Intercultural encounters take place in many places in Germany. At neighbourhood and town festivals, on the sports field, in youth centres, at the workplace, in schools and kindergartens. Even so, it becomes clear time and again that encounters alone do not lead to more togetherness. Which is why many people and institutions all over Germany are working towards intercultural coexistence. They want to pave the way for better mutual understanding and strengthen the “we-feeling” in everyday life.
Nobody knows exactly how many projects and initiatives there are nationwide. Only one thing is certain: there are thousands. One example is the Körber Foundation in Hamburg. Since 1999 it has been awarding the “Hamburg Tulip” to exemplary projects that build bridges between Hamburg citizens with and without an immigration background. The 2008 prize-winner is called “Switch” and brings children from different cultural backgrounds together in an unusual way (see page 62). The award is not called the Tulip without reason, of course. It was chosen because the tulip “itself is an immigrant and is perfectly integrated,” as the Foundation puts it. The first tulip bulbs were brought to western Europe from the Ottoman Empire about 450 years ago in the luggage of a European envoy.
Almost 600 kilometres further south, intercultural public spirit is shown in a very different way. Mannheim has one of the highest populations of foreigners in Germany – with 65,000 immigrants out of 327,000 inhabitants. For decades it has been regarded as a model community when it comes to coexistence between Germans and immigrants. Indeed, the term Mannheim Model is known all over Germany. One of the most outstanding initiatives is the Institute for German-Turkish Integration Studies. It was set up in 1995 during a dispute over the building of a new mosque. In the meantime everyone involved has realized that a bridge is needed between the Christian and Muslim sections of society: to break down prejudices on both sides, and build up bother an understanding for each other and knowledge about each other. The Institute collaborates with local organizations, schools, mosque communities and churches to encourage intercultural and interreligious communication and sensitize both the host society and the immigrants. The days when the mosque was an issue of dispute are long over – quite the contrary: the two sides have developed the concept of the open mosque. About 250,000 visitors have taken a tour of the once controversial Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque.
Learning German in a Restaurant
120 people from 33 countries work every day in Hamburg’s seven “Oktober” restaurants – serving guests, cooking meals or pouring drinks. But there are no communication problems, however crowded it gets: the business language is German. That’s one thing owner Ömer Merdin insists on. He himself came to Germany from Turkey at the age of 19 and knows how important it is to be able to speak German. That’s why he finances regular language courses for employees whose German skills are not up to scratch. “I want to create equal opportunities for everyone,” says Merdin. This commitment won him first prize in a nationwide competition known as “Cultural Diversity as an Opportunity” in 2008. The restaurateur has even invented his own training scheme for his employees. Staff without qualifications can do an apprenticeship in his restaurants in service or cooking.
The Neighbourhood Mums
Black dress, red scarf, multi-coloured shoulder bag: almost everyone in the Berlin boroughs of Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Steglitz knows the women who wear this outfit. In fact the ladies will probably have visited the homes of many of the residents. Enter: the “neighbourhood mums”, immigrants mostly from Turkish or Arab families with a special mission. They answer other immigrants’ questions on everyday life in Berlin and give advice on problems in ten fields ranging from health to education. The project was launched in 2006 by Neukölln Council, and about 180 women are working in the three Berlin boroughs in the meantime. The expectations have been fully met, for many families to which the committed ladies have access without a language barrier would never have been reached by a German social worker.
Round the World in Hamburg
People from over 180 nations live in Hamburg. What an opportunity, especially for children, to get to know the way-of-life of families from other countries. The Hamburg Cultural Bridge Association has recognized this and has developed an unusual programme: “Switch”, an international family-exchange scheme for children between the ages of nine and 14 – all within the city. The girls and boys spend one day in host families in groups of four and, together with her parents, are themselves hosts to the rest of the group. This way, each family becomes an ambassador of their home country. The only condition is that the children taking part must speak German.
Starting the Future Today
An academic career is an exception among immigrants’ children. The Hertie Foundation wants to change this with its Start programme. In 2002 for the first time, students from immigrant families were supported with a scholarship to help them finish their schooling to the Abitur stage (i.e. with a prospect of going to university). The programme began with 20 children in the state of Hesse – in the meantime 500 students from over 60 countries of origin are being supported nationwide each year. The support they receive includes the monthly scholarship itself (100 euros), a notebook complete with Internet access, and an opportunity to take part in seminars and workshops. They can also receive additional funding of up to 700 euros a year which has to be spent on language courses, tutoring or educational seminars.
Partnership Between Cultures
The Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the then Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül launched the Ernst Reuter Initiative (ERI) in Istanbul in September 2006. The common goal at the time was to strengthen German-Turkish cooperation and intensify intercultural dialogue between the two countries together with partners from business, the media, the arts and culture, education and science. Today, in late 2008, 16 projects already bear the magenta-coloured logo with the six hands. Among other things, the Ernst Reuter Initiative supports the teaching of German to Turkish imams who are to be sent to Germany, and the “Young German-Turkish Philharmonic Orchestra” (see photograph). A milestone in bilateral science relations is currently also taking shape under the umbrella of the Ernst Reuter Initiative: the first German-Turkish University in Istanbul.
www.ernst-reuter-initiative.de
Soccer for Peace
His commitment is total. In fact, Volkan Inak has even had a hairdresser cut a peace sign in his hair for his Peace Cup. On September 11, 2001, the day of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Christians and Muslims spontaneously got together to pray together in his home town of Wedel. The then 12-year-old was impressed and decided to do something for peaceful coexistence between people himself. A charity soccer tournament, the Wedel Peace Cup, was born. Volkan brings young people from many countries and different religions together via their shared passion for football. Today about 100 girls and boys aged between twelve and 16 from Hamburg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony come to take part every year in this integrative sports event.
Future with a Godmother
Fewer than half of all young immigrant women begin vocational training in Germany, In 2006 local government leaders in Mettmann decided that enough was enough. They developed a project (“ProMMi”) to enable girls with an immigrant background to do an apprenticeship. The aim is to improve the job integration of girls from immigrant families and with Islamic religious affiliation in the region. Together with schools and businesses the district council approaches girls in the 8th grade to offer them long-term support in choosing a career. What is unusual is the idea of a godmother. Women with an immigrant background who have themselves trained for a career act as volunteers – as both role models and career advisers – to counsel and accompany the “ProMMi” participants.
Region of Cultures
What the organizers of the Cultural Capital of Europe RUHR.2010 scheme are planning sounds spectacular. They want to form a new-style metropolis out of the community of 53 cities in the west German Ruhr region, the third largest conurbation in Europe. Migration is a focal topic of the programme. Which is hardly surprising, since 600,000 of the region’s five million inhabitants are immigrants. How did this international melting pot develop? What problems and challenges need to be overcome? Answers will come, for example, from the Melez Festival of Cultures, which will present the art, humour and language of the nationalities living in the Ruhr region (photograph). The most ambitious project is a new creative network in Europe: TWINS2010. Ruhr-based artists will be able to send in ideas and apply to take part in projects together with colleagues from the Ruhr’s approximately 200 European partner cities.
