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Germany Leitkultur

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Berlin on the debate that has been raging for weeks in Germany over whether foreign-born residents should adopt the country's guiding culture, or "Leitkultur". Leading politicians from the opposition Christian Democratic Union say immigrants should learn the German language and German ways. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned this week that the Christian Democrats were leaning too far to the right, using dangerous, nationalist rhetoric. With eight million foreign-born residents, Germany has become much more diverse, so that Germans are now at pains to define the country's dominant, or guiding culture.

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