No carnival for refugees? © Rolf Vennenbernd
After the Cologne New Year's Eve disaster, many feared the worst at Carnival. There were hardly any attacks by immigrants in 2016 and 2017. But the festival is just as unsuitable as an integration banger.
Basically, refugees have always been a concept in the Rhenish carnival. Namely those, which leave at the latest at Weiberfastnacht flight-like the cities, in order to escape the Geschunkel, Gezeche and Geknutsche in the Sylter exile or on alpine ski runways.
Carnival courses for refugees
The Jecken always chalked up this resistance to fun to a casual "Levve un levve losse" (in Cologne dialect). But how does the carnival so far get along with genuine refugees from cultural circles in which even a single drunk on the street is not considered an annoying nuisance but a religious provocation – and hundreds even more so?? Not to mention the casual intercourse between the sexes.
After Cologne's New Year's Eve in 2015/16, the next, even bigger shock seemed inevitable. Police strategists hurriedly improved their deployment concepts, and helpers such as the Cologne Caritas Association offered carnival courses for refugees: Yes, beer consumption on the great days is part of this culture. No, a thrown kiss on the hand does not mean "marry me". Some carnival clubs sent costumed fools to refugee homes.
Police advised refugees against Karnveal
The cathedral city's festivities committee has since been distributing a brochure in the accommodations explaining the strange goings-on in Arabic in February. That the rifles of the foot troops are only dummies was one of the central messages to war refugees. The flyer ends with the words: "Be there and celebrate with us!" Integration under the sign of the Pappnas.
The North Rhine-Westphalian police were less euphoric. The State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD) in Duisburg caused a stir in February 2017 with an email to refugee shelter operators advising them against organizing trips to carnival hotspots for residents. The "massive appearance of refugees and asylum seekers at carnival events" could lead to "undesirable interactions" with the population. Migrants should also be prepared for increased police checks and not take large bags or backpacks with them.
The police's concern, less than two months after the terrorist attack in Berlin, was understandable, but caused outrage among refugee councils. There was talk of "special treatment of those who supposedly look different" and "racial profiling". The LZPD then rowed back; the letter had not been authorized, they said.
Hardly any crimes committed by immigrants
The fears of the law enforcement officers have not been confirmed so far, according to their information. In the carnival strongholds of Cologne, Mainz and Dusseldorf, the police reported only a small number of offences such as sexual assaults by young immigrants in 2016 and 2017. This is also due to the "very low intervention threshold" of the officials and a strong presence at hot spots.
But one orients oneself with all measures exclusively at the behavior, not at the origin of the people, said it on inquiry unisono. All in all, the carnival cheerfulness apparently has a rather alienating or even deterrent effect on most of the migrants, most of whom are Muslims.
Existential worries and traumas are likely to put an additional damper on the celebratory mood. "I didn't encounter any large groups during the Rose Monday procession," says Hans-Peter Suchand, spokesman for the Cologne festival committee. "Here and there you saw a little group, probably refugees. They were little or not dressed up at all and just celebrated peacefully." If at all, there is a kind of "tacit integration" there.
Little interest in carnival
The integrative power of carnival may not be naively overestimated, even at the Cologne Caritas Association. Interest in the fifth season is very low among her proteges, reports refugee aid coordinator Martina Soesters. That's why it no longer sees any need for "entry-level" courses in carnival.
As a devout Muslim, you don't have to be a follower of Salafist preachers, who are full of warnings on Youtube about the debauched customs of Christian provenance, in order not to be able to do much with them. There is simply nothing of the kind in Islam – and Alaaf and Allah are difficult to combine. It is only the subsequent fasting that offers cultural points of contact again.
Christoph Schmidt