Welcome?

How does a Muslim feel, following the media debate on whether Islam belongs in Germany? At the entrance of Keupstraße in Cologne, the site of a bomb attack by the neo-Nazi terror group NSU in 2004, a ‘Welcome’ greets visitors. You will find neither messages nor memorials, neither political viewpoint nor demands. And yet it’s Muslims who are on the watch by German intelligence agencies and the public.

Keuppstraße in Cologne: ‘Welcome’By Roman Holst
A cardboard sign: ‘Victims of the NSU’ By Roman Holst
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) the domestic intelligence service of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Cologne Köln: ‘Welcome’?By Roman Holst
The Central Mosque in Cologne By Roman Holst
A Quran in the praying room of the Central Mosque By Roman Holst
Two Muslims prayingBy Roman Holst
Left: Guiding a tour of visitors, right: the Imam By Roman Holst
Muslims after a demonstration against anti-Muslim violence in CologneBy Roman Holst