The first lecture in the series was devoted to refugee policy in Brandenburg.

Due to her work as head of the department "Education and Integration" of the city of Cottbus, Dr. Stefanie Kaygusuz-Schurmann knows the situation in Brandenburg very well.

We had the opportunity to learn more about refugee policy in Cottbus in the lecture. Ms. Kaygusuz-Schurmann has been following the developments in the city since the short summer of welcome culture in 2015 and is also involved in the current task of initial reception of protection seekers from Ukraine. She has initiated a number of projects in the field of "education and integration" and She has a very good overview of the city's activities in these areas.

The link will take you to the presentation.

In the second lecture of the series, information was provided on central aspects of asylum legislation.

The speaker, Susanne Riepe, works for the Caritas Cottbus region as a specialist service coordinator in the field of migration and heads the project "Fair Integration Brandenburg". She advises third-country nationals on topics related to labor law and social law.

From this perspective, she experiences the challenges of applying and implementing the asylum laws and gave a first insight into the complex topic with her lecture on "Asylum laws: rights and difficulties in everyday life".

The 3rd lecture in the series focused on racism as a dimension of right-wing violence in Brandenburg. Since 2015 at the latest, the massiveness and number of right-wing violent crimes in Brandenburg have risen sharply. Specialized counseling centers recorded significant increases in racist attacks in particular. Especially in Cottbus and the surrounding counties, a special situation arose, as the increase in right-wing violence was accompanied by large racist street mobilizations. The lecture offered - based on historical considerations - a stocktaking from today's perspective.

Martin Vesely has worked since 2015 at the Brandenburg-based specialized counseling center for victims of right-wing violence, Opferperspektive - Solidarisch gegen Rassismus, Diskriminierung und rechte Gewalt e.V.. His work also focuses on the historical examination of National Socialism, remembrance and commemoration policies. He is part of the initiative Cottbus '92.

On the topic of "Muslims in Brandenburg", we are pleased to welcome Dr. Yunus Yaldiz from RAA's Fachstelle Islam as an expert.

The history of Muslims in Brandenburg is extremely multifaceted and can be a great enrichment for today's challenges. After we undertook a short introduction into the world of Islam and looked at the time of origin and expansion and its diversity, we turned to the history of the Muslims of Brandenburg. This essentially begins with the 1st World War and its Muslim prisoners of war. Here we described and analyzed how the propaganda machine of that time undertook the instrumentalization of the Muslims of Brandenburg and what it intended. The second part of the lecture presented the situation of Muslim communities since 2015 until today, their challenges, difficulties, successes and how and where citizens of Muslim faith live in Brandenburg.

Those interested can read an article on the topic"The Muslims of Berlin and Brandenburg".

The series concluded with a presentation by the Geflüchteten Netzwerk Cottbus e.V. (GNC) on the topic of "Self-Organization and Empowerment".

In the lecture it was explained how important it is to support and accompany people who had to flee to Germany due to war and conflicts on their way to an improved social, legal and political participation. In the second part of the presentation, an overview of the Geflüchteten Netzwerk, its goals and achievements since 2017 was then given.

The GNC is a non-profit association that supports the affairs of people with a refugee and migration background in Cottbus and its surroundings. The association wants to facilitate access to social life, culture, sports, education and the labor market for refugees and help create better living conditions for them. In addition, it aims to create opportunities for people with a refugee and migration background to become active in Cottbus and to communicate their interests and needs from their own perspective to the appropriate bodies in the city itself. As a socially active association, the GNC is committed to peaceful coexistence and cultural exchange and fights against all forms of violence, discrimination and racism.