The
German people ( ) are an
ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common
German culture, descent, and speaking
the
German language as a mother
tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by
citizenship (
Federal
Germans,
Bundesdeutsche), distinguished from people of
German ancestry (
Deutschstämmige).
Historically, in the
context of the German
Empire
(1871–1918), German citizens (Imperial Germans, Reichsdeutsche)
were distinguished from ethnic
Germans (Volksdeutsche).
Of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the
world, about 66–75 million consider themselves Germans. There are
an additional 80 million people of German ancestry (mainly in the
USA, Brazil, Argentina, France and Canada) who are not native
speakers of German.
Thus, the total number of Germans worldwide lies between 66 and 160
million, depending on the criteria applied (native speakers,
single-ancestry ethnic Germans, partial German ancestry, etc.).
In the
U.S.
, 43 million,
or 15.2% of the population, identified as German American in the census of 2000. Although the
percentage has declined, it is still more than any other group.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau – 2006 American Community
Survey, approximately 51 million citizens identify themselves as
having German ancestry.
Ethnic Germans
The term
Ethnic Germans may be used in several ways. It
may serve to distinguish Germans from those who have citizenship in
the German state but are not Germans; or it may indicate Germans
living as minorities in other nations. In English usage, but less
often in German,
Ethnic Germans may be used for
assimilated descendants of German
emigrants.
Ethnic Germans form an important
minority group in several countries in
central and
eastern
Europe—(
Poland,
Hungary,
Romania,
Russia) as well as in
Namibia,
Brazil (
German-Brazilian),
Argentina (approx. 7,5% of the population)
and
Chile (approx. 4% of the
population).
Some groups may be classified as Ethnic Germans despite no longer
having German as their mother tongue or belonging to a distinct
German culture.
Until the 1990s, two million Ethnic Germans
lived throughout the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia
and Kazakhstan
.
In the United States 1990 census, 57 million people were fully or
partly of German ancestry, forming the largest single ethnic group
in the country.
States with the highest percentage of
Americans of German descent are in the northern Midwest (especially Wisconsin
, Minnesota
, North
Dakota
, South
Dakota
, Nebraska
, Iowa
, and
Kansas
), and the Mid-Atlantic state, Pennsylvania
. But Germanic immigrant enclaves existed in
many other states (e.g., the German
Texans and the Denver, Colorado
area) and to a lesser extent, the Pacific Northwest
(i.e. Idaho
, Montana
, Oregon
and Washington
state
).
Notable Ethnic German minorities also exist in other
Anglosphere countries such as
Canada (approx. 9% of the population)
and
Australia (approx. 4%
of the population). As in the United States, most people of German
descent in Canada and Australia have almost completely assimilated,
culturally and linguistically, into the English-speaking
mainstream.
History
The Germans are a
Germanic people,
which as an ethnicity emerged during the Middle Ages. From the
multi-ethnic
Holy Roman Empire,
the
Peace of Westphalia (1648)
left a core territory that was to become Germany.
Origins

Germanic tribes from ca. 100 AD until
300 AD.
The area
of modern-day Germany in the European
Iron Age was divided into the (Celtic)
La Tène
horizon
in Southern Germany
and the (Germanic)
Jastorf culture in Northern Germany.The predominant
Y-chromosome
haplogroup in Germans is
R1b, followed by
I and
R1a; the predominant
mitochondrial haplogroup
is
H, followed by
U and
T.
The Germanic peoples during the
Migrations Period came into contact with
other peoples; in the case of the populations settling in the
territory of modern Germany, they encountered
Celts to the south, and
Balts and
Slavs towards the east.
The
Limes Germanicus was
breached in AD 260.
Migrating Germanic tribes commingled with the
local Gallo-Roman populations in what is
now Swabia and Bavaria
.
The migration-period peoples who would coalesce into a "German"
ethnicity were the
Saxones,
Frisii,
Franci,
Thuringii,
Alamanni and
Bavarii. By the 800s, the territory of
modern Germany had been united under the rule of
Charlemagne. Much of what is now
Eastern Germany remained Slavonic-speaking
(
Sorbs and
Veleti).
