À Cologne, le chant du muezzin sème le trouble

La Mosquée centrale de Cologne avec ses deux minarets de 55 mètres. Êrik Lattwein/picture alliance / Zoonar
Envoyé spécial à Cologne
LE FIGARO : REPORTAGE - La mairie a autorisé les mosquées de la ville à lancer l’appel à la prière le vendredi, une initiative qui divise.

C’est le son lointain et familier des cloches qu’on surprend en se promenant dans le paisible quartier d’Ehrenfeld, probablement celles de l’église baptiste de la Stuppstrasse, toute proche. À ce tintement métallique et rituel, pourrait bientôt se superposer, chaque vendredi, entre midi et 15 heures, l’appel du muezzin à la prière, diffusé par la Mosquée centrale établie à deux pas.

Le même régime est censé s’appliquer à la quinzaine de mosquées que compte la cité rhénane. Ainsi en a décidé Henriette Reker, la maire sans étiquette de la quatrième ville d’Allemagne, au motif que dans une ville aussi diverse que Cologne, les signaux de reconnaissance des deux religions du Livre, chrétienne et musulmane, s’équivaudraient. «Je suis heureuse que nous prenions en compte les intérêts religieux justifiés des nombreux musulmans de notre ville cosmopolite, et que nous nous engagions en faveur de la liberté confessionnelle protégée par la Constitution», a déclaré l’édile le 7 octobre. » | Par Pierre Avril | jeudi 21 octobre 2021

Réservé aux abonnés

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Köln vor dem Krieg - Die Ringe (koloriert) - Cologne´s Ring-boulevard - Pre-war (Colorized)

Eine Tour über die Kölner Ringe im unzerstörten Köln der Zeit vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in kolorierten Filmaufnahmen der 20er und 30er Jahre. Zu sehen sind Chlodwigplatz, Ulrepforte, Rudolfplatz mit Hahnentor und Opernhaus, Hohenzollernring, Ehrenstraße, Friesenplatz, Friesenstraße, Kaiser Wilhelm-Ring mit Vater-Rhein-Brunnen, Kreuzung Christophstraße, Hansaring, Agneskirche, Eigelsteintor und Ebertplatz (Deutscher Platz), Rheinufer mit Reiterstandbild und Bastei und schließlich der Messeturm im Bau. Ausschnitt aus der Doku: Das alte Köln in Farbe. 90 Min. Originalaufnahmen aus dem unzerstörten Köln der Zeit vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Eine Doku von: Hermann Rheindorf, Sprecher: Christian Brückner

Cologne before WWII (colorized). A trip on Cologne’s Ring boulevard, a half circle built around the old town in the 1890s until the 1910s. Our film shots show street scenes taken between the 1920ies and early 30ies with some of its major squares like Chlodwigplatz, Rudolfplatz, Friesenplatz and their monuments like the mediaeval gates, towers, the statues of the Imperial era and other monuments. We also get a glimpse into narrow streets like Ehrenstraße and Friesenstraße. Scenes from the documentary: Old Cologne in color, 90. min., (German narration).

Single frame colorization based on DeOldify, Topaz & Davinci Resolve. Part of the video contains quotations of: I Think of What You Used to Think of Me, 1928, performed by Abe Lymans California Orchestra provided by syncopatedtimes.com and archives.org

Anfragen/requests: archiv@koelnprogramm.de

Festivity Muted at Cologne Christmas Market | DW News

The Christmas market at the Cologne Cathedral is one of the most popular in Germany. Following the recent attack at a Christmas market in Berlin, the mood is somber, but visitors continue to turn out in what many see as an act of defiance.

Mea Culpa! Under the Mask of Cologne (RT Documentary)

‘Chaos’: Far-right Thrives in Cologne Attack Fallout

Unknown assailants attacked and injured several immigrants in two districts of Cologne on Sunday evening. One of the attacks took place near the city train station, where mass assaults on women happened on New Year's Eve.

Robert Spencer on Fox News on Philadelphia Jihad Shooting and Cologne Muslim Sex Assaults

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer appeared on Fox's America's HQ with Uma Pemmaraju on January 9, 2016 to discuss the jihad shooting of a Philadelphia policeman, the mass sex assaults by Muslims in Cologne, Germany and other cities on New Year's Eve, and the authorities' denial of the jihad motive.

Terror in Cologne - Germany Becoming a Failed State

Germany: Cologne Counter-demo Meets PEGIDA Protest against NYE Assaults

Supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) rallied outside Cologne's main train station on Saturday. A counter-protest took place simultaneously, with the two groups being kept apart by the police.

