Migration
All topics-
Germany’s identity crisis
We are the people, too
Within two years, the rise of the AfD has caused a backlash in German discourse that Angela Merkel, fearing the loss of conservative voters to the right, has proved incapable of quelling. As the new German parliament reconvenes, it remains to be seen whose votes are worth more, writes Jagoda Marinic
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Germany's refugee influx two years on
Where there's a will
In 2015 and 2016, some 1.2 million refugees fled to Germany. Two years on from the start of the refugee crisis, how are these new arrivals integrating? Have the right steps been taken? Report by Claudia Mende
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Syrians in Germany
The need to find a voice
There are far more pressing issues for Syrians living in exile in Germany than the much-discussed topic of integration, writes Syrian author Tarek Azizeh. Getting organised and participating in public life is a top priority
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Syrians in Germany
Writer Widad Nabi: ″Integration is the search for common ground″
Faced with war and death in my home country I fled to Germany, no longer a writer but a refugee. For me it′s the chance to start over and find my way in this wonderful country. Essay by Widad Nabi
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Immigrants in Germany
Electioneering in the Federal Republic: Courting the immigrant vote
"What′s the Turk doing up there?" a caller to the Green party complained when he saw Cem Ozdemir in the Bundestag in 1994. Today 37 MPs and one in ten voters have a migrant background. Could they swing the election? By Andrea Grunau
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Donald Trump′s America
U.S. immigration policy: Damn those cosmopolitans
Cosmopolitanism is clearly a dirty word to the Trump administration, which is increasingly aligning itself with nativist movements hostile to ethnic or religious minorities. In the process Trump and his advisors are walking on thin political ice, argues Ian Buruma in his essay
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Politics of remembrance
Cracks in the edifice?
Are those who remember past atrocities protected from committing the same mistakes? Germany has spent over 40 years addressing its past, yet even there recent events on the global stage have seen populist prejudices enter mainstream debate. By Sonja Hegasy
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Europe′s refugee deal with Turkey
The end of the road
Anything is better than waiting. Even deportation back to Turkey is no longer such a frightening prospect for refugees stranded on Lesbos. But now, Ankara says it is no longer willing to take back rejected asylum seekers. Ulrich von Schwerin reports from Lesbos
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Mona Siddiqui on Brexit, Muslims and the migrant issue
How do you welcome someone?
The recent influx of refugees into Europe, seen by some as threatening its secular and liberal identity, triggered a wave of right-wing populism. Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh, is nevertheless convinced that the continent is still strong enough to pull back from the anti-Islamic rhetoric. An interview by Claudia Mende
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An Iraqi artist on Nauru
″My art is my saviour″
Currently housing 380 asylum seekers, Australia′s notorious Nauru detention facility bears witness to a brutal immigration policy. Conditions there remain the focus of international criticism. One Iraqi detainee, Abbas Al Aboudi, has turned to art in a bid to preserve his sanity. By Farid Farid
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"The Pearl of Dari" by Zuzanna Olszewska
Treasuring their common Persian heritage
A book about young Afghan poets in exile casts a new perspective on Afghans in Iran. Marian Brehmer read the Oxford anthropologist Zuzanna Olszewska′s study
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The German board game 'Istanbul'
Good clean Oriental fun?
Just a game? Think again! If the world is to survive, we all need to move closer together. Yet how can a society that ridicules others and reduces them to the level of pawns in a game expect to make any kind of constructive contribution? By Stefan Buchen