Thomas de Mazière on the Cover of Bild: “We Don’t Do Burkas” (2017)

Thomas de Mazière was German Minister of the Interior from 2009–2011 and then again from 2013–2018; in between he served as Minister of Defense. In 2017, he tried to define Leitkultur, “lead” or “guiding” culture. The result, an essay with ten theses, was published in the tabloid newspaper Bild. The essay began by asking, “Who are we? And who do we want to be? As a society. As a nation.” These questions were easy to answer in the negative: “We don’t do burkas.” Mazière’s complete rejection of the burka (under point 1) was based on his association of the burka with facial coverings, which are banned at German political demonstrations. The snappy phrase proved a readymade Bild headline.