In public discourse, Neukölln is one of the flashpoints regarding migration and integration. We were accordingly curious about the appointment with the mayor of Neukölln, Martin Hikel. Mr Hikel has excellent expertise on our topics. This also applied to the precise differentiation between antisemitic and racist attitudes, both of which are equally to be rejected. Of course the riots on New Year’s Eve were also a subject of the conversation. We agreed that the essential cause of the perpetrators’ violence and their contempt for the state and for democracy was not their migration background or even their religion, but their socialisation. And this in turn is a mixture of various components to which a multitude of elements has contributed: education, upbringing, integration, social situation and culture. Jewish women and men living in large cities in particular are highly concerned about the hatred of Jews in parts of the Muslim community – above all because it is charged with day-to-day political significance by news from the Middle East. As an association, we see raising awareness of this as one of our tasks.
In Mr Hikel we see a strong partner in this and thank him for the conversation.