PEGIDA Rally & Counter-protest in Cologne Following New Years Eve Assaults

Supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) are rallying outside Cologne’s main train station. A counter-protest is taking place at the same location. The demonstrations come in the wake of mass assaults against women that took place during New Year's Eve celebrations.

LIVE: PEGIDA Rally to Meet Counter-protest in Cologne Following Sexual Assault Allegations

Supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) are set to rally outside Cologne’s main train station on Saturday, January 9. A counter-protest is due to take place at the same location on the same day.

Both actions come in the wake of alleged mass sexual assaults against women in the same area during New Year's Eve celebrations. Cologne’s police have said the culprits are believed to be men between 18 and 30 years old with ""origins in the North-African and Arabic region.""

The allegations are expected to heighten tensions around the question of migration and cultural integration, as Germany accepts nearly one million refugees and migrants, mostly fleeing conflict in the Middle East.

Cologne NYE Assaults: Women Buying Pepper Spays, Fearing Refugees

The chaos took place in Cologne, Germany, on New Year's Eve when over a hundred women were reportedly assaulted by asylum seekers. Now there is an enormous rise in the demand for self-defence products, as women react to the mass assaults on December, 31. 22 asylum seekers are among the suspects.

And the Mayor of Cologne has accused the police of withholding information from her.

Reports Across Germany Of Organized Sexual Assault Attacks

Jan. 07, 2016 - 5:14 - Country's refugee policy faces fierce criticism; Analysis on 'The Kelly File'

German Women Report String of Sexual Assaults by 'Arab and North African Men'

THE TELEGRAPH: Mayor of Cologne to investigate "outrageous" series of New Year's Eve attacks on women by large gangs of men “of Arab or North African appearance”

Police in Germany are investigating an alarming series of sexual assaults on women trying to celebrate the New Year by large groups of single men “of Arab or North African appearance”.

Authorities in the city of Cologne are to hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday after police described a group of some 1,000 men who took over the area around the main station on New Year’s Eve.

Women were robbed, groped, and had their underwear torn from their bodies, while couples had fireworks thrown at them.

Police have received 90 criminal complaints, around a quarter of them for sexual assault, including one case of rape.

Police in Hamburg say there was a series of similar incidents in the city’s Reeperbahn red-light area. Witnesses described groups of five to 15 men of who “hunted” women in the streets.

In Cologne, the attacks took place around the main station, opposite the cathedral, a traditional gathering spot to see in the New Year. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Tuesday, January 5, 2015

German Carnival Parades Go Ahead Despite Terror Threat

In the run-up to the parades, there were concerns that satirical
floats that poked fun at Islamist terror could provoke attacks

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Annual carnival parades mocking everyone and everything go ahead in Cologne and Düsseldorf despite a terror threat that saw a similar parade cancelled in Brunswick

Annual carnival parades that are among Europe’s biggest street parties went ahead in the German cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf on Monday, despite an Islamist terror threat that saw a similar parade in the city of Brunswick cancelled at the last minute.

Tight security was expected at the annual Rose Monday parades in Cologne and Düsseldorf, which each draw crowds of around a million people, and in nearby Mainz, which attracts around half a million.

A parade in the northern city of Brunswick on Sunday was cancelled just over an hour before it was due to start, after police said they received information about a “concrete threat of an Islamist attack”.

It emerged there was also a previously unreported high terror alert at Frankfurt airport on Sunday after police received a tip-off from an unnamed source who learned of an alleged planned attack in an internet chat, according to a report in Bild.

“Such a serious alert situation has only happened very, very rarely before,” Christian Altenhofen, a police spokesman, told the newspaper. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Monday, February 16, 2015

Cologne Cathedral Will Go Dark in Protest at Anti-Islam March

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Church authorities show their dismay at growing movement, as politicians call for faster deporting of failed asylum seekers

The floodlights of Cologne cathedral will be switched off as a counter-protest against a planned anti-immigrant march, due to take place in the city on Monday night.

Thousands of marchers, coordinated by a new far-Right protest movement, have demonstrated in Dresden in recent weeks against what they say is the “Islamisation” of the country by Muslim immigrants.

The announcement came as Angela Merkel's Bavarian coalition partners urged a radical overhaul of Germany’s asylum system, including the swift deportation of those turned down for refugee status.