Medieval history
A German ethnicity emerged in the course of the
Middle Ages, under the influence of the unity of
Eastern Francia (later
Kingdom of Germany) from the 9th century.
The process was gradual and lacked any clear definition.
After
Christianization,
the
Roman Catholic Church and
local rulers led German expansion and settlement in areas inhabited
by Slavs and Balts (
Ostsiedlung).
Massive German settlement led to their assimilation of Baltic
(
Old Prussians) and Slavic (
Wends) populations, who were exhausted by previous
warfare.
At the
same time, naval innovations led to a German domination of trade in
the Baltic
Sea
and parts of Eastern
Europe through the Hanseatic
League. Along the trade routes, Hanseatic trade stations
became centers of German culture.
German
town law (Stadtrecht) was promoted by the presence of
large, relatively wealthy German populations and their influence on
political power.
Thus
people who would be considered "Germans", with a common culture,
language, and worldview different from
that of the surrounding rural peoples,
colonized trading towns as far north of present-day Germany as
Bergen
(in Norway
), Stockholm
(in Sweden
), and
Vyborg
(now in
Russia). The Hanseatic League was not exclusively German in
any ethnic sense: many towns who joined the league were outside the
Holy Roman Empire and a number of them may only loosely be
characterized as
German. The Empire was not entirely
German either.
Early Modern period
It was only in the late fifteenth century that the Holy Roman
Empire came to be called the
Holy Roman Empire of the
German nation. It was not exclusively German, and notably
included a sizeable
Slavic minority. The
Thirty Years' War, a series of
conflicts fought mainly in the territory of modern Germany,
confirmed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The
Napoleonic Wars gave it its
coup de grâce.
Since the
Peace of Westphalia,
Germany had been "one nation split in many countries" (
Kleinstaaterei).
The Austrian–Prussian split, confirmed in 1871 when Austria
remained outside of the Imperial Germany
, was only the most prominent example.
In the nineteenth century, after the
Napoleonic Wars and the fall of the
Holy Roman Empire , Austria and
Prussia emerged as two competitors. Austria, trying
to remain the dominant power in Central Europe, led the way in the
terms of the
Congress of Vienna.
The
Congress of Vienna was
essentially conservative, assuring that little would change in
Europe and preventing Germany from uniting. The terms of the
Congress of Vienna came to a
sudden halt following the
Crimean War in
1856. This paved the way for
German
unification in the 1860s.
In 1870, Prussia attracted even Bavaria
(the old ally of France) in the Franco-Prussian War. It created the
German
Empire
as a German nation-state, effectively excluding the
multi-ethnic Austrian Habsburg
monarchy.
During the 19th century in the German territories, rapid population
growth due to lower death rates, combined with poverty, spurred
millions of Germans to emigrate, chiefly to the United States.
Today, roughly 17% of the United States' population (23% of the
white population) is of mainly German
ancestry.
Twentieth century
The
dissolution of the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire after World War I led to a strong desire of the
population of the new Republic of German Austria
to be integrated into Germany or
Switzerland. This was, however, prevented by the
Treaty of Versailles.
The
Nazis, led by
Adolf Hitler, attempted to unite all Germans
(
Volksdeutsche) into one
realm, including ethnic Germans in eastern Europe, many of whom had
emigrated more than one hundred fifty years before and developed
separate cultures in their new lands.
This idea was
initially welcomed by many ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland
, Danzig
and western Lithuania
. The
Swiss
resisted the idea. They had viewed themselves as a distinctly
separate nation since the
Peace of
Westphalia of 1648.
After
World War II, because of the ostensible
reasons for war and in retaliation for Nazi excesses, eastern
European nations, including areas annexed by the Soviet Union
and Poland
, expelled
ethnic Germans from their territories, including Czechoslovakia
, Hungary
, Romania
and Yugoslavia.
Most of the 12 million ethnic
German refugees fled to
western Germany and Europe, the United States, and South
America.
After WWII,
Austrians increasingly saw
themselves as a nation distinct from other German-speaking areas of
Europe. Recent polls show that no more than 6% of the
German-speaking Austrians consider themselves as "Germans".
