The first workshop dealt especially with the situation of Arabic-speaking migrants in Germany and with the situation of religious minorities. Three panels enlarged upon different aspects: What are minorities actually? How is the situation of Muslims in Germany? What are the conflicts because of new mosques about? The content-related work in the workshop groups was complemented with thematic excursions, e.g. following in the Jews’ tracks in Erfurt and on the conversion and enhancement in Leipzig, and meetings with “experts”, for instance during visiting the mosque association Erfurt or the migration officer for the East of Leipzig. Furthermore, with the visit of the Buchenwald memorial, an obvious example of what exclusion and minorization can mean in the extreme case was integrated into the program. Last but not least, in the framework of the workshop, there was a panel discussion [link to article] on the situation of Muslims in Germany in the main lecture hall of the Bauhaus University. The participants were 13 professors and students from Alexandria, 6 representatives of the Islamic University of Gaza and 23 members of the Bauhaus University Weimar.
Panel Discussion “Islam in Germany – An Urban Conflict Constellation?”
Reservations against Islam as religion and Muslims have strongly increased in Germany since 2001. How these reservations find expression, how they are reflected in the communal life in the city and which acute problems have to be solved in Thuringia and Weimar was the topic of this public panel discussion. On the podium Frank Eckardt welcomed the guests Jamal Malik (Chair of Islamic Studies, University of Erfurt), Sabine Berninger (Member of the Landtag; Thüringer Flüchtlingsrat e.V./Thuringian Refugee Council) and representatives of the student’s project group FremdWort (Communication Science, University of Erfurt). Subsequently, the opportunity was used intensively to talk to each other having tea and baklava.