Bavaria’s ruling Christian Social Union, which is also a member of Mrs Merkel’s federal coalition, has proposed a new fast-track asylum process, based on the system used in Switzerland, in which “simple” cases would be decided in just six weeks. A senior CSU figure, Joachim Hermann, the Bavarian interior minister, has called for those whose applications are rejected to be deported. » | Justin HUggler, Berlin | Friday, January 02, 2015

German Women Should 'Stay at Home and Have Three or Four Children'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: German women should be encouraged to “stay at home and bring three or four children into the world”, the archbishop of Cologne has declared, rather than relying on immigration to solve the country's demographic crisis.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner compared Angela Merkel’s government’s family policies to Communist East Germany, when he said women who stayed at home were considered “demented”.

Germany, which has the lowest birth rate in Europe, is seeking more workers from crisis-hit countries including Spain to solve its shortage of skilled labour.

In unusually direct criticism of the German chancellor, Cardinal Meisner said: “Where are women really publicly encouraged to stay at home and bring three or four children into the world? This is what we should do, and not – as Mrs Merkel does now – simply present immigration as the solution to our demographic problem.”

In an interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung the archbishop said Germany should not take away the “youth and future” of Spain and Portugal. » | Jeevan Vasagar, Berlin | Wednesday, May 22, 2013

STUTTGARTER ZEITUNG: „Große Reformen wird es kaum geben“: Köln Die Wunden der Missbrauchsopfer soll ein Glaubensfest Anfang Juni in Köln heilen, sagt Joachim Meisner. Der Theologe beklagt die Gotteskrise und kritisiert die Familienpolitik. Deutschland sterbe aus, habe aber zugleich eine perfekte Gesetzgebung für Abtreibung und dränge die Frauen aus den Familien heraus, um die Produktion zu sichern. » | Michael Trauthig | Montag, 20. Mai 2013

My comment:

The cardinal has spoken an uncomfortable truth. This applies not only to Germany, but also to the West in general. Without more babies, the West will forever be dependent on immigrants, often Muslim immigrants, to fulfil our economic needs. This, in turn, will change the demographic make-up of our countries. It is already happening. We are already being outbred. In the UK, the baby name Muhammad (in all its various spellings) is now more common than Thomas, Richard, or Harry. This is a ticking time bomb. At last someone in the public sphere has spoken some common sense. – © Mark

Germany: Jewish Groups Condemn Court's Definition of Circumcision as Grievous Bodily Harm

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A German court has ruled that circumcising young boys on religious grounds amounts to grievous bodily harm, in a landmark decision that the Jewish community said trampled on parents' religious rights.

The regional court in Cologne ruled that the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents", a judgement that is expected to set a legal precedent.

"The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court added.

The case was brought against a doctor in Cologne who had circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents' wishes.

A few days after the operation, his parents took him to hospital as he was bleeding heavily. Prosecutors then charged the doctor with grievous bodily harm.

The doctor was acquitted by a lower court that judged he had acted within the law as the parents had given their consent.

On appeal, the regional court also acquitted the doctor but for different reasons. The regional court ruled that the doctor was innocent as there was too much confusion on the legal situation around circumcision.

However, it came down firmly against parents' right to have the ritual performed on young children.

"The body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision," the court said. "This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later on his religious beliefs." » | Wednesday, June 27, 2012

SÜDDEUTSCHE.DE: Urteil zu Beschneidung: Muslime und Juden reagieren empört auf “unerhörten Akt” – Eine "unsensible" und "diskriminierende" Entscheidung: Jüdische und muslimische Religionsvertreter kritisieren das Urteil aus Köln scharf - die Richter des Landgerichts hatten Beschneidungen bei Jungen als grundsätzlich strafbar bewertet. Auch die Leser von Süddeutsche.de diskutieren kontrovers. » | Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2012

Rapper Najafi on the Fatwa: 'Fundamentalists Can't Take a Joke'

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi has been in hiding in Germany since a fatwa was pronounced against him three weeks ago. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he discusses the fear Iranian leaders have of young people and his conviction that change will come to his country sooner or later.

So this is what exile in exile looks like. Fleeing the threats of Iranian ayatollahs, Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi, 31, has taken refuge in a garden house near Cologne, surrounded by chirping birds and a fig tree. Although he's under police protection, the four fatwas that have by now been launched against him by leading religious clerics in Iran over the past few weeks seem incredibly far away. Najafi released a song in which he implored the 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi, to return to the Earth to sort out modern-day Iran's problems. Shiites venerate al-Naqi, who died 1,143 years ago and was a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. The song has been downloaded over 500,000 times in Iran alone, and has received over half a million views on YouTube.

