"We were walking through Neukölln, a former West Berlin neighborhood and longtime immigrant enclave... Today, people from more than 160 countries call Neukölln home, andjournalists and politicians take Uzun’s tours to better understand one of Berlin’s most diverse neighborhoods.
This is where Uzun takes her tour groups. Here, she tells them how the Rixdorf quarter of Neukölln has actually been home to immigrants for centuries: In the 18th century, King Friedrich invited Bohemian Protestants to help settle the land here, even freeing them from taxes and exempting them from military service.
“They were allowed to keep their language,” said Uzun, pointing out a street sign still in Czech. “It took them 140 years to really integrate.”
Today, more than 40 percent of the neighborhood’s 325,000 residents have an immigrant background, which Germany defines as either being from a different country or having foreign parents or grandparents; about a quarter of the residents don’t have a German passport, according to Neukölln’s district office.
In recent years, the neighborhood has become home to young Germans attracted to more affordable rents. Cocktail bars and restaurants followed, and what started as a place settled by foreign workers brought in to rebuild a war-torn country has become a popular part of Berlin.
Today, about 15 percent of the neighborhood’s residents are unemployed — higher than Berlin’s overall unemployment rate of 11 percent and more than double the German average of around 6 percent. About a third of the area’s residents are on welfare. And while the neighborhood may feel integrated into the rest of the city, many of its residents say they still don’t feel like full-fledged members of German society.
“Because of our demography, Germany is forced to be a land of immigrants,” wrote Heinz Buschkowsky, Neukölln’s longtime mayor, in his bestselling 2012 book, Neukölln Is Everywhere. Buschkowsky meant that Germany’s aging population and low birthrate at the time he was writing would require the country to import labor. But in reality, Germany has been a land of immigrants from the beginning.
For decades, in fact, the country’s policies actively worked against immigrants trying to build a permanent home: Authorities granted guest workers temporary visas and, in some cases, restricted where they could live. Yet many immigrants, like Uzun and her family, did stay. Today, about a quarter of Germany’s population has an immigrant background, according to a study from the Federal Agency for Civic Education released in June. Of those with immigrant backgrounds, nearly 18 percent are Turkish. And many call Neukölln home.
[Uzul moved with her family to Germany 40 years ago. Yet she still has to renew her German visa every few years] “I’ve always been treated like an outsider here,” she said.
Full article on foreignpolicy.com
This is where Uzun takes her tour groups. Here, she tells them how the Rixdorf quarter of Neukölln has actually been home to immigrants for centuries: In the 18th century, King Friedrich invited Bohemian Protestants to help settle the land here, even freeing them from taxes and exempting them from military service.
“They were allowed to keep their language,” said Uzun, pointing out a street sign still in Czech. “It took them 140 years to really integrate.”
Today, more than 40 percent of the neighborhood’s 325,000 residents have an immigrant background, which Germany defines as either being from a different country or having foreign parents or grandparents; about a quarter of the residents don’t have a German passport, according to Neukölln’s district office.
In recent years, the neighborhood has become home to young Germans attracted to more affordable rents. Cocktail bars and restaurants followed, and what started as a place settled by foreign workers brought in to rebuild a war-torn country has become a popular part of Berlin.
Today, about 15 percent of the neighborhood’s residents are unemployed — higher than Berlin’s overall unemployment rate of 11 percent and more than double the German average of around 6 percent. About a third of the area’s residents are on welfare. And while the neighborhood may feel integrated into the rest of the city, many of its residents say they still don’t feel like full-fledged members of German society.
“Because of our demography, Germany is forced to be a land of immigrants,” wrote Heinz Buschkowsky, Neukölln’s longtime mayor, in his bestselling 2012 book, Neukölln Is Everywhere. Buschkowsky meant that Germany’s aging population and low birthrate at the time he was writing would require the country to import labor. But in reality, Germany has been a land of immigrants from the beginning.
For decades, in fact, the country’s policies actively worked against immigrants trying to build a permanent home: Authorities granted guest workers temporary visas and, in some cases, restricted where they could live. Yet many immigrants, like Uzun and her family, did stay. Today, about a quarter of Germany’s population has an immigrant background, according to a study from the Federal Agency for Civic Education released in June. Of those with immigrant backgrounds, nearly 18 percent are Turkish. And many call Neukölln home.
[Uzul moved with her family to Germany 40 years ago. Yet she still has to renew her German visa every few years] “I’ve always been treated like an outsider here,” she said.
Full article on foreignpolicy.com
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