Syrians in Germany

Syrians in Germany refers to Syrian immigrants in Germany, or Germans with Syrian ancestry. The number of Syrians in Germany was estimated at around 800,000 people in March 2021, making it the third largest community of foreign nationals (after Turks and Poles). The population consists mainly of refugees from the Syrian Civil War, who arrived during the 2015 European migrant crisis. In 2023 the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Statistisches Bundesamt) reported that 1,225,000 Syrians and Germans of Syrian descent lived in Germany at the end of 2022.
Between 2008 and 2015, the number of migrant employees in German companies grew by 50%. Some other sources claim an estimated 200,000 Syrian citizens reside within Germany as of September 2015. Among German districts, Bonn and Wiesbaden had the highest shares of Syrian migrants in 2011, according to German Census data. In 2018, Germany granted 72% of Syrian refugees protection for the right to work without any setbacks or restrictions.
Migration history
During the European migrant crisis of 2014-2015, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees of the Syrian Civil War entered Germany to seek refugee status. The European migrant crisis was eased on September 4, 2015, by Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. They announced that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany. On the morning of September 5, 2015, buses with migrants began crossing the Austro-Hungarian border.
As of December 31, 2014, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated that there were 118,196 people with Syrian citizenship in Germany.
According to the German Interior Ministry, between January 2015 and October 2015, there were 243,721 Syrian citizens who entered Germany to seek asylum.
Therefore, there were more than 360,000 Syrian citizens residing in Germany as of October 2015. As of 31 December 2016, the total number of Syrians in Germany reached 637,845.
As of December 31, 2022, the total number of Syrians in Germany reached 923,085.
Germany's number of asylum applicants peaked at 890,000 in 2015, however, the trend began to reverse. In 2018, only 185,000 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany. Despite the heavy drop in applications, deportations nearly doubled to 20,000 a year, marking a shifting sentiment among the German people away from the welcoming culture that brought thousands of Syrians to Germany since 2015. The changing sentiment among German leaders and citizens towards Syrian refugees comes in light of an increasingly right-wing Parliament. In the 2017 elections, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party gained seats, bringing far right opposition to immigration to the national stage.
Of the approximately 740,000 Syrians living in Germany, under 1,000 of them voluntarily agreed to return to Syria in 2018. Due to this extremely low rate of return to Syria, there is growing concern amongst Syrian refugees that once the volunteers and criminals are deported from the country, the idea of deportations will be normalized. Some Syrians believe this normalization will lead to a larger wave of deportations that will negatively affect people who can't speak German or did not secure jobs. A large part of the resistance to return to Syria is the ongoing war and Bashar Al-Assad's rule of majority of the country.
Associations
Turkmen
Established in Germany, the "Suriye Türkmen Kültür ve Yardımlaşma Derneği - Avrupa", or "STKYDA", ("Syrian Turkmen Culture and Solidarity Association - Europe") was the first Syrian Turkmen association to be launched in Europe. It was established in order to help the growing Syrian Turkmen community who arrived in the country since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. The association includes Syrian Turkmen youth activists from many different Syrian cities and who are now living across Western Europe.
Notable people
Aias Aosman
Mahmoud Dahoud
Mamoun Darkazanli
Rafed El-Masri
Hanin Elias
Adel Karasholi
Yusra Mardini
Sarah Mardini
Rafik Schami
Bassam Tibi
Radwan Yousef
Mohammed Haydar Zammar
See also
Syrian diaspora
Syrians in Austria
Syrians in Sweden
Syrians in Norway
Syrians in Denmark
Syrians in Turkey
Arabs in Germany
Arabs in Berlin
Arab diaspora
Arabs in Europe
Kurds in Germany
Turks in Germany
References
Arabs in Germany
Ethnic groups in Germany
Germany
Syrian emigrants to Germany
Middle Eastern diaspora in Germany
Refugees of the Syrian civil war