Muslims in Germany
In the budding 21st century, Germany understands itself as a country of religious diversity. Several phases of immigration have led to increased ethnic and religious plurality since the 1950s. Today, about 5 percent or 4,100,000 of the inhabitants of Germany are of Muslim faith. Cities such as Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg house representative mosque buildings and are centers for Muslim life and Islamic culture in Germany. In contrast to many countries where the majority of citizens belong to Islam, Muslims in Germany are part of a religious minority in the midst of a secular society.
The Goethe-Institut Indonesien compiles essays, interviews and photo stories on its website, which give the viewer an insight into the daily life of German Muslims. How do Muslims practice their religion in Germany? How do they interact with their social environment? What kind of wishes, joys, worries and hardships accompany them? The selected contributions deliberately do not claim to draw a complete picture. Rather, they aim to invite people to discover an aspect of Germany that still remains unknown to many international viewers.
The articles are also linked to a study program of the Goethe-Institut Indonesien that brings together young Indonesian intellectuals and German Muslims and informs them about Islam-specific discourses in Germany. In October 2017, the first trip took 14 participants to Berlin, Göttingen and Frankfurt.
We asked Muslims from Germany about their beliefs. How do they practice their religion, how do they experience Ramadan in Germany, how are they perceived by their personal and social environment, at university and in their workplace? In video interviews, our discussion partners talk about their experiences.
In an open photo competition, we asked young German Muslims to portray themselves in a series of five to seven snapshots. The only requirement was that the participants tell a visual story about their daily lives as Muslims in Germany - whether it is everyday life in the office, family celebrations, activities in the community or snapshots with friends. The participants were encouraged to be as creative as possible. From all submissions, the jury selected five that we published on our website.
