“Many believe that nothing needs to change in order for everything to remain as it is. This is a fallacy. We must consider in what kind of country we want to live in.”

On 26^th August 2016 the book “Die neuen Deutschen: Ein Land vor seiner Zukunft” (“The new Germans: A country confronting its future”) by Prof. Marina Münkler and Prof. Herfried Münkler will be published at the Rowohlt publishing house. Dr. Marina Münkler is a professor of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture at Technische Universität Dresden. Her husband, Dr. Herfried Münkler is a professor of Political Theory at the Humboldt University Berlin.

In the book they develop a vision of what needs to change in our country in order to achieve successful integration, avoid the creation of parallel societies and enable the development of a society with “new Germans”. They address politics as a whole as well as every individual in our society. “We do not believe that politics and administration can achieve integration themselves, rather they can create the necessary conditions for it, but it is the society which has to integrate,” explains Prof. Marina Münkler “and for this, both sides are required: refugees are expected to adapt to the new culture and to the new country, but we ourselves must also take action. We must make a real concerted effort to come together. So, if we want to do something for this country, we need to help to make integration viable. It will not work through exclusion and marginalisation.”

The book consists of five chapters, where Marina and Herfried Münkler depict the current situation regarding the refugee crisis and integration, embedding it into the historical context. They point out that migration and refugee movements are not the exception but the rule. “Migration is as old as mankind – the first humans migrated from Africa – and ever since migration has not stopped”, elaborates Prof. Marina Münkler. “In the recent history of the Federal Republic there are experiences with migration and we pick up this point in our book. Using the example of the Turkish migration, it can be very well understood:  The longer migrants are trapped in the intermediary, transitional stage, the more they revert to familiar, cultural patterns and the more likely it is for parallel societies to develop.”  In the final chapter entitled “Aus Fremden Deutsche machen” (“Turning foreigners into Germans”) the authors outline their preliminary considerations for a successful integration policy. They draft a number of points which are necessary but also point to past mistakes which must be avoided. The “new Germans”, are Germans and migrants who are learning how to interact and give each other sufficient room without abandoning or hiding their own culture.

The idea for this book was prompted by the migratory wave and the reactions to it in Germany. “We have been wondering, how the refugees’ future should look like, how we would like to see our future and how our common future could be shaped. I myself have conducted extensive research on foreigners and conflicts with foreigners in the Middle Ages.  My husband is concerned with crisis phenomena, with terrorism and asymmetric wars, which in fact form the basis for the refugee movement”, states Münkler. From these two perspectives Marina and Herfried Münkler describe the problem, without demonising it and thus offer a solution for a viable society.

Media Inquiries:
Prof. Dr. Marina Münkler
Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies / Institute of German Studies
Chair of German Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Culture
Tel: +49 (0) 351 463-34021

Book details:
Herfried Münkler, Marina Münkler
Die neuen Deutschen
Ein Land vor seiner Zukunft
Rowohlt Verlag
272 pages
Hard cover
€ 19,95 (D) / € 20,60 (A)
ISBN: 978-3-87134-167-0
Product group: 1972
Also available as an E-book
Available from the 26th August 2016