Faith and Order in the Classroom

When a secondary school in Berlin must defend its right to enforce basic house rules before an administrative court, one gets a clear view of the realities taking place in Germany’s urban classrooms. The Third Chamber of the Berlin Administrative Court has ruled that Diesterweg-Gymnasium, located in the heavily Muslim-populated district of Gesundbrunnen, may lawfully prohibit demonstrative religious rituals and extreme political acts on its premises to preserve school peace.

The court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the legal organization Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, which argued that the school’s prohibition violated Berlin’s state anti-discrimination law by unfairly targeting Muslim pupils. The school administration successfully demonstrated that the measure was not born of ideological bias, but of sheer practical necessity following repeated conflicts among students.

The testimony offered during the proceedings by principal Volker Lehmann and his deputy provided a sobering look at daily life within the institution. Far from a peaceful multicultural consensus, the school has dealt with ongoing rivalries between Turkish and Arab student groups, as well as tensions separating Sunnis and Shiites. More concerning still is the systematic peer pressure exerted by conservative students against liberal peers. The court heard how female pupils face intimidation over their choice of attire, the decision to forgo headscarves, or failing to observe the Ramadan fast. Even during a high school graduation ceremony, a female student was verbally assaulted for allegedly wearing overly revealing clothes.

When asked by the presiding judge why the school could not simply establish a quiet room for prayer, the administration pointed to stark logistical realities. The school lacks unused space, supervisory personnel, and faces ongoing issues with vandalism. Creating multiple prayer spaces to accommodate competing factions was simply unfeasible.

While the Berlin Senate Department for Education explicitly welcomed the judicial outcome, the legal dispute highlights a growing rift. The NGO behind the lawsuit, which employs numerous left-leaning jurists and received roughly 1.6 million US dollars from George Soros's Open Society Foundation between 2021 and 2023, sought to undermine school regulations under the banner of anti-discrimination. For now, the house rules stand, though the decision may still be appealed to the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com