Political Analysis and Global Affairs

  Berlin's Taj Mahal and the Forgotten First Muslims Tucked between quiet streets in Berlin's Wilmersdorf district is a century-old mosque built in the Indian Mughal style. It's not just a place of worship. It's a time capsule. Long before the Turkish “guest workers” of the 1960s, long before headlines screamed about refugees and radicalization, Muslims arrived in Germany under drastically different circumstances. They were prisoners—dragged into Europe during World War I. What followed was a century of prejudice, propaganda, migration, and survival. And yet, somehow, Germany's Muslims remained. Propaganda Camps and Prayer Rugs: The WWI Experiment During World War I, Germany allied with the Ottoman Empire. Soon, thousands of Muslim POWs—Indians fighting for the British, North Africans for the French, Tatars and Bashkirs from the Russian Empire—were brought to German soil. They were housed in special “model” camps like Halbmondlager (Crescent Moon Camp), wher...

  Yes, German public schools teach Islam to Muslim students. According to official statistics from Germany's 16 state education ministries, around 55,000 pupils at 800 public schools across Germany receive Islam religion lessons. 1 .  However, only 4% of the country's estimated 700,000 Muslim pupils receive religious instruction in German, so there is a need for more teachers of Islam 1 . In Germany, it is mandatory to participate in one religious or ethical subject, but students are free to choose which of several variants they partake in 2 .  Religious education is the only school subject mentioned in the German Basic Law (constitution) and is a mandatory subject given by religious communities at public schools in almost all German federal states, except in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Bremen 4 . While religion as taught in public high schools and supported by Germany's Basic Law is generally targeted at specific denominations, some German politicians are pushing for an exp...