Discrimination in Germany: A Call for Minority Rights

Abstract

German society is confronted with, but has yet to come to terms with, two important social facts. In the first place, Germany is a polycultural society, even if it refuses to recognize itself as such. Second, people of different cultures within Germany are not treated equally; instead there is widespread, systematic discrimination of non-dominant groups, on both the legal and the social level. This paper will argue, first, that the current situation is untenable, and then evaluate the applicability of what I will call, on one hand, the Anglo-American model and, on the other, the Eastern European model for protecting the rights of minorities in Germany.