Don't Play the Foreigner Card

Heiner Geissler defies categorization.

He's a prominent member of Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU). In a recent regional election, his party capitalized on anti-foreigner sentiments. It made dual citizenship the dominant issue of the campaign.

In this year's German election campaign, immigration is one of the contentious issues. But so far politicians have refrained from playing the xenophobic card.

Heiner Geissler wants to keep it that way.

Anti-racist project

At 72, Heiner Geissler is no longer actively involved in shaping the CDU's campaign. But he is making his voice heard as the head of the anti-racist organization "Aktion Courage".

Geissler has called on all political parties in Germany to refrain from using immigration as a campaign topic. He's afraid campaigning politicians could be tempted to stir the "latent xenophobia" among parts of the German electorate. Party politics shouldn't be fought on immigrants' backs, he warns.

"Aktion Courage" sponsors projects promoting the integration of foreigners in Germany. It wants people of different cultures to live peacefully side by side in Germany. The organization runs a project "School Without Racism", it encourages German companies to hire and train foreign youths and it puts special emphasis on integrating Muslim organizations into German society.

Heiner Geissler – a lone voice in the CDU

Heiner Geissler was never afraid to take risks during his long career as an active politician. He's a free-thinking man with the courage to break taboos. And he hasn't minded stirring up his own party, either.

Heiner Geissler's ethics and values are deeply rooted in his Christian upbringing. He studied philosophy and law and rose rapidly in the ranks of the conservative Christian Democrats. His emphasis has been on social policy.

It was Heiner Geissler who first said that Germany was a 'multi-cultural society'. At that time, the rest of the CDU was far from subscribing to such liberal views. For years to come, his fellow party members kept insisting that Germany was not an immigration country.

In 1989, the non-conformist Heiner Geissler fell out of favor with Helmut Kohl, who was then head of the CDU. Kohl fired Geissler as his party's general-secretary.

In 1998, Geissler also lost his job as deputy parliamentary secretary for the CDU. With his many unconventional ideas - like cooperating with the Greens or the left-wing Party of Democratic Socialism - he stood practically alone in the conservative party.

Since then, Heiner Geissler has been active writing books and articles and giving interviews. And in recent years, he's devoted much of his time to "Aktion Courage".