On the specific rights of adherents of other religions, particularly Muslims, Germans were much tougher.
The question is at the core of a debate which simmers – and occasionally boils over – as Germany tries to define itself in an age of migration.
Gunter Piening, for example, thinks his blond hair and blue eyes make him the picture of German-ness – but he doesn’t like that perception.
He is Berlin’s Commissioner for Integration and Migration, and he told the BBC: “A lot of people think that ‘German’ is an ethnic category – that Germans are blond and blue eyed.”
His department is waging a publicity campaign to show different faces of Germany – without blond hair and blue eyes.
“Too late, we have started to think about what our society is,” he said. Continue…