In such a situation the Berlin-based mosque explored by Faiola and Mekhennet decided to ban believers who embraced radical views from its religious community. But, despite everything, many young Muslims are making their way to Syria. Most of them were born in Europe and in many countries they are the second-generation of European Muslims, but they feel somehow split between Europe and their parents' mother countries. They seem to go to Syria in search of an identity that they cannot find in Europe anymore. Meanwhile their parents call European police forces when their kids decide to join the IS.
Revealing.
Germany and the origins of pro-homosexuality movements
Although in the minds of many Germany is only associated with the persecution of gay people during the Nazi period, one would be surprised to actually find out how Germany started reflecting on homosexuality way before the Third Reich. The fight for gay and lesbian rights, in fact, had its roots in Germany a long time before Hitler got to power and, if Berlin is now regarded as a city where anyone can be himself and live in freedom, that is thanks to several battles fought from the 19th century onwards.
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| Photo: Distelfliege; Licence: CC BY 2.0 |
In this article published by The New Yorker, Alex Ross reviews the book "Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a modern identity" by Robert Beachy. With a writing style that takes you to the heart of the topic straight away, Ross makes the readers aware of some of the most important characters who influenced the history of gay rights in Germany and, essentially, the entire world. As the review goes on, readers will learn about the first progressive and open-minded German jurist who tried to defend the gay rights cause for the first time in the 19th century, some thirty years before the the first gay magazine "Der Eigene" ("The Self-Owning") began publication in 1896. The book also focuses on the cinema dedicated to lesbian rights (such as Leontine Sagan's 1931 movie "Mädchen in Uniform") and, following the history of Germany, unveils the fight in favour of homosexual rights during the Wilhelmine period (and a Berlin police commissioner who allowed "gay Berlin" to blossom) as well as during the Weimar Republic.
Sehr interessant. It makes you want to read the book yourself.
Religious identity in Europe and the case of Jewish communities
A lot of news articles have been focusing on the Jewish community these days. Remembering the liberation of Auschwitz 70 years ago, the media have made themselves defenders of memory and tolerance but sometimes forget about other minorities that have been persecuted under the Nazi and other regimes as well.
Talking about the Jewish community but from a slightly different angle, I found this article rather interesting, written by Pavel Lokshin for the English version of Der Spiegel. It is about the Jewish community currently living in Oranienburg, a town north of Berlin, actually close to what used to be the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen. Back in those days there had been a considerable influx of Russian Jewish immigrants to Oranienburg but, when the government changed its immigration policy, the local Jewish community stopped to grow and began to grey rapidly.
If the article questions the future of Jewish communities in Germany, recent European facts should get us thinking in broader terms about religious identity in Europe. The rise of anti-Semitism in France is making its Jewish citizens move abroad and it even goes online with Facebook groups that share the address of public houses belonging to Jewish people.
But recent events (the Parisian attacks around Charlie Hebdo, the Pegida movement in Germany, the shootings in Copenhagen) have also shaken other religious communities. In Lombardy, Italy, the government approved a law that makes it more difficult to build new buildings for religious purposes. Recent developments including this law, voted for on the very same day that marks the liberation of Auschwitz, show how much we have to reflect on the idea of religious identity and social integration in Europe, particularly with regard to reshaping the concept of its union and European identity.
Thoughtful.
