There are few places in Germany where the extent to which broad sections of the population are breaking up social cohesion is as clear as in the Free State of Saxony. Heidenau, Bautzen and Schneeberg have become synonymous with a subculture from the right, Leipzig-Connewitz with a subculture from the left. They not only "question the authority of the state" (Markus Ulbig), but even more so the foundations of coexistence based on Articles 1-19 of the Basic Law, the personhood of all people, with or without a German passport. In Saxony, research into social cohesion and (cultural) integration is therefore particularly close to the need for action at state, municipal, corporate, church and civil society level. 

For this reason, a non-partisan research association was formed in November 2015 by representatives from Chemnitz University of Technology, Dresden University of Technology, Leipzig University, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the Institute for Cultural Infrastructure Saxony and the Rothenburg Police College. It has been working together for a long time, in some cases since 1994. Representatives include:

Prof. Dr. habil. [Social Anthropology] Heidrun Friese

Institute for German Studies and Communication at the Technical University of

Chemnitz

Chair of Intercultural Communication

Prof. Dr. [Political Science] Stefan Garsztecki

Institute for European Studies at Chemnitz University of Technology

Chair of Cultural and Area Studies of East Central Europe

Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy

Prof. Dr. habil. [Urban Studies] Prof. h.c. Dr. iur. h.c. Matthias Theodor Vogt

Faculty of Management and Cultural Studies, Görlitz, at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences

Professor of Cultural Policy and Intercultural Cooperation

Director, Institute for Cultural Infrastructure Saxony
 

Prof. Dr. hab. [British languages] hab. [Linguistics] Sabine Asmus

Research Center for Minority Languages at the University of Leipzig

Prof. Dr. habil. [Slavic Studies] Eduard Werner / Edward Wornar

Institute for Sorabic Studies at the University of Leipzig

Professorship for Sorabic Studies

Prof. Dr. habil. [Sociology] Anton Sterbling

University of Saxon Police (FH), Rothenburg

Professor of Sociology and Pedagogy

In the fall of 2016, the research network, particularly in collaboration with the Institute for Cultural Infrastructure Saxony and the Institute for Political Science at the Technical University of Dresden, presented an initial inventory of theories and processes combined with concrete recommendations for action.

The title is:

Matthias Theodor Vogt, Erik Fritzsche, Christoph Meißelbach:

Arriving in the German lifeworld. Migrant enculturation and regional resilience in the One World

Foreword by Rita Süssmuth and afterword by Olaf Zimmermann. European Journal for Minority Issues Vol. 9 No. 1-2. 2016. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag 2016

Additional information on the research network can be found here !