Abstract
In the context of Germany's anti-Semitic past, current attitudes towards refugees and immigrants are surveyed and compared with other countries. Higher levels of xenophobia in former East Germany, despite far fewer foreigners than in West Germany, is explained with the official denial of the fascist legacy, in contrast to an effective reeducation policy and dealing with the Nazi past in the West. Islamophobia and allegations of welfare tourism have now emerged as the main obsession of xenophobes. Yet, overall attitudes towards outsiders have improved, together with legislative changes in immigration policy and citizenship acquisition, the weekly anti-Muslim demonstrations by PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans) in Dresden and arson attacks on asylum homes notwithstanding. Younger and better educated Germans are far less xenophobic. This analysis portrays the current German public discourse, provides relevant statistics on immigration, explores contested integration/asylum policies, scrutinizes implications of categories from the cultural repertoire through which migrancy is understood and assesses the contending political forces.
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