Udo Steinbach

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Udo Steinbach (born May 30, 1943 in Pethau , Zittau ) is a German scholar of Islam . From 1976 to 2007 he headed the German Orient Institute .

Life

Steinbach started school in Cunewalde near Bautzen in 1949 and moved with his family to West Germany in 1954. There he made his Abitur at the humanistic Görres-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf . From 1963 to 1965 he trained as a reserve officer and was last in the attaché reserve as Colonel d. Usually employed at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Almaty ( Kazakhstan ). From 1965 to 1970 he studied Islamic studies and classical philology at the Universities of Freiburg im Breisgau and Basel . In 1970 he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD.

From 1971 to 1975 he was head of the Middle East Department at the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) in Schäftlarn an der Isar , a research institute of the federal government (now in Berlin). In 1975 Steinbach headed the Turkish editorial team at Deutsche Welle . From 1976 to February 2007 he was director of the German Orient Institute . Since 1991 he has also been an honorary professor at the University of Hamburg . From February 2007 he was founding director of the GIGA Institute of Middle East Studies (IMES). On January 1, 2008, Steinbach retired at his own request five months before reaching retirement age. In 2007 he was one of the main victims of a dispute over the German Orient Institute , which he had headed for over three decades, and its library: at the instigation of the sponsoring association, both institutions were relocated from Hamburg to Berlin, while the institute's staff were taken over by IMES.

From 2008 to 2010 he taught at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Philipps University in Marburg . He is co-founder of the German Working Group on the Middle East for contemporary research and documentation (DAVO) and was its chairman for many years.

In 2009, the Governance Center Middle East / North Africa at the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance in Berlin was founded under the direction of Steinbach. After the insolvency of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance in 2014, Udo Steinbach became a co-founder and partner of the follow-up project Humboldt-Viadrina Governance Platform gGmbH .

He also works as a consultant and appraiser for numerous public and private institutions.

He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fridtjof Nansen Academy for Civic Education at the Ingelheim Training Center .

Armin Steinbach is his son.

Positions

In addition to his work as a scientist, he primarily devotes himself to the "dialogue between cultures" and denominations. Steinbach describes himself as not bound by a denomination, but sees " in the encounter with pious - Muslims, Christians and others - an enrichment and an opportunity to get out of the impasse of a life completely without God ".

According to Steinbach, the perception of Islam in the western world is distorted by an unbalanced presentation:

The images that show fighting and incited Muslims are particularly productive for television. They create a feeling of threat from Islam and the resistance of Muslims on our side. In contrast, peaceful Muslims are not an issue in the media. Nevertheless, in the world between North Africa and Indonesia these are by far the majority.

He described the Danish Mohammed cartoons as “primitive” and “a deliberate provocation” . In April 2012 he stood behind the controversial Israel-critical poem What must be said by Günter Grass :

Günter Grass' poem is a great contribution to avoiding a war that seems already programmed. […] These arguments were put forward from many sides, but so far none of us had the influence to trigger the urgently needed discussion. Günter Grass is better suited to this with his authority.

criticism

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called after the publication of an article on Juedische.at , was accused in the Steinbach to have equated suicide bombers with fighters in the Warsaw ghetto, 2004 Steinbach's resignation as head of the institute. He himself commented on the open letter, hagalil.com dated May 14, 2004 to the Board of Trustees of the German Orient Institute with the request to resign as follows:

“I expressly object to the allegations made in the above statement and in other earlier press releases that, in a lecture in Salzgitter in January 2003, I equated 'Palestinian suicide bombers with fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto'. Sentences like 'If one of them are terrorists, then the other terrorists must have been too' were neither said by me nor expressed in the same way in intention. The sentences quoted in the explanation above are taken out of context and do not reflect the logic and style of my lecture. The intention of my presentation is grossly falsified. "

At the end of Steinbach's tenure at the German Orient Institute, a controversy arose over more than 3,000 court opinions that a lawyer commissioned by Steinbach had prepared for asylum procedures since 1994. On the one hand, the qualification of the lawyer specializing in medical law was questioned on the basis of several proven factual errors, for example by the “ Pro Asyl ” association . In addition, the head of the supporting association of the Orient Institute ( Numov ) complained that Steinbach had, contrary to her duty, not informed her about the expert work on behalf of the institute.

