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Low acceptance for Muslims in Germany

December 3, 2014

One in five people in Germany has a migration background. While Germans identify positively with their country, Muslims are often excluded, a new study shows.

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Berlin Muslime Integration
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

There is now little difference in the way Germans perceive their national identity, regardless of whether or not they have a migration background. Eighty-five percent of those who took part in a comprehensive survey said that they agreed with the statement "I love Germany," according a study released by the Humboldt University in Berlin on Wednesday.

"This counters the notion we have held for decades that Germany perceives its identity in a negative way," the university announced in a press release. The national identity of Germans now has more to do with the country's reunification in 1989 than it does with the country's more difficult and more distant past, according to the study.

More than 8,200 people took part in the survey between September 2013 and April this year. The study, "Germany Post-Migration," was conducted by integration and migration researchers at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Muslims less accepted

The study showed that the more strongly respondents to the survey identified their identity with Germany, the less likely they were to accept Muslims as part of German society.

Just under half of those questioned thought that teachers should not wear headscarves in schools. Forty-two percent said they thought there should be limits on how many new mosques are built in Germany, while 60 percent were in favor of banning the practice of circumcising young boys. More than a quarter of those who took part in the survey said that they thought Muslims were more aggressive than them.

Aydan Özoguz
Integration minister Aydan Özoguz: "Prejudice and stereotypes hinder social cohesion and participation"Image: Thomas Fedra

On the other hand, more than two-thirds of Germans questioned said that Muslims should have greater recognition in society, and 69 percent of those who took part in the survey thought that religious education in German schools should include lessons on Islam.

Aydan Özoguz, Germany's integration minister, spoke about the dangers of discrimination and stereotyping at the presentation of the study in Berlin on Wednesday. She warned that right-wing populists use these predjudices to benefit their own extremist activities. "We must all, particularly within politics, work to consciously oppose these false images, predjudices and stereotypes," Özoguz said.

lvw/mkg (dpa/ epd)