The musician appeared to be in a good spirits. The interview was conducted in German, although Najafi often switched to Persian and his manager, a German-Iranian, translated for him whenever necessary. German author Günter Wallraff, who is supporting Najafi, was also there. Children's voices could be heard in the distance. » | Interview conducted by Georg Bönisch and Tobias Rapp | Translated from the German by Paul Cohen | Monday, May 28, 2012

Related »

Disses and Death Threats: Rapper in Germany Fears for Life after Fatwa

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Cologne-based rapper Najafi has drawn the wrath of Shiite Muslims after publishing a song that appeared to make fun of the 10th imam. Following a fatwa by an Iranian ayatollah, he has received death threats, and there is a $100,000 bounty on his head. Now he is under police protection but insists he will keep making music. By SPIEGEL Staff

It's every rapper's dream: You stick it to the world, not caring what people think or say about you. If they hate you, they should go ahead and diss you, the more the better. No one can tell you what to do. After all, isn't that what rap is all about?

That dream came true last week for an Iranian rapper living in exile in Cologne. But in the tough reality of life, the dream has turned into a nightmare for Shahin Najafi. Najafi rapped about a man who has been dead 1,143 years: the 10th imam, Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi. He implored the imam to return to modern-day Iran to sort out the regime there. Of course, to a certain extent he also poked fun at the imam -- the sort of thing a rapper does in a world that's becoming more and more difficult to provoke. Najafi also designed an image for YouTube: a dome of a mosque in the shape of a women's breast, with the nipple at the very top.

He wanted to be provocative. It was rap, after all. The song's message was hard-hitting and crass.

What he provoked, however, was not the usual outcry on the Internet, but a response from the Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani in the Iranian city of Qom. It was a religious opinion, one that Persian newspapers have turned into headlines, albeit with a few weeks' delay. The ayatollah expressed himself in broad terms, not even mentioning Najafi by name. But anyone who wants to can easily interpret the ayatollah's opinion as a call to murder. And that is now Najafi's problem, because there are many who want to read it that way.

The Next Salman Rushdie

Hardly anything can become as emotionally charged in the cultural struggle between the enlightened and the orthodox as an apostasy fatwa practically asking for somebody's execution. Hardly anything is as capable of stimulating emotions and the masses. And, for this reason, hardly anything is more likely to be used as justification for a propaganda war where both sides are convinced they are right. The West wants to defend freedom of expression, while the radical religious culture wants to defend its faith. » | SPIEGEL Staff | Wednesday, May 16, 2012

German Far Right Emerges from Shadows to Join Cologne Campaign Against Mosque
THE OBSERVER: A populist party fighting the building of a Turkish cultural centre has found willing allies among Austrian extremists

Members of the right-wing organisation Pro Cologne protest against plans to build a new mosque in the Cologne in 2007. Photograph: The Observer
The buzz of drills and whine of cranes fill the air as scores of workers in yellow hard hats scuttle around the concrete shell of a building which, even in its unfinished state, dominates the working-class Cologne district of Ehrenfeld. For the thriving local Turkish community, the sprawling complex represents the chance for an entire infrastructure under one roof – from a mosque to a hairdresser's to a travel agency.

But for others in the city the new mosque and cultural centre has provoked fears that the multimillion-euro project will do little to encourage integration and give the Turks free rein to live in their own autonomous world. The right-wing populist Pro Cologne movement has campaigned against the mosque and moved a step closer to its goal last week after joining forces with Austria's far-right Freedom party (FPO [sic]).

"Every new movement needs a unique selling point," said Bernd Schöppe, of Pro Cologne. "Ours is the mosque. If ever you needed a sign of the real threat of Islamisation in Germany, it's that mosque, with its huge dome and 55m-high minarets." Pro Cologne, a small but growing movement which recently won seats on the city council, hopes to boost its profile by associating itself with the FPO [sic], which made its name a decade ago after sweeping to power under the leadership of the late extreme-right firebrand Jörg Haider.

This month the FPO [sic] was celebrating another feat, after securing 26% of the vote in the Vienna elections. One of its slogans urged Muslims to "go home", and among the election paraphernalia it dished out was a computer game where players score points for shooting at mosques and minarets. >>> Kate Connolly in Cologne | Sunday, October 31, 2010