[Craving even more FPM content? Sign up for FPM+ to unlock exclusive series, virtual town-halls with our authors, and more. Click here to sign up.]

In 2015, then-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, opening wide the doors of her country to close to a million overwhelmingly Muslim immigrants, assured her countrymen that “Wir schaffen das!” or “We Can Do This.” What she meant was that we, the indigenous Germans, can successfully integrate these immigrants into German society. It hasn’t worked out. Instead, Muslim migrants, not content with all the benefits lavished upon them by the generous German welfare state — free or greatly subsidized housing, free medical care, free education including vocational training, family allowances, and more — have been pressing to have their dietary demands met by the endlessly accommodating Infidels, and even imposed on non-Muslims as well.

In Gelsenkirchen, halal food in the schools is no longer one possible choice. Now it is the only choice. More on this grotesque state of affairs in the city’s state schools can be found here: “Gelsenkirchen Schools Submit to Sharia Law: ‘All Food Is Halal,’” translated from “Gelsenkirchener Schulen unterwerfen sich der Scharia: „Alle Speisen sind halal,“” Journalisten Watch, July 29, 2025 (thanks to Medforth):

In the highly affluent city of Gelsenkirchen, it is abundantly clear how far public institutions have already progressed in adapting to Islamic principles. Several state schools there have completely converted their meals to halal – with no alternative options for “non-believing students.”

The relentless Islamization of our schools is becoming particularly evident in the highly Islamized city of Gelsenkirchen. Around 60 percent of students in Gelsenkirchen have a migrant background. In some schools, the proportion is significantly higher. Starting next school year, all students there will only be served what Allah and his believers consider halal.

That’s why, in the best gender-neutral language, the Erle Comprehensive School website states:

“Starting next school year, our new cooperation partner, ‘Mutti’s Küche,’ will take over catering at Erle Comprehensive School and cook fresh meals daily at our school. Students will continue to have the option of choosing one of two daily halal dishes (one of which is vegetarian) or a dish from the pasta or salad bar.”

But what of the non-Muslim students who are used to large amounts of pork and pork products in their diet, and now will not be provided with that alternative? Is it not possible for them to have pork, sausages, bacon, served separately from the service tables where the halal foods are dished out? Surely that is not difficult to arrange? Jewish students have never insisted that only kosher dishes should be served in the cantines of state schools in Germany. Why should the Muslim students be treated any differently?

The Carl Krämer Elementary School takes a similarly Islam-loving approach. Here, too, only halal-prepared food is served – delivered by “Gourmello,” a provider specializing in Islamic-compliant nutrition. There is no alternative for the students. Parents are not consulted – the adjustment is tacitly agreed upon.

There is no discussion of this halal-foods-only policy, that is simply sent down from on high, without the non-Muslim parents or students being allowed to express their own view of the matter. The dietary laws are simply being shoved down the throats of the indigenous non-Muslims. Theirs not to reason why; theirs but to silently comply.

At Berger Feld Comprehensive School, pork and other “prohibited” ingredients have also long been removed. While full halal certification is not officially declared there, the practice speaks volumes: Everything is aligned with Muslim standards.

As Nius reports, the company ‘Muttis Küche’, run by Canan Çelebi, supplies nine schools in Gelsenkirchen. In addition to the Erle Comprehensive School, these include the Emma Secondary School, the Ückendorf Comprehensive School, the Ricarda-Huch-Gymnasium, the Grillo-Gymnasium, the GSE-Surressestraße, the Leibniz-Gymnasium, the Annette-von-Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnasium, and the Max-Planck-Gymnasium.

The social impact is clear: In order not to “upset” the growing Muslim population, public schools are increasingly subjecting themselves to their medieval religious rules. In doing so, they are tacitly accepting that halal slaughter involves considerable animal suffering. In slaughter without anesthesia, animals’ throats are slit while they are fully conscious. The fact that public schools are committing to this barbaric practice in order to fulfill Islamic expectations raises questions – not only regarding animal welfare, but also regarding the role of these servile state servants.

Anyone who wonders how far a society can deny and surrender itself will find an answer in Gelsenkirchen: Liberal principles are being abandoned, religious freedom is being interpreted unilaterally – and in the end, what emerges is not peaceful coexistence, but a state of silent submission to Islam. It is high time to decisively oppose this development – in the name of neutrality, animal welfare, and democratic self-respect.

Animal cruelty be damned. If it’s in the Sharia, it must be adopted. The change to Sharia-compliance starts with the food, and the dozens of state schools that now do more than offer a halal alternative. They offer only halal food. If this practice expands, if across Germany halal food in schools becomes the norm, German society will be on its way to being made over to become Sharia-compliant. What else will now happen? Will Muslim prayer rooms be made mandatory in every state school, in every government building, in every apartment house? And since the sight of unveiled German girls is too come-hither a look for innocent Muslim boys who cannot be expected to control their impulses, shouldn’t all the girls in every school be made to wear the hijab? And on the beaches, shouldn’t they be made to wear the burkini? Or what about placing girls and boys in separate classes so that the latter are not distracted by the former?

Muslims in Gelsenkirchen must be well-pleased with themselves. They are calling the shots. And when they congratulate one another about the Germans submitting to the dietary rules of Sharia, they surely say that “yes, we can do this.”