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The Kukic-Leipacher Family

August 28, 2014

One in five people living in Germany has a migration background. How does this cultural diversity affect everyday life? The Kukic-Leipachers are one family that knows about it at first hand.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CpFI

Their parents and grandparents came here for various reasons: as guest workers, fleeing war or political persecution, to escape economic hardship, for their professional careers or simply because of love.

The children and grandchildren of immigrants often feel a stronger link with Germany than they do with their parents’ countries of origin. They have German friends, go to German schools and marry German partners. Right now, a lot of people are coming to Germany in search of a better life. So when is this cultural diversity enriching? And when does it cause problems?



Who better to answer this question than a married couple with different cultural backgrounds? Nermina Kukic and her husband Christian Leipacher live in Dusseldorf. They have two sons. Nermina was four when she came to Germany from a small town in Montenegro. As a child of immigrant workers, she fought her way up, training as an actress and finally landing the role of Susie Shepherd in the television series “Marienhof.”


Then she met Christian, who comes from a close, prosperous family. Their relationship – between a Muslim woman from the former Yugoslavia and a German Christian – seemed really "impossible.”Our report looks atthe everyday life of the Kukic-Leipacher family and asks what role different languages, different music, different food, different ways of life and different religions play in it. What obstacles did they have to overcome? And how will the next generation take up the challenge?

28.08.2014 DW Feature Foto Dokumentation Doku Kukic1
“Christian and I – we are actually a very unlikely couple,” says Nermina. She was supposed to marry a Muslim from her parents’ village in Montenegro. But everything turned out quite differently.
28.08.2014 DW Feature Foto Dokumentation Doku Kukic5
Nermina graduated from drama school in Bochum. She beat hundreds of other applicants to get a place.
28.08.2014 DW Feature Foto Dokumentation Doku Kukic4
Nermina regularly visit her homeland. The mountain village Gusinje in Montenegro was the Kukic family for generations. Some of her relatives still live there, so it’s important to her to maintain contact





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