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Sarrazin’s wife mulls book on education

Taking a cue from her husband, ex-Bundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin – who wrote a controversial bestseller on immigration and integration – Ursula Sarrazin has said she is considering penning her own book on education.

Sarrazin's wife mulls book on education
Thilo Sarrazin and wife Ursula in 2009. Photo: DPA

In comments published Sunday by Der Spiegel, Ursula Sarrazin, who is a primary school teacher in Berlin, told the magazine she had been keeping a diary for years.

“It’s already enough for a big book,” she said.

Sarrazin’s husband, Thilo, earned millions with the summer 2010 release of his title, Deutschland schafft sich ab – Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen, or “Abolishing Germany – How we’re putting our country at jeopardy,” which took aim at Muslim immigrants in Germany.

In the book, Sarrazin warned that Germans could become “strangers in their own country” because of integration, and argues that Muslims are not compatible with German society.

His theories triggered a heated backlash from politicians and the public over the summer, including demands that Sarrazin be fired from the Bundesbank board. He resigned from the post in September.

Meanwhile, Sarrazin’s wife is controversial in her own right: Her opponents include both parents and colleagues who say her teaching style is too tough.

A complaint signed by about 50 parents in March 2009 said the teacher “loses her temper in class and yells at the children,” according to Der Spiegel. A report by the Tagesspiegel newspaper said Sarrazin also allegedly struck a student with a recorder in 2001.

Sarrazin has defended herself in several interviews. “As a teacher, I need authority, but I’m not authoritarian,” she told Focus magazine. “I establish rules the students must follow. That goes without saying.”

She also claimed she’s been made a target due to the controversy surrounding her husband’s book.

The Berlin Senate has attempted to put the issue in perspective, saying complaints are an ordinary occurrence. Education Senator Jürgen Zöllner said parents lodge complaints against hundreds and even thousands of teachers each year.

The 59-year-old Sarrazin told Der Spiegel she may consider retiring early from teaching, particularly as her husband Thilo Sarrazin unexpectedly entered early retirement after leaving his Bundesbank post.

The Local/DPA/arp

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