Speakers

Petra Bahr
© Kulturbüro der Evangelischen Kirche Deutschland

Petra Bahr is Cultural Commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Germany and pastor. Following her studies in Protestant theology and philosophy, she worked as an advisor for theology, law, and politics at the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg. She gained her doctorate on Immanuel Kant at the University of Basel and taught philosophy of religion and ethics at the University of Frankfurt/Main.

Mehmet Gürcan Daimagüler
© private

Mehmet G. Daimagüler is a lawyer and author. He was named World Fellow by Yale University, Littauer Fellow by Harvard University, and Young Global Leader by Davos. He was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and now works as a lawyer and strategy consultant in Berlin. In 2011, his autobiography "Kein schönes Land in dieser Zeit: Das Märchen von der gescheiterten Integration" was published.

Micha Guttmann
© Micha Guttmann

Micha Guttmann is an attorney, journalist, and member of the Parliament of the Jewish Community of Berlin. He worked as a television journalist with the German channels SFB, RTL, and WDR and was honored with the German Bar Association Press Award for his journalistic work. From 1988 to 1992, he was General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Media consulting and training have been the main focus of his work since 1998.

Stephan Kramer
© Central Council of Jews in Germany

Stephan Kramer is General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, heads the Office of the European Jewish Congress in Berlin, and is a member of the Board of Governors of the World Jewish Congress, New York. He was formerly aide to the late Ignatz Bubis, Central Council Chairman. He studied economics and law.

Shermin Langhoff
© Esra Rotthoff

Shermin Langhoff is theater producer and artistic director of the Ballhaus Naunynstraße. Having curated the format "X-Wohnungen - Migration" and the festival series "Beyond Belonging" at the "Hebbel am Ufer" theater, she was appointed director of the Ballhaus Naunynstraße in 2008. Under her leadership, it has become a focal point for immigrant and postmigrant artists. She is now designated (artistic) director at the Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater.

Dani Levy
© Joachim Gern

Dani Levy is a director and film producer. His directorial debut was in 1986 with "Du mich auch." His films have won several awards: The thriller "Meschugge" won the Bavarian Film Award in 1999 and the comedy "Alles auf Zucker" (English title: Go for Zucker!) won the German Film Award 2005 in the categories "Best Screenplay," "Best Director" and "Best Picture." "Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler" (English title: Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler) was awarded first prize at the Festival for European Film Smiles in the Czech Republic.

Nicol Ljubic
© Gerrit Hahn

Nicol Ljubic studied political science and works as a freelance journalist and writer. His reports have won several awards, among them the Theodor Wolff Prize. Following "Heimatroman oder wie mein Vater Deutscher wurde" in 2006, his novel "Meeresstille" (English title: Stillness of the Sea) was published in 2010. This year he published the volume "Schluss mit der Deutschenfeindlichkeit," in which 17 German writers tell of their experiences of the debate over home, origin, and identity.

Aiman A. Mazyek
© yunay.de

Aiman A. Mazyek is chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD). He has belonged to the board since 2006, at that time as general secretary and prior to that as spokesman. Moreover, he is a freelance writer and media consultant and editor of the website www.islam.de. Mazyek was awarded the Wolfgang Fichtner Prize for Tolerance and studied Arabic in Cairo, philosophy, economics, and political science in Aachen, and has completed a series of Islamic studies.

Detlef Pollack
© Religion and Politics Excellence Cluster at the University of Münster

Detlef Pollack is Professor for the Sociology of Religion at the Religion and Politics Excellence Cluster at the University of Münster. The study "Perception and Acceptance of Religious Diversity" was carried out there under his leadership. Prior to this position, he was Professor of Comparative Cultural Sociology at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt Oder and Max Weber Chair at New York University.

Isabel Schayani
© WDR/Annika Fußwinkel

Isabel Schayani is a journalist, editor of the program "Monitor" on the German television channel ARD and ARD commentator. She studied Islamic studies, history, and international law. Following her internship at WDR, she was an editor for ARD morning television and has hosted both on radio and on television (Cosmo TV, the WDR magazine program on migration policy).

Zafer Senocak
© Körber-Stiftung/David Ausserhofer

Zafer Senocak is a freelance writer based in Berlin. He studied German, philosophy and politics and has published several volumes of poetry, short stories, essays, and novels in German and Turkish since 1979. His works have been translated into English, French, Italian, Czech, Spanish, and Turkish. His publications include "Atlas des tropischen Deutschland" (English title: Atlas of a Tropical Germany, 1993), "Der Pavillon" (2008) and "Deutschsein: Eine Aufklärungsschrift" (2011).

Mark Terkessidis
© private

Mark Terkessidis is a psychologist and author. In 2001, he and Tom Holert founded the Institute for Studies in Visual Culture. His book publications include "Psychologie des Rassismus" (1998), "Migranten" (2000), Die Banalität des Rassismus: Migranten zweiter Generation entwickeln eine neue Perspektive" (2004), "Fliehkraft. Gesellschaft in Bewegung - Von Migranten und Touristen" (with Tom Holert, 2006) and "Interkultur" (2010).

Nuran Yiğit
© Derya Ovali

Nuran Yigit is a qualified teacher and head of the Berlin anti-discrimination network of the Berlin-Brandenburg Turkish Association. For over ten years, she has been involved both conceptually and practically in empowerment work that fights racial discrimination against people of color.

Andreas Zick
© Andreas Christof

Andreas Zick is a psychologist and Professor at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at the University of Bielefeld. He is a member of the research team there for the long-term study on group-focused enmity in Germany. He is the author of numerous publications including "Vorurteil und Rassismus. Eine sozialpsychologische Analyse" (1997) and "Die Abwertung der Anderen. Eine europäische Zustandsbeschreibung zur Intoleranz, Vorurteilen und Diskriminierung" (with B. Küpper and A. Hövermann, 2011).