More than a million Muslims in Germany with a 'migrant background' are at risk of being radicalised, study finds

Daily Mail​

02-06-2025

One in five Muslim migrants living in Germany is susceptible to radicalisation, according to a new study conducted by one of the nation's foremost socio-political research organisations.
Experts at the University of Münster's Research Centre for Islamic Theology last week shared the results of a survey it conducted to gauge socio-political views of Muslims with a 'migration background' across the country.
Their study found that 19.9% of almost 1,900 respondents in the representative survey exhibited an emotional state that is ripe for radicalisation, based on strong anti-Western, anti-Semitic attitudes and a 'resentment' of German politics and societal norms, German media reported.
'Migration background' is a term used in Germany to refer to first-generation migrants and their offspring.
There are more than 5.5 million Muslims in Germany with such a background, suggesting that one million people could be susceptible to being radicalised, according to Die Welt.
Of the nearly 20% of respondents that researchers claimed could be targets for radicalisation, a third reportedly support violence in response to perceived injustices against Muslims.
A majority of these respondents also said they felt that Islamic Sharia law was far superior to German law and want Islam to be the 'sole and final political authority' in Germany, according to media reports.
Speaking to German outlet NOZ, Münster-based religious psychologist Sarah Demmrich said: 'With the emotional state of resentment, we were able to uncover a new and even strong factor in radicalisation.
'The capacity for criticism within Islam must be strengthened in order to promote reflective debates on religious and social issues,' she said.
MailOnline has contacted the research centre for comment.
The emergence of the research by the Centre for Islamic Theology comes weeks after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz scrapped his nation's open border policy and issued orders to turn undocumented migrants away at the frontiers.
Alexander Dobrindt, Merz's new interior minister, rescinded former Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2015 order, which had previously allowed hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to enter Germany.
The new rules will now see everyone without proper documentation, apart from children and pregnant women, turned away if they try to enter Germany from a neighbouring country.
Merz also moved to initiate a process to allow for the deportation of Syrian migrants following the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad's regime late last year.
The Chancellor, who made the order on his first day in office early May, pledged during the election to crack down on migration.
To implement the new measures, Dobrint ordered a massive increase in border force personnel, with local media reporting that a further 3,000 cops are being brought in for a total of 14,000 border guards.
'It's clear that we want to take stronger steps against illegal immigration and the result must be that we deploy a bigger police presence at the borders for that. The numbers remain significantly too high,' Dobrint said.
Merz defended the policy, saying: 'The European Union must send a signal to those who are setting off for Europe without valid entry permits.
'Above all, we need to send a signal to the smuggling organisations that these routes will become much more difficult in the future - and that at some point, they will be closed altogether. That is the right and strong common signal.'
Suspected illegal migrants sit on the ground after they were detained by German police during their patrol along the German-Polish border to prevent illegal migration
Merz last month succeeded his predecessor, Olaf Scholz, whose government collapsed six months ago.
Scholz, too, had been under pressure to curb migration as shelters across the country had been filling up for years.
His government tried to speed up asylum procedures and also negotiated agreements for countries to take unsuccessful asylum seekers back in exchange for more opportunities for legal immigration.
In February, Scholz extended strict border controls brought in to tackle migration and Islamist terrorism by a further six months past their planned expiry in March.
According to the EU, member states are allowed to temporarily reintroduce border controls in cases of a serious threat, such as internal security.
But the regulations stipulate that border controls should be time-limited and applied as a last resort in exceptional situations.
Recent attacks on German soil refocused attention on security and immigration ahead of the election earlier this year.
In December, the country was rocked by an attack in Bavaria, when an Afghan asylum seeker allegedly stabbed a two-year-old boy and a passerby to death in a German park.