Integration in der Stadt (Integration in the city)

Talks and debate, featuring

Dirk Hilbert

Lord Mayor of Dresden

Markus Lewe

Vice President of the Association of German Cities, Lord Mayor of Münster

Professor Dr. Thomas Groß

Legal scholar, Osnabrück University

Moderator
Professor Dr. Martina Blasberg-Kuhnke, Osnabrück University

Integration – accommodating refugees first of all requires ensuring basic needs for decent accommodation, food and clothing. What started out with the assertion by the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of “Wir schaffen das!” (We’ll manage this) in 2015 now requires staying power to integrate those people who will remain in Germany for the long term or permanently. This task mainly falls to cities, which must also ensure that their residents accept and support their social and political conditions and constellations in a variety of ways. What does integration in the city mean, and how can it be achieved?

At the Osnabrück Peace Forum, the Lord Mayor of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert, presented the conditions of success or failure, based on experience from his city in the east of Germany. This view was expanded by the Lord Mayor of the western German city of Münster, Markus Lewe, who, acting as the Vice President of the Association of German Cities, also broached the issue of the diverse, multiple challenges facing Germany’s cities. Professor Thomas Groß used his legal expertise to add legal perspectives about the conditions required for successful integration, complementing the experiences of politicians in municipalities.

July 9, 2019, 7 pm, council meeting chamber of the Town Hall, Markt