90 · Gökçe Yurdakul and Y. Michal Bodemann
class should be studied in detail to lay out the effect of class differences
between Turks and Jews on their interethnic relations. The last question
that needs further research is this: How typical and cross-nationally valid
is the relationship between Turks and Jews? In a way, it’s unique because
of the Jewish past in Germany. Jews and Turks are marked by a special
relationship in Germany, but other cases may multiply this immigrant/
minority relationship.^69
The main conclusion, however, is that immigrant groups interact
with other immigrants and historical minorities in the process of inte-
gration and take them as models. Therefore, in order to understand the
immigrant incorporation process, it is not sufficient to analyze only the
majority/minority relations. Rather, we need to look at how immigrants
perceive themselves and how they draw upon historical issues of the
receiving country, specifically with respect to historical minorities.
Notes
We would like to acknowledge that this article has been previously published
in German Politics and Society 24 (2): 44–67. An earlier version was presented by
Gökçe Yurdakul at the workshop on “Incorporating Minorities in Europe: Nine-
teenth Century to the Present” at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European
Studies, Harvard University, 16–17 April 2004; at the Princeton Institute for In-
ternational and Regional Studies Graduate Student Conference, Princeton Uni-
versity, 8–9 June 2005; Bridging the Worlds of Judaism and Islam Conference,
Bar-Ilan University, December 2005; and by Michal Bodemann at the German
Studies Association Conference, Milwaukee, October 2005, and as a Bucerius
Institute for Research of Contemporary German History and Society Guest Lec-
ture at the University of Haifa, December 2005. The authors would like to thank
the participants of the workshop, lecture, and conferences for their feedback,
and Valerie Amiraux, Christian Joppke, Riva Kastoryano and Anna Korteweg
for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
- By using the term leaders in immigrant associations, we would like to re-
fer to the executive committee members of Turkish immigrant associations in
Germany. These leaders are usually the secretary general, spokespeople, and
presidents of immigrant associations. We differentiate between members of im-
migrant associations and their leaders. The leaders’ perspectives do not always
reflect those of the members. In other words, members of immigrant associa-
tions do not always share the views of immigrant leaders who associate Turkish
existence in Germany with German Jewish history. - Riva Kastoryano, Negotiating Identities: States and Immigrants in France and
Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002), 131.