The German Minority Council (Minderheitenrat) met with the Federal President of Germany in the Bellevue Castle: „Minority politics is peace politics - this needs to be realised more consciously in public!“

On September 21st 2017, the Minority Council of the four autochthonous national minorities and ethnic groups in Germany met with the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a first meeting at the Bellevue Castle in Berlin. The representative of the Federal Government for Resettlement and National Minorities, Hartmut Koschyk MdB, accompanied the Minority Council.

The President knows the minorities and appreciates their role, since minority politics is peace politics. The many experiences of the national autochthonous minorities are particularly valuable to him. This would be the focus and attention of the Federal President's current term.

Federal President Steinmeier promised to visit all the represented minorities and to present the minorities more in public. Among other things, he ensures that the minorities would be firmly involved in the annual citizens' festival of the Federal President in the Bellevue Castle in the future.

The four minorities - the Danes in South Schleswig, the Frisians, the German Sinti and Roma as well as the Lusatian Sorbs - presented their contribution to the different levels; regional, national and European:
Minorities are bridge builders in their regions, as well as across borders. They know how to work together, cultivate their language and culture and know how to move in two or more cultures. They cultivate a respectful coexistence in cultural diversity. They know the challenge between integration and assimilation and have learned to live and work from one another to one another.

Chairman of the minority council, David Statnik, Lusitian Sorb, pointed out the role of minorities in society by quoting the Sorbian writer Jurij Brězan, describing the river Satkula. The Satkula is a stream that flows through seven villages and then meets the river and finally finds the sea. The sea does not know the stream, but it would be a different sea without the waters of the Satkula.

"Minorities are to become a natural and self-evident part of Germany and the federal states. For this we are committed, we are committed to a peaceful coexistence! Today's talk has shown us that we are not alone with this effort!", Stressed David Statnik after the discussion.

Background:

The Minority Council is represented by the organizations of the four recognized autochthonous minorities in Germany:

• the Danes in South Schleswig represented by Sydslesvigsk Forening (SSF),
• the Lusatian Sorbs represented by the Domowina - Bund Lausitzer Sorben,
• the German Sinti and Roma represented by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma;
• the Frisians represented by the Seelter Buund of the Saterfriesen and the Frasche Rädj / Friesenrat section of the Nordfriesen.

Find the original Pressrelease (in German) here.