An Indian opinion and experience of racism in Germany

I am a US citizen of Indian descent and speaking for my circle of friends who are also of Indian descent. We all believe that Germany is not a conducive environment for foreigners.

One of my friends has over 30 patents and is the chief engineer for a multi-100 million dollar high tech company he helped build. When he was asked to move to Hamburg to take over a division there, he was met with such hostility by highly educated employees and thinly disguised racial insults that he declined the job. The division was shut down a little later. It would be a stretch to say this was the reason but his presence would have given the division a fighting chance. Racism hurt everybody here, the German citizens who lost jobs, my friend who could not experience the pleasure of living in Germany which he was looking forward to.

I personally have been to over 56 countries on business and only in Germany have I ever been asked for my passport while walking down the street. Immigration officers have also been much ruder than in other European countries. As a result, I no longer fly through Germany if I can avoid it and do not plan on expanding into Germany. I am just a small blip on the economic radar for Germany but there are 200 million successful Indians or people of Indian origin who would like nothing better than to have a profitable and mutually beneficial relationship with Germany's people.

My friends of Chinese origin share the same view and there are probably as many of them if not more.

- Sameer V.
San Jose, CA, USA

-As told to SPIEGEL Magazine

Source: Spiegel

Mügeln Mayor Slammed for Trivializing Racist Attack - 08/31/2007

Two weeks after eight Indians were attacked by a mob in the Eastern German town of Mügeln, its mayor can't see what all the fuss is about. Leading politicians are shocked that he continues to downplay the incident and there are calls for his resignation.

The reverberations following the racist attack on eight Indians in the Eastern German town of Mügeln two weeks ago are still being felt in Germany. Politicians from across the spectrum reacted with anger after Mügeln Mayor Gotthard Deuse complained that a media campaign had been whipped up against the town and criticized leading politicians for their "malicious" comments. His own party, the business friendly Free Democrats, is distancing itself from him and there are calls for him to resign.

Mügeln Mayor Gotthard Deuse feels his town is the victim of a poisonous media campaign. As far as he is concerned there's no right-wing extremism in the town.

There was widespread revulsion in Germany and beyond after eight Indian men were chased through the streets of Mügeln by a mob of 50 people on Aug. 19. The men took refuge in a pizzeria as the crowd chanted "Foreigners Out!" and "Germany for Germans," before breaking in and beating up the men inside.

In a classic example of pouring oil onto the fire Deuse, in an interview given to the right-wing Young Freedom newspaper, complained about the rush to judge his town in what he called a "media campaign." He completely denied that there was a problem with right-wing extremism in the town and accused politicians like Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee -- who is also responsible for overseeing development in former East Germany, of making uninformed "populist" comments about the attacks.

Tiefensee had already warned against belittling the events in Mügeln and he hit back at Deuse on Friday, telling the Rheinische Post that "citizens and groups had to be courageous in tackling extreme-right tendencies. Looking away and downplaying the problem is exactly the wrong thing to do."

Tiefensee pointed out that the radical right was stronger in the former East Germany than it was in the West. "There is an historic lack of exposure to immigration and cultural diversity," he said, while admitting that the difficult job market plays a role in radicalization. But the Social Democrat politician insisted that this didn’t justify "threats and acts of violence against foreigners or anyone else."

Deuse, who has been mayor of Mügeln for the past 17 years, had already insisted that there was no far-right scene in the town. In his interview he complained about the "poisonous" attacks on the town and accused some politicians of not knowing what they were talking about and of being either ignorant or "deliberately malicious." He regretted that Germans were not allowed show their own national pride and said "I am proud to be a German."

Leading politicians from the Social Democrats (SPD) and Green Party have demanded Deuse resign as mayor, while his party has tried to distance itself from the mayor and his remarks.

SPD member Sebastian Edathy, who is chairman of the parliamentary domestic affairs committee told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung "Mr. Deuse should ask himself whether he can be of any more use in his position. I have my doubts." Green Party parliamentary leader Renate Künast declared: "The mayor of Mügeln has to go!" The Left Party's deputy parliamentary leader Bodo Ramelow said that he had the impression that the mayor was "xenophobic deep down."

As for the FDP, General Secretary Dirk Niebel said Deuse is responsible for his own words and insisted: "There can be no relativization when it comes to acts of violence and xenophobic attitudes. That is the basis of an open-minded and tolerant society for all democrats."

Source: Spiegel

Racism Warning Has German Hackles Raised - 05/18/2006

On Wednesday, a former government spokesman said black visitors to Germany should be careful where they go in the country. His remarks have drawn criticism -- and support.

It doesn't take much to try Germany's patience in the weeks leading up to the World Cup soccer championships. Nerves are especially raw when it comes to comments and incidents that cast doubt on the country's hospitality and its openness to the millions of international guests expected to descend on the country in June. On Wednesday and Thursday, that sensitivity was laid bare for all to see.

Former government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye says some parts of Germany are dangerous for foreigners.

A former government spokesman on Wednesday suggested that dark-skinned visitors to Germany should consider avoiding the eastern part of the country where racism runs high. "There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, as well as elsewhere, which I would advise a visitor of another skin colour to avoid going to," said Uwe-Karsten Heye, who now leads an anti-racism organization called "Show Your Color." "It is possible he wouldn't get out alive."

The comments came as part of an interview with the public radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur about how right-wing extremism and racism can be combated in Germany. Heye also said there was an increasing tendency in the country to look the other way when it comes to right-wing violence. His comments about "no-go" areas in Germany came as a response to a question about whether tourists from Togo or the Ivory Coast should feel comfortable travelling anywhere in Germany.

But by specifically mentioning Brandenburg, the eastern German state surrounding Berlin, Heye ensured a swift reaction. The governor of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, called Heye's statements an "unjustifiable slandering of entire regions within Brandenburg." The state's Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm demanded Heye's resignation from "Show Your Color." And even the Turkish-German parliamentarian Ekin Deligöz from the Green Party warned against overstating things. "That's want they want," he said referring to right-wing extremists. "They want foreigners to stay home and not even to come to Germany in the first place."

The uproar comes just weeks after an apparently racist attack against an Ethiopian-German in the Brandenburg state capital of Potsdam, just outside of Berlin. Almost a month after the attack, the victim remains in hospital with severe head injuries. Earlier this week, reports of a racist attack on an Italian in Berlin once again stirred up opprobrium, though it was later revealed that the alleged victim may have invented the incident.

And most are willing to admit that there are parts of Germany with a very real problem with racism. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green Party representative in the European Parliament, came to Heye's defense by saying: "The reality is school classes with many immigrant children question whether it is safe to go to Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-West Pomerania" -- another state in eastern Germany -- "for camping trips."

Yonas Endrias, a member of Germany's African Council, likewise supported Heye. "None of us blacks would go on an outing in Brandenburg," he said. "There is also racism in western Germany, but as a black person, the chances of being attacked in an eastern German village are much higher." Following the Potsdam attack in April, the Africa Council spoke of areas in eastern Germany which blacks should avoid.

On Thursday, as a reponse to the furor, Heye clarified his remarks by saying he didn't intend to single out Brandenburg. He also praised the state's extensive efforts to combat right-wing extremism. But he didn't back down. "We cannot make it the responsibility of the victims to decide how to defend themselves from racism and anti-Semitism," he wrote in a statement for the online version of Vorwärts, a Social Democrat Party publication which he edits. "This is the responsibility of the pluralistic society. Unfortunately, the tendency to look away has increased."

Source: Spiegel