The city of Neumünster in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein is opening its first Muslim kindergarten in the city center, which, at 2,500 square meters, will have space for 60 children. While the Christian Democrats (CDU) describe the new daycare as “cultural enrichment,” a previous government report notes that the sponsor behind the daycare is “strictly Sharia-oriented.”
The Neumünster council backed the new Islam-focused kindergarten, which will cost €2.8 million, by a large majority, and the grand opening is planned for next year. The financial sponsor is a local mosque association that belongs to the umbrella organization known as the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ) based in Cologne. However, the VIKZ is a controversial organization.
The Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs commissioned a report from Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, who is an expert on Turkey, in 2004. Her report stated that student residences operated by the VIKZ were used “almost exclusively for Islamic teaching and for training in religious practice” and were “absolutely detrimental to integration.” In such educational settings, students were “indoctrinated into a strictly Sharia-oriented” form of Islam and “immunized against Christianity and the West, as well as against our constitution.”
Politicians are well aware of the track record of the VIKZ, but nonetheless the Neumünster city council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new daycare center, with 44 votes for it and only six against, and one abstention.
“In addition to Christian providers, there will now also be a Muslim provider of a daycare center. I see this as a cultural enrichment,” said Babett Schwede-Oldehus, the CDU chairwoman of the social and health committee, before the vote was taken.
The laws proscribed by Sharia and conservative Islam are radically at odds with what German liberals say they want for their nation, yet for the sake of promoting multiculturalism, most liberal groups and activists promote the idea of more Muslim immigration, cultural associations, and mosques being built.
The only parties to vote against the daycare were the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Heimat Neumünster (formerly NPD), which both have three seats.
The operators of the daycare say that the daycare center will also accept non-Muslim students and the language spoken by children in the daycare will be German — although enforcing this latter promise may prove to be difficult.
There is a daycare crisis across Germany, with many existing kindergartens struggling to fill daycare roles; however, this Muslim kindergarten already has 13 daycare workers
While the kindergarten will be paid for by the Association of Islamic Cultural Centres (VIKZ), the city will subsidize equipment with €250,000 and pay the annual rental costs of €180,000.
The VIKZ has ambitious plans to expand daycare centers across Germany, with a number of them already existing in Berlin and Dortmund.
A poll conducted in May of this year by Insa found that an absolute majority of 52 percent rather agree with the statement that “Germany should generally no longer accept refugees from Islamic countries.” Only 34 percent say they “disagree” or “tend to disagree” with this statement. The poll further shows that 54 percent of respondents said they were “afraid that Germans will become a minority in Germany.” On the other hand, 37 percent said they were not concerned.
In 2023, a poll conducted for Bild newspaper found that nearly two-thirds of all German citizens want the country’s federal government to impose a ban on migration from predominantly Muslim nations.
Polling conducted by INSA on behalf of the Bild tabloid newspaper showed that 61 percent of respondents now advocate refusing any more migrants from Islamic countries, with many explaining they no longer feel safe in their own country and believe an increasing number of new arrivals despise German society.