Bayern-SPD fordert deutsch-tschechische Universität
The article “Bayern-SPD fordert deutsch-tschechische Universität” details the Bavarian SPD’s call for the establishment of a transnational technical university that would serve students of the neighboring nations of Germany and the Czech Republic. The university would be located in eastern Bavaria near the Bavarian-Czech border, and would be modeled after the German-Polish Universität Viadrina in […]
Neighbors in German Capital in Uproar over Iraqi Building
Berliners of the Dahlem district have already filed “not-in-my-backyard” legal complaints against an allegedly self-proclaimed new Iraqi embassy. Many fear that creating the equivalent of a new embassy for such a politically sensitive country in the posh neighborhood of Dahlem will increase violence in the area and drive up real estate prices. The full article […]
Designierte CDU-Ministerin gegen Kruzifixe an Schulen
One of the CDU’s ministers in Niedersachsen has ordered all crucifixes to be removed from public schools; just like the ban of headscarves, public schools are meant to be neutral and religiously unaffiliated. However, she now faces increasing criticism from her own party. The CDU stands for Christian values and should not authorize their removal. […]
“Auslaender sollen unsere alten Leute pflegen” (“Foreigners should tend to our old people”)
The article “Auslaender sollen unsere alten Leute pflegen” (“Foreigners should tend to our old people”) talks about how German nurses are calling for help from abroad. The number of skilled nurses is too low for the current conditions. This is due not only to an aging population, but also because qualified nurses are emigrating. Therefore, […]
Mean streets and macho violence on Berlin stages
In many smaller theaters in Kreuzberg and Neukoelln, a different type of play is starting to take hold. Instead of classic or even contemporary works, these new works being displayed can be called “street works.” These productions focus on the problems that are going on in many immigrant neighborhoods, such as violence, alcoholism, family and […]
German State Appoints First Minister of Turkish Origin
Aygül Özkan, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party, was recently appointed the minister of social affairs. Özkan was born in Hamburg and is the daughter of Turkish guest workers who arrived in Germany in the 1960s. Özkan does not want to be seen as a “token immigrant” in the world of politics, […]
„Wulff holt türkischstämmige Ministerin ins Kabinett“
The article “Wulff holt türkischstämmige Ministerin ins Kabinett” details the new Executive Cabinet in Lower Saxony’s CDU lead government. Christian Wulff, who has been the prime minister of Lower Saxony since 2003, has created a new cabinet that includes for the first time an ethnically Turkish minister, Aygül Özkan. Noticeably, the new cabinet also includes […]
Erdogan urges German Turks not to integrate
This article is very interesting because the Turkish government, and particularly the Turkish prime minister urged Turks living in foreign countries not to integrate. He was also quoted as saying assimilation was a “crime against humanity” during a speech in 2008. It is interesting to speculate what affect this sort of rhetoric will have on […]
Germany’s Turks don’t need Papa Erdoğan or Mutti Merkel
This article is interesting because it touches upon the fact that both the German and Turkish governments argue about how to best serve the Turkish immigrants in Germany without really knowing exactly what that entails because both sides are so far removed from the realities of being Turkish in Germany that the only thing they […]
Ossis Aren’t Indians
The court reached its verdict on the Gabriela S. Ossi dispute on Thursday, saying that “East Germans could not be seen as a tribe-like group.” Gabriela S., born in the German Democratic Republic, was declined from a window manufacturing job and her application was returned with “Ossi” written across the front. Gabriela S. took the […]