Interview with Margarethe Mehring-Fuchs

The questions for this interview are from Janet Hegman Shier. They were sent by email. The interview was then conducted in German by Sebastian Böhme in Freiburg. The answers below are translations of the original German answers. (transl. by J. H. Shier)

How did you first get involved with youth?
Answer: I've been working with youth for 15 years. My first work with youth was doing theater with Roma (gypsy) refugees from Kosovo.

Please describe what Element 3 is and what Element 3 does?
Element 3 is a new model for the advancement of youth culture projects that are funded by stipends, economic and media partners who sponsor cooperative work. This youth culture project work provides constructive development and deeper grappling with the living spaces of youth, not just as consumers, but as active participants in their projects. Element 3 offers a network of youth needs and interests with adults and their professional resources- what results is a common basis for the development and qualification of youth abilities. The target groups of Element 3 are youth, institutions (schools and youth houses), businesses and the general public.

When and how did Element 3 start up?
Element 3 was founded on May 16, 2001 after Freiburg, Germany and Basel, Switzerland had a huge youth culture festival that crossed the borders of Germany, Switzerland and France, at which Margarethe Mehring-Fuchs was a partner. After the festival the city of Freiburg realized that it had no money left to support programs that promoted youth culture, the organization Element 3 was founded in order to cover the great demand for youth culture and do creative work with youth.

Who is involved?

People from areas involving culture, theatre and film, musicians, social workers, a lawyer, comedians, break dancers. . .

What inspired you to make the two films: Between Rap and Ramadan and The Jews Drawer?

The idea for “Between Rap and Ramadan” originated after 9/11 when there was a big debate about the head scarf and people were discussing how well Muslims in Germany were integrated. We wanted to show that Islam doesn't automatically mean threat and terrorism. We wanted to show how young Muslims in Germany live, how they construct their Culture and live it.

The inspiration for the other film “The 'Jews Drawer' “ was that the third generation of Jews in Germany cultivate their culture confidently and attain through this a new consciousness. We wanted to demonstrate and document this.

How did you start working on the films?
Of course I started by researching the various areas for the film. The music, for example, is really important, since it is relatively the same internationally. For “Between Rap and Ramadan”, I researched the Islamic Center of Freiburg and for “The Jews Drawer” we did research on a national basis. I spoke with over 80 people from all kinds of Jewish backgrounds and groups, including youth organizations.

How did you identify the youth you were to ultimately interview?

The protagonists were picked for their suitability/ presence on camera. It was also important to us to achieve a balance and diversity of viewpoints thematically through the protagonists.

What were some surprises you had while making these documentaries? Were there any unanticipated challenges in your interviewing or any reactions from, say, family members, objecting to what the subjects in the films said?

First: Between Rap and Ramadan. Whenever we were dealing with Muslim women, we had to be really sensitive in our handling of them since Muslim women in Germany live in a “second-class” position. In Muslim families there is always the question of honor, especially since Muslim families stand under sharp scrutiny. That leads to the girls leading a double life. This is really dangerous for their later development since each lives in constant fear of her father and brothers. You have to know the rules and observe them strictly, if you want to work with Muslims.

First Example: Before doing an interview with a Muslim girl, the father wanted to meet me personally and know what questions would be asked. When I arrived for the arranged meeting, the room was filled with Muslim women, but the father wasn't there. But he called every 10 minutes and asked how the conversation was going, what questions I was asking and whether I was someone who could be trusted.

Second Example: A girl talks about her wedding night in an interview. After everything had been filmed the protagonists were shown their part before the Premiere of the film and they were asked if they were asked to give permission to include it. But suddenly the girl didn't want to be included because of her fear of her father; she wasn't willing to stand by her testimony. After hours of discussion with all the other protagonists she was finally willing to deliberately stand behind her words. We would never show something that could destroy the family harmony.

