ABSTRACT
IN JULY 2001 the European Council in its report on racism and intolerance said that Germany is in the same category as Croatia, Cyprus and Turkey: one of those countries where xenophobia and denial of rights to foreigners are widespread. Leading German newspapers1 and politicians such as the Secretary of the Interior considered this to be a grossly distorted picture and reacted with indignation. Germany, for instance, is host to many Kurdish refugees, whereas Turkey, their nemesis, is treated with more clemency than Germany in the very same report. The Council later modified its statement as an overreaction.2 Similar exaggerated accusations can be found throughout the history of united Germany and before 1990, for instance, in the analysis of American survey and mass media data.3
