4 - 2000

Islam in Germany

Intensive Efforts at Integration in Mannheim

Muslims in a big German city

by Andrea Spalinger

Since 1995 the largest mosque in Germany has been founded in the city of Mannheim. This Muslim house of worship right in the centre of the city is the expression of an unusually tolerant and open relationship between the German inhabitants and the strong Turkish Muslim minority.

If you go for a stroll through the inner city of Mannheim, and turn northwest, you will find yourself unexpectedly in another world. Even a native suddenly feels like a tourist in these busy streets. The various small shops offer foreign specialties, Oriental jewelry, and fabrics, vases and knick-knacks not meant to satisfy European tastes. Kebab stands, bakeries with all varieties of unleavened bread, great piles of unfamiliar sweets, Lebanese, Pakistani and North African restaurants and groceries as well as Turkish supermarkets dominate this corner of Mannheim. - This city of 320,000 in northern Baden (southwest Germany) has a foreign population of 20 percent, which is high for Germany. In the northwest inner city and the adjacent Jungbusch district it is over 65 per cent. The majority of the city’s foreigners, 23,000, are Turks of the Muslim faith. The greater part of them came here as "guest" workers in the 1960s and ’70s, when Mannheim, thanks to its favourable geographic location, began to develop as an industrial centre.

Since 1995 the largest mosque in Germany has been in Mannheim - not off somewhere in an industrial area, but in the middle of the city centre. Walking through the Jungbusch district, you can’t miss it, a modern building across from the Catholic Church of Our Lady. The Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque stands tall and proud for all to see with its cupola and minaret. In many other German cities, even today, one could not imagine such a striking and centrally located Muslim house of worship. Most mosques are hardly recognisable, hidden away in back courtyards or industrial districts, despite the fact that today in Germany alone there are over two million Turkish citizens of the Muslim faith. Many of them settled years ago in West Germany, their children have grown up here and become more or less integrated, and very few Turkish families today still think of going back to their homeland. Over years they have become used to practising their religion in the mosques in courtyards in back of other buildings. But more recently there have been increased demands for mosques appropriate to the size of Muslim communities, and for Islamic religious instruction in German schools.

These demands, however, meet with resistance from the German population. In Stuttgart, for example, early this year a citizens’ initiative was launched to counter plans of the Muslim community to build a mosque on the grounds of a factory it had purchased. Construction has still not yet begun, and an alternative site or another way out of the impasse has not yet be found. The city authorities seem undecided and unequal to the situation. In other German cities too, mosque-building is controversial. Mannheim could certainly serve as an example to them.

Back in the 1980s the Islamic Federation of Mannheim decided to build a spiritual and cultural centre for the large group of Turkish-speaking Muslims in Jungbusch. However, the Germans living in the district objected to this plan. There was already a very high proportion of foreigners there, and many old-established citizens feared that the mosque would draw in even more Turkish families. In the course of the year 1991 there were heated, emotionally heavy public discussions. The city official responsible for the affairs of the foreign population, Helmut Schmitt, took the initiative in forming a discussion group, which eventually developed into the Christian-Islamic Society. Through information and conversations, the resistance of the population was in large part gradually broken down, or at least turned into sceptical curiosity. The communal council subsequently voted to agree to the building plans, and in March 1995 the mosque, with space for about 2500 worshippers, was officially opened. Talat Kamran has lived in Germany for 18 years, and studied political science at the University of Mannheim. He is now Director of the Institute for German-Turkish Integration Studies and Intercultural Work which grew out of the Christian-Islamic Society. He explains that it only became possible to build the mosque because the parties involved made very intensive efforts to reach a compromise. The city government especially showed great readiness to engage in dialogue.

Kamran says that he himself came to the realisation during the round table discussions that the German population’s many prejudices with regard to Islam - largely founded on ignorance - would have to be broken down, if people wanted to continue to live in peace together in this city. The population is still often ruled by feelings of uncertainty even today. Even though people of the Muslim faith have been living in Mannheim for 40 years, Islam still arouses deep fears in large areas of German society. The fact that the Muslim side has for a long time kept to itself has something to do with this. It also became clear to others involved in the discussions, Kamran continues, that this good beginning at cooperation should not be limited to a discussion forum. So they decided to found an institution which would work continuously in support of the integration process between Turks and Germans, with the goal of deepening understanding of Islam at the level of scholarship and practising prophylactic conflict prevention. This was the motivation for the founding in 1995 of the Institute for German-Turkish Integration Studies, which works closely with the Islamic Federation and other Muslim organisations and the political decision-makers in the city.

The Institute, which is housed in the ground floor of the mosque, is meant to fulfil a bridge-building function. On one hand, it seeks to help Muslims become integrated into life in Mannheim. For example, it holds German language courses for women, who usually have more trouble finding their way in the strange surroundings than their working husbands. Tutoring for school children and computer courses for the members of the community are also offered. Kamran emphasises that through help with integration, and educational work, Muslims can be immunised against extremist groups. The fundamentalist groups in Mannheim are small, he says, but they must not be allowed to become more influential in times of crisis.

Kamran is convinced that tolerance and openness are means for combating extremism on both sides. This means informing Germans about Islam in order to reduce inhibitions and prejudices. The concept of the "open mosque" is intended to create a transparent situation in which all who are interested can see for themselves, and can convince themselves that Islam practised according to the Koran is a tolerant and peace-loving religion. Non-Muslims can visit the Sultan Selim Mosque whenever they like. Through conferences and guided tours, Kamran and his colleague Bekir Alboga try to bring Islam closer to schoolchildren, politicians and other interested visitors.

The "open mosque" project is a great success. Since its opening there have been over 200,000 visitors. Helmut Schmitt, the city’s foreign affairs officer, stresses that even today Muslim and non-Muslim citizens still have difficulties in getting along with each other. But the Institute, which counts representatives of the city council among its sponsors, offers a great chance for better mutual understanding.

Interreligious cooperation seems to work astonishingly well in Mannheim. Ecumenical worship services have been held regularly since 1997 in Protestant and Catholic churches as well as in the new mosque. Christian-Muslim school worship services have also become a tradition. The success of the integration efforts has spread by word of mouth. The city authorities and the Institute are receiving more and more enquiries from other German cities. Recently there was a visit from Green Party members of the city council of Saarbr�cken - where a mosque is to be built, also on the edge of the inner city - who wanted to inform themselves about Mannheim’s experience. Representatives of the Institute also were asked to join the bogged-down discussions in Stuttgart. Kamran says definitely that the Mannheimers are glad to share their experiences whenever they can be of service to interreligious dialogue.

Andrea Spalinger works as correspondent of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung (nzz)". She studied history and constitutional law in Paris and Z�rich. This article appeared on 29 September 2000 in the nzz.