Sixty years ago the Federal Republic of Germany signed a recruitment agreement with Turkey.
The first so-called guest workers came here.
"Is that a reason to celebrate?" Asked SPIEGEL editor Özlem Topcu at the SPIEGELlive event in the Thalia Theater to mark the anniversary of the agreement with her guests on stage.
The guests were the linguistic and racism researcher Reyhan Şahin, who goes by the stage name Lady Bitch Ray as a rapper, and the Green politician Cem Özdemir.
The round was also moderated by SPIEGEL editor Özlem Gezer.
"I don't feel like partying," replied Şahin, "it's my family story and it wasn't always happy".
She had the impression that the anniversary events that were taking place in Germany these days were primarily showing "the successful migrant children" and not the others.
But the successful are in the "minority minority".
Özdemir said it was crucial not to perceive migrant descendants primarily as part of a group, but first and foremost as individuals.
"You have arrived if you are allowed to make a mistake." In 1994, Özdemir was one of the first members of the Bundestag with Turkish parents.
At that time, his father told him that he had to be careful, a possible mistake on his part would fall back on the community of people of Turkish origin.
He feels it is his mission to help ensure that educational success is at some point decoupled from the parents' origin.
Şahin told of her father's ambitions for education, who asked her to acquire a doctorate, which she then did.
Today he says: "You really have to be Merkel's successor".
SPIEGELlive is an event in cooperation with the Thalia Theater.
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