Children's books are the highlight of Germany's contribution to the Cairo International Book Fair. Nevine El-Aref talks to , president of the Goethe Institute and guest of honour On the occasion of being this year's guest of honour at the Cairo International Book Fair, Germany invited an elite group of its most renowned intellectuals, philosophers, artists, writers and poets to enliven the cultural event. Topping the list is , president of the Goethe Institute, who inaugurated the German pavilion and, as former president of the Federal Constitutional Court, engaged in a panel discussion with her Egyptian counterpart, Tahani El-Gebali. Limbach is a prominent 71-year- old legal official. From 1994 to 2002, she was the first woman to hold the presidency of the Constitutional Court and therefore, according to German protocol, the second highest official in Germany after the federal president. During her tenure she was always keen on empowering women in politics, culture and society. On January 2002 she was elected president of the Goethe Institute, Germany's most prominent and prestigious international cultural foundation. During an illustrious career, Limbach has published several legal books and received five honorary doctorates as well as nine local and international awards; the most recent of which is the Louise- Schroeder-Medaille in 2005. This is Limbach's first ever trip to Egypt. At the Goethe Institute premises in downtown Cairo, Limbach received guests in a generous and obliging manner. "Introducing children's books is at the top of Germany's cultural programme for the Cairo International Book Fair," Limbach told Al-Ahram Weekly. She explained that children's books in Germany are one of the most important tools to tutor children on how to respect and live with others, no matter how dissimilar they are. Limbach admits that there is a clash between Islam and the entire Western world. Germany is a country that accommodates various minorities and where three out of seven million immigrants are Muslim. Different ways of thinking and practising customs created discord and misunderstandings within the German community. For example, Muslim girls in German schools cannot practice some school activities, such as sports, as they are committed to the veil, or hijab. "As a former president of the Federal Court in Germany, we always tried to solve misunderstandings through constitutional means, in an attempt to help different mindsets co-exist amicably in their daily lives," Limbach pointed out. According to the German constitution, wearing the hijab -- or displaying any other religious mark -- is prohibited only for kindergarten and primary school teachers in light of the susceptibility of children to influence at an early age. Students are free to wear whatever they like. Limbach personally holds a different opinion. She is against prohibiting veiled women from teaching young children. "I believe that it is much better for the community to get, as early as possible, children between eight and 10 years old acquainted with the existence of dissimilarity in culture, religion, habit and appearance," Limbach told the Weekly. Thus one teaches "how to respect others even if they are different," she asserted. "Regretfully, this is not the majority's view of the German public," Limbach added. "Dissimilarity has its own beauty" is the motto of an exhibition of some 400 prize-winning young adult and children's books presented by the Frankfurt Book Fair at the German pavilion. "Not for children's eyes only" is another exhibition theme where illustrations of modern children's books in Germany are displayed. When the Cairo festival closes its doors the exhibition will start a global tour. While the focus of the German delegation to the Cairo International Book Fair is in large part on children's books, reaching out to children is not a new agenda for the Goethe Institute. Limbach asserts that several children's books have previously been translated into Arabic as one of the institute's routine tasks. Nonetheless, this segment of literature is receiving growing attention. Limbach reveals that this year the German Robert Bush Foundation is financing an extensive translation project aiming at translating 10 one-theme German children's books into Arabic. These books will focus on what dissimilarity is and how to respect, accept and live with different people. After 9/11, when Germany, as other foreign countries, renewed their diplomatic missions to Afghanistan, a translation movement began aimed at re-opening the country to the world. Hence, a dozen children's books were translated into official Afghani languages -- Dari and Dasht. Why was Afghanistan the starting point? Egypt has long paid attention to children's books, along with other countries in the Middle East. "There is not any relation between our return to Afghanistan and the great progress made to translate children's books," said Limbach, but progress made in Afghanistan pushed the Goethe Institute to review its work. "Has the Goethe Institute aimed to deal with intellectuals, elite politicians or the cream of society only?" pondered Limbach. "Absolutely not," she asserts: "we want to stretch and widen our existence in a way to address the majority of society. That is why we started to pay more attention and interest to children and teenage books, and put ourselves on the right track." As a guest of honour, the Goethe Institute presentation concentrates on concepts of exchange and Germany's presence across the world: "German culture is permanently present in Egypt, but the Cairo International Book Fair guest of honour status is an opportunity to introduce Germany to the populace as a whole; a continuation of what we started in 2004 when the Arab world was the Frankfurt Book Fair guest of honour," Limbach asserted. Limbach concluded: "books are the nourishment of the soul as sports are the nourishment of the body. Books are the most effective and efficient tools whereby we meet with others and support cultural exchange among different nations."
