Contacts and Conflicts over Worship and Burial in the Kreuzberg District of Berlin

Abstract

After the two major Christian confessions, Islam represents the third largest religious grouping in Germany. Estimates suggest that there are approximately three million Moslems living in the country, about three hundred thousand of whom are German citizens. About threequarters of the resident Moslem population are from Turkey, the next largest groups are from Bosnia and northern Africa. However, by now there is virtually no area in the Moslem world from which people have not come to live in Germany.¹ In particular it is the major conurbations along the Rhine Valley, in the southern part of Germany and in Berlin where Moslem immigrants have settled. In Berlin itself, the districts of Wedding, Neukölln and Kreuzberg² are home to the majority of the Moslem population. Various estimates have taken as their base figure about three hundred thousand members of the Moslem faith in Berlin.³ According to assumptions by leaders of the Moslem congrega­tions and the author’s own observations, it can be stated that about one-third are practising Moslems. The overwhelming proportion of Moslems carry out their religious duties only sporadically, if at all. However, ritual observance carries with it the potential for cultural conflict manifest in a spatial form.