More than five million people in Germany are Muslim. Many of them report discrimination and exclusion. An expert report shows that hostility towards Muslims is widespread in this country.
According to a group of experts, anti-Muslim attitudes remain at a “constantly high level” in large parts of the German population. Every second person in Germany agrees with anti-Muslim statements, it said Final report of the nine-strong Independent Expert Group on Islamophobia (UEM).
Muslims are “one of the most pressured minorities in the country”. A total of around 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, the majority of whom have German citizenship. They would sometimes experience exclusion and discrimination up to and including violence. For those affected, these are not isolated events, but recurring and sometimes very stressful experiences.
Muslim women with headscarves are particularly affected
According to the report, Muslims who openly profess their religious affiliation, whether through clothing or membership in organizations, are hit hardest. Women wearing headscarves in particular reported “particularly drastic forms of hostility”. Overall, Muslim women reported that they were not seen as self-determined. Muslim men say they are perceived as aggressive and violent.
The experts from science and associations understand hostility to Muslims to mean “attributions of general, largely unchangeable, backward and threatening characteristics towards Muslims”. As a result, a “foreignness” or even hostility is constructed consciously or unconsciously. As reasons for hostile views, the experts named an “unconscious prior understanding”, misinformation or general fears.
appeal to federal government, organizations and media
The report is aimed at all people and organizations in the country, the authors assume – because it is crucial that those who are not directly discriminated against act in solidarity. However, the experts explicitly advise the federal government to appoint a council of experts and a federal commissioner to combat anti-Muslim hostility.
The report also recommends a reporting and documentation center and more advice. In addition, the ministries of education should revise the curricula and textbooks and offer political education its own subject area. Professional groups in all state institutions should be made more aware of the fight against institutional racism.
The report also sees “one-sided, conflict-oriented reporting” about Islam in many media outlets. The negative image is even more drastic on the Internet and social media. Christian media also “take part in one-sided Islam discourses to very different degrees”.
Expert group formed after attack in Hanau
It is the first report of this kind. The group of experts was appointed after the racist attack in Hanau in 2020 by the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer. The 400-page report now presented uses self-commissioned and other available studies to analyze how Islamophobia manifests itself in Germany and what extent it is.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser promised that the results would be dealt with intensively. Muslim life is a matter of course in Germany, everyone should have the same opportunities and rights. “The findings of this first comprehensive report on Muslim hostility in Germany are all the more bitter: Many of the 5.5 million Muslims in Germany experience exclusion and discrimination in everyday life – up to and including hatred and violence.” It is very important to make this visible and to create awareness of the resentments that are still widespread.