Greeks in Germany

Greeks in Germany
	Distribution of Greek nationals in Germany
Total population
	2016, Greek Ethnic Origin 443,000; 2016, Greek Citizens 348,475; 2016, Born in Greece 274,060; 2016, Born in Germany 74,415;
Regions with significant populations
	Berlin, Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Bielefeld
Languages
	Greek and German
Religion
	Predominantly Greek Orthodox Church some Islam (Greek Muslims)
Related ethnic groups
	Greek diaspora

The Greeks in Germany (Greek: Έλληνες στη Γερμανία, romanized: Éllines sti Germanía; German: Griechen in Deutschland) comprise German residents or citizens of Greek heritage and Greeks who immigrated to Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, 453,000 people living in Germany in 2019 had full or partial Greek ancestry.^[1] 363,650 of these were Greek citizens (including those with dual citizenship).^[2]

History

Significant immigration from Greece to Germany started around 1700, when the Ottoman Empire opened its borders. The first community was found in Leipzig at this time.

A second wave of immigration occurred when Otto of Wittelbach became King of Greece as Otto of Greece. Many Greeks came as students to Bavaria.

The last major wave took place following World War II, with the majority of today's Greek population arriving during this period. In those post-war years, West Germany sought workers for their expanding industries, while East Germany provided safe haven for Greek communists.

Many Greek children were involuntarily relocated to the German Democratic Republic by the Communist rebels during the Greek Civil War.

Education

The first Greek schools were created because of the number of Greeks immigrating to Germany. Since the first Greek school built in 1960 and up until 1990, over 1 million Greeks had immigrated to Germany. About 800,000 of those Greeks had after either a long-term or a short term stay gone back to Greece. Nowadays, every fifth of an estimated 47,000 students of Greek origin attends one of 35 Greek schools in Germany.

Demographics

The first Greeks came during the time of the Roman Empire to Central Europe. Among the major German cities Offenbach am Main and Stuttgart had the highest share of Greek migrants in 2011 according to German Census data. ^[3] Munich was home to the largest Greek community in Germany. According to the same census, there are also large Greek diaspora communities in Nordrhein-Westfalen, especially in Düsseldorf and Bielefeld.

The place where the Griechenhaus stood, a court of Greek merchants in Leipzig

#	City	People
Number of Greeks in larger cities
1.	Munich	26,613
2.	Berlin	14,625
3.	Stuttgart	13,757
4.	Nuremberg	12,145
5.	Düsseldorf	10,388
6.	Frankfurt	6,381
7.	Wuppertal	6,130
8.	Hamburg	6,095
9.	Cologne	5,841
10.	Offenbach	5,230
11.	Hanover	4,763
12.	Dortmund	4,132
13.	Bielefeld	3,765
14.	Mannheim	3,341
15.	Essen	3,000
16.	Wiesbaden	2,774
17.	Duisburg	2,381
18.	Augsburg	2,219
19.	Ludwigshafen	2,086
20.	Krefeld	1,942

Greeks in Germany by Nationality^[4]
Year	Pop.	±%
1967	200,951	—
1972	389,426	+93.8%
1977	328,465	−15.7%
1982	300,824	−8.4%
1987	256,396	−14.8%
1992	345,902	+34.9%
1997	363,202	+5.0%
2002	359,361	−1.1%
2007	294,891	−17.9%
2012	298,254	+1.1%
2017	362,245	+21.5%

Muslims from Greece

There are some members of the Muslim minority of Greece or Greeks who espouse a Turcophone identity among the some 350,000 Greeks living in Germany.^[5] The majority of them immigrated from Western Thrace.^[6] In the 1960s and 1970s, the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. This resulted in many Muslims leaving their homes and emigrating abroad, with estimates suggesting that there are now between 12,000^[7] and 25,000^[8] residing in Germany.

Notable people

Theophano (960-991) - Empress of Holy Roman Empire, Wife of Otto II.
John Argyris (1913-2004) - was among the creators of the Finite Element Method (FEM)
Daniela Amavia - actress and model
Adam Bousdoukos- from Soul Kitchen
Constantin Carathéodory - mathematician
Miltiades Caridis - conductor
Costa Cordalis - singer/songwriter
Giorgos Donis - footballer
Margaritis Dimitsas (1830-1903) - geographer
Artemis Gounaki - singer/songwriter
LaFee - singer/songwriter
Georg Anton Jasmatzi (1847-1922) - founder of the Jasmatzi tabac factory (later sold to British American Tobacco)
Aris Kalaizis - painter
Panajotis Kondylis (1943-1998) - philosopher
Jonas Kyratzes - video game designer
Vicky Leandros - singer
Pierre Mavrogordatos (1870-1948) - archaeologist
Ioannis Masmanidis - footballer
Kostantinos Mitroglou - footballer
Argyris Nastópoulos - singer
Demis Nikolaidis - footballer
Antonis Remos - singer
Susan Sideropoulos- singer and actress
Despina Vandi - singer
Melina Aslanidou - singer
Andromache Dimitropoulou - singer
Anastasia Zampounidis - broadcaster
Antonios Papadopoulos - footballer
Linda Zervakis - newscaster (Tagesschau)
Haris & Panos Katsimihas - singers, songwriters, composers
Odisseas Vlachodimos - footballer
Panagiotis Vlachodimos - footballer
Shindy - rapper
Ioannis Panousis - Author, Law Enforcement Specialist
Aziz Retzep German Greek football player
Evan K
Joseph Pilates Inventor of the Pilates method of physical fitness.

References

^ "Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach ausgewählten Geburtsstaaten". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
^ "Ausländische Bevölkerung nach Geschlecht und ausgewählten Staatsangehörigkeiten". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-11.
^ "Kartenseite: Griechen in Deutschland - Landkreise". kartenseite.wordpress.com. 2017-03-26. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
^ Knerr, Béatrice (2006). Vorweggenommene Erweiterungen: Wanderungsbewegungen aus Grenzgebieten in die EU. ISBN 9783899582819.
^ Westerlund & Svanberg 1999, 320-321.
^ Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly 2007, 118.
^ Clogg 2002, 84.
^ International Assembly of Western Thrace Turks. "POLITICAL AND CIVIL ORGANISATION COMMISSION". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-05-19.

Your Link to Germany

Bibliography

Clogg, Richard (2002). Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1-85065-705-X..
Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (2007). Parliamentary Assembly: Working Papers 2007 Ordinary Session 22–26 January 2007. Council of Europe. ISBN 978-92-871-6191-8..
Westerlund, David; Svanberg, Ingvar (1999). Islam Outside the Arab World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-22691-8..