25 February 2016 Unknown assailants have placed a dead pig in front of a mosque under construction in the East German city of Leipzig. The cadaver, which was discovered by passers-by in the morning, bore an inscription in red paint that read ‘Mutti Merkel’ (Mummy Merkel), a popular nickname for the German Chancellor. While previously…
05 March 2015 Following the recent rise in hate crime against Muslim buildings and institutions, leading figures from Muslim organisations in Germany have demanded greater protection for mosques and other sites. The Secretary General of the Turkish-Islamic Union (DITIB) demanded “a partnership-based security concept for the protection of Muslim prayer rooms. And that as quickly…
01 March 2016 The Christian Democratic Party in Germany’s northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein, has petitioned the Social Democrat-led state government to push for the inclusion of more pork dishes in the region’s public canteens. According to the leader of the CDU faction in the state parliament, Daniel Günther, “more and more cafeterias, nurseries and schools are…
