GERMAN CONSERVATIVES have distanced themselves from President Christian Wulff’s assertion that “Islam is a part of Germany” in a speech to mark German unification on Sunday.
Mr Wulff earned widespread praise in political circles and among migration organisations with his call for greater unity, not just between Germany’s east and west, but also between the country’s Christian majority and its four million Muslims. He called for a new understanding of German identity that wasn’t reduced to a passport, family history or confession.
“Without doubt Christianity [and] . . . Judaism belong to Germany. That is our Judeo-Christian tradition. But without doubt Islam belongs to Germany,” said Mr Wulff. Quoting Goethe, he added: “Orient and Occident are no longer separable.”
The largest organisation representing German Muslims welcomed the speech as a “clear, important signal for all Muslims in Germany”.
“The speech was a sign that Muslims are not second-class citizens in Germany,” said Mr Aiman Mazyek, head of the Central Committee of Muslims in Germany.
Yesterday the first cracks began to appear when a poll by YouGov for the Bild tabloid found two-thirds of Germans disagreed with Mr Wulff’s assertion that “Islam is a part of Germany”. Some 24 per cent agreed with the statement. Soon conservatives within Mr Wulff’s own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) were lining up to disagree with him. “While Islam is a part of the lived reality in Germany, ours is a Judeo-Christian tradition,” said Mr Wolfgang Bosbach, interior spokesman.
There was widespread unhappiness with the speech in the the CSU, the CDU’s sister party in largely Catholic and conservative Bavaria. Ms Christine Haderthauer, the CSU social minister, stated that freedom of religion “cannot be allowed to be equality of religion”. The CSU’s Norbert Geis said the speech was “easy to misunderstand”.
“If the president wanted to put Islam in Germany on a par with Christianity and Judaism, that’s something I consider wrong,” he said.
Mr Wulff declined to comment directly yesterday, but pointed out at a reception for Germany’s national soccer team that the players’ names range from Hans-Jörg to Mesut and Miroslaw.
“This colourful team thrilled us all in South Africa, a team with young men of such different backgrounds that reflects Germany as the country of migrants that it has long been,” said Mr Wulff.
“Many closed their eyes to this – out of fear or resistance – but all at once one could see the kind of wonderful teamwork that is possible when people, however different their backgrounds, bring the best of what they can offer and can do to a common project.”
The speech row is likely to spark a new round in Germany’s often emotional public debate on integration.