Is Racism Part of Germany? And If So, Why?

For some time now, there has been an ongoing debate about whether Islam belongs to Germany. We pose a different question: Is racism part of Germany? And how deeply rooted is it in society? The NSU murders, which came to public attention in 2012, and the failures of the authorities in investigating them have given these questions renewed urgency. For the past ten years, the Bielefeld research group led by Wilhelm Heitmeyer has examined what it calls “German conditions” and has identified a rise in racism and xenophobia. According to its findings, one in two respondents believes that Germany has become “overrun by foreigners to a dangerous degree.” Nearly one in three states that “the large number of Muslims here sometimes makes me feel like a stranger in my own country” and that foreigners living in Germany “should be sent back to their home countries” when jobs become scarce. Attitudes such as these are not isolated phenomena, and they can be found across all segments of society.

Are Germans becoming more racist? And if so, why? Is growing social inequality one of the causes? How should we respond, and what can be done to counter it?

Participants

Mehmet Gürcan Daimagüler (attorney and author)
Micha Guttmann (attorney and member of the parliament of the Jewish Community of Berlin)
Mark Terkessidis (psychologist and author)
Nuran Yigit (project director at the Berlin Anti-Discrimination Network of the Turkish Federation Berlin-Brandenburg)
Andreas Zick (Professor of Education at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University)
Moderator: Isabel Schayani (journalist and editor at Monitor [ARD])

With the advisory support of DeutschPlus e.V. – Initiative for a Plural Republic.

Media Partner

taz. die tageszeitung