Austrian identity was emphasized along with the "first-victim of
Nazism" theory. Today over 80 percent of the Austrians see
themselves as an independent nation.
1945 to present
Between
1950 and 1987, about 1.4 million ethnic
Germans and their dependents, mostly from Poland
and Romania
, arrived in Germany under special provisions of
(right of return).
With the
collapse of the Iron Curtain,
"Aussiedler"—ethnic Germans, mainly from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union
—took advantage of Germany's liberal law of return
to leave the harsh conditions of Eastern Europe.
Approximately 2 million have resettled in Germany since the late
1980s.
On
the other hand, significant numbers of ethnic Germans have moved
from Germany to other European countries, especially Switzerland
, the Netherlands
, Britain
, and Spain
.
Subgroups
The Germans are divided into sub-nationalities, some of which form
dialectal unities with groups outside Germany that are not
considered "Germans". The southern
Upper
German groups retain a pronounced identity. In the case of the
Swabians, there was even a limited movement for
Alemannic separatism. The Low German
Platt speakers also retain a certain ethnic identity,
while the
Central German majority has
largely abandoned individual nationalisms.
Ethnic nationalism
After the Napoleonic Wars, a strong
ethnic nationalism arose that emphasized
a cultural bond among Germans. It was later alloyed at the end of
the nineteenth century with the high standing and worldwide
influence of German science and culture, to some degree enhanced by
Bismarck's military successes.
During the following 40 years of almost perpetual economic boom
(the
Gründerzeit), the
Germans assumed a cultural and ethnic supremacy, particularly
compared to their neighbors, the
Slavs.
Because ethnic nationalism was considered a contributing cause to
World War II, the concept has been repressed in German society
since World War II.
German
reunification and other factors have caused some people to
embrace and revive the concept. The ethnic nationalist
National Democratic Party
of Germany received 1.5% of the popular vote in the
2009 federal election.
Religion
Today, Germans include both
Protestants and
Catholics, with each group about equally
represented in Germany. Historically, Protestants formed the
majority in the northern two-thirds of the country.
With the loss of
traditionally Protestant regions after World War II and many
Protestants' turning to agnosticism and atheism, especially in the
former East
Germany
, the two groups are about equally
represented. Today, non-Christians constitute a majority in
certain regions of Germany, both in urban as well as in rural
(eastern) regions. Other large groups of immigrants were or are
mostly Catholics (e.g., Poles, Italians and Croatians).
The
Protestant Reformation
started in the German cultural sphere, when in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the
Schlosskirche ("castle church") in Wittenberg
. Among Protestant
denominations, the Lutherans are well
represented among Germans, while Calvinists are historically to be found primarily
near the Dutch
border and
in a few cities like Worms
and
Speyer
.
The late nineteenth century saw a strong movement among the
Jews in Germany and Austria to assimilate and
define themselves as Germans, i.e., as Jewish Germans (a similar
movement occurred in Hungary). In conservative circles, their
acculturation was not always embraced. Beginning in social tensions
of the 1920s, the rise of Nazis in the 1930s meant an increase in
anti-Semitism, as they used the Jewish population as scapegoats for
national problems. The Nazis conceived and carried out extreme
discrimination and an effort to exterminate the Jews, leading to
the deaths or
exile of almost all of the
pre-World War II Jewish population.
Today Germany is trying to better integrate
Gastarbeiter (guest workers) and more
recent
refugees from ex-
Yugoslavia, such as Bosnian
Muslims.
Minorities
Since the post-World War II decades and especially the later 20th
century, the German-speaking countries of Europe have reflected
striking demographic changes resulting from decades of
immigration. These changes have led to renewed
debates (especially in the Federal Republic of Germany) about who
should be considered German. Non-ethnic Germans now make up more
than 8% of the German population. They are mostly the descendants
of "guest workers" who arrived in the 1960s and 1970s. The Poles,
Turks,
Moroccans,
Italians,
Greeks,
Portuguese and people from the
Balkans form the largest groups of
non-ethnic Germans in the country.