With The Jews Drawer. . .On one level, it was simpler than with Between Rap and Ramadan. The Jews have a large „Streitkultur“ (roughly speaking, a „Streitkultur“, lit. an „argument culture“ might be viewed as a culture that accepts contention and argumentation), have internationally networking, and are generally well educated. On the other hand, when it comes to something that concerns Jewish culture, they are really idiosyncratic/private; they don't like a mix of cultures. The families didn't monitor what the youth in the film were saying.

First Example: non-religious Jewish youth told about how they would nontheless like to marry a Jew in order to maintain a certain sense of „Home“ in their culture.

Second Example: A granddaughter of a Rabbi wasn't permitted to be portrayed because she had a relationship with a non-Jew. She had been involved in this relationship secretly under tremendous duress/suffering, since in her family there had existed a line of Rabbies for generations and non-Jews were not accepted.

Could you talk a little about the rap/hip hop music that runs through the films? What made you include it?

Generally speaking, we always look for suitable musicians for our projects. They have the opportunity to provide their own contribution to the film with their lyrics and they have the chance to receive help from a professional producer through their work with us.

How do you see the role of such music in Germany today?
In Germany, there are two directions in Hip Hop right now. On the one hand, there is “party” Hip Hop and then there is Hip Hop that communicates values. Both of these are popular, accepted and listened to; it just depends on the individual. The basis of German Hip Hop remains the latter, though it has moved further into the background in recent years because of commercialisation. But the Old School of German Hip Hop continues and still stands behind its ideals.

How did you come up with the idea of the format of your group's presentations: film, performance, discussion with the audience?

Our target audience is youth-- our films inform about Cultures in a way that reaches youth. We want a live form of information (Infotainment). The protagonists are at the discussions so that the youth in the audience aren't afraid or shy about asking questions since the protagonists are young people like themselves. This way, they have an equal basis for discussion ,which advances the development of conversation.

What have been some responses to the films in Germany? What are some typical questions you and element 3 address at your perfomances?

With the “Between Rap and Ramadan” project, there was a big demand and lots of discussion in the national press, TV presentations, the ARD Media Prize, a tour through Germany, Film presentations followed by discussions with the audience where there were dogmatic Muslims present--it was really exciting since, among other things, there were female dancers in our group who were Muslim and they discussed ideas with other Muslims. There were also discussions about Western societal values vs. Muslim societal values. There were also viewings of the film in schools followed by question/answer periods.

Typical Questions:
If Muslim women wear head scarves, does it mean that they will automatically marry the man their family recommends?

“The Jews Drawer” is being/has been shown on TV, on school TV (which is critical for dealing with the topic in school), Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Jewish Culture Week in Stuttgart. In addition, we have invitations to the Jewish Film Festival in Boston and the DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival in New Zealand--so there is heavy interest in the film internationally.

A typical Question: Is there any such thing as Jews in Germany? Can one even utter the word “Jew”?

What question(s) do you think would be better than the one(s) you typically are asked?

Young people in Germany are less interested in Culture and more interested in whether someone is “cool”, what kinds of interests someone has, etc.

I would have wished for more questions that deal with the Cultures and history, because it's only possible to understand the Culture if one looks at history and traditions.

What ist he biggest thing you have learned since making these two films about the lives of young Jews and Muslims in Germany today?

Both cultures are „foreign“ and closed, especially Muslim culture. Nonetheless, I don't have the right to disclaim such foreign cultures, or to criticize them and judge them by my Western standards of measuring values. If I work with a foreign culture, I have to be prepared to adhere to its rules (for example Ramadan and Sabbath). Having respect and genuine interest and understanding for the other culture makes the work much easier,. I have learned to work my way into the culture before starting to work and not to work and judge according to my own prior personal values.

What projects do you have lined up for the future?

Well, to work with Roma youth (“Gypsies”), German youth and Roma musicians to do a musical project with the Opera “Carmen”. The subject of the Opera is male-female-power, which could become extreme, considering the culture. But we're still looking for sponsors for this project.

The other project is with youth with cancer and health youth. We would like to bring together both populations and put out a book with them containing their own texts and music.