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----- Original Message ----- From: "Assalamu Aleikum" Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 1:29 PM Subject: COLOGNE, A CITY OF NAZI HORRORS, DENIES MUSLIM BURIALS Assalamu aleikum. It is shameful that the same nazi scum from Cologne (Koeln) who packed thousands of their fellow citizens on cattle trains to die in death camps are now denying burials to Muslims. Perhaps "stumbling stones" should be placed at Muslim gravesites as a reminder to Cologne as to just what low standing Cologne has in the world community. Please note that 2 articles follow: *Cologne: "Stumbling stones" as memorial of the Holocaust *German City Refuses Islamic Burials --- (1) Cologne: "Stumbling stones" as memorial of the Holocaust BBC WEDNESDAY 9th February 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/germany_insideout/rhineland3.shtml --- photo: Stumbling Stone http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/germany_insideout/images/stolperstein.jpg --- The word German "Stolperstein" - literally stumbling stone - means an obstacle in your path, preventing you from reaching your desired goal. In Cologne, however, some stumbling stones have come to take on a very different meaning - a way of reaching the goal of historical understanding and remembrance. Artist Gunter Demnig has created a series of Stolpersteine that commemorate thousands of Cologne's residents who died in the Holocaust, including 15,000 Jews. His project involves replacing the ordinary cobblestones on the pavements of the city, putting in their place stones bearing a simple inscription - name, date of birth and the date and place of death, if known. The stones are positioned outside the houses of Jews, gypsies and others who were murdered by the Nazi regime. The simplicity of the concept is one of its most effective aspects. Many passers-by stop to look at and discuss the inscriptions on the ground beneath their feet. These stones are indeed something that you can almost physically stumble over. In the years after 1945, there was little inclination in Germany to examine the Holocaust. History books ignored the subject entirely or concentrated only on the suffering of Germans themselves during the Second World War. Many history teachers were themselves tainted by the Nazi era and found it was easier to pass over the subject in silence. Now, by contrast, the horrors of the Holocaust are a constant theme in school subjects - from history and religion to literature. Teachers, such as Albert Deckers, are faced with the task of introducing the subject to young teenagers. He says: "As a German in Germany, you can't get past the subject." For his class, learning about the Nazi past is not just a duty. His pupils have been actively involved in supporting Gunter Demnig's Stolperstein project by raising money for dozens of the stumbling stones, each with its own name, to be placed outside the house of the person named on the miniature plaque. Several members of the class attend the hammering into place of the stones. The simple inscription reads: "Here lived Engelbert Brinker, tortured and murdered by the Gestapo in 1944." http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/germany_insideout/rhineland3.shtml --- (2) German City Refuses Islamic Burials By Ahmed Al-Matboli IOL Correspondent Islam Online February 9, 2005 http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-02/09/article01.shtml --- photo: A file photo of cemeteries in Koeln. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-02/09/images/pic01.jpg --- KOELN, Germany February 9 (IslamOnline.net) - Despite legislative amendments adopted to allow the Muslim community in Nordrehin Westfallen province to bury their dead in shroud, the German city of Koeln insists the German Muslims be buried in coffins according to Christian burial rituals, casting doubts on efforts to integrate the Muslim community in the German society. In September 2003, the German state of Nordrehin Westfallen has taken a decision to amend its burial laws, allowing the Muslim community to bury their deceased wrapped in shroud, in accordance with Islamic tenets. Under the German burial laws, relatives of the deceased are required to wait 48 hours before a burial can take place and must bury their dead in a coffin -- or if the corpse has been cremated -- in an urn. Helmut Strack, an official in charge of Koeln's cemetery department, said dead Muslims must be buried in coffins, in compliance with Christian burial rituals. He claimed that the deceased body should be buried four days after death, to allow for burial papers - that take up to two days - to be issued. A similar stance was echoed by Ute Raute-Kreinse, a German pathologist. "Burying the dead wrapped in shroud will harm the cemetery's visitors and workers due to the body's disintegration. It is quite right to bury the dead in coffins," she told the Tageszeitung daily. Such claims were immediately rebuffed by the Muslim community. Burial of dead Muslims takes place long before the body's disintegration, German Muslims say. There are certain determined legal rulings concerning the Muslim on his death [ http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=92676 ], such as washing him, wrapping him with a shroud, performing the Janazah or funeral prayer for him and being placed in his grave facing Qiblah, according to the Islamic Shari'ah. Stand-off The stand-off between the Muslim community and the Koeln cemetery department over burial rituals is expected to be solved this February, according to IslamOnline.net correspondent. The councils for integration and immigrants have been exerting strenuous efforts to reach a solution to the standing dispute. "The immigrants' council is coordinating with the Muslim community to reach an agreement on the stand-off before being forwarded to the city council," Aref Uenal, head of the immigrants' health council, said. The immigrants' council has also called on Koeln's cemetery department to discuss alternatives to allow Muslims to bury their dead wrapped in shroud, Uenal, who is also the spokesman of the Greens Party's health affairs department, added. He noted that some Islamic bodies accept the burial of Muslims in coffins as the case in Turkey, but some conservative Muslims still insist on burying their dead in shrouds. The integration council, for its part, expressed fears Koeln's insistence to bury Muslims in coffins in accordance with Christian burial laws would undermine efforts to integrate the Muslim community into the German society. Sirdar Demir from the Turkish-Islamic Union said 95% of Turkish Muslims in Koeln refuse to be buried according to Christian burial rituals, demanding instead to be buried in their homeland Turkey. Koeln is home to the biggest Muslim community in Germany. Islam comes third after Protestant and Catholic Christianity in Germany. There are some 3.4 million Muslims in the country, including 220,000 in Berlin. An estimated two thirds of them are of Turkish origin. Church Opposition Uenal expressed hope the ongoing negotiations would bear fruits in amending the burial laws in the German city. However, an official in Koeln's cemetery department denied intention to amend the burial laws in the city, citing church opposition to such amendments. German churches branded as a violation of the Christian burial rituals the amendments introduced to burial laws in the Nordrehin Westfallen, according to the Stadt Revue magazine. There are some 60 cemeteries in Koeln. Around 50 Muslims are buried in these cemeteries every year, according to the German magazine. The oldest Muslim cemetery in Germany was built in 1866 in Berlin. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-02/09/article01.shtml -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links
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