As of
December 2004, about seven million foreign citizens were registered
in Germany
, and 19% of the country's residents were of foreign
or partially foreign descent. The young are more likely to
be of foreign descent than the old. Thirty percent of Germans aged
15 years and younger have at least one parent born outside the
country. In the big cities, 60% of children aged 5 years and
younger have at least one parent born abroad. The largest group
(2.7 million) are descended from ethnic Turks.
A significant number of German citizens (close to 5%), although
traditionally considered
ethnic
Germans, are in fact foreign-born. They retain cultural
identities and languages from their native countries. This sets
them apart from native Germans. Foreign-born repatriates are not
unique to Germany. The English and British equivalent legal term of
lex sanguinis (law of blood)
stipulates that citizenship is inherited by the child from his/her
parents. It has nothing to do with ethnicity.
Ethnic German repatriates from the former Soviet Union constitute
by far the largest such group and the second largest ethno-national
minority group in Germany. The repatriation provisions made for
ethnic Germans in Eastern Europe are unique and have a historical
basis. These were areas where Germans traditionally lived, that is,
where they had migrated and maintained some German language and
culture. Nonetheless, the fact of their separation meant they
developed differently from populations within German borders.
The
Volga Germans, descendants of
ethnic Germans who settled in Russia during the eighteenth century,
have presented a controversial case of "repatriation". They have
been permitted to claim German citizenship even though neither they
nor their ancestors for several generations had been to Germany. In
contrast, persons of German descent living in North America, South
America, Africa, etc. do not have an automatic right of return.
They must prove their eligibility for German citizenship according
to applicable
German nationality
law.
Other countries with post-Soviet Union
repatriation programs include Greece, Israel
and
South
Korea
.
Unlike these ethnic German repatriates, some non-German ethnic
minorities in the country, including some who were born and raised
in the Federal Republic, choose to remain non-citizens. Although
recently German citizenship laws have been relaxed to allow such
individuals to become nationalized citizens, many choose not to
give up allegiance to the countries of their ethnic roots. They
live in Germany under the ambiguous status of an alien resident or
a guest worker. Although this status means that people lack certain
political rights, they often can still get work and free public
higher education, and travel freely abroad.
As a result, close to 10 million people permanently living in the
Federal Republic today distinctly differ from the majority of the
population in a variety of ways such as race, ethnicity, religion,
language and culture. Official statistical sources often fail to
account for them as minorities because such sources traditionally
survey only German citizens classified under the so-called
jus sanguinis (right of
blood) system, limiting citizenship to those with German forebears,
which has been in effect in Germany since the nineteenth century.
It has only recently been partially replaced by the alternative
jus soli (right of soil) system,
allowing citizenship to all individuals born there. This situation
contributes to the invisibility of Germany's minorities.
See also
References
- [1] "Nearly 43 million people in the United
States identify German as their primary ancestry, the U.S. Census
Bureau reported in July 2004"
- This figure accounts for self-reported ancestry, rather than
race or ethnicity. See demographics of the United
States and European American for more
information.
- [2] "Ancestry—German = 50,764,352"
-
http://www.vol.at/news/vorarlberg/artikel/als-vorarlberg-schweizer-kanton-werden-wollte/cn/news-20081023-08253040
- refugee -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- [3]. Development of the Austrian identity
.
- Peter Utgaard, Remembering and Forgetting Nazism, (New
York: Berghahn Books, 2003), 188–189. Frederick C. Engelmann, "The
Austro-German Relationship: One Language, One and One-Half
Histories, Two States", Unequal Partners, ed. Harald von
Riekhoff and Hanspeter Neuhold (San Francisco: Westview Press,
1993), 53–54.
- http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3261105
- "Fewer Ethnic Germans Immigrating to Ancestral
Homeland"
- "External causes of death in a cohort of Aussiedler from
the former Soviet Union, 1990-2002"
- "Turks in Germany: Two unamalgamated worlds",
The Economist, April 3, 2008
- BiBB: "Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund - neue Definition,
alte Probleme", retrieved 25 of May 2008
- "Poll: Most Turks in Germany Feel Unwelcome",
Deutsche Welle, March 13, 2008
External links