Publications (excerpt)

  • The Arab world in its 20th awakening - upheaval - perspectives. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-17-032541-8 .
  • Turkey in the 20th century. Difficult partner in Europe. Bergisch Gladbach 1996, ISBN 3-7857-0828-9 .
  • Together with Nils Feindt-Riggers: Islamic Organizations in Germany. A current inventory and analysis. German Orient Institute, Hamburg 1997.
  • Together with Rémy Leveau and Franck Mermier: Le Yémen contemporain. Paris 1999.
  • Turkey. - Information on political education (Bonn) No. 277 (2002) 4, pp. 3–53.
  • German Foreign Policy and the Middle East: In Quest of a Concept. In: Goren, Haim (Ed.): Germany and the Middle East. Past, Present and Future. - Jerusalem 2003, pp. 85-113.
  • A New Order in the Middle East - Opportunity or Chimera? In: From politics and contemporary history, B 24-25 / 2003, pp. 3–7.
  • The Islamic world and international terrorism. In: Vorländer, Hans (Ed.): Violence and the search for world political order. Baden-Baden 2004, pp. 42-59.
  • America's failure in Iraq. Democratization as a historical process. In: Internationale Politik 59 (May 2004) 5, pp. 113–118.
  • Turkey and the EU - Reading history correctly. In: From Politics and Contemporary History B 33-34 / 2004, pp. 3–5.
  • with Werner Ende (ed.): Islam in the present. Fifth edition. Munich 2005.
  • Together with Marie-Carin v. Gumppenberg (Ed.): Central Asia - History, Politics, Economy. A lexicon. Munich 2005.
  • Autochthonous Christians. Between persecution and emigration. German Orient Institute Hamburg, Communications, Volume 75/2006.
  • History of turkey. CH Beck, Munich 2007, 4th revised and updated edition, ISBN 3-406-44743-0
  • Country report Turkey., BpB , Bonn 2012, ISBN 978-3-8389-0282-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.giga-hamburg.de/english/index.php?file=imes.html&folder=imes
  2. ↑ Hamburg remains the center of Middle East research ( Memento from June 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 191 kB), GIGA press release of August 23, 2007, accessed on November 29, 2012
  3. ↑ Governance Center at the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA ( Memento from March 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ http://www.governance-platform.org/ueberuns/gesellschafter/
  5. ↑ http://www.governance-platform.org/
  6. ↑ http://www.humboldt-viadrina.org/
  7. ↑ http://www.maecenata.eu/alleategor-stiftung/item/1395-humboldt-viadrina-governance-platform-ggmbh
  8. ↑ Biography ( memento from June 2, 2009 on WebCite ) on the official homepage of Udo Steinbach, accessed on November 27, 2012
  9. ↑ Christian in the present action "What does 'God' tell me?" - In sha'a Allah ( Memento of May 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved: January 3, 2009
  10. ↑ politik-digital.de “Islamic fundamentalism has little to do with Islam” from September 19, 2001 ( memento from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Steinbach im Chat, accessed: January 3, 2009
  11. ↑ Deutsche Welle "Udo Steinbach: Mohammed caricatures are" a targeted provocation "" from February 2, 2006 Interview, accessed: January 3, 2009
  12. ↑ Middle East expert takes Grass' side. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012 ; Retrieved April 16, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Ralf Balke: “Blauäugig oder Einäugig?” , Die Jüdische, May 14, 2004
  14. ^ From: "Statement on the open letter, hagalil.com of May 14, 2004 to the Board of Trustees of the German Orient Institute with the request to resign", Hamburg May 24, 2004, Prof. Dr. Udo Steinbach ( online )
  15. ↑ Angela Grosse: Islamic Studies: Ex-Head of the German Orient Institute in Criticism - Stories like from “1001 Nights” , in: Hamburger Abendblatt dated October 2, 2007, accessed on November 27, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Steinbach, Udo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German scholar of Islam
DATE OF BIRTH May 30, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Pethau , Zittau